Improvement of the thermoelectric properties of a MoO₃ monolayer through oxygen vacancies

• Wenwen Zheng,
• Wei Cao,
• Ziyu Wang,
• Huixiong Deng,
• Jing Shi and
• Rui Xiong

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2031–2038, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.199

• measured by a figure of merit (ZT) defined as ZT = S2σT/κ, where S, σ, T and κ represent the Seebeck coefficient, electrical conductivity, temperature and thermal conductivity, respectively [2][3]. In the past decade, great efforts have been made to boost the capabilities of thermoelectric materials

• [7] and Li-ion batteries [8][9][10][11]. Like most TMOs, bulk MoO3 has a wide band gap (about 3.0 eV) and low electrical conductivity, which seems inappropriate for thermoelectric devices. However, the electrical properties (including band gap and conductivity) of MoO3 are strongly dependent on the

• concentration of O vacancy concentrations. Hydrogen-ion intercalation [12] and solar-light irradiation [13] can turn MoO3 into MoO3−x and hence increase the electrical conductivity. Understanding the effect of O vacancies in MoO3 is very beneficial for its thermoelectric applications. Moreover, low-dimensional

Nanostructured and oriented metal–organic framework films enabling extreme surface wetting properties

• Andre Mähringer,
• Julian M. Rotter and
• Dana D. Medina

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1994–2003, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.196

• properties and functions, MOFs are intriguing candidates for the design and synthesis of coatings combining a superhydrophilic, superhydrophobic, superoleophilic or superoleophobic character with desired features such as light filtering, hosting cavities, electrical conductivity, etc. In the literature, the

• -CAT-1 crystallites exhibit a hexagonally faceted, needle-like morphology with crystal cross-sections of 30–40 nm and several micrometers in length (Figure 1). In addition, the M-CAT-1 materials are electroactive featuring electrical conductivity values of up to 10−2–10−3 S cm−1 for pressed powder

• use of a MOF allows for encoding further desired surface properties such as light absorption and electrical conductivity. This can be valuable for applications such as photo-electrocatalysis water splitting where a high textural surface area, water contact and light absorption are required. A

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

• carbon cloth–carbon nanotube@metal oxide (CC-CNT@MO) three-dimensional structures combine the high specific capacitance and rich redox sites of metal oxides with the large specific area and high electrical conductivity of carbon nanotubes. The prepared CC-CNT@Fe2O3 anode reaches a high capacity of 226

• high slope at low frequency indicates small capacitive resistance (0.465 Ω) and thus fast ion transport. Therefore, the EIS results prove that the good electrochemical performance of the CC-CNT@NiO electrode can be mainly attributed to its good electrical conductivity and low charge transfer resistance

Charge-transfer interactions between fullerenes and a mesoporous tetrathiafulvalene-based metal–organic framework

• Manuel Souto,
• Joaquín Calbo,
• Samuel Mañas-Valero,
• Aron Walsh and
• Guillermo Mínguez Espallargas

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1883–1893, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.183

• electron-donor TTF ligand is studied in detail by means of different spectroscopic techniques and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Importantly, gas sorption measurements demonstrate that sorption capacity is maintained after encapsulation of fullerenes, whereas the electrical conductivity is

• catalysis [3][4][5]. In addition, electroactive MOFs combining porosity and electrical conductivity [6][7][8] have also attracted much attention during the last years in view of their potential application, for example as chemiresistive sensors [9], field-effect transistors [10] or supercapacitors [11

• ]. Whereas most MOFs are electrical insulators, some have shown to exhibit excellent electrical conductivity and high charge mobility. This was achieved either by an appropriate choice of the building units to form electronically delocalised frameworks, or by incorporating electroactive guest molecules in

TiO₂/GO-coated functional separator to suppress polysulfide migration in lithium–sulfur batteries

• Ning Liu,
• Lu Wang,
• Taizhe Tan,
• Yan Zhao and
• Yongguang Zhang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1726–1736, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.168

• effect and the Li/S batteries with these functional interlayers deliver high gravimetric energy density and superior cyclic performance. Two-dimensional graphene oxide (GO) has excellent thermal stability, an ultrahigh specific surface area, and good electrical conductivity. The polysulfide shuttle can

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

• the electrical conductivity, leading to performance loss. Furthermore, it has been proposed by Schweiss et al. that an increase in the amorphous content in the felt can increase the hydrogen evolution reaction [12]. In one way or the other, functionalization with heteroatoms will always reduce the

