Unravelling the interfacial interaction in mesoporous SiO₂@nickel phyllosilicate/TiO₂ core–shell nanostructures for photocatalytic activity

• Bridget K. Mutuma,
• Xiluva Mathebula,
• Isaac Nongwe,
• Bonakele P. Mtolo,
• Boitumelo J. Matsoso,
• Rudolph Erasmus,
• Zikhona Tetana and
• Neil J. Coville

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1834–1846, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.165

• reactions, methane reforming, and hydrogen evolution [35][36][37][38][39][40]. Wang et al. [38] reported the growth of nickel phyllosilicate by simultaneous reaction of a silica precursor (tetraethylorthosilicate), nickel chloride, water, and urea in a hydrothermal reactor at 210 °C for 12 h. They obtained

Self-standing heterostructured NiC_x-NiFe-NC/biochar as a highly efficient cathode for lithium–oxygen batteries

• Shengyu Jing,
• Xu Gong,
• Shan Ji,
• Linhui Jia,
• Bruno G. Pollet,
• Sheng Yan and
• Huagen Liang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1809–1821, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.163

• carbon is a promising cathode material for lithium–oxygen batteries. Keywords: electrocatalytic performance; lithium–oxygen batteries; N-doped carbon; nickel carbide; oxygen evolution reaction (OER); oxygen reduction reaction (ORR); specific capacity; Introduction Clean and sustainable renewable energy

• , constant, on-demand, and reliable manner [3][4][5][6]. Oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) play critical roles in many clean energy storage and conversion devices (e.g., hydrogen produced from water splitting via water electrolyzers, hydrogen fuel cells, and metal–air

• seems to facilitate the process of adsorption/desorption of intermediate species and the charge transfer ability during hydrogen evolution reaction (HER)/OER. In addition, the interfaces between Ni3C and N-doped C probably strongly reshuffle the electronic density, resulting in enhanced catalytic

Molecular dynamics modeling of the influence forming process parameters on the structure and morphology of a superconducting spin valve

• Alexander Vakhrushev,
• Aleksey Fedotov,
• Vladimir Boian,
• Roman Morari and
• Anatolie Sidorenko

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1776–1788, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.160

• spintronics applications were studied by the molecular dynamics method [33][34]. Molecular dynamics describes the motion of each nanosystem atom at a certain point in time, therefore, it is possible to reproduce the detailed evolution of nanoelements and their properties. The basis of the method is the

Mapping of integrated PIN diodes with a 3D architecture by scanning microwave impedance microscopy and dynamic spectroscopy

• Rosine Coq Germanicus,
• Peter De Wolf,
• Florent Lallemand,
• Catherine Bunel,
• Serge Bardy,
• Hugues Murray and
• Ulrike Lüders

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1764–1775, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.159

• also appreciate the evolution of the implanted and diffused n-type doping around the deep trench when the applied voltage varies between −1.5 V and 1.5 V. Applied to a highly integrated device, these results show that the multidimensional sMIM method enables comprehensive studies of the entire

• for different DC voltage values (Figure 10) reveal the evolution of the junction delineation as a function of the DC voltage. This new methodology opens many possibilities in the use of nanoscale electrical approaches to understand not only the global device architecture at a single applied DC voltage

Application of contact-resonance AFM methods to polymer samples

• Sebastian Friedrich and
• Brunero Cappella

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1714–1727, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.154

• group of measurements has been performed. In this case, the lateral scan size was 1 nm, hence the tip does not move laterally. This allows for the characterization of the temporal evolution of the resonance frequency. An AC240 tip with kc = 0.775 N/m was used. The static force was varied, too. Figure 5

Amorphized length and variability in phase-change memory line cells

• Nafisa Noor,
• Sadid Muneer,
• Raihan Sayeed Khan,
• Anna Gorbenko and
• Helena Silva

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1644–1654, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.147

• programmed to approx. 7.5 MΩ. (a) Evolution of Rprogrammed as a function of the post-reset pulse amplitude (Vpost-reset). (b) 1st and 2nd rows: example waveforms of applied voltage at channel 1 (Vch1) and measured voltage at channel 3,4 (Vch3,4) during an unsuccessful re-amorphization (blue dashed line), a

Oxidation of Au/Ag films by oxygen plasma: phase separation and generation of nanoporosity

• Abdel-Aziz El Mel,
• Said A. Mansour,
• Mujaheed Pasha,
• Atef Zekri,
• Janarthanan Ponraj,
• Akshath Shetty and
• Yousef Haik

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1608–1614, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.143

• minor differences were mentioned in the text whenever applicable. Results and Discussion Figure 2 shows the morphological evolution at the surface of the Au/Ag films (75 and 25 atom % of Ag and Au, respectively) as a function of the oxidation time. After 3 min, small oxide grains start to form at the

