The role of low-energy electrons in focused electron beam induced deposition: four case studies of representative precursors

• Rachel M. Thorman,
• Ragesh Kumar T. P.,
• D. Howard Fairbrother and
• Oddur Ingólfsson

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1904–1926, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.194

• deposit formation and the translation of such understanding to design parameters for precursor molecules tailored for FEBID is necessary. In terms of the electron-induced processes in FEBID, it is clear that the confinement of electron/molecule interactions to the focal width of the incident high-energy

Metal hydrides: an innovative and challenging conversion reaction anode for lithium-ion batteries

• Luc Aymard,
• Yassine Oumellal and
• Jean-Pierre Bonnet

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1821–1839, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.186

• this will require significant technological improvements to become economically viable for large scale material production. Chemical methods, such as encapsulation or confinement strategies used in the design of energy storage and conversion materials, also constitute new synthetic routes that have

A facile method for the preparation of bifunctional Mn:ZnS/ZnS/Fe₃O₄ magnetic and fluorescent nanocrystals

• Houcine Labiadh,
• Tahar Ben Chaabane,
• Romain Sibille,
• Lavinia Balan and
• Raphaël Schneider

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1743–1751, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.178

• their large surface-to-volume ratio and from confinement phenomena resulting in an atomic-like electronic structure with discrete energy levels. Thus, QDs have been widely studied for their fundamental properties and applications, mostly employed as emitters for biolabelling [3][5], light emitting

• could be related to the quantum confinement effects of nanocrystals and to the diamagnetic contribution of the ZnS core. At 2 K, all bifunctional nanoparticles exhibited hysteresis with remnance magnetization, MR, at 9 T and coercivity, HC, indicating a dominant ferromagnetic nature of the iron oxide

Synthesis, characterization and in vitro biocompatibility study of Au/TMC/Fe₃O₄ nanocomposites as a promising, nontoxic system for biomedical applications

• Hanieh Shirazi,
• Maryam Daneshpour,
• Soheila Kashanian and
• Kobra Omidfar

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1677–1689, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.170

• they are considered to be a link between atomic structures and bulk material [4]. Many of the physicochemical properties of materials change as their size approaches the nanoscale, which can be explained by their high surface area to volume ratio and the quantum confinement effect [4][5]. Over the last

Molecular materials – towards quantum properties

• Mario Ruben

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1485–1486, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.153

• information schemes. As a result of their confinement, electrons in both natural atoms and in quantum dots, so-called artificial atoms, are characterized by the formation of discrete energy levels. Similarly, in the case of a Josephson junction, Cooper pairs are confined in the potential well of the Josephson

• coupling between molecular qubits as required by scalability for logical quantum gate operations. We have gathered in the Thematic Series contributions dealing with the magnetic properties of molecules, partially under use of lanthanide metal ions und their coordination under surface confinement. By the

The Kirkendall effect and nanoscience: hollow nanospheres and nanotubes

• Abdel-Aziz El Mel,
• Ryusuke Nakamura and
• Carla Bittencourt

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1348–1361, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.139

• confinement in nanowires. Although huge efforts were dedicated to the comprehension of the fundamental mechanisms involved in the Kirkendall-induced hollowing process of nanomaterials, there are still several studies which must be carried out to expand the comprehension of this phenomenon. Among these, one

• provide additional elements for a better comprehension of the hollowing process since the vacancy confinement in 1D nanostructures differs from the case of nanospheres. Another perspective is the possibility of monitoring the oxidation-induced hollowing process using in situ TEM carried out under

Structural transitions in electron beam deposited Co–carbonyl suspended nanowires at high electrical current densities

• Gian Carlo Gazzadi and
• Stefano Frabboni

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1298–1305, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.134

• . The equilibrium phase of bulk cobalt at RT is HCP, and at 430 °C there is a transition to the FCC phase. Co is known to stabilize FCC at RT as a consequence of either rapid quenching from annealing above the transition temperature or of the grain size confinement to submicron range [30]. The

Addition of Zn during the phosphine-based synthesis of indium phospide quantum dots: doping and surface passivation

• Natalia E. Mordvinova,
• Alexander A. Vinokurov,
• Oleg I. Lebedev,
• Tatiana A. Kuznetsova and
• Sergey G. Dorofeev

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1237–1246, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.127

• and the distance between them is constant could be explained through the doping scheme in Figure 12. This scheme solely depends on the assumption that the Zn levels are pinned in the band gap when the size of the QDs changes. The valence band energy of bulk InP is set to zero. The quantum confinement

• effect takes place when the size of the particle is less than the exciton Bohr radius [23]. Besides, the strong confinement is fulfilled when the size of the particle is less than the Bohr radius for all types of charge carriers. According to the literature [5] the exciton Bohr diameter for bulk InP is

• about 21.6 nm, the Bohr diameter of electrons is about 19.6 nm and of holes about 2.0 nm. The mean diameter of the synthesized particles is in the range of 1.5–6.5 nm. Thus, quantum confinement effects for the most particles are extended to the electron levels but not to the hole levels. When the size

