Nanoglasses: a trail towards uncharted regions of vitreous materials and their properties?

• Gerhard Wilde and
• Horst Hahn

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2026, 17, 1047–1062, doi:10.3762/bjnano.17.72

• , vacancies, as the principal contributors to excess volume in crystalline materials, one typically observes concentrations of the order of 10−4 near the melting point. These concentrations, corresponding to approximately 0.1% excess volume, exhibit an exponential decline with decreasing temperature. Thus

Influence of an external electric field on the catalytic CO oxidation of nanoscaled CeO₂ and its La³⁺ and Gd³⁺ congeners

• Parastoo Jamshidi,
• Silvio Heinschke and
• Jörg J. Schneider

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2026, 17, 1028–1038, doi:10.3762/bjnano.17.70

• external electrical field modulates the catalytic activity of nanoscale ceria (nCeO2) towards CO oxidation. Gd3+ and La3+ were doped into the nCeO2 lattice. Such doping influences the concentration and mobility of oxygen vacancies, which are promoting CO oxidation to CO2. When applying an electric

• example, Ce1−xMxO2−δ (M = metal) [3][16]. Under these conditions oxygen vacancies (VO) are formed. The incorporated dopant elements thus allow one to modify the coordination environment in the CeO2 lattice by creating oxygen vacancies, decreasing the energy of VO formation, and improving charge migration

• transport is commonly discussed in terms of small-polaron hopping between neighbouring cerium sites (Figure 4, left panel) [31][32][33][34]. In parallel, oxygen vacancies may rearrange within the fcc ceria lattice under suitable conditions (Figure 4, middle panel) [35]. In the present work, these processes

Ultrasonic irradiation in the synthesis of nanohydroxyapatite: a chemically friendly technique for improving hemocompatibility and antibiofilm applications

• Juan Mendoza Turmero,
• Cristina Parra Pantoja,
• Marcos Sabino Gutiérrez,
• Milagro Fernández-Delgado,
• Claudia Alvarado-Castillo,
• Damarys Soto Gil,
• María E. Gomes Gomes,
• Yony Gutiérrez Barrios and
• Daniel Suárez Arteaga

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2026, 17, 991–1015, doi:10.3762/bjnano.17.68

• carbonate into the hydroxyapatite structure creates vacancies and calcium deficiencies, which lead to the formation of a non-stoichiometric hydroxyapatite with a hexagonal structure and space group P63/m [47]. Table 1 shows the Ca/P ratios determined by EDX analysis of nHA samples synthesized using 15 and

Materials challenges in solid-state sensors for continuous monitoring of ions in water

• Maryam Darestani-Farahani and
• Peter Kruse

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2026, 17, 935–973, doi:10.3762/bjnano.17.66

• transfer gets heavily modulated by surface adsorbate interactions and grain boundary barriers. Metal oxides typically show conductivities of 10−6–102 S/m, mobilities of 0.1–50 cm2/V·s, and electron concentrations of 1016–1019 cm−3. These values shift dramatically with oxygen vacancies, doping, and

Enhanced erosion resistance and radiation stability of WC–WO₃ nanocomposite films under 100 keV Kr⁺ ion irradiation

• Shristi Bist,
• Parswajit Kalita,
• Ratnesh K. Pandey,
• Sejal Shah,
• Richa Krishna,
• Umapathy G. R.,
• Sunil Ojha and
• Devesh K. Avasthi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2026, 17, 922–934, doi:10.3762/bjnano.17.65

• the presence of heterointerfaces, which are better sinks for radiation-induced interstitials/vacancies than grain boundaries [33]. The transfer of energy from the incident ion(s) results in the displacement of the target atoms from their lattice sites in collison cascades, and may even ultimately lead

• to their ejection from the material itself (i.e., sputtering). Given the ability of heterointerfaces (in composites) to accommodate a higher concentration of interstitials/vacancies than grain boundaries in single-component materials [33], there is a possibility that a higher number of displaced

• atoms are accomodated in the composite by the heterointerfaces, resulting in a smaller number of displaced atoms being ejected from the surface. Note that differences in chemical potential in composites can further influence the migration of interstitals/vacancies to heterointerfaces [33][87]. However

