Optimization of Mo/Cr bilayer back contacts for thin-film solar cells

• Nima Khoshsirat,
• Fawad Ali,
• Vincent Tiing Tiong,
• Mojtaba Amjadipour,
• Hongxia Wang,
• Mahnaz Shafiei and
• Nunzio Motta

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2700–2707, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.252

• crystallinity The XRD spectra of Mo films grown on Cr-coated glass using different values of sputtering power and pressure are shown in Figure 5. All samples exhibit three main peaks that match with the (110), (200) and (211) plane orientations of the standard difractogram ICDD-96-901-1606 for Mo. A comparison

• of XRD peak intensities shows a higher peak intensity for samples deposited at 3 mTorr. This is another evidence for increased crystallinity at lower deposition pressure. A similar trend can also be seen in Figure 5 when the sputtering power increases from 100 to 200 W. XRD patterns of all samples

Size-selected Fe₃O₄–Au hybrid nanoparticles for improved magnetism-based theranostics

• Maria V. Efremova,
• Yulia A. Nalench,
• Eirini Myrovali,
• Anastasiia S. Garanina,
• Ivan S. Grebennikov,
• Polina K. Gifer,
• Maxim A. Abakumov,
• Marina Spasova,
• Makis Angelakeris,
• Alexander G. Savchenko,
• Michael Farle,
• Natalia L. Klyachko,
• Alexander G. Majouga and
• Ulf Wiedwald

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2684–2699, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.251

• properties in biocompatible Fe3O4 NPs is of utmost importance for improved performance in MPH, MRI, or MPI [16][17]. It is essential to obtain Fe3O4 NPs of high crystallinity with bulk-like magnetic properties, which change with the NP size, shape and iron oxidation state [18][19][20]. These parameters can

• commercial contrast agents due to the high crystallinity and large bulk-like saturation magnetization leading to larger field gradients in MRI. The MPH measurements reveal that the specific loss power (SLP) increases from 10 to 617 W·gFe−1 in water and from 12 to 327 W·gFe−1 in agarose with increasing NP

• with improved crystallinity in this case is likely due to the longer reflux time. To the best of our knowledge, only a few examples of Fe3O4–Au NPs with octahedral-like morphology have been reported in the literature [29][30]. We find that our hybrid NPs outperform previous reports in terms of size

Impact of the anodization time on the photocatalytic activity of TiO₂ nanotubes

• Jesús A. Díaz-Real,
• Geyla C. Dubed-Bandomo,
• Juan Galindo-de-la-Rosa,
• Luis G. Arriaga,
• Janet Ledesma-García and
• Nicolas Alonso-Vante

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2628–2643, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.244

• sections. XRD The structure and crystallinity of the samples were studied by means of XRD and the diffractograms are presented in Figure 3. The Bragg–Brentano geometry was preferred for our work with thin films. After being thermally treated, all the samples exhibited the typical Bragg positions of anatase

• data obtained by the PEC technique. In the literature, a wide range of values for Efb have been reported and it has been found that this parameter can be affected by several properties of the material (crystallinity, doping level or synthesis conditions) as well as the chemical environment (ionic force

• room temperature under air and stored. Structural characterization Surface composition and morphology of the samples were investigated by SEM (JEOL, model JSM-6510LV) equipped with energy-dispersive spectroscopy detector (EDS, Bruker XFlash 6I10). Crystallinity information was obtained from X-ray

Enhanced antineoplastic/therapeutic efficacy using 5-fluorouracil-loaded calcium phosphate nanoparticles

• Shanid Mohiyuddin,
• Saba Naqvi and
• Gopinath Packirisamy

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2499–2515, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.233

•  2D. X-ray diffraction pattern X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis was performed to assess the crystallinity of both CaP@5-FU NPs and CaP NPs, as shown in Figure 3B and Figure 3A, respectively. A diffraction pattern with a 2θ value of 31.8 (d value 2.804) confirms the hydroxyapatite (HAP) formation [33

Nanocellulose: Recent advances and its prospects in environmental remediation

• Katrina Pui Yee Shak,
• Yean Ling Pang and
• Shee Keat Mah

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2479–2498, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.232

• for its high-purity in CNF form as well as high water-retaining capacity and crystallinity (80–90%) among the various types of CNFs [11]. Cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) CNC goes by a few other terms: nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC) and cellulose nanowhisker (CNW). In contrast to CNF, CNC is less flexible

• due to its higher crystallinity (Figure 2b). This is because CNCs have an elongated rod-like shape made up of crystalline regions isolated from CNFs [24]. Its assembly occurs through a series of alterations, beginning with the excision of amorphous regions in CNFs to isolate the crystalline regions

