A novel all-fiber-based LiFePO₄/Li₄Ti₅O₁₂ battery with self-standing nanofiber membrane electrodes

• Li-li Chen,
• Hua Yang,
• Mao-xiang Jing,
• Chong Han,
• Fei Chen,
• Xin-yu Hu,
• Wei-yong Yuan,
• Shan-shan Yao and
• Xiang-qian Shen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2229–2237, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.215

• used as self-standing electrodes for lithium-ion batteries. The structure and morphology of the fibers, and the electrochemical performance of the electrodes and the full battery were characterized. The results show that the LiFePO4 and Li4Ti5O12 fiber membrane electrodes exhibit good rate and cycle

• grains in the fibers. SEM images of LiFePO4 and Li5Ti4O12 nanofiber membranes are shown in Figure 3. It can be seen that the fiber membranes after heat treatment exhibit a 3D network structure, which is the reason for the high flexibility of the electrode. The high-magnification SEM images show uniform

• growth of crystal grains on the surface of the fibers for both LiFePO4 and Li5Ti4O12. The fiber diameter is less than 1 μm, and the grain size is between 200 and 300 nm. There are numerous channels between the fibers. This structure is beneficial for the penetration of electrolyte and the contact between

Review of advanced sensor devices employing nanoarchitectonics concepts

• Katsuhiko Ariga,
• Tatsuyuki Makita,
• Masato Ito,
• Taizo Mori,
• Shun Watanabe and
• Jun Takeya

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2014–2030, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.198

• particles [122]. Mesoporous carbons were used for sensing of tannins in acidic aqueous environment with highly cooperative adsorption in the mesochannels [123]. The nanoarchitectonic construction of carbon nanocages with high surface mesoporous structures [124] was integrated with electrospun polymer fibers

Optimization and performance of nitrogen-doped carbon dots as a color conversion layer for white-LED applications

• Tugrul Guner,
• Hurriyet Yuce,
• Didem Tascioglu,
• Eren Simsek,
• Umut Savaci,
• Aziz Genc,
• Servet Turan and
• Mustafa M. Demir

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2004–2013, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.197

• as color conversion layers in a white-LED configuration to generate white light. In order to resolve the red deficiency of this configuration, a commercial red phosphor was integrated into the system. Moreover, the N-CDots were also processed into polymer/N-CDot composite fibers, for which we

• determined the amount of N-CDots that yielded adequate white-light properties. Finally, we showed that white light with excellent properties could be generated by employing both of the fabricated N-CDot composites either as drop-cast films or composite fibers. Hence, N-CDots provide a promising alternative

• into thin films and fibers. Throughout this study, the term “water-based” is used to emphasize that during the fabrication of the color conversion layers, the CDots and the PVP were taken from their dispersion or solution in (mainly) distilled water without introducing any toxic or organic solvents

Facile synthesis of carbon nanotube-supported NiO//Fe₂O₃ for all-solid-state supercapacitors

• Shengming Zhang,
• Xuhui Wang,
• Yan Li,
• Xuemei Mu,
• Yaxiong Zhang,
• Jingwei Du,
• Guo Liu,
• Xiaohui Hua,
• Yingzhuo Sheng,
• Erqing Xie and
• Zhenxing Zhang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1923–1932, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.188

• the as-obtained CC-CNT@Fe2O3 is shown in Figure 2b, where Fe2O3 coats all carbon fibers well. The space between CNTs provides enormous room for Fe2O3 growth, and the obtained CNT@Fe2O3 are entangled with each other and sticky to the CC (Figure 2c). N2 adsorption–desorption isotherm and Barrett–Joyner

High-tolerance crystalline hydrogels formed from self-assembling cyclic dipeptide

• Yongcai You,
• Ruirui Xing,
• Qianli Zou,
• Feng Shi and
• Xuehai Yan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1894–1901, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.184

• environments. Results and Discussion Preparation and characterization of the hydrogel C-WY was chosen as a model peptide to investigate the self-assembly of CDPs. A nontransparent hydrogel with a dense network of fibers was obtained simply by mixing a solution of C-WY in DMSO (2 mg, 20 μL) with water (480 μL

• 3317 cm−1, indicating the formation of strong hydrogen bonds between C-WY molecules in the hydrogel (Figure 1B). Further characterization by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was performed to inspect the morphology of the hydrogel (Figure 1C,D). The fibers in

