Characterisation of thin films of graphene–surfactant composites produced through a novel semi-automated method

• Nik J. Walch,
• Alexei Nabok,
• Frank Davis and
• Séamus P. J. Higson

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 209–219, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.19

• reduced number of layers. The D and D’ bands are caused by disorder in the graphene flakes. The D’ band is present when there are surface defects, such as charging or other impurities adsorbed onto the surface. The D band is caused by edge defects such as a “zig-zag” or “chair” shape on the edge. Edge

Synthesis and applications of carbon nanomaterials for energy generation and storage

• Marco Notarianni,
• Jinzhang Liu,
• Kristy Vernon and
• Nunzio Motta

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 149–196, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.17

• efficiency and stability. However, the flexibility and the low cost of these materials provide the opportunity for many applications such as wearable and disposable electronics or mobile charging. The application of carbon nanotubes and graphene to supercapacitors is also discussed and reviewed in this work

Self-organization of gold nanoparticles on silanated surfaces

• Htet H. Kyaw,
• Salim H. Al-Harthi,
• Azzouz Sellai and
• Joydeep Dutta

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2345–2353, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.242

• measurements were conducted in ultrahigh high vacuum conditions of 2 × 10−10 mbar. In order to reduce surface charging effects, all the measured samples were flooded with electrons for charge compensation during the XPS measurements. The binding energies were calibrated with respect to adventitious C 1s

Orthogonal chemical functionalization of patterned gold on silica surfaces

• Francisco Palazon,
• Didier Léonard,
• Thierry Le Mogne,
• Francesca Zuttion,
• Céline Chevalier,
• Magali Phaner-Goutorbe,
• Éliane Souteyrand,
• Yann Chevolot and
• Jean-Pierre Cloarec

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2272–2277, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.233

• (1486.6 eV). The analysis area can be adjusted from 200 µm to 10 µm and the energy scale was calibrated with reference to the C 1s line at a binding energy of 284.8 ± 0.1 eV (C–C/C–H). The charging effect is controlled by a dedicated neutralizer using a combination of ions and electrons at very low energy

Kelvin probe force microscopy for local characterisation of active nanoelectronic devices

• Tino Wagner,
• Hannes Beyer,
• Patrick Reissner,
• Philipp Mensch,
• Heike Riel,
• Bernd Gotsmann and
• Andreas Stemmer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2193–2206, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.225

• devices exhibit some of the most typical and relevant issues hindering reliable KFM measurements in the past: a combination of large topography with a multitude of different materials including oxides prone to charging. In Figure 9, we show a scan of a 70 nm diameter indium arsenide (InAs) nanowire with

Electrochemical coating of dental implants with anodic porous titania for enhanced osteointegration

• Amirreza Shayganpour,
• Alberto Rebaudi,
• Pierpaolo Cortella,
• Alberto Diaspro and
• Marco Salerno

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2183–2192, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.224

• at 1 min appears to result in an almost full coverage of an aggregated overlayer (80–90%). Concurrently, despite the standard overcoating with 10 nm Au (in order to avoid the static charging effect due to the electron beam), the enhanced contrast still appears to be an effect of the thick insulating

Electrospray deposition of organic molecules on bulk insulator surfaces

• Antoine Hinaut,
• Rémy Pawlak,
• Ernst Meyer and
• Thilo Glatzel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1927–1934, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.195

• , charging of the surface was observed, which could be successfully overcome by a moderate annealing of the surface. The formation of various molecular assemblies was achieved and even isolated molecules could be analyzed at room temperature. Results and Discussion UHV-ESI of solvent UHV-ESI has been

• , we thus attribute this charging to the deposition process. During the deposition of only the solvent, we have not observed charging of the surface (Figure 2), whereas the presence of molecules in the solution always induces the surface charging for high coverage. Since the deposition time (minutes

• positive charging of the surface is in agreement with the estimated large negative bias voltages needed to compensate the surface potential of approximately −30 V. A major disadvantage of UHV-ESI for insulating surfaces is thus the surface charging of the crystals, increasing with the deposition time and

Imaging of carbon nanomembranes with helium ion microscopy

• André Beyer,
• Henning Vieker,
• Robin Klett,
• Hanno Meyer zu Theenhausen,
• Polina Angelova and
• Armin Gölzhäuser

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1712–1720, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.175