• from other polymers and functional groups except alcohol [32][44]. According to Gatenholm and Klemm [45], a typical BC production process can take up to two weeks to produce cellulose. Furthermore, nanocellulose produced from BC possesses higher crystallinity than plant-derived nanocellulose [46]. Over

ZnO-nanostructure-based electrochemical sensor: Effect of nanostructure morphology on the sensing of heavy metal ions

• Marina Krasovska,
• Vjaceslavs Gerbreders,
• Irena Mihailova,
• Andrejs Ogurcovs,
• Eriks Sledevskis,
• Andrejs Gerbreders and
• Pavels Sarajevs

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2421–2431, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.227

• a high degree of crystallinity. In the case of the nanotubes, the intensity of the peak corresponding to the (002) plane is about four times lower than in the case of nanorods, indicating good efficiency of metastable plane etching. The EDS spectrum confirms that the as-synthesized samples are

Block copolymers for designing nanostructured porous coatings

• Roberto Nisticò

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2332–2344, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.218

• of the thermal expansion coefficients and/or directional enthalpy (or entropy) changes, as shown in [83]. Furthermore, crystallinity is also an important parameter that can influence the domain orientation. As reported by Register and co-workers [84], there are three different levels of orientation

Influence of the thickness of an antiferromagnetic IrMn layer on the static and dynamic magnetization of weakly coupled CoFeB/IrMn/CoFeB trilayers

• Deepika Jhajhria,
• Dinesh K. Pandya and
• Sujeet Chaudhary

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2198–2208, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.206

• the crystallinity and hence the increase in mean grain size of IrMn at higher thickness. The average interfacial roughness of the top and bottom CoFeB layers was ca. 0.6 nm, and that of the Ta seed and cap layers is below 0.5 nm for all the samples. The FMR measurements allow us to investigate the

Dumbbell gold nanoparticle dimer antennas with advanced optical properties

• Janning F. Herrmann and
• Christiane Höppener

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2188–2197, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.205

• interaction of linker molecules, which may be used for a directed assembly of individual antenna parts. Besides of the general discussion on methodologies, the effect of the crystallinity of the employed noble metals has attracted attention [45]. The versatility of colloidal chemistry provides nowadays a tool

• box of nanoparticles made of different materials, shapes and sizes. In addition, the crystallinity of these structures leads to the formation of facets, edges and corners. Using colloidal nanoparticles, their chemical assembly demands for certain properties of the specific linker molecules [46]. In

Electrospun one-dimensional nanostructures: a new horizon for gas sensing materials

• Muhammad Imran,
• Nunzio Motta and
• Mahnaz Shafiei

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2128–2170, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.202

• 12.3/22.5 s to 2/6.9 s [145]. 4.1.2 Doped semiconducting metal oxide: The intrinsic response of pure metal oxide 1D nanostructures can be tuned by changing the crystallite size, crystallinity and surface area. In general, these material parameters are modified by controlling the precursor concentration

Recent highlights in nanoscale and mesoscale friction

• Andrea Vanossi,
• Dirk Dietzel,
• Andre Schirmeisen,
• Ernst Meyer,
• Rémy Pawlak,
• Thilo Glatzel,
• Marcin Kisiel,
• Shigeki Kawai and
• Nicola Manini

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1995–2014, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.190

• experiments of gold and antimony nanoparticles on highly oriented pyrolithic graphite (HOPG) [46], where the precise value of γ was found to depend sensitively on the crystallinity of the particles. As predicted theoretically [66][67], γ = 0.5 was found for the case of amorphous Sb nanoparticles, whereas

Synthesis of a MnO₂/Fe₃O₄/diatomite nanocomposite as an efficient heterogeneous Fenton-like catalyst for methylene blue degradation

• Zishun Li,
• Xuekun Tang,
• Kun Liu,
• Jing Huang,
• Yueyang Xu,
• Qian Peng and
• Minlin Ao

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1940–1950, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.185

• . However, the original characteristic peaks of magnetite are weakened. This indicates that the nano-MnO2 covering on the Fe3O4/diatomite is of low crystallinity or amorphous. Figure 2 shows the FTIR spectra of purified diatomite, Fe3O4/diatomite and MnO2/Fe3O4/diatomite. The broad peaks at 3400 and 1630 cm

• poor crystallinity of MnO2, which is consistent with the XRD result. In some small parts of the area, however, typical spacings of 0.21 and 0.26 nm are measured, which corresponds to the (202) and (301) planes of MnO2 [30]. The morphology of pure MnO2 particles was also researched (Figure S2