• nanospheres (Figure 2d). By further increasing the oxidation time to 30 min, an increase in microsphere size and number is seen at the surface (Figure 2e,f). The evolution of film thickness was examined by SEM cross-section imaging (Figure 3). The results show that the as-grown films exhibit a columnar

• the morphological evolution happening at the surface of the films as a function of the oxidation time: (a, b) 3 min, (c, d) 15 min and (e, f) 30 min. For all the samples the electrical power was fixed at 100 W and the pressure was fixed at 3 Pa. Scale bar: 2 µm. Cross-section SEM images showing the

Helium ion microscope – secondary ion mass spectrometry for geological materials

• Matthew R. Ball,
• Richard J. M. Taylor,
• Joshua F. Einsle,
• Fouzia Khanom,
• Christelle Guillermier and
• Richard J. Harrison

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1504–1515, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.133

• geosciences have low atomic numbers. Lithium, for example, is critical to a low-carbon energy landscape through electric vehicles and battery materials [22][23]. The global carbon cycle is likewise critical for the continued evolution of surface conditions on Earth, both in the geological record [24][25] and

Controlling the electronic and physical coupling on dielectric thin films

• Philipp Hurdax,
• Michael Hollerer,
• Larissa Egger,
• Georg Koller,
• Xiaosheng Yang,
• Anja Haags,
• Serguei Soubatch,
• Frank Stefan Tautz,
• Mathias Richter,
• Alexander Gottwald,
• Peter Puschnig,
• Martin Sterrer and
• Michael G. Ramsey

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1492–1503, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.132

• ][34] produces a scatter of the ΦMgO values on either side of the critical work function (Φcrit = 2.8 eV). Figure 5 shows the evolution of the ARUPS spectra with an increasing 6P dose on an MgO(100) film with ΦMgO = 2.58 eV (i.e., below Φcrit). In the MgO valence band region (Figure 5a), gradual

Protruding hydrogen atoms as markers for the molecular orientation of a metallocene

• Linda Laflör,
• Michael Reichling and
• Philipp Rahe

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1432–1438, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.127

• evolution of a sharp line (one example marked by an arrow in Figure 2d), which suggests a relaxation of the front tip apex in agreement with earlier observations in organic [33][34] or inorganic [35][36] systems. For the smallest tip–sample separation, two short elongated dark segments (see markers in

• similarity to the experimental data. The change from the ellipse to the dumbbell shape is reproduced as well as the evolution of a sharp line connecting the two dumbbell weights (Figure 2h,l). The characteristic contrast features appear in the simulations at different heights for the different tips, a

Impact of fluorination on interface energetics and growth of pentacene on Ag(111)

• Qi Wang,
• Meng-Ting Chen,
• Antoni Franco-Cañellas,
• Bin Shen,
• Thomas Geiger,
• Holger F. Bettinger,
• Frank Schreiber,
• Ingo Salzmann,
• Alexander Gerlach and
• Steffen Duhm

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1361–1370, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.120

• is denoted. (a) Valence band spectra for (fluorinated) pentacene in (sub)monolayer (solid lines) and multilayer (dotted lines) thin films on Ag(111). (b) Evolution of the vacuum level of (fluorinated) pentacene with increasing thickness on Ag(111). The PEN and PFP data in (a) and (b) is taken from

Hybridization vs decoupling: influence of an h-BN interlayer on the physical properties of a lander-type molecule on Ni(111)

• Maximilian Schaal,
• Takumi Aihara,
• Marco Gruenewald,
• Felix Otto,
• Jari Domke,
• Roman Forker,
• Hiroyuki Yoshida and
• Torsten Fritz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1168–1177, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.101

• determination of the work function we used a bias voltage of approx. −9 V to shift the secondary electron cut-off. Film-thickness dependent evolution of the DR spectra of (a) DBP on bare Ni(111) as well as of DBP on h-BN/Ni(111) deposited at (b) room temperature and at (c) approx. 170 °C. Colored spectra

Revealing the local crystallinity of single silicon core–shell nanowires using tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy

• Marius van den Berg,
• Ardeshir Moeinian,
• Arne Kobald,
• Yu-Ting Chen,
• Anke Horneber,
• Steffen Strehle,
• Alfred J. Meixner and
• Dai Zhang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1147–1156, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.99

• . As shown in Figure 3f, the lowest crystalline fraction is about 0.45, and the highest is 0.70. Hence, an overview of the crystallinity of a single SiNW can be obtained at the diffraction-limited optical resolution of about 300 nm. Tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy of silicon nanowires The evolution of

