Near-infrared photoactive Ag-Zn-Ga-S-Se quantum dots for high-performance quantum dot-sensitized solar cells

• Roopakala Kottayi,
• Ilangovan Veerappan and
• Ramadasse Sittaramane

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1337–1344, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.110

• of solar cells. In this study, we synthesized Ag-Zn-Ga-S-Se-based alloyed QDs by colloidal hot injection and characterized them. The X-ray photoelectron spectrum analysis confirms the +1, +2, +3, −2, and −2 oxidation states of, respectively, Ag, Zn, Ga, S, and Se in the QDs, and the energy-dispersive

• X-ray spectrum analysis confirms the 1:1:1:1.5:1.5 stoichiometric ratio of, respectively, Ag, Zn, Ga, S, and Se. These two results indicate the formation of I-II-III-VI3-type alloyed crystals (AgZnGaS1.5Se1.5 nanocrystals). TEM image analysis reveals the QD nature of the synthesized Ag-Zn-Ga-S-Se

• lead and cadmium have been used as sensitizers in QDSCs. However, due to the high toxicity and low efficiency, research moved to group I-III-VI QDs such as Cu-In-Se, Cu-In-S, Ag-In-Se, Ag-In-S, Ag-Ga-S, and Ag-Ga-S. Even though their light-harvesting capability is still limited by a high number of

Bioselectivity of silk protein-based materials and their bio-inspired applications

• Hendrik Bargel,
• Vanessa T. Trossmann,
• Christoph Sommer and
• Thomas Scheibel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 902–921, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.81

• silks. However, some conserved motifs like polyalanine (An, poly-A), glycine–alanine (GA), glycine–glycine–X (GGX) and glycine–proline–glycine–(X)n (GPG(X)n, where X is typically tyrosine, leucine, or glutamine) are abundant in the repetitive core regions in various spidroins [120]. Similar to silkworm

• silk, poly-A and GA sequences in the spider dragline thread form nanocrystalline hydrophobic β-sheets aligned along the fibre axis, which are embedded in a matrix of more hydrophilic GGX and GPG(X)n regions responsible for helical and spring-like secondary structures with fewer hydrogen bonds and

Temperature and chemical effects on the interfacial energy between a Ga–In–Sn eutectic liquid alloy and nanoscopic asperities

• Yujin Han,
• Pierre-Marie Thebault,
• Corentin Audes,
• Xuelin Wang,
• Haiwoong Park,
• Jian-Zhong Jiang and
• Arnaud Caron

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 817–827, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.72

• interfacial energies between a eutectic Ga–In–Sn liquid alloy and single nanoscopic asperities of SiOx, Au, and PtSi have been determined in the temperature range between room temperature and 90 °C by atomic force spectroscopy. For all asperities used here, we find that the interfacial tension of the eutectic

• Ga–In–Sn liquid alloy is smaller than its free surface energy by a factor of two (for SiOx) to eight (for PtSi). Any significant oxide growth upon heating studied was not detected here, and the measured interfacial energies strongly depend on the chemistry of the asperities. We also observe a weak

• increase of the interfacial energy as a function of the temperature, which can be explained by the reactivity between SiOx and Ga and the occurrence of chemical segregation at the liquid alloy surface. Keywords: atomic force microscopy (AFM); interfacial energy; liquid alloy; Introduction Recently, room

Systematic studies into uniform synthetic protein nanoparticles

• Nahal Habibi,
• Ava Mauser,
• Jeffery E. Raymond and
• Joerg Lahann

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 274–283, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.22

• protocol published by Rahmani and co-workers [35]. Briefly, a protein solution was pumped at 0.1 mL/h through a 25 Ga needle. Once an electric voltage was applied, the meniscus was distorted and formed a Taylor cone [25]. An electrically charged protein solution then ejected from the apex of the Taylor

Bacterial safety study of the production process of hemoglobin-based oxygen carriers