• the hydrogel are 100 ± 50 nm in width and dozens of micrometers in length. In addition, dense three-dimensional fibrous networks cross-linked by slender fibers were clearly observed. The cross-linked networks are beneficial to improving the stability of the hydrogels at extreme conditions [48]. The

Prestress-loading effect on the current–voltage characteristics of a piezoelectric p–n junction together with the corresponding mechanical tuning laws

• Wanli Yang,
• Shuaiqi Fan,
• Yuxing Liang and
• Yuantai Hu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1833–1843, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.178

• been investigated by Dai et al. [24] and Yang and co-workers [25]. The mechanical behavior of composite fibers with piezoelectric dielectrics and non-piezoelectric semiconductors have also been studied by Cheng et al. [26] and Luo and co-workers [27]. For piezoelectric p–n junctions, it becomes

Biocatalytic oligomerization-induced self-assembly of crystalline cellulose oligomers into nanoribbon networks assisted by organic solvents

• Yuuki Hata,
• Yuka Fukaya,
• Toshiki Sawada,
• Masahito Nishiura and
• Takeshi Serizawa

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1778–1788, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.173

• chains [42]. In other words, a higher uniformity of the chain lengths leads to higher integrity of the crystals. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to uncover the nanomorphology of the gels. The images revealed a well-grown network structure composed of nanoribbon-shaped fibers (Figure 9), which

Novel hollow titanium dioxide nanospheres with antimicrobial activity against resistant bacteria

• Carol López de Dicastillo,
• Cristian Patiño,
• María José Galotto,
• Yesseny Vásquez-Martínez,
• Claudia Torrent,
• Daniela Alburquenque,
• Alejandro Pereira and
• Juan Escrig

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1716–1725, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.167

• nanostructures, such as fibers and spherical particles, through the application of a high voltage that breaks the surface tension of the droplet of a polymeric solution located at the tip of a needle [16][17]. The morphology of the resulting nanostructures is influenced by the properties of the polymeric

• ) PVP polymeric solution. Unlike the common electrospinning process, which results in fibers by the continuous stretching of the Taylor cone through the application of a voltage to a polymeric solution with high viscosity, this case was considered an “electrospraying” process, which resulted in

Tuning the performance of vanadium redox flow batteries by modifying the structural defects of the carbon felt electrode

• Ditty Dixon,
• Deepu Joseph Babu,
• Aiswarya Bhaskar,
• Hans-Michael Bruns,
• Joerg J. Schneider,
• Frieder Scheiba and
• Helmut Ehrenberg

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1698–1706, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.165

• process of the PAN fibers or simply the atmospheric ageing of the felt. It is already known from the literature that graphitization or atmospheric ageing can leave some aliphatic or polyaromatic tar-like residues on the surface of the felt [6][23]. Thus, it can be concluded that apart from inducing N

• -doping, the N2 plasma treatment also increased the apparent graphite amount on the surface by removing the aliphatic groups (C–H and C–C) from the surface of the fibers. The schematic representation of N-doping induced by the N2 plasma treatment in a graphite lattice is shown in Figure 3. From the

• scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis, it can be seen that the surface morphology of the fibers of both samples looked identical and thus any kind of surface roughening leading to an increase of the surface area can be ignored. This is further supported by our previous study were the BET measurements

Layered double hydroxide/sepiolite hybrid nanoarchitectures for the controlled release of herbicides

• Ediana Paula Rebitski,
• Margarita Darder and
• Pilar Aranda

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1679–1690, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.163

• techniques (XRD, FTIR and 29Si NMR spectroscopies, CHN analysis and SEM) that revealed interactions of LDH with the sepiolite fibers through the silanol groups present on the outer surface of sepiolite, together with the intercalation of MCPA in the LDH confirmed by the increase in the basal spacing from

• fields [13][14][15]. Sepiolite (Figure 1A) is a natural hydrated magnesium silicate with the ideal formula [Si12O30Mg8(OH,F)4](H2O)4·8H2O [16][17], which exhibits high surface area and adsorption capacity due to the presence of silanol groups on the external surface of the clay fibers. These ≡SiOH groups

