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

• mostly defined by the contacting material properties and the real contact area. In non-vacuum environments the presence of contaminants can significantly impact these processes, as will be discussed later in this review. Despite the importance of understanding of the nanocontact evolution, only a few

Comparing postdeposition reactions of electrons and radicals with Pt nanostructures created by focused electron beam induced deposition

• Julie A. Spencer,
• Michael Barclay,
• Miranda J. Gallagher,
• Robert Winkler,
• Ilyas Unlu,
• Yung-Chien Wu,
• Harald Plank,
• Lisa McElwee-White and
• D. Howard Fairbrother

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2410–2424, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.240

• could also be exploited to help redisperse metals, such as Pt, which have nucleated as a result of sintering during catalysis. Other Pt-containing deposits In contrast to the effectiveness of AH towards purification of PtCl2, there was no measureable removal of carbon or phosphorus contaminants for

Involvement of two uptake mechanisms of gold and iron oxide nanoparticles in a co-exposure scenario using mouse macrophages

• Dimitri Vanhecke,
• Dagmar A. Kuhn,
• Dorleta Jimenez de Aberasturi,
• Sandor Balog,
• Ana Milosevic,
• Dominic Urban,
• Diana Peckys,
• Niels de Jonge,
• Wolfgang J. Parak,
• Alke Petri-Fink and
• Barbara Rothen-Rutishauser

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2396–2409, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.239

• comparison with FeOxNPs. However, it should be noted that the presence of an intracellular transport system for the AuNPs cannot be ruled out completely. Conclusion Most studies on NPs focus on exposure to a single analyte. The existing literature on joint toxicity of NPs and co-existing contaminants is

Adsorbate-driven cooling of carbene-based molecular junctions

• Giuseppe Foti and
• Héctor Vázquez

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2060–2068, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.206

• . STM break-junction measurements are often carried out in solution, where, in addition to target molecules, solvent molecules are also present [11][12][13][14][15][16]. The presence of contaminants that might diffuse on the surface and cause fluctuations in conductance or sudden changes in the junction

Fluorination of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes: from CF₄ plasma chemistry to surface functionalization

• Claudia Struzzi,
• Mattia Scardamaglia,
• Jean-François Colomer,
• Alberto Verdini,
• Luca Floreano,
• Rony Snyders and
• Carla Bittencourt

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1723–1733, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.173

• combination of these experimental approaches enables evaluating the nature of the species that are generated inside the glow considering the presence of contaminants in the background pressure and at the walls of the functionalization chamber. These contaminants are responsible for the CO, CO2 and COF2

• plasma-activated background contaminants in the vacuum chamber, thus generating COF and COF2 as well. The signal corresponding to ionized HF raises for applied power higher than 110 W, in correspondence to the intensities depletion of ionized CF2, CF, COF and COF2, suggesting a high fragmentation rate

• presence of contaminants in the background pressure and on the walls of the chamber are responsible for the CO, CO2 and COF2 production due to reactions occurring within the discharge. Although an ion current is measured in the mass spectrum relatively to the COF ionized molecule, FTIR analysis excludes

Metal oxide nanostructures: preparation, characterization and functional applications as chemical sensors

• Dario Zappa,
• Angela Bertuna,
• Elisabetta Comini,
• Navpreet Kaur,
• Nicola Poli,
• Veronica Sberveglieri and
• Giorgio Sberveglieri

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1205–1217, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.122

• . Samples were finally mounted on TO39 packages using electro-soldered gold wires. A flow-meter technique was used to evaluate the performance of fabricated conductometric devices for the detection of two common air contaminants, namely carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2). Samples were mounted

Synthesis, spectroscopic characterization and thermogravimetric analysis of two series of substituted (metallo)tetraphenylporphyrins

• Rasha K. Al-Shewiki,
• Carola Mende,
• Roy Buschbeck,
• Pablo F. Siles,
• Oliver G. Schmidt,
• Tobias Rüffer and
• Heinrich Lang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1191–1204, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.121

• + K]+ ions and of cations of low m/z values, for example [393]+ (observed in the ESIMS spectra of 2c,d and 3c,d), is due to contaminants that typically appear in such measurements as described in the literature [23][24]. For 2b,c, 3 and 3a–c double charged ion peaks are visible, clearly identifiable

