How hollow structures form from crystalline ironiron oxide coreshell nanoparticles in the electron beamElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Materials and methods for nanoparticle synthesis and supporting TEM images, XRD, TGA, and size analysis. See DOI: 10.1039/c3cc43097a

Here, we report the effect of oleylamine (OLA) stabilizing molecules on the stability of ironiron oxide coreshell nanoparticles in the electron beam. The presence of excess OLA (>50 wt%) induces the structural transformation in the highly crystalline, coreshell structures to form hollow iron oxide nanoparticles after 120 s of electron beam exposure. Hollow iron oxide nanoparticles were formed via the stabilizing agent induced structural transformation of highly crystalline ironiron oxide coreshell nanoparticles after 120 s irradiation in the electron beam.