• increase in electrical conductivity as well as active sites [16]. In this work, a carbon felt electrode with minimum oxygen functional groups and a larger amount of defects in the form of N-doping and edge sites was prepared by employing the N2 plasma technique. The N2-plasma-treated sample showed enhanced

Upcycling of polyurethane waste by mechanochemistry: synthesis of N-doped porous carbon materials for supercapacitor applications

• Christina Schneidermann,
• Pascal Otto,
• Desirée Leistenschneider,
• Sven Grätz,
• Claudia Eßbach and
• Lars Borchardt

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1618–1627, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.157

• from coconut shells and other biomass waste [19][20][21]. However, the industrial use of plastics for this purpose has not been established yet. The main properties of porous carbon materials [22][23] such as high specific surface area and high electrical conductivity allow for a variety of

• carbon materials can be functionalized with heteroatoms such as nitrogen, which was reported to affect the electrical conductivity [39][40][41][42], the energy storage capacity, and the wettability of the electrodes with electrolyte [43][44][45]. Commonly, nitrogen is inserted into the carbon framework

Kelvin probe force microscopy work function characterization of transition metal oxide crystals under ongoing reduction and oxidation

• Dominik Wrana,
• Karol Cieślik,
• Wojciech Belza,
• Christian Rodenbücher,
• Krzysztof Szot and
• Franciszek Krok

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1596–1607, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.155

• -type (rock-salt-type, B1) cubic structure (Fm−3m, a = 4.184 Å), displaying a wide range of nonstoichiometric values [25]. Our study contains first measurements of electrical conductivity and the work function of crystalline TiO and its response to the ambient air reoxidation. This is all compared to

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

• uniform two-dimensional nanocarbon films, so-called carbon nanosheets, with ca. 10 nm thickness with dispersed nanopore structural motifs. The electrical conductivity of the transferred film was significantly increased after the thermal carbonization process. Nitrogen-doping was carried out simply by

• mixing nitrogen-containing compounds such as pyridine into the original solution of the carbon nanoring molecule. The prepared nitrogen-doped carbon nanosheets exhibited a higher electrical conductivity than the non-doped ones did. It should be noted that these nanomaterial fabrications can be conducted

Rapid thermal annealing for high-quality ITO thin films deposited by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering

• Petronela Prepelita,
• Ionel Stavarache,
• Doina Craciun,
• Florin Garoi,
• Catalin Negrila,
• Beatrice Gabriela Sbarcea and
• Valentin Craciun

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1511–1522, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.149

• ), causing them to decrease. The conductivity of the ITO thin films was determined using the four point-probe method. It was found that the electrical conductivity of the ITO film (d = 370 nm) increases from 5.8 × 103 Ω−1 cm−1 to 1.35 × 104 Ω−1 cm−1 after annealing. We may conclude that the increase in grain

• -treated ITO thin films, with different thickness values.a Typical chemical composition of ITO thin films, determined by XPS measurements. The values of the bandgap width corresponding to direct optical transitions and the electrical conductivity for the as-deposited and RTA-treated ITO samples.a

• ) with Cu Kα radiation (λ = 1.5418 Å) at a power of 40 kV/40 mA. The scan was performed between 20° and 60° with a 2 s/step scan speed and 0.04° step. Optical transmission spectra of the deposited thin films were measured with a UV–vis–NIR Perkin Elmer 950 spectrophotometer (190–3300 nm). The electrical

Flexible freestanding MoS₂-based composite paper for energy conversion and storage

• Florian Zoller,
• Jan Luxa,
• Thomas Bein,
• Dina Fattakhova-Rohlfing,
• Daniel Bouša and
• Zdeněk Sofer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1488–1496, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.147

• graphite (372 mA·h·g−1) [6]. However, poor electrical conductivity, capacity fading and large volume changes upon charge and discharge make the commercialization of MoS2 in LIBs problematic [6][7]. In order to address this issue, the fabrication of MoS2 composites and carbonaceous support materials (such

Hierarchically structured 3D carbon nanotube electrodes for electrocatalytic applications

• Pei Wang,
• Katarzyna Kulp and
• Michael Bron

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1475–1487, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.146

• discovery in 1991 [1] due to their high electrical conductivity, large surface area, good chemical stability, high mechanical strength and high aspect ratio and are considered as promising materials for diverse applications such as field emission displays, energy storage devices, sensors, and so on [2][3][4

• support is as important as the active material in order to form an optimum catalyst. For electrocatalytic applications, the support should possess high electrical conductivity, large surface area and good chemical and mechanical stability. Furthermore, the electrode prepared with the catalyst should