Synthesis of rare-earth metal and rare-earth metal-fluoride nanoparticles in ionic liquids and propylene carbonate

• Marvin Siebels,
• Lukas Mai,
• Laura Schmolke,
• Kai Schütte,
• Juri Barthel,
• Junpei Yue,
• Jörg Thomas,
• Bernd M. Smarsly,
• Anjana Devi,
• Roland A. Fischer and
• Christoph Janiak

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1881–1894, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.180

• small, nearly spherical and partially agglomerated particles. Close-up TEM images show interference patterns for EuF3 and ErF3, which indicate crystallinity of the REF3-NPs (Figure 1 middle, and Figure S5a, Supporting Information File 1). The crystallinity of the particles was confirmed and the crystal

• by TEM (Figure 6 and Figure S7a, Supporting Information File 1) to values of 1.0–2.5 nm for Gd (average diameter of 1.5 ± 0.5 nm) and 2.0–3.5 nm for Er (average diameter 3.0 ± 0.5 nm) (Table 1). A close-up of the TEM images shows interference patterns, indicating crystallinity of the RE-NPs. The

• crystallinity of the RE-NPs was confirmed by SAED and gave the expected reflections for elemental Gd and Er (Figure 7 and Figure S7b, Supporting Information File 1). Due to the very small size of the Gd and Er particles a meaningful PXRD pattern could not be obtained. Characterization by EDX (Figure 7 and

Uniform cobalt nanoparticles embedded in hexagonal mesoporous nanoplates as a magnetically separable, recyclable adsorbent

• Can Zhao,
• Yuexiao Song,
• Tianyu Xiang,
• Wenxiu Qu,
• Shuo Lou,
• Xiaohong Yin and
• Feng Xin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1770–1781, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.168

• concentrations of RhB in the solution, respectively; V (L) represents the volume of RhB solution; m (g) is the weight of the adsorbent used. Results and Discussion Characterization of the hexagonal magnetic mesoporous nanoplates The crystallinity of the samples was confirmed by XRD and the results are given in

Controllable one-pot synthesis of uniform colloidal TiO₂ particles in a mixed solvent solution for photocatalysis

• Jong Tae Moon,
• Seung Ki Lee and
• Ji Bong Joo

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1715–1727, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.163

• process. Varying the ratio of solvent composition, the concentration of surfactant and TiO2 precursor was used to control the particle diameter, degree of monodispersity and morphology. The modification of the calcination temperature affected the crystallinity and crystalline phase of the colloidal TiO2

• particles. When uniform, amorphous TiO2 particles were calcined at an optimal temperature (500 °C), the final sample exhibited beneficial characteristics such as high anatase crystallinity with a mixed phase of anatase and rutile and relatively high surface area. The photocatalytic efficiency of the uniform

• TiO2 sample with high anatase crystallinity with mixed phase and high surface area was dramatically enhanced towards RhB degradation under UV–vis irradiation. We systemically discuss the relationship between the synthetic parameters in our synthesis and the properties of the final TiO2 products, as

Nanocomposites comprised of homogeneously dispersed magnetic iron-oxide nanoparticles and poly(methyl methacrylate)

• Sašo Gyergyek,
• David Pahovnik,
• Ema Žagar,
• Alenka Mertelj,
• Rok Kostanjšek,
• Miloš Beković,
• Marko Jagodič,
• Heinrich Hofmann and
• Darko Makovec

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1613–1622, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.153

• dissolution of the Fe cations from the nanocomposite and the nanoparticles was tested with dissolution in the presence of citric acid at pH 1, where further details can be found in Supporting Information File 1. Characterization The particle size, crystallinity and dispersion over the nanocomposites were

Optical near-field mapping of plasmonic nanostructures prepared by nanosphere lithography

• Gitanjali Kolhatkar,
• Alexandre Merlen,
• Jiawei Zhang,
• Chahinez Dab,
• Gregory Q. Wallace,
• François Lagugné-Labarthet and
• Andreas Ruediger

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1536–1543, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.144

• , which is ascribed to different reasons: for one, the experimental radii of the apexes might be larger than in the numerical model, or the crystallinity of the gold composing the nanotriangles might be less than ideal thus causing dissipation. Also, the simulation assumes perfectly crystalline gold. In

• this study, the samples here were prepared by evaporation and have no defined crystallinity, unlike colloidal solutions composed of monocrystalline metallic particles which generally provide higher enhancements by several order of magnitude [21]. However, the enhancement of the optical near-field is