Growth, structure and stability of sputter-deposited MoS₂ thin films

• Reinhard Kaindl,
• Bernhard C. Bayer,
• Roland Resel,
• Thomas Müller,
• Viera Skakalova,
• Gerlinde Habler,
• Rainer Abart,
• Alexey S. Cherevan,
• Dominik Eder,
• Maxime Blatter,
• Fabian Fischer,
• Jannik C. Meyer,
• Dmitry K. Polyushkin and
• Wolfgang Waldhauser

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1115–1126, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.113

• the films [37][38]. This suggests that possibly S atoms (and/or other ad-atoms such as Ar, or residual co-sputtered contaminants such as metals or oxygen from the PVD system) may have been placed in between the MoS2 layers, resulting in the observed increased interlayer spacing and reduced mass

ZnO nanoparticles sensitized by CuInZn_xS_2+x quantum dots as highly efficient solar light driven photocatalysts

• Florian Donat,
• Serge Corbel,
• Halima Alem,
• Steve Pontvianne,
• Lavinia Balan,
• Ghouti Medjahdi and
• Raphaël Schneider

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1080–1093, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.110

• ; singlet oxygen; ZCIS quantum dots; ZnO; Introduction Over the last twenty years, the field of photocatalysis has attracted wide attention due to the environmental and energy crisis. Photocatalysis is considered to be a green technology, allowing the degradation of numerous contaminants both in water and

Graphene functionalised by laser-ablated V₂O₅ for a highly sensitive NH₃ sensor

• Margus Kodu,
• Artjom Berholts,
• Tauno Kahro,
• Mati Kook,
• Peeter Ritslaid,
• Helina Seemen,
• Tea Avarmaa,
• Harry Alles and
• Raivo Jaaniso

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 571–578, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.61

• established in order to clean the graphene surface and minimise the effect of trace contaminants left from the manufacturing process of the graphene sensor. The V2O5 target was ablated by using a laser pulse energy density of 5.0 J/cm2 in the presence of 5 × 10−2 mbar of O2. During the deposition, the sensor

Impact of air exposure and annealing on the chemical and electronic properties of the surface of SnO₂ nanolayers deposited by rheotaxial growth and vacuum oxidation

• Monika Kwoka and
• Maciej Krzywiecki

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 514–521, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.55

• carbon contamination. After air exposure the relative [O]/[Sn] concentration increased to 1.80 while maintaining a relatively low level of carbon contaminants. Subsequent UHV annealing led to a relative [O]/[Sn] concentration comparable to the pristine samples. The oxidation resulted in a variation of

• the O-Sn4+ as well as the O-Sn2+ components at 531.2 eV and 530.4 eV, respectively, a small additional component was visible at a binding energy about 533 eV. We suspect that it could be attributed to O=C or C–OH contaminants, likely existing at the surface of RGVO SnO2 nanolayers after exposure to

• ] concentration reached a value comparable to the pristine samples. However, looking at the respective O 1s and Sn 3d5/2 spectral lines shown in Figure 2e,f it is easy to observe that i) the SnO2 phase became more dominant and ii) the amount of contaminants decreased. The first finding led us to conclusion that

Study of the surface properties of ZnO nanocolumns used for thin-film solar cells

• Neda Neykova,
• Jiri Stuchlik,
• Karel Hruska,
• Ales Poruba,
• Zdenek Remes and
• Ognen Pop-Georgievski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 446–451, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.48

• –H contributions centered at 530.4, 531.7 and 532.5 eV, respectively. The O=C and C–O–H contributions originate from organic contaminants adsorbed on the ZnO NCs surface during the transfer of the substrates to the XPS chamber. The plasma treatments that are typically used in the solar cell

• O 1s spectra and a strong increase of the contributions at about 531.7 eV, mainly due to the rise of the plasma induced Zn–O–H and Zn–O− contributions [18]. Pristine nanocolumns are characterized by a ratio between the non-lattice oxygen (Zn–O–H, Zn–O−) (excluding the O=C contaminants contributions

Nanoscale isoindigo-carriers: self-assembly and tunable properties

• Tatiana N. Pashirova,
• Andrei V. Bogdanov,
• Lenar I. Musin,
• Julia K. Voronina,
• Irek R. Nizameev,
• Marsil K. Kadirov,
• Vladimir F. Mironov,
• Lucia Ya. Zakharova,
• Shamil K. Latypov and
• Oleg G. Sinyashin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 313–324, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.34