Improved optical limiting performance of laser-ablation-generated metal nanoparticles due to silica-microsphere-induced local field enhancement

• Zheren Du,
• Lianwei Chen,
• Tsung-Sheng Kao,
• Mengxue Wu and
• Minghui Hong

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1199–1204, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.122

• factors. One factor is the different thickness of the target sample, which leads to the slightly different DI water layer thickness above the target sample surface. The laser ablation rate can be enhanced by the confinement of the water [18]. For the Au target, the water layer thickness was ≈1 mm, while

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

• charge recombination confinement and thereby increasing the efficiency of organic LED devices. As a result of the electron-deficient quinoline ligand, Alq3 is characterized by HOMO and LUMO energy levels of ≈−5.95 and ≈−3.0 eV, respectively [13][14]. The LUMO and HOMO energy levels are fundamental

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

Observing the morphology of single-layered embedded silicon nanocrystals by using temperature-stable TEM membranes

• Sebastian Gutsch,
• Daniel Hiller,
• Jan Laube,
• Margit Zacharias and
• Christian Kübel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 964–970, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.99

• -normal distribution. The results strongly reflect the ability to control the Si NC size by geometrical one-dimensional confinement of the SRON layers. Furthermore, the influence of the SRON stoichiometry on Si nanoparticle formation is demonstrated in Figure 4c–e. Interestingly, increasing the Si excess

• exhibits a similar effect on the Si NC size and shape as the SRON thickness increase. The transition from clustering to spinodal-like decomposition [46][47][48] is obviously a sensitive function of the SRON thickness as well as of the stoichiometry. Due to the one dimensional geometrical confinement

Structural, optical, opto-thermal and thermal properties of ZnS–PVA nanofluids synthesized through a radiolytic approach

• Alireza Kharazmi,
• Nastaran Faraji,
• Roslina Mat Hussin,
• Elias Saion,
• W. Mahmood Mat Yunus and
• Kasra Behzad

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 529–536, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.55

• to increasing particles size; however, these values are generally higher than the band gap energy of bulk ZnS 3.6 eV [1]. The band gap energy implies a very weak quantum confinement effect. Since the wave functions of electrons and holes are still overlapped, the movement of the excitons instigates a

• weak confinement [28]. The thermal conductivity of distilled water, PVA and ZnS nanofluids were measured and are listed in Table 2. The thermal conductivity of distilled water was measured to calibrate the set-up and agreed well with the reported value of the literature [29]. The thermal conductivity

• groups in the PVA structure, respectively. The band gap of ZnS NPs varied from 3.74 to 3.68 eV from lower to higher irradiation doses, which hints to a weak quantum confinement. Thermal conductivity and effusivity of the samples exhibited an increment upon the irradiation due to the chain scission of PVA

Synergic combination of the sol–gel method with dip coating for plasmonic devices

• Cristiana Figus,
• Maddalena Patrini,
• Francesco Floris,
• Lucia Fornasari,
• Paola Pellacani,
• Gerardo Marchesini,
• Andrea Valsesia,
• Flavia Artizzu,
• Daniela Marongiu,
• Michele Saba,
• Franco Marabelli,
• Andrea Mura,
• Giovanni Bongiovanni and
• Francesco Quochi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 500–507, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.52

• be exploited in innovative technological applications. SPR is a phenomena arising from the interaction between the incident electromagnetic radiation and the conduction electrons present on a metal surface. Such coupling leads to an enhancement and a spatial confinement of the electromagnetic field

Raman spectroscopy as a tool to investigate the structure and electronic properties of carbon-atom wires

• Alberto Milani,
• Matteo Tommasini,
• Valeria Russo,
• Andrea Li Bassi,
• Andrea Lucotti,
• Franco Cataldo and
• Carlo S. Casari

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 480–491, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.49

• powerful tool for the characterization of carbon materials and nanostructures due to its sensitivity to the vibration of C–C bonds. For instance, strong electron–phonon coupling and resonance effects allow for the measurement of single carbon nanostructures and together with confinement effects, provides

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

• interesting to study water and ion transport in confinement [15][16]. Coated templates are also attractive to synthesize extremely thin nanowires for the investigation of finite size and quantum size effects [17]. Atomic layer deposition is based on cycles of self-limiting chemical reactions between the gas

A surface acoustic wave-driven micropump for particle uptake investigation under physiological flow conditions in very small volumes

• Florian G. Strobl,
• Dominik Breyer,
• Phillip Link,
• Adriano A. Torrano,
• Christoph Bräuchle,
• Matthias F. Schneider and
• Achim Wixforth

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 414–419, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.41

• coupling the sound waves into the fluid medium. Additionally, the angle of incidence of the generated fluid jet in this design is equal to the Rayleigh angle of about 23° and thus favors the desired generation of shear force in the x–y plane without the need for a confinement of the flow profile. Moreover