Single-crystalline FeCo nanoparticle-filled carbon nanotubes: synthesis, structural characterization and magnetic properties

• Rasha Ghunaim,
• Maik Scholz,
• Christine Damm,
• Bernd Rellinghaus,
• Rüdiger Klingeler,
• Bernd Büchner,
• Michael Mertig and
• Silke Hampel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1024–1034, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.95

• nanoparticles of Fe50Co50@CNT was investigated by HRTEM measurements. Surprisingly, some particles in the as-prepared sample showed high crystallinity, even without annealing, as shown in Figure 3c. The crystallinity of the core material was confirmed by the appearance of the lattice fringes (marked by short

• crystallinity, an annealing step is necessary. The rather spherical geometry of the intermetallic nanoparticles inside CNTs was confirmed by TEM aspect ratio studies (i.e., the ratio of the particle’s long axis to its short axis). In the as-prepared sample (with nearly 140 investigated filling particles), 57

• crystallinity and thus a larger number of 110 planes. Higher filling is also confirmed by TGA data. (2) The reflection intensities in general increase with annealing, which means that more particles of the homogenous bcc phase of Fe50Co50 are formed. The intense reflections at 2θ = 30° and 37 ° correspond to

Comparative study of sculptured metallic thin films deposited by oblique angle deposition at different temperatures

• Susann Liedtke,
• Christoph Grüner,
• Jürgen W. Gerlach and
• Bernd Rauschenbach

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 954–962, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.89

• incidence angle depends strongly on surface diffusion, but a consistent description remains challenging due to the complex interaction between surface diffusion, crystallinity and shadowing. Moreover, it has been demonstrated that the porosity of obliquely deposited metallic thin films can be increased

Effect of annealing treatments on CeO₂ grown on TiN and Si substrates by atomic layer deposition

• Silvia Vangelista,
• Rossella Piagge,
• Satu Ek and
• Alessio Lamperti

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 890–899, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.83

• annealing has been performed by using an Anton Paar tool mounted in the diffractometer. This allows us to collect the X-ray diffraction profile during annealing to monitor the evolution of crystallinity of the films during the thermal treatment. During the annealing the sample was kept in static N2

Heavy-metal detectors based on modified ferrite nanoparticles

• Urszula Klekotka,
• Ewelina Wińska,
• Elżbieta Zambrzycka-Szelewa,
• Dariusz Satuła and
• Beata Kalska-Szostko

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 762–770, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.69

• diffraction The fabrication of nonstochiometric compounds affects crystal growth, which is reflected in the crystalization degree. Therefore, examination of the crystallinity of the ferrite nanoparticles was performed by X-ray diffraction. The presence of well-defined sharp patterns proves the incorporation

A review of carbon-based and non-carbon-based catalyst supports for the selective catalytic reduction of nitric oxide

• Shahreen Binti Izwan Anthonysamy,
• Syahidah Binti Afandi,
• Mehrnoush Khavarian and
• Abdul Rahman Bin Mohamed

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 740–761, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.68

Combined pulsed laser deposition and non-contact atomic force microscopy system for studies of insulator metal oxide thin films

• Daiki Katsube,
• Hayato Yamashita,
• Satoshi Abo and
• Masayuki Abe

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 686–692, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.63

• for checking the crystal structure, orientation plane, and crystallinity of a thin film. Once a single-atomic layer step is confirmed, a new sample is prepared under the same PLD conditions and in situ NC-AFM (and also STM) measurements can then be performed in UHV. As an example, a process flow for

Perovskite-structured CaTiO₃ coupled with g-C₃N₄ as a heterojunction photocatalyst for organic pollutant degradation

• Ashish Kumar,
• Christian Schuerings,
• Suneel Kumar,
• Ajay Kumar and
• Venkata Krishnan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 671–685, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.62

• heterojunction, which could be due to its poor crystallinity [46]. This interfacial contact favors the charge transfer between CT and g-C3N4, which suppress the recombination of photogenerated charge carriers and enhance the photocatalytic activity. Furthermore, the elemental mapping of g-C3N4, CT and CTCN was

Mechanistic insights into plasmonic photocatalysts in utilizing visible light

• Kah Hon Leong,
• Azrina Abd Aziz,
• Lan Ching Sim,
• Pichiah Saravanan,
• Min Jang and
• Detlef Bahnemann

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 628–648, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.59

• visible and near infrared (NIR) spectrum. But in order to show enhanced plasmonic photocatalysis performance, the understanding of the material system plays a vital role. This includes the type of noble metal and semiconductor photocatalyst together with their morphology, porosity, crystallinity, contact