• soaking it in nitric acid for 5–7 min, rinsing again with double-distilled water, and finally flame-drying. All glassware was soaked in nitric acid to avoid any contaminants, thoroughly rinsed with double-distilled water, and then steamed before use. Temperature was kept at 25 ± 0.2 °C during all

Laser irradiation in water for the novel, scalable synthesis of black TiO_x photocatalyst for environmental remediation

• Massimo Zimbone,
• Giuseppe Cacciato,
• Mohamed Boutinguiza,
• Vittorio Privitera and
• Maria Grazia Grimaldi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 196–202, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.21

• widely used for both water splitting and mineralization of organic contaminants in solution [2]. The applications range from third generation solar cells [3] to material for air or water purification [4] to antifogging and self-cleaning surfaces [5][6]. The main advantage of this material is its high

Optical and photocatalytic properties of TiO₂ nanoplumes

• Viviana Scuderi,
• Massimo Zimbone,
• Maria Miritello,
• Giuseppe Nicotra,
• Giuliana Impellizzeri and
• Vittorio Privitera

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 190–195, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.20

• renewable energy generation but also in sustainable technology to remove dangerous contaminants from water [2][3][4][5][6]. In this context, TiO2 is one of the most extensively studied materials. However, TiO2 is characterized by a wide band gap (ca. 3 eV) resulting in a poor absorption of light in the

Nanocrystalline TiO₂/SnO₂ heterostructures for gas sensing

• Barbara Lyson-Sypien,
• Anna Kusior,
• Mieczylaw Rekas,
• Jan Zukrowski,
• Marta Gajewska,
• Katarzyna Michalow-Mauke,
• Thomas Graule,
• Marta Radecka and
• Katarzyna Zakrzewska

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 108–122, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.12

• were carried out in dry atmosphere. The synthetic air contained less than 1 ppm of water vapor while that of hydrogen + argon mixture had less than 10 ppm of contaminants. The relative humidity level was verified to be of about 0–1% RH at room temperature. Dynamic changes in the electrical resistance

Role of RGO support and irradiation source on the photocatalytic activity of CdS–ZnO semiconductor nanostructures

• Suneel Kumar,
• Rahul Sharma,
• Vipul Sharma,
• Gurunarayanan Harith,
• Vaidyanathan Sivakumar and
• Venkata Krishnan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1684–1697, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.161

• photocatalytic decomposition of organic pollutants [4][5][6][7][8]. These semiconductor photocatalysts not only degrade the contaminants, but also cause their complete mineralization into CO2, H2O and mineral acids [9][10]. Thus, it is advantageous over physico-chemical methods such as flocculation–coagulation

• [11], ozonization [12] and adsorption [13], as these methods are unable to remove the contaminants completely. Some recent studies have reported ZnO as a better photocatalytic material in the degradation of organic dyes in aqueous solutions, because of high charge carrier mobility and significantly

Development of adsorptive membranes by confinement of activated biochar into electrospun nanofibers

• Mehrdad Taheran,
• Mitra Naghdi,
• Satinder K. Brar,
• Emile Knystautas,
• Mausam Verma,
• Rao. Y. Surampalli and
• Jose. R. Valero

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1556–1563, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.149

• Solutions Inc., 2300, rue Jean-Perrin, Québec, Québec G2C 1T9, Canada Department of Civil Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, N104 SEC PO Box 886105, Lincoln, NE 68588-6105, USA 10.3762/bjnano.7.149 Abstract Adsorptive membranes have many applications in removal of contaminants, such as heavy

• metals and organic contaminants from water. Recently, increasing concentrations of pharmaceutically active compounds, especially antibiotics, such as chlortetracycline in water and wastewater sources has raised concerns about their potentially adverse impacts on environment and human health. In this

• chlortetracycline showed that, under environmentally relevant concentrations, the fabricated adsorptive NFMs had a potential for removal of these types of emerging contaminants from water and wastewaters. Keywords: adsorptive membrane; biochar; chlortetracycline; nanofibers; Introduction Adsorptive membranes have

An efficient recyclable magnetic material for the selective removal of organic pollutants

• Clément Monteil,
• Nathalie Bar,
• Agnès Bee and
• Didier Villemin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1447–1453, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.136

