Facile synthesis of silver/silver thiocyanate (Ag@AgSCN) plasmonic nanostructures with enhanced photocatalytic performance

• Xinfu Zhao,
• Dairong Chen,
• Abdul Qayum,
• Bo Chen and
• Xiuling Jiao

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2781–2789, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.277

• , then captured by dissolved O2, resulting in the formation of •O2− radicals, which can decompose oxytetracycline. The photogenerated holes can oxidize H2O into •OH, which could also oxidize oxytetracycline. To investigate the effect of •O2− radicals, 1, 4-benzoquinone (BQ), which was an efficient

The rational design of a Au(I) precursor for focused electron beam induced deposition

• Ali Marashdeh,
• Thiadrik Tiesma,
• Niels J. C. van Velzen,
• Sjoerd Harder,
• Remco W. A. Havenith,
• Jeff T. M. De Hosson and
• Willem F. van Dorp

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2753–2765, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.274

• to dissociate in a single step to pure Au. The reaction fragments, CO and Me radicals, are not aggressive and do not damage either sample or microscope. Very recently, the related complex CF3AuCO has been isolated [77]. The target complex MeAuCO is likely less stable but may exist. Provided the

CdSe nanorod/TiO₂ nanoparticle heterojunctions with enhanced solar- and visible-light photocatalytic activity

• Fakher Laatar,
• Hatem Moussa,
• Halima Alem,
• Lavinia Balan,
• Emilien Girot,
• Ghouti Medjahdi,
• Hatem Ezzaouia and
• Raphaël Schneider

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2741–2752, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.273

• accumulated in TiO2 can be trapped by dissolved oxygen molecules and generate superoxide O2•− radicals which are strong oxidants able to decompose organic substances. These O2•− radicals may also react with an electron and protons to form hydrogen peroxide which is further decomposed into hydroxyl •OH

• radicals able to oxidize RhB. To estimate which of these reactive oxygen species plays a key role in the photodegradation of RhB under visible light irradiation, experiments were carried out by adding t-BuOH and p-benzoquinone, used as •OH and O2•− radicals scavengers, respectively (Figure 11c). As can be

• seen, RhB could not be photodegraded in the presence of p-benzoquinone, even when used at a low concentration (1 mM), indicating that O2•− radicals play a key role in the photodegradation. In the presence of t-BuOH (10 mM), the reaction rate was markedly decreased (k = 0.004 min−1 vs 0.012 min−1 in the

Direct writing of gold nanostructures with an electron beam: On the way to pure nanostructures by combining optimized deposition with oxygen-plasma treatment

• Domagoj Belić,
• Mostafa M. Shawrav,
• Emmerich Bertagnolli and
• Heinz D. Wanzenboeck

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2530–2543, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.253

• reactive enough, oxygen radicals were used. The oxidation was performed in a plasma reactor that is common equipment in most clean rooms. This second purification approach can quickly improve the gold purity of a number of FEBID structures, including larger ones. In this work we developed a process that

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

• [29]. Consequently, all EDS data are reported in terms of the Pt and Cl signals, ignoring small contributions from substrate peaks (e.g., Mo and Si). Generation of atomic hydrogen radicals (high pressure) The majority of AH purification was conducted ex situ using a custom-built AH cleaning system

• located at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). This source passed H2 over a heated tungsten filament to produce a constant flux of AH radicals. The purification system at NIST permitted high-pressure H2 gas to be admitted ( ≈ 1 Torr), resulting in a correspondingly large flux of AH

• radicals. During purification the sample surface was perpendicular to the AH source at a working distance of ≈3.8 cm. Generation of atomic hydrogen radicals (low pressure) A much lower flux of AH radicals ( ≈ 5 × 10−7 Torr) was produced in situ in the Auger spectrometer with a thermal gas cracker (Oxford

Angstrom-scale flatness using selective nanoscale etching

• Takashi Yatsui,
• Hiroshi Saito and
• Katsuyuki Nobusada

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2181–2185, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.217

• . Subsequently, the molecules are dissociated by the ONF, and the dissociated radicals selectively etch the protrusions. Finally, the ONF disappears and the etching process stops automatically. Near-field etching is performed using Cl2 gas for glass, GaN [9], and plastic surfaces, and O2 gas for diamond and

• protrusions only. In the solution, a light source with a photon energy of 4.66 eV (higher than the dissociation energy) dissociated the hypochlorous acid and consequently produced Cl radicals [13]. This process is expected to be similar to the etching of glass when Cl2 gas is used. The laser light was

Evaluating the toxicity of TiO₂-based nanoparticles to Chinese hamster ovary cells and Escherichia coli: a complementary experimental and computational approach

