Synthesis of Cobalt Oxide Based Misfit Nanotubes with High Conductivity and Ampacity.

With increasing miniaturization of modern devices the requirement of current to flow through narrow channel has escalated. So, systems with both high ampacity and high conductivity is in demand. We choose calcium cobaltite (CCO) and strontium cobaltite (SCO)- misfit complex oxide which have gained interest due to their high conductivity and low thermal conductivity. We present the synthesis of 1D nanotubes (NT) from oxide misfit compounds with a very high yield by solid-state and solution-based synthesis. When investigated electrical property it is found that CCO nanotubes are of p-type semiconductor and the ampacity of these nanotubes is around 6.5*10⁵ A/cm². But surprisingly, in the case of SCO nanotube, it shows a very high current carrying capacity of 0.88*10⁸ A/cm² for a single NT. These values are comparable to metals as well as to CNT and is proven to be one of the best oxide based material among inorganic materials. Temperature dependent resistivity measurements indicates a voltage-induced semiconductor to metal transition in the case of SCO NTs. These results demonstrate that the high conductivity of these nanotubes could be a potential building block for future modern devices.