Kelvin probe force microscopy of the nanoscale electrical surface potential barrier of metal/semiconductor interfaces in ambient atmosphere

• Petr Knotek,
• Tomáš Plecháček,
• Jan Smolík,
• Petr Kutálek,
• Filip Dvořák,
• Milan Vlček,
• Jiří Navrátil and
• Čestmír Drašar

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1401–1411, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.138

• efficiency of the material could be expressed in terms of figure-of-merit, ZT, defined as dimensionless quantity ZT = S2·σ·T/κ , where S is the thermopower (Seebeck coefficient), σ is the electrical conductivity, T is the absolute temperature and κ is the thermal conductivity. There were many concepts for

• material because of its well-defined layered structure with sub-nanometer roughness similar to mica or highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG). The electrical conductivity and mechanical stiffness of Bi2Se3 allow for the measurement with high-intensity electrical fields (10 V/30 nm) without damaging the

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

• biocomposite: HNTs act as nanocontainers for bioactive species, GNPs provide electrical conductivity (enhanced by doping with MWCNTs) and, the CHI polymer matrix introduces mechanical and membrane properties that are of key significance for the development of electrochemical devices. The resulting

• nanofillers to ensure the mechanical strength and electrical conductivity of the prepared bionanocomposite films and foams [26]. Moreover, MWCNTs are supposed to act as nanowires improving the contact between the active site of the immobilized enzymes and an electrode surface via direct electron transfer [39

• ]. The resulting multicomponent systems have advantages such as high electrical conductivity and flexibility that make the bionanocomposite films appropriate components for biosensors [35][40] for glucose detection, while the relatively high porosity of the bioactive foams enhances the power density and

Fabrication of phase masks from amorphous carbon thin films for electron-beam shaping

• Lukas Grünewald,
• Dagmar Gerthsen and
• Simon Hettler

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1290–1302, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.128

• irradiation, which in turn increases scattering. In this work we investigated amorphous carbon (aC) as an alternative PM material. Amorphous carbon, like SixNy, offers high mechanical stability, low scattering probability and in addition high electrical conductivity. Because of these properties, aC is

Alloyed Pt₃M (M = Co, Ni) nanoparticles supported on S- and N-doped carbon nanotubes for the oxygen reduction reaction

• Stéphane Louisia,
• Yohann R. J. Thomas,
• Pierre Lecante,
• Marie Heitzmann,
• M. Rosa Axet,
• Pierre-André Jacques and
• Philippe Serp

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1251–1269, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.125

• -CNTs) and S-doped CNT (S-CNTs). To further increase the corrosion resistance and the electrical conductivity of the N-CNTs, they were annealed at 1000 °C to produce N-CNTHT. The introduction of nitrogen or sulfur into the CNT structure has an effect on the structural properties of the prepared

Direct growth of few-layer graphene on AlN-based resonators for high-sensitivity gravimetric biosensors

• Jimena Olivares,
• Teona Mirea,
• Lorena Gordillo-Dagallier,
• Bruno Marco,
• José Miguel Escolano,
• Marta Clement and
• Enrique Iborra

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 975–984, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.98

• porous gold films [9], owing to their outstanding properties in terms of electrical conductivity combined with their chemical stability and their ability to alter their chemistry under controlled conditions. Recently, functionalized graphene and graphene oxide have attracted the attention of the

An efficient electrode material for high performance solid-state hybrid supercapacitors based on a Cu/CuO/porous carbon nanofiber/TiO₂ hybrid composite

• Mamta Sham Lal,
• Thirugnanam Lavanya and
• Sundara Ramaprabhu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 781–793, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.78

• amount of charge than double layer supercapacitors and exhibits superior energy density [6]. Pseudo-supercapacitors have limited electrical conductivity and slow charge–discharge kinetics, resulting in a significant decrease in power density. Supercapacitors have been explored by realizing both faradaic

• and effective strategy that can enhance the electrical conductivity and provide relatively high specific capacity (increased by 10–30%). However, the electrochemical performance of this material deteriorates due to the large volume expansion during cycling. This results in a gradual loss of

• . Second, Cu, which has good electrical conductivity and provides unique rate capabilities, was uniformly dispersed on the carbon matrices, which are extensively explored to meet the imperative requirements in the field of supercapacitors. Third, the introduction of nanoscale TiO2 can further enhance the