Carrier multiplication in silicon nanocrystals: ab initio results

• Ivan Marri,
• Marco Govoni and
• Stefano Ossicini

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 343–352, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.33

• devices. The possibility of exploiting features that derive from the reduced dimensionality of the nanocrystalline phase, and in particular, features induced by the quantum confinement effect [1][2][3][4][5] can lead to a better use of the carrier excess energy, and can increase solar cell thermodynamic

• momentum conservation and by fast phonon relaxation processes, CM is often inefficient in bulk semiconductors. On the nanoscale, CM is favored (a) by quantum confinement that enhances the carrier–carrier Coulomb interaction [7], (b) by the lack of restrictions imposed by the conservation of momentum [8

Nanoporous Ge thin film production combining Ge sputtering and dopant implantation

• Jacques Perrin Toinin,
• Alain Portavoce,
• Khalid Hoummada,
• Michaël Texier,
• Maxime Bertoglio,
• Sandrine Bernardini,
• Marco Abbarchi and
• Lee Chow

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 336–342, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.32

• making the material quasi-direct through the process of Brillouin zone folding [3]. For example, non-phonon processes were shown to dominate in the case of porous Si under strong confinement potential [4][5][6]. In addition, Q-effects in porous semiconductors can be interesting for photovoltaic

Synthesis, characterization, monolayer assembly and 2D lanthanide coordination of a linear terphenyl-di(propiolonitrile) linker on Ag(111)

• Zhi Chen,
• Svetlana Klyatskaya,
• José I. Urgel,
• David Écija,
• Olaf Fuhr,
• Willi Auwärter,
• Johannes V. Barth and
• Mario Ruben

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 327–335, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.31

• "-di(propiolonitrile) (2) linker, whereby the latter has been synthesized and characterized herein (Figure 1). A class of terphenyl-4,4"-dicarbonitrile derivatives, NC–Ph3–CN, was intensively studied as a linker in molecular and metal coordination assemblies under 2D confinement [20][22][24][43]. With

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy of graphitic carbon nanomaterials doped with heteroatoms

• Toma Susi,
• Thomas Pichler and
• Paola Ayala

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 177–192, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.17

• indices (n,m). In single-walled carbon nanotubes, quantum confinement of the electronic wave function around the circumference of the tube results in one third of the tubes being metallic (when n − m = 3 × integer), while the remaining two thirds are semiconducting with band gaps proportional to their

Exploring plasmonic coupling in hole-cap arrays

• Thomas M. Schmidt,
• Maj Frederiksen,
• Vladimir Bochenkov and
• Duncan S. Sutherland

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1–10, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.1

• results from the large structural asymmetry between the cap and the BW-SPP. The field distributions, particularly for the two anti-symmetric modes (peak at 803 nm and dip at 1045 nm) show a strong field confinement between the cap and the hole with field enhancement up to 25 and 29. Figure 8 shows the

Bright photoluminescence from ordered arrays of SiGe nanowires grown on Si(111)

• D. J. Lockwood,
• N. L. Rowell,
• A. Benkouider,
• A. Ronda,
• L. Favre and
• I. Berbezier

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2498–2504, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.259

• = 0.14. Both of these concentrations values, as determined from PL, are in agreement with the target value. The NWs are too large in diameter for a quantum confinement induced energy shift in the band gap. Nevertheless, NW PL is readily observed, indicating that efficient carrier recombination is

• ) quantum confinement in conjunction with their associated optical properties [1][2][3][4][5][6]. However, in order to fully implement these new properties, strict control is needed over the NW location, uniformity, composition, and size. By exploiting such band gap engineering, directly allowed transitions

• volume of 0.006 µm3) and thus the carriers have to be recombining efficiently within the wires to produce this light emission at the SiGe-alloy band gap energy. We know from earlier studies of SiGe etched wires [32] and dots [33] that just the spatial confinement of carriers is sufficient to produce the

Si/Ge intermixing during Ge Stranski–Krastanov growth

• Alain Portavoce,
• Khalid Hoummada,
• Antoine Ronda,
• Dominique Mangelinck and
• Isabelle Berbezier

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2374–2382, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.246

• important to stress that the Ge dot composition can have a significant impact on Ge-dot-based device properties, such as electron confinement and optical properties, for example. Consequently, the measurement of the Ge island composition versus growth conditions is of great interest for: (1) understanding

Inorganic Janus particles for biomedical applications

• Isabel Schick,
• Steffen Lorenz,
• Dominik Gehrig,
• Stefan Tenzer,
• Wiebke Storck,
• Karl Fischer,
• Dennis Strand,
• Frédéric Laquai and
• Wolfgang Tremel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2346–2362, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.244

• by using the successive ion layer adhesion and reaction (SILAR) technique (Figure 2b). Upon the gradual change of the composition in radial direction, a bathochromic shift of the photoluminescence-band was observed due to the reduced confinement (Figure 2a). This goes along with the enhanced quantum