• not produce true nanoarchitectonic materials. Hence, it is necessary to grow the LDH in the presence of the fibrous clay [31]. In fact, the presence of silanol groups along the external surface of the silicate fibers act as anchoring points at which the LDH grows, forming LDH particles with their

Materials nanoarchitectonics at two-dimensional liquid interfaces

• Katsuhiko Ariga,
• Michio Matsumoto,
• Taizo Mori and
• Lok Kumar Shrestha

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1559–1587, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.153

High-temperature resistive gas sensors based on ZnO/SiC nanocomposites

• Vadim B. Platonov,
• Marina N. Rumyantseva,
• Alexander S. Frolov,
• Alexey D. Yapryntsev and
• Alexander M. Gaskov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1537–1547, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.151

• , ultrathin fibers of SiC and metal oxides as well as MO/SiC composites from polymer solutions [16][17][18][19]. The combination of unlimited length, highly porous microstructure, and high surface area come together to create ideal gas sensor materials. In this work, we prepared ZnO/SiC nanocomposite

• Experimental part. The characteristics of the synthesized materials are summarized in Table 1. Figure 2 shows the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) micrographs of SiC (Figure 2a,c) and ZnO (Figure 2b,d) nanofibers in a polymer matrix (Figure 2a,b) and after annealing (Figure 2c,d). The polymeric fibers

• containing polycarbosilane (Figure 2a) are tapered with a width of 8–10 μm and a thickness of about 200 nm. Exposure to high temperature and pressure, which is necessary for the formation of crystalline SiC, leads to the destruction of fibers and the formation of porous powders (Figure 2c) with an average

Multicomponent bionanocomposites based on clay nanoarchitectures for electrochemical devices

• Giulia Lo Dico,
• Bernd Wicklein,
• Lorenzo Lisuzzo,
• Giuseppe Lazzara,
• Pilar Aranda and
• Eduardo Ruiz-Hitzky

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1303–1315, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.129

• attracting increasing attention in the development of nanoarchitectured materials in applications such as catalysis or biomedicine [8]. The presence of silanol groups at the external surface of the clay fibers allows for the easy assembly with different species facilitating the design and the build up of

A silver-nanoparticle/cellulose-nanofiber composite as a highly effective substrate for surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy

• Yongxin Lu,
• Yan Luo,
• Zehao Lin and
• Jianguo Huang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1270–1279, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.126

• Raman scattering (SERS) substrate was developed by facile deposition of silver nanoparticles onto cellulose fibers of ordinary laboratory filter paper. This was achieved by means of the silver mirror reaction in a manner to control both the size of the silver nanoparticles and the silver density of the

• , respectively. The field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) images of the Ag-NP/cellulose-NF composite sheets in Figure 1 show that the surfaces of the cellulose fibers are decorated with silver particles. The comparison with SEM images of bare filter paper (Supporting Information File 1, Figure S1

• samples Ag-NP/cellulose-NF–D (Figure 1g,h) and –E (Supporting Information File 1, Figure S2), where the cellulose fibers are fully coated with silver layers. In the samples Ag-NP/cellulose-NF–A, –B and –C (Figure 1a–f), silver nanoparticles with an average size of 46.5, 70.2, and 75.8 nm (Supporting

Tailoring the magnetic properties of cobalt ferrite nanoparticles using the polyol process

• Malek Bibani,
• Romain Breitwieser,
• Alex Aubert,
• Vincent Loyau,
• Silvana Mercone,
• Souad Ammar and
• Fayna Mammeri

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1166–1176, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.116

• fibers, made by electrospinning [9]. Focusing on this latter class of materials, the polymer exhibiting the most interesting ferro-and piezoelectric properties is a semi-crystalline fluoropolymer: poly(vinylidene fluoride) or PVDF. Mixing PVDF with magnetic nanoparticles leads to a higher polymer

Photoactive nanoarchitectures based on clays incorporating TiO₂ and ZnO nanoparticles

• Eduardo Ruiz-Hitzky,
• Pilar Aranda,
• Marwa Akkari,
• Nithima Khaorapapong and
• Makoto Ogawa

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1140–1156, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.114

• reactivity can be modified [48][49]. TiO2 and ZnO NPs with different shapes, sizes and exposed crystal facets were assembled to yield hollow particles, fibers, nanosheets, nanowires, nanorods, nanoflowers and nanobelts through various synthesis routes including template synthesis [50][51][52][53