Tuning the electronic properties of defect-rich MoS₂

• Eric Juriatti,
• Martina Binninger,
• Carolin Schüle,
• Maren Zirwick,
• Katarina Margetic,
• Erika Giangrisostomi,
• Marcus Scheele and
• Heiko Peisert

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2026, 17, 796–805, doi:10.3762/bjnano.17.56

• strategies, such defects can be healed by appropriate surface modifications. For instance, the adsorption of thiol-bearing molecules has been demonstrated to remove the S-vacancies inherent to MoS2 grown by chemical vapor deposition [23]. It has been shown that the adsorption of different TMPcs can

• valence band and core level spectra reveal p- or n-type doping effects, most likely due to the presence of sulfur vacancies and metallic Mo. Nevertheless, the deposition of CoPcF16 affects the position of the Fermi energy, which illustrates that a tuning of electronic properties is also possible in the

Recent progress in enhancing built-in electric fields of perovskite solar cells via junction engineering

• Tong Xiao and
• Ke Xu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2026, 17, 602–621, doi:10.3762/bjnano.17.42

• . The method enabled effective acceptor doping within the HTL, shifting the Fermi level downward and thereby improving alignment with the perovskite valence band. Simultaneously, interfacial interactions between BF4− and Pb2+ suppressed iodine vacancies, converted the underlying perovskite from n-type

• mainly due to the electronic compensation effect of the vertical Ge2+ gradient on Sn vacancies, which prevents the oxidation of Sn2+ to Sn4+ and minimizes deep-level defects. Additionally, the GE-I framework prevents ion migration and strain accumulation, suppressing failure from Sn vacancy diffusion and

Synthesis of Cu–Mo/TiO₂ and Co–Mo/TiO₂ photocatalysts for the efficient degradation of organic pollutants in water

• Ilse Acosta,
• Brenda Zermeño,
• Edgar Moctezuma,
• Luis F. Garay-Rodríguez and
• Isaías Juárez-Ramírez

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2026, 17, 559–570, doi:10.3762/bjnano.17.37

• can improve light absorption and photocatalytic activity of the material through the generation of oxygen vacancies, which act as electron traps [12]. The Mo6+ ion has a radius similar to that of Ti4+; thus, it is ideal for introduction into the TiO2 lattice without causing significant disturbances

• causes the inhibition of crystalline phase transformation from anatase to rutile, which is an expected behavior for cationic dopants of valence higher than 4. The change in lattice parameters may also indicate the presence of oxygen vacancies created by the incorporation of impurities as Mo. The charge

• compensation could be mainly achieved by the ionized vacancies, especially by doubly ionized oxygen vacancies [29]. In addition, the volume cell increase was observed not only in the material Mo/TiO2, but also in the materials with the content of the two metal ions, which may indicate a slight contribution

Upcycling agroindustrial waste into graphene oxide supports for gold nanoparticles: toward sustainable nanomaterials

• Juan Marcos Castro-Tapia,
• Selene Acosta,
• Hiram Joazet Ojeda-Galván,
• Elsie Evelyn Araujo-Palomo,
• Edgar Giovanni Villabona-Leal and
• Mildred Quintana

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2026, 17, 489–504, doi:10.3762/bjnano.17.32

• atoms in aromatic domains and the D band around 1350 cm−1, associated with defects in the crystal lattice such as edges, vacancies, and oxygenated functional groups [38]. The intensity ratio between these peaks (ID/IG) is commonly used as an indicator of structural disorder or defect density in the

Defects and defect-mediated engineering of two-dimensional materials: challenges and open questions

• Arkady V. Krasheninnikov,
• Matthias Batzill,
• Anouar-Akacha Delenda,
• Marija Drndić,
• Chris Ewels,
• Katharina J. Franke,
• Mahdi Ghorbani-Asl,
• Alexander Holleitner,
• Ado Jorio,
• Ute Kaiser,
• Daria Kieczka,
• Hannu-Pekka Komsa,
• Jani Kotakoski,
• Manuel Längle,
• David Lamprecht,
• Yun Liu,
• Steven G. Louie,
• Janina Maultzsch,
• Thomas Michely,
• Katherine Milton,
• Anna Niggas,
• Hanako Okuno,
• Joshua A. Robinson,
• Marika Schleberger,
• Bruno Schuler,
• Alexander Shluger,
• Kazu Suenaga,
• Kristian S. Thygesen,
• Richard A. Wilhelm,
• E. Harriet Åhlgren and
• Carla Bittencourt