• Axel Steffen,
• Yu Xiong,
• Radostina Georgieva,
• Ulrich Kalus and
• Hans Bäumler

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 114–126, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.8

• product. The production process includes several washing steps that could contribute to the depletion of a potential bacterial load. Glutaraldehyde (GA) is used for the inter- and, to a certain extent, intramolecular cross-linking of the hemoglobin molecules at a concentration of 0.02% [20][21]. It is

• permeabilize the cell wall of Gram-negative cells [28][29]. A certain inhibitory effect of EDTA on the growth of Staphylococcus epidermidis could also be shown [30]. Therefore, the aim of this work was to investigate whether the steps of cross-linking with GA or dissolution with EDTA, in addition to the

• HbMP. To investigate the possible inhibitory effects of the chemicals used in the CCD process, we assessed the growth of bacteria upon the addition of GA and EDTA to the growth medium. In addition, HbMP fabricated with bacteria-spiked hemoglobin were produced and the bacterial load was examined at

Measurement of polarization effects in dual-phase ceria-based oxygen permeation membranes using Kelvin probe force microscopy

• Kerstin Neuhaus,
• Christina Schmidt,
• Liudmila Fischer,
• Wilhelm Albert Meulenberg,
• Ke Ran,
• Joachim Mayer and
• Stefan Baumann

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 1380–1391, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.102

• , KPFM measurements were started with an imaging velocity of 1 image per minute to measure the relaxation of the introduced gradient. Electron microscopy The TEM specimens were cut from 60CSO20-FC2O pellets by focused ion beam (FIB) milling using a FEI Strata400 system with Ga ion beam. Further thinning

Chemical vapor deposition of germanium-rich CrGe_x nanowires

• Vladislav Dřínek,
• Stanislav Tiagulskyi,
• Roman Yatskiv,
• Jan Grym,
• Radek Fajgar,
• Věra Jandová,
• Martin Koštejn and
• Jaroslav Kupčík

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 1365–1371, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.100

• with the Ga+ focused ion beam (FIB), gas injection system (GIS), and nanomanipulator OmniProbe 400 (Oxford Instruments) with a tungsten tip. The nanomanipulator enabled a direct contact of single as-grown NWs. The current–voltage (I–V) characteristics were measured using a Keithley 237 source

Irradiation-driven molecular dynamics simulation of the FEBID process for Pt(PF₃)₄

• Alexey Prosvetov,
• Alexey V. Verkhovtsev,
• Gennady Sushko and
• Andrey V. Solov’yov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 1151–1172, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.86

Assessment of the optical and electrical properties of light-emitting diodes containing carbon-based nanostructures and plasmonic nanoparticles: a review

• Keshav Nagpal,
• Erwan Rauwel,
• Frédérique Ducroquet and
• Protima Rauwel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 1078–1092, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.80

• a wider choice of emission wavelengths compared to conventional lighting systems. Inorganic LED consist of inorganic semiconductor materials in the active region, for example thin films of GaAs that emit in the red to near-infrared (>700 nm) region [4]. Ga-based LED belong to the III–V group of

Progress and innovation of nanostructured sulfur cathodes and metal-free anodes for room-temperature Na–S batteries

• Marina Tabuyo-Martínez,
• Bernd Wicklein and
• Pilar Aranda

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 995–1020, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.75

Is the Ne operation of the helium ion microscope suitable for electron backscatter diffraction sample preparation?