• ) Raman spectra with PL background were collected along the white arrow inside the yellow square in panel a. c) The evolution in a-Si and c-Si peak intensity along the scan direction shown in panel a. Spectra are vertically shifted for clarity. d) Integrated area of the a-Si peak. e) Integrated area of

• the positions where the polarization angle-resolved measurements where performed. b) Eight of the collected Raman spectra along the white arrow in panel a showing varying c-Si Raman peak intensities. A detailed analysis about the intensity evolution of the a-Si and c-Si Raman peaks is shown in Figure

Plant growth regulation by seed coating with films of alginate and auxin-intercalated layered double hydroxides

• Vander A. de Castro,
• Valber G. O. Duarte,
• Danúbia A. C. Nobre,
• Geraldo H. Silva,
• Vera R. L. Constantino,
• Frederico G. Pinto,
• Willian R. Macedo and
• Jairo Tronto

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1082–1091, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.93

• ) were recorded in a Shimadzu X-ray Diffractometer XRD-6000 mode using Cu Kα1 radiation (λ = 1.5406 Å), 40 kV, 40 mA, sweep range 2θ from 2° to 70° with a scan step of 0.02°/s. Electronic absorption spectra were acquired in an equipment Thermo Scientific model Evolution 300. The morphology of the LDH

Highly sensitive detection of estradiol by a SERS sensor based on TiO₂ covered with gold nanoparticles

• Andrea Brognara,
• Ili F. Mohamad Ali Nasri,
• Beatrice R. Bricchi,
• Andrea Li Bassi,
• Caroline Gauchotte-Lindsay,
• Matteo Ghidelli and
• Nathalie Lidgi-Guigui

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1026–1035, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.87

• aliphatic/aromatic CH bending modes [43]. In order to study the evolution of the spectra with E2 concentration, we have plotted the total intensity of the peak at 743 cm−1 as a function of the E2 concentration (Figure 7b). The error bars reflect the homogenity of the sample surface. The signal increases

Electrochemical nanostructuring of (111) oriented GaAs crystals: from porous structures to nanowires

• Elena I. Monaico,
• Eduard V. Monaico,
• Veaceslav V. Ursaki,
• Shashank Honnali,
• Vitalie Postolache,
• Karin Leistner,
• Kornelius Nielsch and
• Ion M. Tiginyanu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 966–975, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.81

• to images illustrated in Figure 1C. (F) Evolution of the current during anodization in potentiostatic regime of the GaAs(111)B surface at applied voltages of 3, 2 and 1 V. (A) SEM images of the formation of interrupted GaAs nanowires on the (111)B surface anodized in NaCl electrolyte at 6 V. (B) The

Atomic layer deposition for efficient oxygen evolution reaction at Pt/Ir catalyst layers

• Stefanie Schlicht,
• Korcan Percin,
• Stefanie Kriescher,
• André Hofer,
• Claudia Weidlich,
• Matthias Wessling and
• Julien Bachmann

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 952–959, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.79

• approach yields improved mass activity (557 A·g−1 as compared to 80 A·g−1 at 0.39 V overpotential) on the basis of the noble-metal loading, as well as improved stability. Keywords: atomic layer deposition (ALD); oxygen evolution reaction (OER); redox flow battery; vanadium–air redox flow battery (VARFB

• intermittency of renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power [1][2][3]. The water oxidation (oxygen evolution reaction, OER) and its reverse, the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) represent the limiting half-reaction of regenerative fuel cells [4][5], of some batteries (metal–air batteries) [6][7] and

• . The ALD method enables one to optimize the activity for the oxygen evolution reaction using low noble-metal loadings (48–66 μg·cm−2). In comparison to the electrodes prepared by thermal decomposition, the activity per gram of noble metal is increased by about 600% (557 A·g−1 at η = 0.39 V). Whether or

A Josephson junction based on a highly disordered superconductor/low-resistivity normal metal bilayer

• Pavel M. Marychev and
• Denis Yu. Vodolazov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 858–865, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.71

• calculated CPRs using different models could be related with a transversal inhomogeneity near the S constriction in the 2D case. We have also studied the evolution of the CPR of the SN-S-SN Josephson junction when varying different parameters. In Figure 4a we demonstrate that with increase of the temperature

Light–matter interactions in two-dimensional layered WSe₂ for gauging evolution of phonon dynamics

• Avra S. Bandyopadhyay,
• Chandan Biswas and
• Anupama B. Kaul

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 782–797, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.63

• oscillator model to explain the damping mechanism in WSe2. From this it was determined that the damping coefficient increases with the number of layers. The work reported here sheds fundamental insights into the evolution of phonon dynamics in WSe2 and should help pave the way for designing high-performance

