Direct observation of the Si(110)-(16×2) surface reconstruction by atomic force microscopy

• Tatsuya Yamamoto,
• Ryo Izumi,
• Kazushi Miki,
• Takahiro Yamasaki,
• Yasuhiro Sugawara and
• Yan Jun Li

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1750–1756, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.157

• succeeded in obtaining high-resolution images of pentagons and step edges by AFM. In this work, we present key evidence to confirm the reconstruction model in which each pentagon consists of five atoms and single atoms exist around step edges, which has not been reported using STM. Methods The experiments

• pentagons actually consisted of five atoms. A non-pentagonal structure in the 16×2 reconstruction and the disorder region were observed with high resolution, and the defect structure of the pentagon due to the lack of a P3 atom in the structure of pentagon was observed. We also observed the atoms of U-S4, U

Out-of-plane surface patterning by subsurface processing of polymer substrates with focused ion beams

• Serguei Chiriaev,
• Luciana Tavares,
• Vadzim Adashkevich,
• Arkadiusz J. Goszczak and
• Horst-Günter Rubahn

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1693–1703, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.151

• to avoid possible interactions between the irradiated areas, such as the overlaps originating from transverse ion straggle. The samples were characterized with AFM and HIM. The measurements of the surface height were performed with a Veeco Dimension 3100 AFM instrument in the tapping mode. High

• -resolution imaging with a He+ ion-beam probe was performed using a very small beam current (below 0.1 pA) to minimize imaging artifacts from radiation damage generated by the probe beam. (a) AFM image and (b) the corresponding depth profile of a fragment of the surface depression produced in a 5 nm Pt60Pd40

The influence of an interfacial hBN layer on the fluorescence of an organic molecule

• Christine Brülke,
• Oliver Bauer and
• Moritz M. Sokolowski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1663–1684, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.149

• . The special sensitivity of the RB mode to the interfacial bonding was also seen in high-resolution electron loss spectra [59]. We also compare with PTCDA multilayers. The Raman shifts of the multilayers was found at similar energies on all three substrates, that is, at 1,309.8 cm−1 for multilayers of

PTCDA adsorption on CaF₂ thin films

• Philipp Rahe

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1615–1622, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.144

• , with PTCDA as the probe molecule. In particular, the adsorption properties of PTCDA on CaF2/CaF1/Si(111), CaF1/Si(111), as well as Si(111)-(7 × 7) surfaces are experimentally investigated by high-resolution scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) and the adsorption geometry on a CaF2(111) slab is

Cu₂O nanoparticles for the degradation of methyl parathion

• Juan Rizo,
• David Díaz,
• Benito Reyes-Trejo and
• M. Josefina Arellano-Jiménez

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1546–1555, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.137

• different NPs sizes (16, 29 and 45 nm), determined with X-ray diffraction (XRD) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), were synthesized using a modified Benedict’s reagent. 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) results show that the hydrolytic degradation of MP leads to the formation of

• mm, a step width of 0.01407°, and 0.5 s time per step were used. Qualitative analysis was performed with the DiffracPlus Eva software package (Bruker AXS, Germany) using the PDF-2 database. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) images were obtained in a JEOL 2010F microscope

• and a HSA of 50 eV pass energy. Results and Discussion Characterization of Cu2O NPs with powder XRD and HRTEM The structural and morphological characterization of Cu2O NPs was carried out using powder X-ray diffraction and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. Copper(I) oxide is

Optically and electrically driven nanoantennas

• Monika Fleischer,
• Dai Zhang and
• Alfred J. Meixner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1542–1545, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.136

• configurations with increasing control over their optical performance [1][2][3][4]. The strong local near-field enhancement by plasmonic nanoantennas is being harnessed for high sensitivity, high-resolution optical nanospectroscopy techniques [5], such as surface-enhanced or tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS