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

• efficiency, active material loss, and rapid capacity fading hinder the practical application of Li–S batteries [6]. The insulating nature of sulfur and its lithiation products, Li2S2 and Li2S, leads to low electrical conductivity of the cathode and low rate capability. Dissolved higher-order lithium

• electrical conductivity [10]. However, the adsorption of polarized LPSs on non-polarized graphene is weak; heteroatom doping is necessary for improving the anchoring effect. Nitrogen doping has been used to modify the anchoring behavior of graphene, and the N-doped graphene showed improved anchoring of Li2Sx

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

• the electrical conductivity of the sample) before scanning. Cu can be seen as numerous particles at the nanoscale homogeneously distributed over the entire surface. In sample S2 (Figure 4b), Si can be observed all over the sample surface, revealing the uniform deposition of SiO2. The electrodeposited

Enhancement in thermoelectric properties due to Ag nanoparticles incorporated in Bi₂Te₃ matrix

• Srashti Gupta,
• Dinesh Chandra Agarwal,
• Bathula Sivaiah,
• Sankarakumar Amrithpandian,
• Kandasami Asokan,
• Ajay Dhar,
• Binaya Kumar Panigrahi,
• Devesh Kumar Avasthi and
• Vinay Gupta

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 634–643, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.63

• nanoparticles on thermoelectric properties can be understood on the basis of a carrier-filtering effect that results in an increase in thermopower along with a control over the reduction in electrical conductivity to maintain a high power factor yielding a high figure of merit. Keywords: bismuth telluride

• = S2σT/k) and to enhance figure of merit (ZT), one needs to increase the power factor (S2σ, where S is the Seebeck coefficient or thermopower, σ is the electrical conductivity) or to decrease thermal conductivity (k). In bulk, all three parameters (S, σ, k) are interdependent. In bulk Bi2Te3, ZT is close

• nanoparticles that yield both a higher power factor and figure of merit than pure Bi2Te3 [21]. An enhanced Seebeck coefficient (S) could compensate for the reduction in electrical conductivity to some extent maintaining S2σ as unaffected as possible. Through the metal fraction in the matrix or the synthesis

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

• used to adjust structure and density of the pores of the composite while improving the electrical conductivity. Following such a strategy, we developed a unique three-dimensional structured carbon-based composite material, referred to as 3D-RGO@MWCNT. Multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) form a

• 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

• conductivity and high sulfur loading is necessary. The shuttle effect will result in rapid fading of the capacity and coulombic efficiency during the cycling process. Therefore, the development of a sulfur cathode that can “withhold” sulfur and reduce the shuttle effect, together with a high conductivity and

Wearable, stable, highly sensitive hydrogel–graphene strain sensors

• Jian Lv,
• Chuncai Kong,
• Chao Yang,
• Lu Yin,
• Itthipon Jeerapan,
• Fangzhao Pu,
• Xiaojing Zhang,
• Sen Yang and
• Zhimao Yang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 475–480, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.47

• -hydrogel and the electron conduction change of the graphene film under different contact conditions [15] (spacing variations and contact area under stretching). The ionic conductivity is responsible for the electrical conductivity of the bare WG-hydrogel. The hysteresis curve for graphene/WG-hydrogel

Reduced graphene oxide supported C₃N₄ nanoflakes and quantum dots as metal-free catalysts for visible light assisted CO₂ reduction

• Md Rakibuddin and
• Haekyoung Kim

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 448–458, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.44

• all these interesting properties, pure g-C3N4 only weakly absorbs visible light due to its wide band gap and also has poor electrical conductivity [18]. An efficient way to increase the charge separation and electrical conductivity of g-C3N4 is to modify it with rGO. Besides the structural and

Nanocomposite–parylene C thin films with high dielectric constant and low losses for future organic electronic devices

• Marwa Mokni,
• Gianluigi Maggioni,
• Abdelkader Kahouli,
• Sara M. Carturan,
• Walter Raniero and
• Alain Sylvestre

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 428–441, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.42

• -relaxation without bringing other inconveniences such as interfacial polarization mechanism or a long-range electrical conductivity induced by these nanoparticles. For this latter, we plotted the electrical ac-conductivity σ’ as a function of the frequency (Figure 9). The behavior is representative of short

• constant ε’HF (value at 1 MHz); b) the dielectric strength Δε. Frequency dependence of the dissipation factor for pure parylene C and NCPC samples. Electrical conductivity of pure parylene C and NCPCs. Gain in the gate insulation capacitance by replacing conventionally processed parylene C (sample O) with