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2026, 17, 454–488, doi:10.3762/bjnano.17.31

• of impurities, see [6][7][8][9][10] for an overview. Specifically, low-energy ion implantation [11][12][13][14][15][16][17] can be employed to directly create impurities in 2D materials. Alternatively, due to the 2D geometry, impurities can be introduced through filling the vacancies previously

• graphene or h-BN) defect formation energies prevent low defect concentrations in monolayer sheets? How can synthesis methods for monolayer materials be modified to control defect species and concentration? We note that, in TMDs, not only chalcogen vacancies, but also transition metal vacancies and

• structures compared to those for isolated vacancies [41]. The complexity of defects and the large number of systems means that the discovery of such new materials relied mostly on “accidental” experimental observations. Under most synthesis conditions, the phases with the lowest formation enthalpy are formed

Advancing nanolithography: a comprehensive review of materials for local anodic oxidation with AFM

• Matteo Lorenzoni

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2026, 17, 275–291, doi:10.3762/bjnano.17.19

• oxide structure, while deeper regions exhibit increased contributions of Ti2O3 and TiO. The authors claim that the precise control of oxygen vacancies during LAO would enable the reproducible and scalable production of high-performance ReRAM devices. Aluminum oxidation by AFM LAO is well suited for

Reduced graphene oxide paper electrode for lithium-ion cells – towards optimized thermal reduction

• Agata Pawłowska,
• Magdalena Baran,
• Stefan Marynowicz,
• Aleksandra Izabela Banasiak,
• Adrian Racki,
• Adrian Chlanda,
• Tymoteusz Ciuk,
• Marta Wolczko and
• Andrzej Budziak

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2026, 17, 24–37, doi:10.3762/bjnano.17.3

• vacancies enable adsorption sites for electrolyte ions [57]. This research contributes to the development of thermal reduction methods of free-standing rGO thin films, that is, rGO paper. It is worth emphasizing that the presented material was prepared without any additional surfactants or binding agents

Microplastic pollution in Himalayan lakes: assessment, risks, and sustainable remediation strategies

• Sameeksha Rawat,
• S. M. Tauseef and
• Madhuben Sharma

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 2144–2167, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.148

• simultaneously utilizing the abundant UV radiation [75]. It has been demonstrated that the light absorption of ZnO and TiO2 is improved by defect engineering, such as the introduction of oxygen vacancies. According to Kim and Youn, these defects trap light energy, which lowers charge carrier recombination rates

Piezoelectricity of layered double hydroxides: perspectives regarding piezocatalysis and nanogenerators

• Evgeniy S. Seliverstov,
• Evgeniya A. Tarasenko and
• Olga E. Lebedeva

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 1812–1817, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.124

• evidence demonstrated that dual oxygen vacancies in Ni/Fe-LDHs create interfacial bonds that mitigate carrier localization effects and unfavorable influences during piezocatalysis and photocatalysis. These features promote exciton dissociation and charge transfer. Furthermore, the strong electronic

• instead arise from triboelectric, electrochemical, or mechanochemical contributions. (2) Confusion of mechanisms: Different studies attribute performance improvements either to symmetry breaking (ultrathin LDH, loss of inversion centers, piezoelectrical properties), to defects (oxygen vacancies and

Electrical, photocatalytic, and sensory properties of graphene oxide and polyimide implanted with low- and medium-energy silver ions

• Josef Novák,
• Eva Štěpanovská,
• Petr Malinský,
• Vlastimil Mazánek,
• Jan Luxa,
• Ulrich Kentsch and
• Zdeněk Sofer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 1794–1811, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.123

• ions with an energy of 1.5 MeV show reasonable agreement with the Ag concentration depth profiles in Figure 4a for GO and Figure 4b for PI. At this depth of ion penetration, we anticipate the most significant disruption of the carbon structures in both materials, involving the formation of vacancies

Photocatalytic degradation of ofloxacin in water assisted by TiO₂ nanowires on carbon cloth: contributions of H₂O₂ addition and substrate absorbability

• Iram Hussain,
• Lisha Zhang,
• Zhizhen Ye and
• Jin-Ming Wu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 1567–1579, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.111

