Glucose-derived carbon materials with tailored properties as electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction

• Rafael Gomes Morais,
• Natalia Rey-Raap,
• José Luís Figueiredo and
• Manuel Fernando Ribeiro Pereira

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1089–1102, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.109

• ]. The main advantage of carbon materials is the possibility of modifying their physical and chemical properties resulting in a more electroactive material [2][3][10], which is an especially important feature for the ORR. The incorporation of heteroatoms like nitrogen [11][12], oxygen [13], sulfur [14

Structural and optical properties of penicillamine-protected gold nanocluster fractions separated by sequential size-selective fractionation

• Xiupei Yang,
• Zhengli Yang,
• Fenglin Tang,
• Jing Xu,
• Maoxue Zhang and
• Martin M. F. Choi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 955–966, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.96

• size and the ratio of Au atoms to ligands of AuNCs. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) has also been applied to observe the molecular dependence on the gold and sulfur chemical state of organosulfur monolayers of the fractions. The photoluminescence spectra of these AuNCs in the range of 900–790 nm

• shifted by 0.76 eV with respect to the largest clusters (F36%). The trend of this shift is closely related to the oxidation state of Au, and its magnitude is similar to that of other Au(I) complexes [31]. The analysis of the S 2p peak is a reliable method for assessing the chemical bonds of sulfur atoms

• (2p1/2). Each doublet has a peak area ratio of 2:1 and a splitting of ≈1.2 eV that is consistent with the results determined theoretically by the spin–orbit splitting effect. The sulfur binding energy for S 2p3/2 at 162 eV suggests that all the sulfur atoms are bound to gold as a thiolate species [34

In situ AFM visualization of Li–O₂ battery discharge products during redox cycling in an atmospherically controlled sample cell

• Kumar Virwani,
• Younes Ansari,
• Khanh Nguyen,
• Francisco José Alía Moreno-Ortiz,
• Jangwoo Kim,
• Maxwell J. Giammona,
• Ho-Cheol Kim and
• Young-Hye La

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 930–940, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.94

• of water in the electrolyte. In our previous attempt [25] a closed AFM cell was exposed to atmosphere during imaging and discharge with oxygen saturated solvent precluding any impedance spectroscopy and cell recharge studies. Lang et al. discussed in situ AFM studies of lithium/sulfur [26] batteries

Tungsten disulfide-based nanocomposites for photothermal therapy

• Tzuriel Levin,
• Hagit Sade,
• Rina Ben-Shabbat Binyamini,
• Maayan Pour,
• Iftach Nachman and
• Jean-Paul Lellouche

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 811–822, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.81

• two hexagonal sulfur layers. WS2 belongs to a family of compounds called transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs), with a general formula of MX2 (M = W, Mo and X = S, Se, Te) and a similar structure based on triple-layers. Good mechanical properties of WS2 inorganic nanotubes (INTs; up to 15 µm length

• [45], nanodots [40] and hollow spheres [46]. Recently, WS2 nanotubes functionalized with C-dots showed promising results for PTT and cell imaging [47]. We selected nanotubes for their mechanical properties and the possibility of coordinate bonds with sulfur atoms, which enables bonding with CAN-mag

Trapping polysulfide on two-dimensional molybdenum disulfide for Li–S batteries through phase selection with optimized binding

• Sha Dong,
• Xiaoli Sun and
• Zhiguo Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 774–780, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.77

• batteries. Keywords: Li–S batteries; molybdenum disulfide; phase transformation; Introduction To satisfy the increasing demand for high-capacity energy storage systems, rechargeable lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries have attracted much attention in recent years due to a high theoretical specific energy

• density of 2567 Wh/kg, a high theoretical capacity of 1672 mAh/g, low cost, non-toxicity, and the abundance of sulfur [1]. The energy density of a Li–S battery is six times higher than that of current commercially used lithium-ion batteries (387 Wh/kg) [2][3][4][5]. Typically, a rechargeable Li–S battery

• is composed of a sulfur cathode and a metallic Li anode, with an organic liquid electrolyte as the ionic conductor, and a porous separator. The Li–S batteries undergo the reaction of 16Li + S8 → 8Li2S, with a simplified reaction sequence of S8 → Li2S8 → Li2S6/Li2S4 → Li2S2/Li2S. Low coulombic