• Alicja Mikolajczyk,
• Natalia Sizochenko,
• Ewa Mulkiewicz,
• Anna Malankowska,
• Michal Nischk,
• Przemyslaw Jurczak,
• Seishiro Hirano,
• Grzegorz Nowaczyk,
• Adriana Zaleska-Medynska,
• Jerzy Leszczynski,
• Agnieszka Gajewicz and
• Tomasz Puzyn

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2171–2180, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.216

• nanoparticles, electron/hole (e−/h+) pairs can be generated under UV light. Under such conditions, free radicals are produced, which is one of the major pathways of the antibacterial activity of TiO2-based NPs. In the absence of UV light, photoactive TiO2 nanomaterials demonstrate little or no bacteria

Advances and challenges in the field of plasma polymer nanoparticles

• Andrei Choukourov,
• Pavel Pleskunov,
• Daniil Nikitin,
• Valerii Titov,
• Artem Shelemin,
• Mykhailo Vaidulych,
• Anna Kuzminova,
• Pavel Solař,
• Jan Hanuš,
• Jaroslav Kousal,
• Ondřej Kylián,
• Danka Slavínská and
• Hynek Biederman

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2002–2014, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.200

• coagulation is therefore suppressed by Coulomb repulsion, and further NP growth proceeds by accretion via the accumulation of polymer-forming neutral species (radicals) and positive ions from the gas phase. The resultant plasma polymer NPs have a spherical symmetry but can exhibit different morphology

• GAS. The opposite trend of decreasing NP diameter with the discharge power is readily explained by stronger fragmentation of precursor molecules. The fragmentation results in a larger amount of free radicals that serve as nucleation centres and, under constant supply of the precursor (constant gas

• target and their subsequent transport through the GAS volume saturated with low sticking probability CF2 bi-radicals were suggested as possible explanations of the phenomenon. It can be concluded that, although the opposing influence of the residence time and the discharge power on the NP diameter is

Bi-layer sandwich film for antibacterial catheters

• Gerhard Franz,
• Florian Schamberger,
• Hamideh Heidari Zare,
• Sara Felicitas Bröskamp and
• Dieter Jocham

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1982–2001, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.199

• (approx. 100 mTorr) [33]. It should be noted that the reaction is not diffusion-controlled [59]. The rate at which the radicals strike the surface was estimated to exceed that at which a radical is effectively absorbed by the growing chain by approximately three orders of magnitude [57]. This low sticking

Spin-dependent transport and functional design in organic ferromagnetic devices

• Guichao Hu,
• Shijie Xie,
• Chuankui Wang and
• Carsten Timm

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1919–1931, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.192

• interaction and spin–spin correlation between π-electrons and radicals, are highlighted. Several interesting functional designs of organic ferromagnetic devices are discussed, specifically the concepts of a spin filter, multi-state magnetoresistance, and spin-current rectification. The mechanism of each

• artificially, such as by doping transition-metal ions into organic materials or using spin radicals [9][10][11][12][13]. The latter method may generate pure OFs. For example, poly((1,4-bis(2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-4-hydroxy-4-piperidyl-1-oxyl)butadiyne) (poly-BIPO) is a representative of π-conjugated pure OFs with

• quasi-one-dimensional structure, which can be synthesized from polyacetylene by replacing every other H atom by a spin radical. The radicals are usually heterocycles containing an unpaired electron. The spins of the radicals are coupled to the spins of π-electrons in the main carbon chain. Theoretical

Application of visible-light photosensitization to form alkyl-radical-derived thin films on gold

• Rashanique D. Quarels,
• Xianglin Zhai,
• Neepa Kuruppu,
• Jenny K. Hedlund,
• Ashley A. Ellsworth,
• Amy V. Walker,
• Jayne C. Garno and
• Justin R. Ragains

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1863–1877, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.187

• the stoichiometric reducing agent benzyl nicotinamide results in the formation of alkyl radicals under mild conditions. This approach to radical generation has proven useful for the synthesis of small organic molecules. Herein, we demonstrate for the first time the visible-light photosensitized

• ][24][25][26][27][28]. Carbon-centered radicals have proven to be versatile grafting species that can covalently bond to a number of surfaces including precious, coinage and industrial metals [1][2][3][4][5][6], hydrogen-terminated silicon [7][8], and indium tin oxide [9][10]. The resulting aryl- and

• arenediazonium ion can accept a single electron from a cathode to generate aryl radical and N2 at relatively high potentials. Rapid covalent bonding [11][12][13][14] of aryl radical to surfaces followed by further attachment of radicals to already-grafted arenes results in polymerization and generates dense

(Metallo)porphyrins for potential materials science applications

• Lars Smykalla,
• Carola Mende,
• Michael Fronk,
• Pablo F. Siles,
• Michael Hietschold,
• Georgeta Salvan,
• Dietrich R. T. Zahn,
• Oliver G. Schmidt,
• Tobias Rüffer and
• Heinrich Lang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1786–1800, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.180

