Synthesis of amorphous and graphitized porous nitrogen-doped carbon spheres as oxygen reduction reaction catalysts

• Maximilian Wassner,
• Markus Eckardt,
• Andreas Reyer,
• Thomas Diemant,
• Michael S. Elsaesser,
• R. Jürgen Behm and
• Nicola Hüsing

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1–15, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.1

• . Both rely on the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). The best established ORR catalysts are so far based on Pt nanoparticles or Pt alloys. However, Pt is expensive and its stability under fuel-cell working conditions is limited. Therefore, alternative catalysts based on noble-metal-free, less expensive

• they can result in further advantages such as an improved tolerance towards impurities compared to Pt-based catalysts [1]. A wide variety of N-doped carbon materials is known from the literature, reaching from N-doped graphene and graphite, N-doped carbon nanotubes, carbon cages, carbon cups and carbon

• with temperature. The most active sample, the NCS-1000 sample, shows an onset potential of about 0.75 V, which is, however, still more than 200 mV below that of the commercial Pt/C catalyst. Another important aspect of the N-doped carbon spheres is that the current increase with overpotential is much

Antimony deposition onto Au(111) and insertion of Mg

• Lingxing Zan,
• Da Xing,
• Abdelaziz Ali Abd-El-Latif and
• Helmut Baltruschat

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2541–2552, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.245

• available STM scanner (Molecular Imaging/Agilent Technologies) fitted with a so-called STM/AFM electrochemical cell as previously described [24]. Pt and Au wires were used as a quasi-reference electrode (EPt/PtO = 0.9 V vs RHE) and a counter electrode, respectively. The reference electrode was immersed in a

• small compartment filled with the same electrolyte and separated from main compartment by a capillary. Pt/Ir (90:10) STM tips with a diameter of 0.25 cm were prepared by etching in a 2 M KOH/4 M KSCN bath and coated with hot-melt glue containing different types of polymer (provided by Steinel) to

• , which is about the same as in the first cycle and probably corresponds to same continuous incorporation of Sb into the surface to form the surface alloy. The behavior of Sb UPD on Au(111) is somewhat different from that on Pt(111) [26]. There, after the first deposition of Sb in peak C1 (occurring at

Synthesis and acetone sensing properties of ZnFe₂O₄/rGO gas sensors

• Kaidi Wu,
• Yifan Luo,
• Ying Li and
• Chao Zhang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2516–2526, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.242

• ). Fabrication and sensing test of gas sensors The hollow spheres of pure ZnFe2O4 or ZnFe2O4/rGO powder were mixed with deionized water to obtain a paste, which was then manually uniformly coated onto an Al2O3 ceramic plate (C-MAC Micro Technology Company, Belgium) equipped with heating electrodes (Pt) and gold

Adsorption and desorption of self-assembled L-cysteine monolayers on nanoporous gold monitored by in situ resistometry

• Elisabeth Hengge,
• Eva-Maria Steyskal,
• Rupert Bachler,
• Alexander Dennig,
• Bernd Nidetzky and
• Roland Würschum

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2275–2279, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.219

• with a Pt-wire counter electrode under chronoamperometric conditions at UAg/AgCl = 1100 mV until the current had fallen below 50 μA. For all following procedures, a carbon fabric served as the counter electrode. After dealloying, the sample was cleaned from the primary oxide [10] by cyclic voltammetry

Nontoxic pyrite iron sulfide nanocrystals as second electron acceptor in PTB7:PC₇₁BM-based organic photovoltaic cells

• Olivia Amargós-Reyes,
• José-Luis Maldonado,
• Omar Martínez-Alvarez,
• María-Elena Nicho,
• José Santos-Cruz,
• Juan Nicasio-Collazo,
• Irving Caballero-Quintana and
• Concepción Arenas-Arrocena

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2238–2250, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.216

• (8%) similar to that of a Pt counter electrode in DSSC [9], which could be due to the high catalytic activity of pyrite. When the film is doped with ethanedithiol (EDT), the conversion efficiency is increased by about 20% as compared to the pure pyrite thin film [12]. Also, FeS2 NPs of 30 nm size