Hydrophilicity and carbon chain length effects on the gas sensing properties of chemoresistive, self-assembled monolayer carbon nanotube sensors

• Juan Casanova-Cháfer,
• Carla Bittencourt and
• Eduard Llobet

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 565–577, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.58

• environment of these molecules was absolutely different. In other words, despite the fact that what is detected in both cases is the C–S elongation, the sulfur in free C3H6O2S was bonded in addition to a hydrogen atom, while in thiol attached to Au-MWCNT samples, the sulfur was bonded to a gold atom. Moreover

• ). In the reference sample, the presence of only gold and carbon related peaks is clear; after the reaction with thiols, we can observe the presence of peaks generated by photoelectrons emitted from sulfur atoms for both samples and oxygen atoms for the short-chain thiol. In order to investigate the

• a short-chain thiol sample in Figure 4b. The S 2p3/2 peak centered at 161.9 eV is reported to be generated by photoelectrons emitted from sulfur atoms bound to gold atoms at the gold nanoparticle surface as thiolate species [38]. The nonexistence of peaks in the binding energy region above 164 eV

Direct observation of the CVD growth of monolayer MoS₂ using in situ optical spectroscopy

• Claudia Beatriz López-Posadas,
• Yaxu Wei,
• Wanfu Shen,
• Daniel Kahr,
• Michael Hohage and
• Lidong Sun

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 557–564, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.57

• properties during growth can be recognized by a close look at Figure 2a, which shows the DT spectra recorded during the CVD process. Based on the evolution of the DTS, we divide our CVD process into three sections. For the first section (section I) starting from the preheating of the sulfur source and the

• furnace, it can be seen that the DT spectrum remains unchanged during the first 33 min, although the temperature measured at the position related of sulfur, MoO3, and the substrate increased. This observation shows that no thin film was deposited during this period. The second section (section II

• spectroscopy, its correlation with the temperature at the positions related to the sulfur source, MoO3 source, and the substrate are plotted in Figure 2e and Figure 2f. In Figure 2f, the DT signal at 2.7 eV is selected to represent the growth of the MoS2. By looking at Figure 2e and Figure 2f, it becomes clear

Quantification and coupling of the electromagnetic and chemical contributions in surface-enhanced Raman scattering

• Yarong Su,
• Yuanzhen Shi,
• Ping Wang,
• Jinglei Du,
• Markus B. Raschke and
• Lin Pang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 549–556, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.56

• be the strong sulfur–metal bond itself with its effect on the electronic structure of the phenyl group that leads to the modification and CE of the Raman polarizability of the associated modes. Similarly, a direct modification of the magnitude of CE through a vibrational Stark effect is not expected

A porous 3D-RGO@MWCNT hybrid material as Li–S battery cathode

• Yongguang Zhang,
• Jun Ren,
• Yan Zhao,
• Taizhe Tan,
• Fuxing Yin and
• Yichao Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 514–521, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.52

• structure. When used in Li–S batteries, the 3D porous lattice matrix not only accommodates a high content of sulfur, but also induces a confinement effect towards polysulfide, and thereby reduces the “shuttle effect”. The as-prepared S-3D-RGO@MWCNT composite delivers an initial specific capacity of 1102

• nanotubes; energy storage and conversion; Li–S batteries; nanocomposites; Introduction Li–S batteries are notable for their high theoretical specific capacity (1675 mAh·g−1) and energy density (2600 Wh·kg−1). Sulfur is an abundant element, enabling Li–S batteries to be highly competitive among the various

• battery technologies. The actual application of Li–S batteries, however, is hindered by several challenges, i.e., i) the poor conductivity of sulfur and ii) the “shuttle effect” of polysulfides (Li2Sx, 4 < x ≤ 8) [1][2][3][4]. To achieve a high specific capacity, a sulfur cathode with high electrical

Uniform Sb₂S₃ optical coatings by chemical spray method

• Jako S. Eensalu,
• Atanas Katerski,
• Erki Kärber,
• Ilona Oja Acik,
• Arvo Mere and
• Malle Krunks

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 198–210, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.18

• sideways on the substrate (3-220-As-dep., Figure 3I,J, Figure S3C,D). Rod-shaped Sb2S3 grains were able to grow due to the nature of the material as well as due to complex interactions between the substrate and the turbulence of the spray during deposition [29]. Increasing the sulfur precursor