• temperature the presence of surface-bound Br/Br2 only. Interestingly, these surface-stabilized radicals of CuTPP are seemingly long-term stable. The result obtained after heating this sample to 350 °C for one hour is displayed in Figure 11. It resulted in the formation of nano-ribbons (Figure 12) and is

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

• chemistry; surface chemistry; Introduction Tetrafluoromethane (CF4) plasma emerged as a strategic tool when exploiting the ability of CFx radicals to promote etching of a variety of substrates frequently used in the manufacturing of microelectronic devices [1]. In the CF4 plasma, CFx radicals are primarily

• ][26][27]. However, a combined study including the effect of the plasma treatment at the carbon nanotubes surface and the fundamental processes involving the production of CFx radicals and ions is lacking. Additionally, molecules as water or residual oxygen in the background pressure of the

• smaller and lighter radicals and ions are produced. These ions cause less damage compared to the larger ones produced in low power plasmas. Comparing the effect of the treatment duration, an increased production of defective sites is observed for short plasma treatment: under this condition a lower

Effect of the fluorination technique on the surface-fluorination patterning of double-walled carbon nanotubes

• Lyubov G. Bulusheva,
• Yuliya V. Fedoseeva,
• Emmanuel Flahaut,
• Jérémy Rio,
• Christopher P. Ewels,
• Victor O. Koroteev,
• Gregory Van Lier,
• Denis V. Vyalikh and
• Alexander V. Okotrub

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1688–1698, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.169

• produces CF3 radicals, which may bind to the carbon surface [31]. Four F atoms formed an armchair (model IV) or zigzag (model V) chain or were in (1,2) position (model VI) or (1,4) position relative to each other. We also constructed a pattern with the alternation of C=C and CF–CF bonds and a CF region of

Process-specific mechanisms of vertically oriented graphene growth in plasmas

• Subrata Ghosh,
• Shyamal R. Polaki,
• Niranjan Kumar,
• Sankarakumar Amirthapandian,
• Mohamed Kamruddin and
• Kostya (Ken) Ostrikov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1658–1670, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.166

• dissociates under plasma and forms reactive radicals/ions. Transport mechanism of these plasma species and growth kinetics of carbon nanomaterials in PECVD has been extensively explained by Munoz and co-workers [26]. The density and energy of these plasma species depend on the plasma power, position of the

• this study, NG structures were not observed below 600 °C and this is explained by adverse etching of graphene by hydrogen radicals in the plasma, which dominates over the graphene growth at lower temperatures [46]. Figure 1c shows the vertical sheets nucleated from the grain boundaries. This is

• the plasma is high and plasma-generated carbon species attach to the reactive edges of the vertical sheets through chemisorption and diffusion, thus promoting the growth of crystalline sheets. In contrast, hydrogen species, mostly radicals, chemically etch the small flakes and amorphous carbon, which

Surface functionalization of 3D-printed plastics via initiated chemical vapor deposition

• Christine Cheng and
• Malancha Gupta

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1629–1636, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.162

• used to deposit functional polymer coatings [21][22]. In the iCVD process, monomer and tert-butyl peroxide (TBPO) initiator are introduced in the vapor phase to a reactor chamber under vacuum, whereupon the initiator is thermally cleaved by a heated filament array. Monomer and initiator radicals adsorb

Charge transfer from and to manganese phthalocyanine: bulk materials and interfaces

• Florian Rückerl,
• Daniel Waas,
• Bernd Büchner,
• Martin Knupfer,
• Dietrich R. T. Zahn,
• Francisc Haidu,
• Torsten Hahn and
• Jens Kortus

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1601–1615, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.160

• quite clear since potassium ions do not contribute in the relevant energy region. For MnPc/F4TCNQ the situation is more complex. Based on a purely ionic picture, also excitations from the negatively charged F4TCNQ should show up. In solution, an excitation for F4TCNQ− radicals at about 1.65 eV was

• , K1MnPc and MnPc/F4TCNQ as measured using EELS. In the lower two panels, we compare these data to the optical absorption energies (denoted by vertical bars) as observed for (b) MnPc+ [117] and (c) MnPc− [118] in solution. In panel (b) we additionally show the optical absorption energy of F4TCNQ− radicals

Two-dimensional carbon-based nanocomposites for photocatalytic energy generation and environmental remediation applications

• Suneel Kumar,
• Ashish Kumar,
• Ashish Bahuguna,
• Vipul Sharma and
• Venkata Krishnan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1571–1600, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.159

• produces the catalytic activity using energy from light without undergoing any change in itself [104]. The photocatalytic activity depends on the generation of electron–hole pairs in the catalyst under the influence of light energy [105]. These photogenerated charge carriers then generate free radicals