• by drop casting. Mechanically cut Pt–Ir wires were used as STM tips. Before the deposition of each film, HOPG substrates were cleaved by using the adhesive tape technique to obtain an atomically clean surface. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) measurements were carried out using a PARSTAT 2273 potentiostat in

Targeted therapeutic effect against the breast cancer cell line MCF-7 with a CuFe₂O₄/silica/cisplatin nanocomposite formulation

• B. Rabindran Jermy,
• Vijaya Ravinayagam,
• Widyan A. Alamoudi,
• Dana Almohazey,
• Hatim Dafalla,
• Lina Hussain Allehaibi,
• Abdulhadi Baykal,
• Muhammet S. Toprak and
• Thirunavukkarasu Somanathan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2217–2228, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.214

• structure (Figure 6a). Remarkably, after platinum adsorption, the CuFe2O4/HYPS sample showed an enhanced peak absorption up to 700 nm. A small absorption peak at about 224 nm showed the presence of tetrahedral coordinated Pt nanoclusters, while a significant enhancement of the absorption peak between 350

• and 600 nm shows the presence of octahedral coordinated Pt species (Figure 6b). The presence of such strong bonds of tetrahedral and octahedral Pt species indicates the high dispersity and interaction of Pt on HYPS silica support. The drug release ability of CuFe2O4/HYPS was compared with two

• ) of copper ferrite covering the HYPS. The composite showed paramagnetic behavior with a saturated magnetization value of 7.65 emu/g. The CuFe2O4/HYPS nanocomposite showed high cisplatin delivery and anticancer efficacy due to the coexistence of Pt and CuFe2O4 in HYPS. The cisplatin drug release

Nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond for nanoscale magnetic resonance imaging applications

• Alberto Boretti,
• Lorenzo Rosa,
• Jonathan Blackledge and
• Stefania Castelletto

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2128–2151, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.207

• ensemble in a single-crystal diamond vector magnetometer [31] can allow for the retrieval of all Cartesian components of a dynamic magnetic field with a bandwidth of 5 Hz to 12.5 kHz for a 50 pT/√Hz magnetic field. The best magnetic field sensitivity currently achievable for a single NV center is of the

• order of 1 nT·Hz−1/2. Higher sensitivity is possible using either NV ensembles <1 pT·Hz−1/2 [32] or advanced sensing protocols used in a so-called AC magnetometer [33]. For an ensemble, in bulk experiments, the best broadband sensitivity is 15 pT Hz−1/2 over 80 Hz to 2 kHz [34]. Using ensemble AC

Synthesis of highly active ETS-10-based titanosilicate for heterogeneously catalyzed transesterification of triglycerides

• Muhammad A. Zaheer,
• David Poppitz,
• Khavar Feyzullayeva,
• Marianne Wenzel,
• Jörg Matysik,
• Radomir Ljupkovic,
• Aleksandra Zarubica,
• Alexander A. Karavaev,
• Andreas Pöppl,
• Roger Gläser and
• Muslim Dvoyashkin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2039–2061, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.200

• ], for the hydrogenation of 1,3,5-triisopropylbenzene with a critical diameter of ≈0.95 nm over the Pt supported on controlled pore glass with 80 nm pore width and particle size of 50–100 μm at 373 K, a clear indication of diffusion limitation was observed. Thus, with the larger size of triolein and the

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

• -loaded CeO2–ZrO2–ZnO catalyst has a small heat capacity and dramatically increases the temperature of the Pt coil, resulting in a highly sensitive sensor signal. On the other hand, the n-type Sm2CuO4-loaded CeO2–ZrO2–ZnO catalyst is advantageous when rapid response and low temperature operation are

Pulsed laser synthesis of highly active Ag–Rh and Ag–Pt antenna–reactor-type plasmonic catalysts

• Kenneth A. Kane and
• Massimo F. Bertino

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1958–1963, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.192

• Kenneth A. Kane Massimo F. Bertino Department of Physics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, 23220, USA 10.3762/bjnano.10.192 Abstract Ag, Pt, and Rh monometallic colloids were produced via laser ablation. Separate Ag–Rh and Ag–Pt heterostructures were formed by mixing and