• Annalena Wolff

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 965–983, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.73

• commonly used approach is the focused ion beam (FIB) polishing. Unfortunately, artefacts that can be easily induced by Ga FIB polishing approaches are seldom published. This work aims to provide a better understanding of the underlying causes for artefact formation and to assess if the helium ion

• microscope is better suited to achieve the required mirror-flat sample surface when operating the ion source with Ne instead of He. Copper was chosen as a test material and polished using Ga and Ne ions with different ion energies as well as incident angles. The results show that crystal structure

• alterations and, in some instances, phase transformation of Cu to Cu3Ga occurred when polishing with Ga ions. Polishing with high-energy Ne ions at a glancing angle maintains the crystal structure and significantly improves indexing in EBSD measurements. By milling down to a depth equaling the depth of the

The role of deep eutectic solvents and carrageenan in synthesizing biocompatible anisotropic metal nanoparticles

• Nabojit Das,
• Akash Kumar and
• Raja Gopal Rayavarapu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 924–938, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.69

• systems. Guar-gum-fabricated gold nanoparticles (GA-GNPs) in a DES were synthesized for the use as X-ray contrast agent. The precursors for the DES used were choline chloride, gallic acid and glycerol. The X-ray attenuation coefficient of GA-GNPs was three times higher than that of the clinically used

• contrast agent Visipaque [95]. The in vitro study of the synthesized GA-GNPs confirmed their high potential to replace conventional contrast agents. In another example, Mahyari et al. synthesized gold nanoflowers using a DES without using reducing agents [95]. The gold nanoflowers showed excellent surface

Comprehensive review on ultrasound-responsive theranostic nanomaterials: mechanisms, structures and medical applications

• Sepand Tehrani Fateh,
• Lida Moradi,
• Elmira Kohan,
• Michael R. Hamblin and
• Amin Shiralizadeh Dezfuli

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 808–862, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.64

Impact of GaAs(100) surface preparation on EQE of AZO/Al₂O₃/p-GaAs photovoltaic structures

• Piotr Caban,
• Rafał Pietruszka,
• Jarosław Kaszewski,
• Monika Ożga,
• Bartłomiej S. Witkowski,
• Krzysztof Kopalko,
• Piotr Kuźmiuk,
• Katarzyna Gwóźdź,
• Ewa Płaczek-Popko,
• Krystyna Lawniczak-Jablonska and
• Marek Godlewski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 578–592, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.48

• filling As and Ga dangling bonds with adsorbed S atoms, such that covalent bonds (e.g., S–S, As–S, and Ga–S) are observed [26][27][28][29]. As a result, the energy of the surface states is changed such that they no longer work as charge traps [30]. This approach has already proven to be a method that

• 2p and Zn, Ga and As 3d spin–orbit doublets were measured. The spectra were analyzed using the commercial CASA XPS software package (Casa Software Ltd, version 2.3.17) with Shirley background. The spectra were fitted with a mixed Gaussian–Lorentzian (GL(30)) function. The depth profiling was

• content of Zn and O were observed and the presence of Ga and As lines was registered only after 52 min. In the case of B1, already after 32 min small amounts of Ga and As were detected. The content of Zn and O in B1 (with only an initial cleaning of the substrate) was 1:1 but in A2 (with the substrate

The patterning toolbox FIB-o-mat: Exploiting the full potential of focused helium ions for nanofabrication

• Victor Deinhart,
• Lisa-Marie Kern,
• Jan N. Kirchhof,
• Sabrina Juergensen,
• Joris Sturm,
• Enno Krauss,
• Thorsten Feichtner,
• Sviatoslav Kovalchuk,
• Michael Schneider,
• Dieter Engel,
• Bastian Pfau,
• Bert Hecht,
• Kirill I. Bolotin,
• Stephanie Reich and
• Katja Höflich

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 304–318, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.25

• -step process without the need of potential contaminants, such as the resists used in lithographic approaches. For conventional gallium (Ga) ion beams the achievable minimum feature sizes are still limited to approx. 10 nm [2], and Ga implantation may cause unwanted modification of material properties

• demonstrated for He ion beam patterning in three different use cases. In general, FIB-o-mat is usable for all sorts of ions and microscopes of multiple manufacturers. Only the output files have to be adapted to the specific patterning back end. Ion Beam Machining with Light Ions Focused Ga ion beams are

• depth of 30 keV He ions in silicon is more than five times larger than the penetration depth of Ga ions of the same energy [21]. The consequently large collision cascade may create a significant amount of heat. Even for small ion doses deformation of the manufactured structures can be observed when