• can visualize them. However, CNMs are electrically insulating, which makes them sensitive to charging. We demonstrate that the helium ion microscope (HIM) is a good candidate for imaging freestanding CNMs due to its efficient charge compensation tool. Scanning with a beam of helium ions while

• recording the emitted secondary electrons generates the HIM images. The advantages of HIM are high resolution, high surface sensitivity and large depth of field. The effects of sample charging, imaging of multilayer CNMs as well as imaging artefacts are discussed. Keywords: 2D materials; carbon

• particle microscopy techniques such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM) or helium ion microscopy (HIM). As illustrated in Supporting Information File 1, Figure S1, SEM shows a low signal-to-noise-ratio for freestanding CNMs, especially at higher magnifications, due to charging issues [4][16]. This tends

Thermal energy storage – overview and specific insight into nitrate salts for sensible and latent heat storage

• Nicole Pfleger,
• Thomas Bauer,
• Claudia Martin,
• Markus Eck and
• Antje Wörner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1487–1497, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.154

• phase diagram of a common salt mixture (KNO3 + NaNO3) and the temperature characteristic during the charging process for the salt mixture with 30 wt % potassium nitrate and 70 wt % sodium nitrate. The temperature of the storage material increases during the charging process, which is characteristic for

• increase during thermal charging of the selected salt mixture (30 wt % KNO3 + 70 wt % NaNO3). Specific enthalpy of fusion for the salt mixture KNO3–NaNO3 [35][38]. Overview of salt application. Acknowledgements We express our thanks especially to Ulrike Kröner and Markus Braun for the experimental molten

Atomic force microscopy as analytical tool to study physico-mechanical properties of intestinal cells

• Christa Schimpel,
• Oliver Werzer,
• Eleonore Fröhlich,
• Gerd Leitinger,
• Markus Absenger-Novak,
• Birgit Teubl,
• Andreas Zimmer and
• Eva Roblegg

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1457–1466, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.151

• and the removed filter membranes were given a thin coating of gold palladium (Bal-Tec SCD 500) to improve the surface conductance of the sample and thus avoid surface charging of the sample under the beam. The samples were sputtered at 25 mA for 60 s under argon atmosphere and images were acquired

Scanning reflection ion microscopy in a helium ion microscope

• Yuri V. Petrov and
• Oleg F. Vyvenko

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1125–1137, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.114

• because of positive charging as will be described further in detail below. The angular aperture of detected reflected ions was limited by the slit (6) installed under specular reflection conditions. The slit, with the width of about 1 mm, was mounted parallel to the tilt axis of the sample stage at a

• distortion that might be expected due to surface charging. Some distortion of the image caused by the charging appeared only at significantly higher magnification. It should be noted that the overall detector signal of registered electrons was not changed by the variation of the sample bias, indicating that

• SEs excited immediately near the sample could not reach the detector because of sample surface charging. The step of a minimum height in the field of view of the image in Figure 6 is marked with arrows. The value of the height, as retrieved from the image processing, was found to be 7 ± 2 nm. The

Charge carrier mobility and electronic properties of Al(Op)₃: impact of excimer formation

• Andrea Magri,
• Pascal Friederich,
• Bernhard Schäfer,
• Valeria Fattori,
• Xiangnan Sun,
• Timo Strunk,
• Velimir Meded,
• Luis E. Hueso,
• Wolfgang Wenzel and
• Mario Ruben

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1107–1115, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.112

• (Op)3 reacts less strongly on charging, leading to a smaller reorganization energy, λ, than for Alq3. The slightly higher electronic coupling, , of Alq3 is compensated by a smaller number of neighbors, M. The calculated HOMO and especially LUMO levels are comparable to those of Alq3 (−5.14 and

From lithium to sodium: cell chemistry of room temperature sodium–air and sodium–sulfur batteries

• Philipp Adelhelm,
• Pascal Hartmann,
• Conrad L. Bender,
• Martin Busche,
• Christine Eufinger and
• Juergen Janek

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1016–1055, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.105

• , CO2, and also H2O for the case of non-aqueous systems) and to protect the metal electrode from oxygen exposure. At the same time, drying out of the cell due to solvent evaporation must be avoided. (2) The gas transport must be fast enough to enable sufficiently fast discharging and charging. (3) The

• cell potential. The discharging stage ends with a sudden potential drop (“sudden death”). The charging curves, however, vary significantly and heavily depend on the cell configuration (sodium or lithium cell, type of electrolyte, use of catalysts, type of GDL, etc.). So in order to more easily discuss