• resulted in groupings of Rh/Pt nanoparticles adsorbing to the concavities of the larger Ag nanostructures. The 400 nm Ag plasmonic absorption peak was slightly blue-shifted for Ag–Pt and red-shifted for Ag–Rh heterostructures. Catalytic activity for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol increased significantly

• for Ag–Pt and Ag–Rh compared to the monometallic constituents, and persisted at lower loading ratios and consecutive reduction cycles. The enhancement is attributed to the Rh and Pt nanoparticles forming antenna–reactor-type plasmonic catalysts with the Ag nanostructures. Keywords: Ag; antenna

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

• 530.13 eV, corresponding to C–O, Fe–O–C, and Fe–O, respectively [30]. The XPS results strongly support the XRD and Raman results and confirm Fe2O3 on the CC-CNT. A three-electrode system was used to examine the electrochemical characteristics of the CC-CNT@Fe2O3 with Pt foil as a counter electrode, SCE

• (ASAP 2020). Electrochemical characterization The half-cell electrochemical properties were tested in a standard three-electrode system at room temperature on an electrochemical work station (CHI 600E, CH Instruments, Inc., China). 2 M KOH aqueous solution was used as the electrolyte, a Pt plate as the

Chiral nanostructures self-assembled from nitrocinnamic amide amphiphiles: substituent and solvent effects

• Hejin Jiang,
• Huahua Fan,
• Yuqian Jiang,
• Li Zhang and
• Minghua Liu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1608–1617, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.156

• characterized on a Bruker AVANCE III HD 500 machine. The gel and precipitate were cast onto single-crystal silica plates and then coated with a thin layer of Pt after drying to increase the contrast. After that, the morphology was observed with a Hitachi S-4800 FE-SEM operating at an accelerating voltage of 10

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

• difference in the adsorption properties, reactivity and electrical behavior of semiconductor oxides and silicon carbide, as well as possible chemical interactions on their interface, cause changes in the sensor performance of composite materials. The SiC-based materials in the form of planar Pt/MO/SiC

• alumina micro-hotplates provided with vapor-deposited Pt contacts (0.3 × 0.2 mm2) separated by a 0.2 mm gap and with embedded Pt-meanders. The paste was dried at room temperature in ambient air and then calcined at 250 °C in purified air for 20 h to remove the binder. The thick sensing layer was about 1

Synthesis of P- and N-doped carbon catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction via controlled phosphoric acid treatment of folic acid

• Rieko Kobayashi,
• Takafumi Ishii,
• Yasuo Imashiro and
• Jun-ichi Ozaki

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1497–1510, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.148

• fuel cells (PEFCs), both anode and cathode reactions are catalyzed by Pt. Compared to the anode reaction, the cathode reaction, namely the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), is rather slow and hence requires the use of larger amounts of Pt [1], which increases the cost of PEFCs and prevents their wide

• application as domestic, back-up, and vehicle power sources. The cost of cathode catalysts can be reduced in a number of ways, e.g., by alloying Pt with base metals [2], forming core–shell particles with base-metal cores covered by thin Pt layers [3], and developing non-Pt catalysts. In particular, the

• implementation of non-Pt or non-precious-metal cathode catalysts is the ultimate goal of PEFC development. Since the discovery of the ORR activity of cobalt phthalocyanine in 1964 [4], numerous studies have focused on the synthesis of non-precious metal ORR catalysts such as those based on carbon [5]. The

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

• (CNT/CNT/GC) exhibit enhanced double-layer capacitance and thus larger surface area compared to CNT/GC. Pt electrodeposition onto both types of electrodes yields a uniform and homogeneous Pt nanoparticle distribution. Each preparation step is followed by scanning electron microscopy, while the CNTs

• electrocatalytic applications is demonstrated using the methanol electro-oxidation as a test reaction. The Pt mass specific activity towards methanol oxidation of Pt-CNT/CNT/GC is approximately 2.5 times higher than that of Pt-CNT/GC, and the hierarchical electrode exhibits a more negative onset potential. Both

