Thermal stability of IrO2 nanowires

The thermal stability of IrO₂ nanowires has been studied. First single crystal IrO₂ nanowires with the diameter at 10-30 nm and length at about 500 nm were synthesized using MOCVD system. Then the nanowires were annealed in oxygen and nitrogen ambient separately at different temperatures. It shows that under oxygen annealing the IrO₂ nanowires become unstable at around 800°C. After 900°C annealing, the IrO₂ nanowires melted and vaporized. On the other hand, under nitrogen annealing at 800°C the IrO₂ nanowires were reduced to Ir, after further annealing in nitrogen at 900°C, the IrO₂ nanowires were completely reduced to Ir and also the IrO₂ nanowires fragment into Ir particles.