• the experimental results, the classification of the voltage profiles according to the shape of the charging curves is useful (Figure 4). The starting point of the matrix is the ideal cell reaction, classified as Type 1A. The voltage profile is characterized by negligible overpotentials for discharge

Multiscale modeling of lithium ion batteries: thermal aspects

• Arnulf Latz and
• Jochen Zausch

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 987–1007, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.102

Pt- and Pd-decorated MWCNTs for vapour and gas detection at room temperature

• Hamdi Baccar,
• Atef Thamri,
• Pierrick Clément,
• Eduard Llobet and
• Adnane Abdelghani

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 919–927, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.95

• PHI 5000 spectrometer from Physical Electronics, equipped with a monochromatic Al Kα X-ray source with 0.7 eV energy resolution was employed. To avoid sample surface charging during the experiment, a dual-beam charge neutralisation comprised of an electron gun of 1 eV and an argon ion gun (≤10 eV) was

Transformation of hydrogen titanate nanoribbons to TiO₂ nanoribbons and the influence of the transformation strategies on the photocatalytic performance

• Melita Rutar,
• Nejc Rozman,
• Matej Pregelj,
• Carla Bittencourt,
• Romana Cerc Korošec,
• Andrijana Sever Škapin,
• Aleš Mrzel,
• Srečo D. Škapin and
• Polona Umek

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 831–844, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.86

• deposited on the samples to reduce the charging effect. Specimens for TEM investigations were dispersed ultrasonically in methanol and a drop of the dispersion was deposited onto a lacy carbon film supported by a copper grid. The phase analysis was performed on the cut surface by X-ray powder diffraction

Morphology control of zinc oxide films via polysaccharide-mediated, low temperature, chemical bath deposition

• Florian Waltz,
• Hans-Christoph Schwarz,
• Andreas M. Schneider,
• Stefanie Eiden and
• Peter Behrens

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 799–808, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.83

• originating from the amorphous glass (data not shown). FE-SEM also failed to visualize the seeds on the glass slides, probably due to their small size and the strong electric charging of the substrate. However, indirect evidence of a successful seeding was possible. Contact angle measurements showed that the

Production, detection, storage and release of spin currents

• Michele Cini

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 736–743, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.75

• possibility of exciting a pure spin current suggests that a magnetization transfer without charging of the kind outlined in the Introduction should be feasible by using a laterally connected polygonal ring and a magnetic field in the same plane as the ring. It should be possible to store and possibly

• . From t1 = 15τ to t2 = 30τ the cubes are isolated and polarization is constant, as it should be. In both cases, the polarization transfer without charging is quite substantial. The cubes remain strictly neutral like the rest of the system. At t2 the cubes are connected through a wire which has a hopping

• release magnetization. Suitable reservoirs or storage units have been shown to work with spin currents in analogy with capacitors for common charge currents. The spin polarization can be stored without charging the reservoir and then used on demand to produce pure spin currents in a wire. These currents

Conformal SiO₂ coating of sub-100 nm diameter channels of polycarbonate etched ion-track channels by atomic layer deposition

• Nicolas Sobel,
• Christian Hess,
• Manuela Lukas,
• Anne Spende,
• Bernd Stühn,
• M. E. Toimil-Molares and
• Christina Trautmann

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 472–479, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.48

• was analyzed by XPS using a modified LHS/SPECS EA2000 MCD system [32]. The samples were aligned normal to the analyzer and measured at pressures between 5.25 × 10−7 and 3.75 × 10−8 mbar. To prevent charging of the membrane and to ensure a constant chemical background for samples smaller than the spot

• size of the analyzer, the ALD-treated foils were deposited on a gold-coated quartz crystal microbalance (QCM). To account for charging effects all spectra were shifted to the Si 2p emission of SiO2 at 103.3 eV [33]. Spectra were corrected for the Au background before C 1s and O 1s analysis. The applied

Kelvin probe force microscopy in liquid using electrochemical force microscopy

• Liam Collins,
• Stephen Jesse,
• Jason I. Kilpatrick,
• Alexander Tselev,
• M. Baris Okatan,
• Sergei V. Kalinin and
• Brian J. Rodriguez

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 201–214, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.19