• cathode are still major obstacles that hinder the broad market implementation of DMFCs. The slow kinetics are mainly caused by incomplete methanol oxidation accompanied by the formation of adsorbed carbonaceous reaction intermediates, which poison the Pt surface [14][15][16][17][18][19]. Most strategies

Growth of lithium hydride thin films from solutions: Towards solution atomic layer deposition of lithiated films

• Ivan Kundrata,
• Karol Fröhlich,
• Lubomír Vančo,
• Matej Mičušík and
• Julien Bachmann

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1443–1451, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.142

• line, and only afterwards was the chamber opened. Since the deposition took place on the entire chamber, the film deposited on the glass slide could be used for further analysis. The chamber had to be cleaned with nitric acid after every deposition. Substrates of Si with native oxide and Pt/Si were

• minima correspond to the timing of the sALD process. The inset shows the formation of small plateaus before the next peak. “A” corresponds to the BuLi flow, “B” corresponds to the water flow, and “P” corresponds to the purging. SEM of the Si/Pt sample surface after deposition and exposure to atmosphere

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

• ) were used for measuring the metal layer thickness by the scratch method and phase contrast [30][32], while conductive NSG01/TiN tips (150 kHz, 5.1 N/m) were used for Kelvin probe force measurements and contact CSG-10/Pt tips (22 kHz, 0.11 N/m) for recording I–V characteristics [33][34] for 10 replicas

• the contrast even changed for the lower lift height (see Figure 10.2 in [41]). The atypical conductive TiN coating of the tip (instead of Pt, Au Pt/Ir or Pt/Cr tips [33][41][42][43]) was used because of the higher mechanical stability of the tips and in order to eliminate diffusion and other chemical

• conductive AFM tip has to be coated with a mechanically hard and non-reacting layer as TiN. Typical Au or Pt coatings need to be avoided because the coating might diffuse into the material forced by the electric field during the interaction. iii) The I–V characteristics can be affected by oxidation and

Warped graphitic layers generated by oxidation of fullerene extraction residue and its oxygen reduction catalytic activity

• Machiko Takigami,
• Rieko Kobayashi,
• Takafumi Ishii,
• Yasuo Imashiro and
• Jun-ichi Ozaki

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1391–1400, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.137

• Abstract Carbon-based oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalysts are regarded as a promising candidate to replace the currently used Pt catalyst in polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs); however, the active sites remain under discussion. We predicted that warped graphitic layers (WGLs) are responsible for

• activity of platinum catalysts is the most realistic approach; for example, by creating alloys [2] or core–shell structures [3] or by activating the Pt particles through metal support interactions [4]. Developing non-precious-metal catalysts is a fascinating, but ultimately speculative, technology for

Construction of a 0D/1D composite based on Au nanoparticles/CuBi₂O₄ microrods for efficient visible-light-driven photocatalytic activity

• Weilong Shi,
• Mingyang Li,
• Hongji Ren,
• Feng Guo,
• Xiliu Huang,
• Yu Shi and
• Yubin Tang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1360–1367, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.134

• the carriers migrating to the surface of the semiconductor to participate in the photoreactions [15]. Decorating semiconductors with noble metals, such as Ag, Au, and Pt, is a strategy to enhance the photocatalytic performance. Certain noble metals exhibiting surface plasmon resonance (SPR) can

Janus-micromotor-based on–off luminescence sensor for active TNT detection

• Ye Yuan,
• Changyong Gao,
• Daolin Wang,
• Chang Zhou,
• Baohua Zhu and
• Qiang He

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1324–1331, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.131

• quenching based sensors for active TNT detection. The Janus capsule micromotors were fabricated by depositing a thin platinum (Pt) film onto one hemisphere of the UCNP-functionalized hollow polyelectrolyte microcapsules. These as-prepared Janus micromotors can autonomously move by catalytic decomposition of

• dispersed on a glass slide to form a monolayer. After sputtering of a 20 nm thin film of Pt, the Janus UCNP-functionalized capsule motors were obtained by removing the silica cores with hydrofluoric acid. To prepare the Janus UCNP capsule motors, NaYF4:Yb3+/Er3+ UCNPs were firstly synthesized following a