• , Figure 4C,D). The decreasing layer thickness indicates that approximately a quarter of Sb2S3 by volume has either evaporated or sublimated, i.e., volatilized. Incongruent evaporation, i.e., depletion of sulfur in Sb2S3 during evaporation, may cause the change in Sb2S3 layer morphology, as volatilization

• TD ≥ 210 °C on glass/ITO/TiO2 substrates in air. Increasing the concentration of the sulfur precursor in spray solution from Sb/S 1:3 to 1:6 reduced the crystallization temperature of Sb2S3 layers by ≈10 °C. Uniform layers of amorphous Sb2S3 (Eg ≈ 2.7 eV, S/Sb 1:3) were deposited on glass/ITO/TiO2

Zn/F-doped tin oxide nanoparticles synthesized by laser pyrolysis: structural and optical properties

• Florian Dumitrache,
• Iuliana P. Morjan,
• Elena Dutu,
• Ion Morjan,
• Claudiu Teodor Fleaca,
• Monica Scarisoreanu,
• Alina Ilie,
• Marius Dumitru,
• Cristian Mihailescu,
• Adriana Smarandache and
• Gabriel Prodan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 9–21, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.2

• of the simultaneous doping with both cations and anions. In the case of a high aluminum and lower sulfur co-doped film made by spray pyrolysis at 480 °C, the transparency increased and the grain size was significantly reduced for the optimal composition [22]. This approach benefits from the reduction

• decomposition of SF6. The elemental analysis reveals that the laser pyrolysis method can be used to synthesize nanoparticles with a large variation of Zn doping (from 4 to 0.1 atom %), by controlling only the SnMe4 to ZnEt2 ratio in the reagent mixture. Also, there is no clear evidence of sulfur in any of the

• , 95% purity) liquids from Sigma and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), oxygen (O2), argon (Ar) (99.99999 vol %) and ethylene (C2H4) (99.999 vol %) bottled gases from Linde. The reactive precursors used to obtain zinc-doped tin nanopowders, SnMe4 and ZnEt2, have no infrared absorption bands around the CO2

Electrospun one-dimensional nanostructures: a new horizon for gas sensing materials

• Muhammad Imran,
• Nunzio Motta and
• Mahnaz Shafiei

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2128–2170, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.202

Spin-coated planar Sb₂S₃ hybrid solar cells approaching 5% efficiency

• Pascal Kaienburg,
• Benjamin Klingebiel and
• Thomas Kirchartz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2114–2124, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.200

• , spin-coating of different antimony- and sulfur-containing precursors was proposed [29][36][37]. A metal-organic complex is formed in solution which is then spin-coated and afterwards thermally decomposed. Just like for CBD [2][41] or ALD [22][32] the resulting amorphous film needs to be annealed at

• device efficiency of 2.7% was obtained for Sb/TU ratios that imply a strongly sulfur-deficient stoichiometry according to the previously mentioned study [29]. However, Gil et al. [38] performed crystallization in an H2S atmosphere which could increase the sulfur content in the film. In a follow up work

• Experimental section. It is noteworthy that both processes use an excess of the sulfur precursors. For the case of Sb-TU it was shown that stoichiometric crystalline Sb2S3 with an S/Sb ratio of 3/2 = 1.5 in the resulting film, which showed the best performance in an ETA solar cell, requires this initial excess

Metal-free catalysis based on nitrogen-doped carbon nanomaterials: a photoelectron spectroscopy point of view

• Mattia Scardamaglia and
• Carla Bittencourt

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2015–2031, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.191

• graphene, modify its morphology and, in addition, activate its surface. Heteroatom, or substitutional, doping is obtained when a foreign atom replaces a carbon atom in the hexagonal lattice; typical heteroatoms are nitrogen [37][38][39][40][41], boron [42][43][44], sulfur [39][45][46], and phosphorous [47

• . explained the interesting interaction between oxygen and boron-containing carbon nanomaterials: because it is an electron acceptor, B easily oxidizes carbon atoms in a site-dependent way [62]. Besides boron [61][63][64], other elements that have been co-doped with nitrogen are sulfur [65] and phosphorus [66

Synthesis of rare-earth metal and rare-earth metal-fluoride nanoparticles in ionic liquids and propylene carbonate

• Marvin Siebels,
• Lukas Mai,
• Laura Schmolke,
• Kai Schütte,
• Juri Barthel,
• Junpei Yue,
• Jörg Thomas,
• Bernd M. Smarsly,
• Anjana Devi,
• Roland A. Fischer and
• Christoph Janiak