• properties at the solid–liquid interface. Keywords: diffuse charge dynamics; double layer charging; electrochemical force microscopy; electrochemistry; Kelvin probe force microscopy; Introduction Many important physical, chemical and biological processes including wetting, adsorption, electronic transfer

• distribution, and has proven to be an important technique for studying electronic functionality at the solid–gas interface. KPFM measurements have previously been utilized to investigate surface photo-voltage in photovoltaics [21][22][23] and charging dynamics in ferroelectric [24][25][26], dielectric [27] and

• , double layer charging and electrochemical processes at larger biases. This necessitates making simultaneous measurements as a function of both bias and time. As a relevant parallel, macroscopic analysis of diffuse charge dynamics or electrochemical processes also requires separation of the electrokinetic

Multifunctional layered magnetic composites

• Maria Siglreitmeier,
• Baohu Wu,
• Tina Kollmann,
• Martin Neubauer,
• Gergely Nagy,
• Dietmar Schwahn,
• Vitaliy Pipich,
• Damien Faivre,
• Dirk Zahn,
• Andreas Fery and
• Helmut Cölfen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 134–148, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.13

• a scalpel. The sample was placed on a sticky carbon tape and coated with a thin layer of gold in order to avoid charging effects. The SEM measurements were performed on Zeiss Neon 40 EsB operating in high vacuum. An InLens and SE detector was used for signal collection and an acceleration voltage of

In situ metalation of free base phthalocyanine covalently bonded to silicon surfaces

• Fabio Lupo,
• Cristina Tudisco,
• Federico Bertani,
• Enrico Dalcanale and
• Guglielmo G. Condorelli

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2222–2229, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.231

• relevant charging effect was observed. Freshly prepared samples were quickly transferred to the XPS main chamber. The XPS binding energy scale was calibrated by centering the C 1s peak (due to hydrocarbon moieties and adventitious carbon) at 285.0 eV [24][40] Infrared attenuated total reflectance spectra

Influence of stabilising agents and pH on the size of SnO₂ nanoparticles

• Olga Rac,
• Patrycja Suchorska-Woźniak,
• Marta Fiedot and
• Helena Teterycz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2192–2201, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.228

• high charging capacity, however, this ability slightly diminishes after 60 cycles. It is expected that the SnO2 nanoparticles have the potential to replace conventional graphite anodes in lithium-ion cells [4]. In sensor research, many semiconducting metal oxides are used of which tin dioxide is the

The influence of molecular mobility on the properties of networks of gold nanoparticles and organic ligands

• Edwin J. Devid,
• Paulo N. Martinho,
• M. Venkata Kamalakar,
• Úna Prendergast,
• Christian Kübel,
• Tibebe Lemma,
• Jean-François Dayen,
• Tia. E. Keyes,
• Bernard Doudin,
• Mario Ruben and
• Sense Jan van der Molen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1664–1674, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.177

• provides additional experimental insight into the question of thermal stability of the nanoparticles architecture. Here, not only the S-BPP molecules, but also the nanoparticles are expected to play a role. At low temperatures, the thermal energy kBT becomes comparable to their charging energy EC = e2/2C

• estimated typical Coulomb-blockade charging energies of around 14–17 meV [5], in correspondence with temperature- and voltage-dependent transport measurements. Hence, in alkanethiol and OPE-based networks Coulomb blockade dominates below 200–250 K, whereas around room temperature, the current–voltage (I–V

• -NP–S-BPP network sample exhibits a very different behaviour for higher temperatures, showing a clear upturn in the Arrhenius plot (i.e., at lower 1/T values in Figure 5b). A first explanation for a deviation might be that the charging energy EC = e2/2C C−1 is actually higher for the Au-NP–S-BPP

Silica nanoparticles are less toxic to human lung cells when deposited at the air–liquid interface compared to conventional submerged exposure

• Alicja Panas,
• Andreas Comouth,
• Harald Saathoff,
• Thomas Leisner,
• Marco Al-Rawi,
• Michael Simon,
• Gunnar Seemann,
• Olaf Dössel,
• Sonja Mülhopt,
• Hanns-Rudolf Paur,
• Susanne Fritsch-Decker,
• Carsten Weiss and
• Silvia Diabaté

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1590–1602, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.171

• deposition efficiencies of up to 100% for charged particles [11]. de Bruijne et al. [21] used a corona charger for efficient charging of aerosol particles and did not observe adverse effects on A549 cells by the trace gases formed in the corona. However, for particle sizes below 50 nm, the probability to be