The nanomorphology of cell surfaces of adhered osteoblasts

• Christian Voelkner,
• Mirco Wendt,
• Regina Lange,
• Max Ulbrich,
• Martina Gruening,
• Susanne Staehlke,
• Barbara Nebe,
• Ingo Barke and
• Sylvia Speller

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 242–256, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.20

• osteoblast after 3 h of adhesion to titanium. The ruffles on the cell membrane are visible. (FE-SEM SUPRA25, 1 kV, 30° angle, 100 nm Ti on Si wafer, fixation by 2.5% glutardialdehyde (GA), acetone series, critical point drying). Edge height analysis. (a) Topography of a fixed osteoblast on a 10 nm Au layer

Mapping the local dielectric constant of a biological nanostructured system

• Wescley Walison Valeriano,
• Rodrigo Ribeiro Andrade,
• Juan Pablo Vasco,
• Angelo Malachias,
• Bernardo Ruegger Almeida Neves,
• Paulo Sergio Soares Guimarães and
• Wagner Nunes Rodrigues

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 139–150, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.11

• and reduce the curtain effect during FIB polishing. The Ga+ beam of the FIB was adjusted to 30 kV and 1 nA to mill a cross section of the wing while polishing was carried out under 30 kV, 16 kV and 5 kV, all of them with a beam current of 50 pA. Determination of the SPM parameters The sample thickness

ZnO and MXenes as electrode materials for supercapacitor devices

• Ameen Uddin Ammar,
• Ipek Deniz Yildirim,
• Feray Bakan and
• Emre Erdem

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 49–57, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.4

• large family of hexagonal layered ternary transition-metal carbides, carbonitrides, and nitrides with the formula: Mn+1AXn where M denotes a transition metal (Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Zr, Nb, Mo, Hf, or Ta), A denotes a group-13 or group-14 element (Al, Si, P, S, Ga, Ge, As, Cd, Ln, Sn, Tl, or Pb), and X denotes

• . synthesized large-scale 2D Mo2CTx from Mo2Ga2C powder by etching gallium (Ga) selectively with the aid of two etchants, hydrogen fluoride (HF) and lithium fluoride (LiF)/HCl, with subsequent delamination. The morphology of the developed flakes differed with the used etchant. After using LiF/HCl as etchant

Bio-imaging with the helium-ion microscope: A review

• Matthias Schmidt,
• James M. Byrne and
• Ilari J. Maasilta

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 1–23, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.1

• imaging of insulating samples with nanoscale milling capabilities in one instrument. The milling efficiency can also be increased by the use of heavier ion species, such as Ne or Ga, where Ne is available for the standard He column, whereas Ga requires an additional column. In contrast to its success in

Piezotronic effect in AlGaN/AlN/GaN heterojunction nanowires used as a flexible strain sensor

• Jianqi Dong,
• Liang Chen,
• Yuqing Yang and
• Xingfu Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1847–1853, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.166

• by MOCVD (Thomas Swan). Trimethylgallium (TMGa), trimethylaluminum (TMAl), and ammonia (NH3) were used as Ga, Al, and N sources, respectively. N2 and H2 were used as carrier gases in the growth process. A 1 μm layer of unintentionally doped GaN was deposited as the buffer layer on a sapphire

Imaging and milling resolution of light ion beams from helium ion microscopy and FIBs driven by liquid metal alloy ion sources

• Nico Klingner,
• Gregor Hlawacek,
• Paul Mazarov,
• Wolfgang Pilz,
• Fabian Meyer and
• Lothar Bischoff

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1742–1749, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.156

• ]. Currently, the majority of such instruments use a gallium liquid metal ion source (Ga-LMIS), but the demand in research as well as in the industry for other ion species is increasing permanently. Today, nearly half of the elements of the periodic table are demonstrated to be usable in FIB applications [2