• magnetic core. Polyethylenimine is phosphonated at different percentages by a one-step process and used to coat maghemite nanoparticles. It selectively extracts high amounts of cationic and anionic contaminants over a wide range of pH values, depending on the adjustable number of phosphonate groups

• of the NP-PEIP in removing pollutants was determined by the adsorption of two organic dyes used as contaminants models: the positively charged (regardless of the pH value) methylene blue (MB) and the negatively charged (from pH 3.4 to basic pH) methyl orange (MO). Such dyes are pollutants themselves

• cycles (Figure 5B). A little loss of activity for MO and MB was observed but more than 90% of contaminants were removed after the seventh cycle. The loss in magnetic particles between cycles is negligible compared to the amount of pollutant extracted and in addition, no traces of iron were detected by

Modelling of ‘sub-atomic’ contrast resulting from back-bonding on Si(111)-7×7

• Adam Sweetman,
• Samuel P. Jarvis and
• Mohammad A. Rashid

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 937–945, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.85

• common vacuum contaminant, our tip termination could also easily be a number of other common contaminants (for example H, OH or O), which would also suppress the chemical reactivity of the tip apex. Therefore our modelling, using CO parameters, is only intended to represent a ‘generic’ passivated tip. In

High-resolution noncontact AFM and Kelvin probe force microscopy investigations of self-assembled photovoltaic donor–acceptor dyads

• Benjamin Grévin,
• Pierre-Olivier Schwartz,
• Laure Biniek,
• Martin Brinkmann,
• Nicolas Leclerc,
• Elena Zaborova and
• Stéphane Méry

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 799–808, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.71

• Ar-sputtered in vacuum to remove the oxide layer and possible contaminants. KPFM measurements were performed in FM mode with the modulation bias VAC (typically 1 V peak-to-peak at 900 Hz) and the compensation voltage VDC applied to the cantilever (tip bias Vtip = VDC). In that configuration, the

Characterization of spherical domains at the polystyrene thin film–water interface

• Khurshid Ahmad,
• Xuezeng Zhao,
• Yunlu Pan and
• Danish Hussain

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 581–590, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.51

• , their insensitivity to lateral force, absence of long-range hydrophobic attraction, and the presence of possible contaminants and scratches on these domains suggested that these objects are most likely blisters formed by the stretched PS film. Furthermore, the analysis of the PS film before and after

• ; contaminants; defects; nanobubbles; water permeation; Introduction Thin films of several nanometer thickness have long been a topic of interest for researchers. The application of such thin films has been demonstrated in nonvolatile memory devices [1], sensors [2][3], for the modification of emissive

• obtained on different sized spherical domains are given in Supporting Information File 1, Figure S6. Analysis of phase contrast and presence of contaminants on the spherical domains The phase shift is sensitive to the variation in the local surface property [23]. Any change in the surface property can be

Probing the local environment of a single OPE3 molecule using inelastic tunneling electron spectroscopy

• Riccardo Frisenda,
• Mickael L. Perrin and
• Herre S. J. van der Zant

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2477–2484, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.257

• peak at 215–220 mV is not identified in the calculations. This may be due to contaminants close to the molecular junction, and/or overtones of lower energy modes. In contrast to the modes mentioned above, the experimental modes labeled with Roman numbers in Table 1 and Figure 2 are present with

Ultrastructural changes in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus induced by positively charged silver nanoparticles

• Dulce G. Romero-Urbina,
• Humberto H. Lara,
• J. Jesús Velázquez-Salazar,
• M. Josefina Arellano-Jiménez,
• Eduardo Larios,
• Anand Srinivasan,
• Jose L. Lopez-Ribot and
• Miguel José Yacamán

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2396–2405, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.246

• , microwave irradiation generated thermal energy that was able to convert silver nitrate into metallic silver. In such a manner, we are able to produce silver nanoparticles in water without the introduction of contaminants and toxic chemicals, such as borohydride or chloride. Determination of particle size

Plasma fluorination of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes: functionalization and thermal stability

• Claudia Struzzi,
• Mattia Scardamaglia,
• Axel Hemberg,
• Luca Petaccia,
• Jean-François Colomer,
• Rony Snyders and
• Carla Bittencourt

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2263–2271, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.232

• properties of the starting materials. Various techniques have been employed to achieve a controlled fluorination yield; however, the effect of contaminants is rarely discussed, although they are often present. In the present work, the fluorination of vertically aligned multiwalled carbon nanotubes was