Porous N- and S-doped carbon–carbon composite electrodes by soft-templating for redox flow batteries

• Maike Schnucklake,
• László Eifert,
• Jonathan Schneider,
• Roswitha Zeis and
• Christina Roth

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1131–1139, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.113

• to serve as electrodes in the VRFB, since they combine the desired properties of the two components, namely good electron conductivity and high surface area. The carbon fibers as supporting material possess a high electron conductivity, while the amorphous carbon coating provides the catalytic

• the porogen is removed, was performed to obtain highly porous carbon electrodes co-doped with nitrogen and sulfur. But not all of the formed carbon coating sticks to the surface of the felt fibers, some excess co-doped carbon material exists besides. This additional material is referred to as “bulk

• material” in the following text (Figure 1). Structural characterization For a detailed insight into the morphology of the electrode, SEM images of the carbonized sample, N-doped carbon felt and S- and N-doped composite material were taken at two different magnifications (Figure 2). The fibers of the

Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles as a saturable absorber for giant chirped pulse generation

• Ji-Shu Liu,
• Xiao-Hui Li,
• Abdul Qyyum,
• Yi-Xuan Guo,
• Tong Chai,
• Hua Xu and
• Jie Jiang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1065–1072, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.107

• 0.75 m erbium-doped fiber (EDF) with a 110 dB/m peak absorption coefficient at 1530 nm and a dispersion parameter (D) of −36 ps/nm/km. The EDF has an absorption coefficient of 70 dB/m at 980 nm. The fibers in our cavity are all SMF-28 optical fibers (including the pig-tailed fiber) with a dispersion

Concurrent nanoscale surface etching and SnO₂ loading of carbon fibers for vanadium ion redox enhancement

• Jun Maruyama,
• Shohei Maruyama,
• Tomoko Fukuhara,
• Toru Nagaoka and
• Kei Hanafusa

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 985–992, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.99

• TGP-CSnPc-650Air, which is in agreement with the FESEM image. Surface species The presence of tin oxide on the thermally oxidized surface of the CSnPc-coated carbon fibers was confirmed by XPS. It should be noted here that the Sn content was below the detection limit for the elemental mapping by

• heat treatment in Ar atmosphere at 700 °C, achieved concurrent nanoscale surface etching and SnO2 loading on the carbon fibers. Both the positive and the negative electrode reactions of VRFB were enhanced and the full cell tests showed the significant decreases in the overpotential for both the charge

Nanoscale optical and structural characterisation of silk

• Meguya Ryu,
• Reo Honda,
• Adrian Cernescu,
• Arturas Vailionis,
• Armandas Balčytis,
• Jitraporn Vongsvivut,
• Jing-Liang Li,
• Denver P. Linklater,
• Elena P. Ivanova,
• Vygantas Mizeikis,
• Mark J. Tobin,
• Junko Morikawa and
• Saulius Juodkazis

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 922–929, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.93

• crystalline building blocks of silk. Nanoscale optical and structural properties of silk have been measured from 100 nm thick longitudinal slices of silk fibers with ca. 10 nm resolution, the highest so far. Optical sub-wavelength resolution in hyperspectral mapping of absorbance and molecular orientation

• differences between the reflectance and absorbance of silk fibers with ca. 10 nm resolution. Cross sections of silk fibers were prepared using an ultramicrotome. Silk was chosen due to its well-known spectral properties and its increasing applications as a biocompatible and biodegradable material [13][14

• , China. The white and brown silk fibers used in this work are fibroin fibers obtained by degumming Bombyx mori and Antheraea pernyi silk fibres, respectively. To degum the fibres, the cocoons were boiled three times in an aqueous 0.5% (w/v) Na2CO3 solution to remove the sericin coating. The degummed silk

An iridescent film of porous anodic aluminum oxide with alternatingly electrodeposited Cu and SiO₂ nanoparticles

• Menglei Chang,
• Huawen Hu,
• Haiyan Quan,
• Hongyang Wei,
• Zhangyi Xiong,
• Jiacong Lu,
• Pin Luo,
• Yaoheng Liang,
• Jianzhen Ou and
• Dongchu Chen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 735–745, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.73

• changes were demonstrated with the incident light angle, e.g., from cyan to blue, from orange-red to yellow, from blue-green to blue-purple, and from magenta to dark green. The SiO2/PET film was also applied to the surface of textile fibers, yielding structural colors [29][30][31]. Using a one-step