• electronic drifts. In addition, gas bubble formation will not take place when Ga ions are used. To discuss the deviation between the simulated minimum milling width and the achieved trench widths in more detail, the experimental sputter beam profiles have been analyzed further. For HIM, the profiles of the

• multi-isotope LMAISs is a further factor of uncertainty that, in general, will worsen the achievable spatial resolution. Literature data for He and Ga are compiled in Figure 6. Normalized half profiles (ion beam radius) for helium beams averaged for different substrates (taken from [42][43]) and for 40

Out-of-plane surface patterning by subsurface processing of polymer substrates with focused ion beams

• Serguei Chiriaev,
• Luciana Tavares,
• Vadzim Adashkevich,
• Arkadiusz J. Goszczak and
• Horst-Günter Rubahn

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1693–1703, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.151

• of the polymer. Effects of subsurface and surface processes on the surface morphology have been studied for three polymer materials: poly(methyl methacrylate), polycarbonate, and polydimethylsiloxane, by using focused ion beam irradiation with He+, Ne+, and Ga+. Thin films of a Pt60Pd40 alloy and of

• -plane features, at the nanoscale, of the pre-deposited films. Ion irradiation of the Au-coated samples results in delamination, bulging, and perforation of the Au film, which is attributed to the accumulation of gases from radiolysis at the film–substrate interface. The irradiation with Ne+ and Ga+ ions

• PMMA surface essentially intact and provides a new route to their out-of-plane patterning, which is interesting for a range of thin film applications. In the current work, we extend our study to the effects of the ion mass by irradiating PMMA substrates with He+, Ne+, and Ga+ ions, and to the role of

Triboelectric nanogenerator based on Teflon/vitamin B1 powder for self-powered humidity sensing

• Liangyi Zhang,
• Huan Li,
• Yiyuan Xie,
• Jing Guo and
• Zhiyuan Zhu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1394–1401, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.123

• ]. Recently, TENG-based sensors have attracted increased attention [34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41]. In 2014, Ga-doped ZnO was used for the fabrication of piezo-humidity sensors with a high sensitivity and a fast response [42]. In 2018, Vivekananthan et al. proposed sustainable energy harvesting and battery

Atomic defect classification of the H–Si(100) surface through multi-mode scanning probe microscopy

• Jeremiah Croshaw,
• Thomas Dienel,
• Taleana Huff and
• Robert Wolkow

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1346–1360, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.119

• speculated a variety of origins for this defect, including a negatively charged As dopant [58], Si-vacancy hydrogen complexes [9], and B dopants [59][60]. Crystal vacancies have previously been identified in other materials using scanning probe microscopy including Ga vacancies in GaAs [61], As vacancies in

3D superconducting hollow nanowires with tailored diameters grown by focused He⁺ beam direct writing

• Rosa Córdoba,
• Alfonso Ibarra,
• Dominique Mailly,
• Isabel Guillamón,
• Hermann Suderow and
• José María De Teresa

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1198–1206, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.104

• is based on Ga+ ions. Functional 3D nanomaterials have been grown by Ga+ FIBID in the last decade [21][22][23][24][25][26]. In particular, Ga+ FIBID in combination with W(CO)6 as precursor material yielded 3D superconducting W-based wires with a critical temperature (Tc) below 5 K and a critical

• magnetic field (µ0Hc2(0)) up to 9.5 T [14][15][16]. Alternatively, in combination with Nb(NMe2)3(N-t-Bu), Ga+ FIBID yielded NbC wires with a broadened Tc range from 4 to 11 K [18]. One significant limitation is that 3D elements below 100 nm in diameter cannot be obtained with Ga+ FIBID, mainly due to the

• relatively large Ga+ beam diameter (approx. 5 nm) and a high proximity effect generated by Ga+ ion scattering. Regarding a higher spatial resolution, the helium ion microscope (HIM) [27], based on a gas field-ionization source, has emerged as a tool for direct writing of complex 3D nano-objects taking