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1881–1894, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.180

• Figure S7b, Supporting Information File 1) gave the expected bands for Gd and Er. The small fluorine and sulfur peaks are due to residual IL around the nanoparticles (Figure S3, Supporting Information File 1). We suggest that the residual IL coverage of the RE-NPs also prevents their oxidation during the

SO₂ gas adsorption on carbon nanomaterials: a comparative study

• Deepu J. Babu,
• Divya Puthusseri,
• Frank G. Kühl,
• Sherif Okeil,
• Michael Bruns,
• Manfred Hampe and
• Jörg J. Schneider

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1782–1792, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.169

• found to dominate the adsorption behavior in activated carbon, SO2 adsorption on carbon nanomaterials occurs by a physisorption mechanism. Keywords: adsorption; carbon nanohorns; carbon nanotubes; heat of adsorption; sulfur dioxide; vertically aligned carbon nanotubes; Introduction Compared to the

• setup IsoSORP Series SC-HP Static (Rubotherm, Bochum, Germany), in combination with an automatic gas-dosing system (in operation for blank and buoyancy measurements with helium and a manual gas dosing system, in operation for measurements with sulfur dioxide (both from Rubotherm, Bochum, Germany). The

Toward the use of CVD-grown MoS₂ nanosheets as field-emission source

• Geetanjali Deokar,
• Nitul S. Rajput,
• Junjie Li,
• Francis Leonard Deepak,
• Wei Ou-Yang,
• Nicolas Reckinger,
• Carla Bittencourt,
• Jean-Francois Colomer and
• Mustapha Jouiad

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1686–1694, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.160

• , followed by continuous Ar flow for 1 h was performed. This reduces the oxygen content in the reactor prior to the sulfurization process. The growth conditions were taken and improved from our previously reported MoS2 NS synthesis method [18]. In a typical sulfurization process, 220 g sulfur powder was

Nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes coated with zinc oxide nanoparticles as sulfur encapsulator for high-performance lithium/sulfur batteries

• Yan Zhao,
• Zhengjun Liu,
• Liancheng Sun,
• Yongguang Zhang,
• Yuting Feng,
• Xin Wang,
• Indira Kurmanbayeva and
• Zhumabay Bakenov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1677–1685, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.159

• carbon nanotubes coated with zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO@NCNT) were prepared via a sol–gel route as sulfur encapsulator for lithium/sulfur (Li/S) batteries. The electrochemical properties of the S/ZnO@NCNT composite cathode were evaluated in Li/S batteries. It delivered an initial capacity of 1032

• bonds in the composite. This indicates that an enhanced cycling and rate capability of the S/ZnO@NCNT composite could be ascribed to advantages of the ZnO@NCNT matrix. In the composite, the active ZnO-rich surfaces offer a high sulfur-bonding capability and the NCNT core acts as a conductive framework

• providing pathways for ion and electron transport. The as-prepared S/ZnO@NCNT composite is a promising cathode material for Li/S batteries. Keywords: batteries; nanocomposites; sol–gel processes; sulfur; zinc oxide (ZnO); Introduction Due to its high theoretical specific capacity of 1672 mAh·g−1 and

Sulfur-, nitrogen- and platinum-doped titania thin films with high catalytic efficiency under visible-light illumination

• Boštjan Žener,
• Lev Matoh,
• Giorgio Carraro,
• Bojan Miljević and
• Romana Cerc Korošec

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1629–1640, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.155

• (ammonium nitrate, urea), sulfur (thiourea) and platinum (chloroplatinic acid), coated onto glass substrates by dip-coating, and thermally treated in a muffle furnace to promote crystallization. The resulting thin films were then characterized by various techniques (i.e., TGA-DSC-MS, XRD, BET, XPS, SEM

• the conduction band. Sulfur doping has also been shown to enhance the photocatalytic activity under visible-light illumination. Sulfur can be doped as an anion (S2−), replacing oxygen, or as a cation (S6+), thus replacing titanium [37][38]. Substitutional doping of sulfur in TiO2 narrows the band gap

• , water (m/z = 18) evolves, whereas in the third (510–560 °C) step, sulfur oxides (m/z = 48 and 64) evolve. Exothermic peaks, due to to the process of crystallization are overlapped by endothermic peaks, originating from the evolution of sulfates. Based on these results and the results of XRD measurements