• uniformly dispersed on the surface of the microcapsule. After Pt sputtering and removal of the silica core, the Janus UCNP capsule motors were obtained. As shown in Figure 1g, the as-prepared APTES-UCNPs were partially covered with a Pt cap, displaying a Janus structure. The scanning electron microscopy

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

• [71]: The reaction occurring on the anode surface is: while the Pt cathode catalyses the reaction: Linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) experiments were carried out to evaluate the electrocatalytic properties of the bionanocomposite Foam-GOx as 3D bio-anode. Figure 5D displays the catalytic behaviour during

• by coupling the bioactive foam, as anode, to a Pt wire as cathode in a one-pot cell working in 0.1 M of glucose and 0.1 M PBS, at two different pH values (7 and 5.5) and saturated with air. The foam was connected to the potentiostat with a copper wire, glued with colloidal graphite and covered by an

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

• directly (Plano, Art. No. 21529-10). To create an electron-blocking aperture, a 3.5 nm/220 nm thick Cr/Pt layer was deposited onto the SixNy via PVD (Figure 2b, Cr not shown) with Cr acting as an adhesion layer. To achieve smooth aC thin films in combination with a circular Pt aperture, we have applied two

• different approaches that yielded reproducible results (Figure 2). For the first method an aC layer was evaporated on the back side of the wafer by PVD (Figure 2c). Afterwards, FIB milling with an intermediate current of 0.75 nA was used to remove Pt and SixNy in a circular area from the top side (Figure 2d

• transition between SixNy and aC was observable. This procedure leaves a free-standing aC thin film with slight inhomogeneities (Figure 3a), which are attributed to an inhomogeneous, grain-orientation-dependent sputter rate of the nanocrystalline Pt due to ion-channeling effects [30]. The second method uses

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

• ) alloyed nanoparticles that have a very homogeneous size distribution (in spite of the high metal loading of ≈40 wt % Pt), using an ionic liquid as a stabilizer. The electrochemical surface area, the activity for the oxygen reduction reaction and the amount of H2O2 generated during the oxygen reduction

• the performance and durability requirements for transport applications, a metal loading of 0.4 mgPt·cm−2 for the cathode side is commonly used, which explains the high cost of these systems [5]. One lever to reduce the cost of this technology is the reduction of the cathode Pt loading, but this must

• ]. This carbon corrosion modifies the mass transport properties of the active layer, especially for the water management, and accelerates the degradation of the Pt NPs [10][11]. One way to reduce the Pt content is to use more active, tailored NPs [12][13], for example, bimetallic NPs with a core–shell

Pure and mixed ordered monolayers of tetracyano-2,6-naphthoquinodimethane and hexathiapentacene on the Ag(100) surface

• Robert Harbers,
• Timo Heepenstrick,
• Dmitrii F. Perepichka and
• Moritz Sokolowski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1188–1199, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.118

• the screen. The LEED images displayed here were numerically enhanced in contrast. The simulated LEED patterns were calculated according to kinematic theory taking into account the presence of different symmetry-equivalent domains of the adsorbate. The STM images were recorded at RT using Pt/Ir tips in

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

• - and Pt-doped TiO2@clay nanoarchitectures based on sepiolite and montmorillonite have been also prepared by applying two different strategies: i) in situ incorporation of the noble-metal precursor (typically acetylacetonate) in the suspension of commercial organoclays (e.g., Cloisite®30B and sepiolite

• rates of hydrogen production are obtained with the Pt-doped TiO2@sepiolite nanoarchitectures obtained by photodeposition (Figure 5B). Photocatalysts based on Ag-doped ZnO@montmorillonite reported by Sohrabnezhad and Seifi [144] are another example for the enhancement of photocatalytic activity through

• characteristics by the deposition of metallic particles such as Ag, V, and Pt on TiO2@montmorillonite [151][152][153][154][155][156][157]. Novel TiO2–ZnO@clay nanoarchitectures have been recently prepared from diverse clay minerals with improved photoactivity in the resulting materials [158][159][160][161