• stainless steel tube and a carbon fiber as the anode and cathode under the action of a circular electric field, respectively, resulting in a cylindrical fibrous structure. The control over the electrodeposition voltage and time allowed for the fabrication of fibers with different thicknesses, and the

• resulting fibers exhibited structural colors of blue, green, and red when the PS spheres with a diameter of 185, 230 and 290 nm, respectively, were employed [33][34][35]. A natural sedimentation method was also used to prepare a structurally colored SiO2 photonic crystal film. Changing the incident light

Topochemical engineering of composite hybrid fibers using layered double hydroxides and abietic acid

• Liji Sobhana,
• Lokesh Kesavan,
• Jan Gustafsson and
• Pedro Fardim

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 589–605, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.60

• composites by utilizing the intermolecular hydrogen bonds in natural materials. These materials include wood pulp fibers, abietic acid (resin acid) and inexpensive metal salts. In this work, a hybrid composite was created using bleached and unbleached kraft pulp fibers as cellulose platform. In situ co

• -precipitation of layered double hydroxide (LDH) was performed to grow LDH crystals on the surface of the cellulose fibers, followed by the immobilization of abietic acid (AA) on LDH-grafted cellulose. Here we aimed to benefit from the hydrogen bonding between –OH groups of cellulose and LDH, and the –COOH

• groups of AA to obtain charge-directed assembly of one material on the other material. Thus, composite hybrid fibers (C-HF) were produced and then characterized by optical (CAM), spectroscopic (XRD, IR) and microscopic techniques (SEM) to determine their average length and distribution, structure and

The effect of flexible joint-like elements on the adhesive performance of nature-inspired bent mushroom-like fibers

• Elliot Geikowsky,
• Serdar Gorumlu and
• Burak Aksak

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2893–2905, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.268

• packed, tilted and curved fibers of various dimensions to attach to surfaces. While the high elastic modulus of these fibers enables an extremely large number of fibers per unit area, where each fiber stands freely without sticking to its neighbors, the tilt/curvature provides them with the compliance

• compliance of the tip. Here, we mimic this feature using tilted, mushroom-like, stiff fibers comprised of a stiff stalk of elastic modulus 126 MPa, a softer tip of elastic modulus 8.89 MPa, and a joint-like element of elastic modulus 0.45 MPa (very soft), 8.89 MPa (soft), or 126 MPa (stiff) in between. The

• results from load–drag–pull (LDP) experiments performed along (gripping) and against (releasing) the tilt direction indicate that the soft and the very soft joint fibers performed superior to the stiff joint fibers and maintained directionally dependent performance. The soft joint fibers achieved up to 22

Effect of electrospinning process variables on the size of polymer fibers and bead-on-string structures established with a 2³ factorial design

• Paulina Korycka,
• Adam Mirek,
• Katarzyna Kramek-Romanowska,
• Marcin Grzeczkowicz and
• Dorota Lewińska

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2466–2478, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.231

• diameter of uniform and heterogeneous fibers (with and without bead-on-string structures) and the size of beads obtained during the electrospinning process. A 23 factorial design was performed to determine the influence of the following factors: electrical voltage, flow rate and dynamic viscosity of the

• poly(vinylpyrrolidone) ethanolic solution. Factorial design enables the analysis of the mathematical relationship between the chosen factors and the response with a minimum number of experiments. The factor having the most significant impact on the size of beaded fibers and beads was the solution

• diameters possible (i.e., from nanometers to several micrometers) for polymer fibers using this electrostatic method [1][2]. In addition, the technique is rather easy to employ and cost-efficient [3][4]. Currently, by modifying the experimental setup and controlling the properties of the polymer solutions

Hierarchical heterostructures of Bi₂MoO₆ microflowers decorated with Ag₂CO₃ nanoparticles for efficient visible-light-driven photocatalytic removal of toxic pollutants

• Shijie Li,
• Wei Jiang,
• Shiwei Hu,
• Yu Liu,
• Yanping Liu,
• Kaibing Xu and
• Jianshe Liu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2297–2305, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.214

• , Zhejiang Ocean University, Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province 316022, China State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, Research Center for Analysis and Measurement, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China State Environmental Protection Engineering Center for Pollution