Highly Single Crystalline Ir_<i>x</i>Ru_1–<i>x</i>O₂ Mixed Metal Oxide Nanowires

Abstract

The nanostructured iridium–ruthenium mixed metal oxide (Ir x Ru 1– x O 2, 0 ≤ x ≤ 1) is the most promising candidate as a highly efficient electrode material for the electrolysis of water. We present a facile synthesis and structural characterization of highly single crystalline Ir x Ru 1– x O 2 mixed metal oxide nanowires for the first time via a simple vapor phase transport process by carefully controlling the relative ratios of IrO 2 and RuO 2 precursors. We also observed that an E g mode of an Ir x Ru 1– x O 2 nanowire measured from Raman scattering is being linearly blue shifted and its line width is asymmetrically broadened with respect to the increase of the Ir contents, indicating that we could quantitatively determine stoichiometry information as well as crystal structure for mixed metal oxide nanowires.