• , the content of hydroxyl groups in CC/HTNW is evaluated to be ca. 52%, which reduced to approximately 16% after the final air calcination, suggesting abundant residual surface oxygen vacancies in CC/NW-450 °C. These vacancies are beneficial for enhancing photocatalytic activity [26][27]. Photocatalytic

Laser processing in liquids: insights into nanocolloid generation and thin film integration for energy, photonic, and sensing applications

• Akshana Parameswaran Sreekala,
• Pooja Raveendran Nair,
• Jithin Kundalam Kadavath,
• Bindu Krishnan,
• David Avellaneda Avellaneda,
• M. R. Anantharaman and
• Sadasivan Shaji

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 1428–1498, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.104

• ][87]. For example, laser irradiation has been utilized to precisely and controllably introduce a variety of structural defects, such as vacancies and interstitials, within electrode materials for electrochemical energy storage and conversion applications [85][86][88]. By carefully tuning the laser

• introduced defects within the liquid medium [86][91][93][95]. For instance, studies have reported that by meticulously adjusting these laser characteristics, they were able to selectively create and stabilize specific types of defects, such as vacancies and interstitials, within electrode materials [97

Enhancing the photoelectrochemical performance of BiOI-derived BiVO₄ films by controlled-intensity current electrodeposition

• Huu Phuc Dang,
• Khanh Quang Nguyen,
• Nguyen Thi Mai Tho and
• Tran Le

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 1289–1301, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.94

• improvements through stronger peaks, suggesting fewer defects. The decrease in the bandgap (≈0.16 eV) is consistent with research linking oxygen vacancies to band tailing in BiVO4 films [26]. Besides, Figure 3a shows that the BiVO4(326) and BiVO4(324) samples have absorption that goes beyond 520 nm, with some

• suggests an optimal concentration of oxygen vacancies that broadens light absorption while avoiding excessive recombination of the charge carriers. In contrast, BiVO4(146) has a clear absorption edge and very little tailing, indicating that it has fewer defects but does not absorb light well beyond 520 nm

• . These findings match other studies that connect oxygen vacancies to the spread of light absorption and smaller optical bandgaps in BiVO4 [26]. Vibrational properties (Raman) The Raman spectra (Figure 4) corroborated the XRD findings, displaying characteristic peaks of monoclinic BiVO4 at 219, 329, 370

Ar⁺ implantation-induced tailoring of RF-sputtered ZnO films: structural, morphological, and optical properties

• Manu Bura,
• Divya Gupta,
• Arun Kumar and
• Sanjeev Aggarwal

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 872–886, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.66

• control material properties by inducing damage and introducing defects in the host matrix in a controlled manner [8]. It offers the advantage of controlling the amount of energy transferred to the host system by selecting the desired ion energy, mass, and fluence [9]. Different types of lattice vacancies

• optical phonon modes is ascribed to the formation of oxygen vacancies, which are supposed to be electron carriers in ZnO. Therefore, the evolution of the A1 (LO) mode acts as indirect evidence of a rise in carrier concentration, which can in turn alter the optical bandgap. Moreover, the presence of

•  4a). The A1 (LO) mode evolves because of defects present in the film in the form of oxygen vacancies, zinc interstitials, and their complexes. For the case of ZnO films implanted at 1 × 1015 ions·cm−2 fluence (Figure 4b), the intensity of the E2 (low) and A1 (LO) modes increases, while the peak

Thickness dependent oxidation in CrCl₃: a scanning X-ray photoemission and Kelvin probe microscopies study

• Shafaq Kazim,
• Rahul Parmar,
• Maryam Azizinia,
• Matteo Amati,
• Muhammad Rauf,
• Andrea Di Cicco,
• Seyed Javid Rezvani,
• Dario Mastrippolito,
• Luca Ottaviano,
• Tomasz Klimczuk,
• Luca Gregoratti and
• Roberto Gunnella

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 749–761, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.58

• investigates interfaces made by dry transfer of CrCl3 flakes in an atmospheric environment. Cl vacancies and the formation of O/CrCl3 are induced, serving as dissociation centers that facilitate the migration of Cl vacancies between the top and bottom surfaces. By manipulating 2D atomic layers via surface