Parylene C as a versatile dielectric material for organic field-effect transistors

• Tomasz Marszalek,
• Maciej Gazicki-Lipman and
• Jacek Ulanski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1532–1545, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.155

• threshold voltage can be controlled. This effect is mainly attributed to the mechanism of charge trapping at grain boundaries [52]. It was also found in further studies that the growth of C60 on the surface of Parylene C at elevated substrate temperatures leads to the creation of radicals at the interface

• between the active layer and the gate dielectric. The radicals formed during the C60 deposition help to improve the bias stress stability of C60-based n-type OFETs [53]. The creation of free radicals was also observed for a double-gate configuration with Parylene C as a dielectric layer [54]. This effect

Spin-chemistry concepts for spintronics scientists

• Konstantin L. Ivanov,
• Alexander Wagenpfahl,
• Carsten Deibel and
• Jörg Matysik

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1427–1445, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.143

• reactions are controlled by diffusional transport of highly reactive particles, for example, free radicals, to the reaction zone. This view on chemistry is sufficient for processes which are spin conserving, that is, the spin multiplicity is not changed during the entire process. If during the course of

• , such as CIDNP, CIDEP, magnetically affected reaction yield (MARY) and reaction yield detected magnetic resonance (RYDMR) allow one to detect elusive paramagnetic species, such as radicals, radical pairs and triplet states, and to obtain their EPR parameters. This review is dedicated to scientists of

• the states are named very differently (Table 1), even the two Zeeman states of a radical are often labeled differently. Molecules with an unpaired electron are called radicals (R•). Two radicals on the same molecule form a biradical (R•–R•). In this case, normally the two radicals are at the two ends

Micro- and nano-surface structures based on vapor-deposited polymers

• Hsien-Yeh Chen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1366–1374, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.138

• -xylylenes and the high-energy metal substrates by attraction interactions. In contrast, an inhibitor surface experiences neutralization and deactivation at the free radicals for halogen- or non-substituted p-xylylenes. A continuum of deposition and polymer chain propagation can thus proceed for the case of

Miniemulsion copolymerization of (meth)acrylates in the presence of functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotubes for reinforced coating applications

• Bertha T. Pérez-Martínez,
• Lorena Farías-Cepeda,
• Víctor M. Ovando-Medina,
• José M. Asua,
• Lucero Rosales-Marines and
• Radmila Tomovska

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1328–1337, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.134

• droplets had a larger surface area, and hence they were more efficient capturing radicals from the aqueous phase. Figure 2 presents the kinetics of the miniemulsion polymerizations carried out with different air-sonicated MWCNT loads. In all cases, final conversion yields between 96% and 100% were obtained

Oxidative chemical vapor deposition of polyaniline thin films

• Yuriy Y. Smolin,
• Masoud Soroush and
• Kenneth K. S. Lau

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1266–1276, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.128

• essentially analogous to chemical oxidative polymerization and acid doping using liquid processing. In the presence of an oxidizing agent, polymerization is believed to proceed via the formation of cation radicals and the electrophilic attack of aniline monomer [42], while in tandem the polymer can be p-doped

Nano-engineered skin mesenchymal stem cells: potential vehicles for tumour-targeted quantum-dot delivery

• Liga Saulite,
• Dominyka Dapkute,
• Karlis Pleiko,
• Ineta Popena,
• Simona Steponkiene,
• Ricardas Rotomskis and
• Una Riekstina

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1218–1230, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.123

• materials. Unless coatings are damaged, QDs are mainly non-toxic [37]. Recently, Yaghini et al., by using non-photolytic visible wavelength excitation, have shown the formation of superoxide anion radicals by photoexcited CdSe/ZnS QDs [38]. Thus, the QDs may induce phototoxic reactions in labelled cells

Enhanced catalytic activity without the use of an external light source using microwave-synthesized CuO nanopetals

• Govinda Lakhotiya,
• Sonal Bajaj,
• Arpan Kumar Nayak,
• Debabrata Pradhan,
• Pradip Tekade and
• Abhimanyu Rana

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1167–1173, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.118

• the degradation through the formation of radicals [6][25]. The wide band gap, high surface area of CuO nanopetals was expected to be suitable for the photocatalytic activity for the degradation of the common cationic dye methylene blue (MB), and hence initially, a study has been carried out in which

• valence band position of CuO than that of the redox potential required for producing free radicals for effective degradation. This slow rate of degradation was then overcome by introducing H2O2 along with CuO, which resulted in the enhancement of the degradation of pollutants [12][26]. Recently, Zhang et

• , the nanoflowers could efficiently degrade ≈93% of MB in 30 min (Supporting Information File 1, Figure S3). Reaction mechanism It is well understood that the rate of degradation of organic dyes depends on the formation of free radicals [7][25][28]. The fast degradation of MB with the assistance of H2O2