Cr(VI) remediation from aqueous environment through modified-TiO₂-mediated photocatalytic reduction

• Rashmi Acharya,
• Brundabana Naik and
• Kulamani Parida

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1448–1470, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.137

• , sodium pyro-sulfite, hydrazine hydrate or sulfur dioxide [22][23][24][25]. In contrast, semiconductor-based photocatalysis has received considerable attention worldwide for its diversified potential applications to solve the global energy crisis and environmental issues in a sustainable and ecologically

Synthesis and characterization of two new TiO₂-containing benzothiazole-based imine composites for organic device applications

• Anna Różycka,
• Agnieszka Iwan,
• Krzysztof Artur Bogdanowicz,
• Michal Filapek,
• Natalia Górska,
• Damian Pociecha,
• Marek Malinowski,
• Patryk Fryń,
• Agnieszka Hreniak,
• Jakub Rysz,
• Paweł Dąbczyński and
• Monika Marzec

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 721–739, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.67

• heterocycles with electron-rich sulfur atoms and electron-withdrawing nitrogen atoms, exhibit good hole transporting properties with a low ionization potential, making them widely used electron-accepting materials in organic solar cells [15][16][17]. Nowadays, imines (azomethines), being condensation products

Tuning adhesion forces between functionalized gold colloidal nanoparticles and silicon AFM tips: role of ligands and capillary forces

• Sven Oras,
• Sergei Vlassov,
• Marta Berholts,
• Rünno Lõhmus and
• Karine Mougin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 660–670, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.61

• organosulfur (thiol) molecules having different tail groups ranging from a highly hydrophilic (–OH, –COOH, –SH, –NH2) to a partially hydrophilic (–O–CH3) and to a more hydrophobic group (–CH3). A covalent bond between the sulfur head group (–SH) and the Au atoms ensured the strong anchorage of the organosulfur

Sensing behavior of flower-shaped MoS₂ nanoflakes: case study with methanol and xylene

• Maryam Barzegar,
• Masoud Berahman and
• Azam Iraji zad

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 608–615, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.57

• model. Then, a sulfur atom at the center of the model was removed and fully relaxed to study the sulfur vacancy. After that, the detection of xylene and methanol with these models were studied. Density functional theory in the local-density approximation with a Perdew–Zunger correlation function was

• sulfur vacancies in the samples. The previous report shows that sulfur vacancies can increase the possibility of charge transfer in MoS2 nanoflakes which may act as the main reason to alter the conductivity [35]. It has been also reported that the crystal phase and edge play a significant role in the

• electro-activity of MoS2 nanosheets. Furthermore, sulfur vacancies contribute significantly to the electronic properties of MoS2 [36][37]. Hence, such sulfur vacancy is desirable for the gas sensing properties of MoS2. To study the application of the flower-shaped MoS2 for gas sensing, the Brunauer–Emmett

Single-step process to improve the mechanical properties of carbon nanotube yarn

• Maria Cecilia Evora,
• Xinyi Lu,
• Nitilaksha Hiremath,
• Nam-Goo Kang,
• Kunlun Hong,
• Roberto Uribe,
• Gajanan Bhat and
• Jimmy Mays

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 545–554, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.52

• intensity for the C–O peak (see Figure 1). As also illustrated in Table 1, some traces of contaminant elements (sulfur (S), iron (Fe) and aluminum (Al)) were observed in XPS spectra of all samples, which can be attributed to traces of the inhibitor metal salt, FeSO4 and other contaminants. The samples

Review: Electrostatically actuated nanobeam-based nanoelectromechanical switches – materials solutions and operational conditions

• Liga Jasulaneca,
• Jelena Kosmaca,
• Raimonds Meija,
• Jana Andzane and
• Donats Erts

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 271–300, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.29

• nanowires’ surface [10][13]. Molybdenum–sulfur–iodine: Excellent functional properties of nanowires based on transition metal chalcogenide-halides, combined with easy synthesis and intrinsic absence of impurities make them attractive NEM switch elements. The properties of these materials include high

• electrical conductivity [134], good thermal and mechanical stability and ability to withstand high (up to 50 V) operational voltages [8]. Molybdenum–sulfur–iodine (Mo6S3I6) molecular wire bundles were investigated as NEM switching elements and as a contact material employing combined in situ TEM