• oxidation or the introduction of surface vacancies, a novel and versatile approach is unveiled for the development of low-dimensional multifunctional nanodevices. Keywords: chemical mapping; CrX3; Kelvin probe force microscopy; mechanical exfoliation; scanning photoelectron microscopy (SPEM); two

• content of defects such as adatoms, the length of grain boundaries, vacancies, and substitution impurities influence the electrical, magnetic, and electronic properties of the final device [14][15][4]. To name one, the formation of chalcogenide vacancies is often related to the enhanced dissociation of

Retrieval of B1 phase from high-pressure B2 phase for CdO nanoparticles by electronic excitations in Cd_xZn_1−xO composite thin films

• Arkaprava Das,
• Marcin Zając and
• Carla Bittencourt

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 551–560, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.43

• of the O K edge spectrum. This attenuation suggests that O ion irradiation diminishes the likelihood of core-level electronic transitions from O 1s to the hybridized Zn 4s–O 2p orbitals. It is plausible that O ion irradiation generates oxygen vacancies (VO) at lattice sites and introduces defects

N₂⁺-implantation-induced tailoring of structural, morphological, optical, and electrical characteristics of sputtered molybdenum thin films

• Usha Rani,
• Kafi Devi,
• Divya Gupta and
• Sanjeev Aggarwal

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 495–509, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.38

• subsequent alterations in the material properties. As indicated by the TRIM simulations, a single nitrogen ion with this energy can produce 95 displacements, that is, 95 vacancies and no replacement collisions, before coming to a stop, as illustrated in Figure 1D. This significant level of displacement

• . There is a dip in the refractive index between 300 and 700 nm, attributed to the LSPR of molybdenum nanoparticles. Defects include interstitials, vacancies, and structural deformation, which modify the electrical and lattice structure of the material [49][50]. The refractive index of both as-deposited

• may influence the electrical properties. As the thickness changes, the internal stress distribution could lead to impediments in electron transport, causing slight deviations from linearity. Nitrogen ions create defects, vacancies, or impurities in the molybdenum film, acting as scattering centers for

Quantification of lead through rod-shaped silver-doped zinc oxide nanoparticles using an electrochemical approach

• Ravinder Lamba,
• Gaurav Bhanjana,
• Neeraj Dilbaghi,
• Vivek Gupta and
• Sandeep Kumar

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 422–434, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.33

• of oxygen on the surface by means of the formation of oxygen vacancies, leading to enhanced catalytic activity. Also, the small doping of Ag introduces more active sites on the catalyst surface, potentially improving the overall catalytic activity [12][13]. This study demonstrates an efficient and

• region of the Brillouin zone. Oxygen vacancies are commonly linked to the A1(LO) phonon mode. The presence of a small peak at 218 cm−1 denotes the radial movement of Ag atoms. Raman peaks at around 356 cm−1 are specifically attributed to the A1(TO) mode. Also, the results of Ag doping in ZnO coincide

Tailoring of physical properties of RF-sputtered ZnTe films: role of substrate temperature

• Kafi Devi,
• Usha Rani,
• Arun Kumar,
• Divya Gupta and
• Sanjeev Aggarwal

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 333–348, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.25

• II–VI semiconductor with a direct bandgap of 2.26 eV, which lies in the visible range of the electromagnetic spectrum. ZnTe is a p-type semiconductor because of zinc vacancies and has a low electron affinity of 3.53 eV at room temperature [5]. It exists in both zincblende and wurtzite structures

Emerging strategies in the sustainable removal of antibiotics using semiconductor-based photocatalysts

• Yunus Ahmed,
• Keya Rani Dutta,
• Parul Akhtar,
• Md. Arif Hossen,
• Md. Jahangir Alam,
• Obaid A. Alharbi,
• Hamad AlMohamadi and
• Abdul Wahab Mohammad

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 264–285, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.21

• recombination rates, and the generated oxygen vacancies, ultimately enhancing catalytic efficiency in visible light or solar-simulated light. The durability of the modified TiO2 relied on the number of electrons in the dopants and their ionic size. Although researchers have significantly improved the catalytic

• photocatalyst [74]. In a recent study, Jeyaprakash and coworkers [75] synthesized Ti3+-doped TiO2 with oxygen vacancies utilizing ultrasonic treatment for the degradation of tetracycline (TC) via sono-photocatalysis under visible halogen lamp irradiation. The modified TiO2 demonstrated remarkable degradation of