• measurements were conducted using a LabRAM HR Evolution NIR (HORIBA Scientific) device equipped with a 532 nm laser for excitation. The micro-Raman and PL spectra were collected by the CCD detector with a diffraction grating of 1800 gr/mm. The spectral resolution for Raman and PL measurements was 0.09 cm−1

• seen from the PL spectra of the ML and bulk samples. In contrast, the I peak is absent in the 1L PL spectra, demonstrating that Eg undergoes an indirect to direct evolution for the ML to 1L case, respectively. It should also be noted that the I peak undergoes a red-shift from the ML to the bulk, and

Nickel nanoparticles supported on a covalent triazine framework as electrocatalyst for oxygen evolution reaction and oxygen reduction reactions

• Secil Öztürk,
• Yu-Xuan Xiao,
• Dennis Dietrich,
• Beatriz Giesen,
• Juri Barthel,
• Jie Ying,
• Xiao-Yu Yang and
• Christoph Janiak

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 770–781, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.62

• little investigated, albeit they are promising candidates for electrocatalysis, especially for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). In this work, nickel nanoparticles (from Ni(COD)2) were supported on CTF-1 materials, which were synthesized from 1,4-dicyanobenzene at 400 °C and 600 °C by the ionothermal

• ). Additionally, after accelerated durability tests of 2000 cycles, the material showed only a slight decrease in activity towards both OER and ORR, demonstrating its superior stability. Keywords: covalent triazine framework (CTF); electrocatalysis; nickel nanoparticles; oxygen evolution reaction; oxygen

• reduction reaction; Introduction A worldwide increasing energy demand combined with the depletion of fossil fuels and environmental issues requires the development of new sustainable clean energy sources [1]. In many renewable energy conversion and storage systems, the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and

Hexagonal boron nitride: a review of the emerging material platform for single-photon sources and the spin–photon interface

• Stefania Castelletto,
• Faraz A. Inam,
• Shin-ichiro Sato and
• Alberto Boretti

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 740–769, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.61

• ⟩. Making use of the above discussion, the second order correlation function for the fluorescence light of a 2-level system can be written as: Using the quantum regression theorem [70], we get: where with the evolution of written as for some operator As the expectation value gives the population of the

• state |2⟩, i.e., ρ2(t), we have On comparing the above equation with the evolution expression for one can identify By using these identities, we obtain: As with |1⟩ being the ground state, then Considering as the population of the state |2⟩ in equilibrium, i.e., ρ2(∞), the second order correlation

Electromigration-induced directional steps towards the formation of single atomic Ag contacts

• Atasi Chatterjee,
• Christoph Tegenkamp and
• Herbert Pfnür

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 680–687, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.55

• 100 to 150 nm. These were compared with those further structured down using FIB to 15 nm, i.e., below the size of a single grain. Although the mesoscopic evolution of structures with filament formation for the large structures was very different from that of the structures that were initially only 15

Exfoliation in a low boiling point solvent and electrochemical applications of MoO₃

• Matangi Sricharan,
• Bikesh Gupta,
• Sreejesh Moolayadukkam and
• H. S. S. Ramakrishna Matte

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 662–670, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.52

• -butanone) confirms the exfoliation of MoO3. However, MoO3 exfoliated in IPA shows additional peaks at 415, 775 and 894 cm−1, which are due to a deformation of Mo–O bonds confirming the formation of HxMoO3 [13]. Similarly, the MoO3 nanosheets exfoliated in the IPA/H2O mixture show the evolution of some new

Soybean-derived blue photoluminescent carbon dots

• Shanshan Wang,
• Wei Sun,
• Dong-sheng Yang and
• Fuqian Yang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 606–619, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.48

• –visible spectrophotometer (Thermal Scientific Evolution 201). The Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis of the prepared carbon nanoparticles was conducted on a Fourier transform infrared instrument (Nicolet iS50) in the wavenumber range of 400 to 4000 cm−1 at a resolution of 4 cm−1

• % under 393 nm excitation. Temporal evolution of the quantum yields for the HTC-CDs under 360 nm excitation and the LA-CDs-x% under 390 nm excitation. The fluorescence intensity was calculated by integrating over the wavelength range of 340–700 nm for the HTC-CDs and 370–760 nm for the LA-CDs-x

Comparison of fresh and aged lithium iron phosphate cathodes using a tailored electrochemical strain microscopy technique

• Matthias Simolka,
• Hanno Kaess and
• Kaspar Andreas Friedrich

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 583–596, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.46

• , the middle row the ESM signal during positive dc-pulse and the bottom row during negative dc-voltage pulse. In a) with |2| V, b) with |3| V, c) with |5| V, d) with |6| V and e) with |7| V. Scan size is 0.33 × 0.33 µm2. Evolution of the ESM signal intensity at the a) fresh cathode and b) aged cathode