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

• fill a critical length-scale gap in the field of microanalysis, with resolutions second only to the atom probe, but with field of views of the order of micrometres, allowing for high resolution over a relatively large sample area. The HIM–SIMS is therefore a useful tool for a wide range of geological

Self-assembly and spectroscopic fingerprints of photoactive pyrenyl tectons on hBN/Cu(111)

• Domenik M. Zimmermann,
• Knud Seufert,
• Luka Ðorđević,
• Tobias Hoh,
• Sushobhan Joshi,
• Tomas Marangoni,
• Davide Bonifazi and
• Willi Auwärter

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1470–1483, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.130

• a modulation of the molecular electronic structure imposed by the electronically corrugated hBN/Cu(111) support, as discussed in detail below [18][28][37][38]. The high-resolution STM data in Figure 2b gives a closer look at the intramolecular features. Along with the pyrene core, imaged as a large

• lattice and the substrate-induced long-range modulation of the electronic structure are resolved (compare to Figure 2a). High-resolution data (Figure 4b) allowed us to discern individual molecules with submolecular features. Each molecule was characterized by three protrusions, which corresponded to the

• summarized in Figure 6a. Figure 7 shows the high-resolution STM images of the pyrene derivatives 1 and 3 recorded at bias voltages where the MOs were accessible. In contrast to imaging at bias voltages within the HOMO–LUMO gap, where the STM images essentially reflect the molecular shape (Figure 2b, Figure

Wafer-level integration of self-aligned high aspect ratio silicon 3D structures using the MACE method with Au, Pd, Pt, Cu, and Ir

• Mathias Franz,
• Romy Junghans,
• Paul Schmitt,
• Adriana Szeghalmi and
• Stefan E. Schulz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1439–1449, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.128

• fabrication uses cost-efficient subprocesses and omits expensive processes such as nanopatterning with high-resolution lithography. One low-cost method for the fabrication of such high aspect ratio templates and structures is metal-assisted chemical etching (MACE). This process uses a noble metal catalyst

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

• of the ferrocene moiety, herein on CaF2(111) surfaces, by using the protruding hydrogen atoms as markers. Keywords: calcium fluoride (CaF2); ferrocene; functionalised tips; high-resolution imaging; non-contact atomic force microscopy; Introduction It is still a challenge to determine the precise

• employed for the investigation of both ordered and unordered molecular systems as well as of individual and isolated species [4][5][6]. For example, two different non-planar isomers of dibenzo[a,h]thianthrene molecules could be identified by high-resolution non-contact atomic force microscopy (NC-AFM) [7

• independent of a specific tip termination, such as CO, which is hitherto the standard tip for this imaging mode. We propose that high-resolution repulsive-mode imaging of hydrogen atoms is possible with a variety of tips if the following three preconditions are fulfilled: (1) The molecule is sufficiently

One-step synthesis of carbon-supported electrocatalysts

• Sebastian Tigges,
• Nicolas Wöhrl,
• Ivan Radev,
• Ulrich Hagemann,
• Markus Heidelmann,
• Thai Binh Nguyen,
• Stanislav Gorelkov,
• Stephan Schulz and
• Axel Lorke

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1419–1431, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.126

• high-resolution micrographs at a sub-nanometer level. An electron acceleration voltage of 200 kV was used. Particle size distributions were measured by using the semi-automatic mode of the software pebbles [42], assuming a spherical particle shape. The electrochemical measurements were performed in 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

• interfaces. Results The determination of the vertical adsorption heights of F4PEN in (sub)monolayers on Ag(111) relied on high-resolution core level spectra, which are shown in Figure 1 (additional XPS spectra are shown in Supporting Information File 1, Figure S1). Following the assignment of the F4PEN core

• close to monolayer coverage. The high-resolution XPS (HR-XPS) and normal-incidence XSW (NIXSW) experiments were performed at beamline I09 at Diamond Light Source (DLS, UK) using both the soft (110–1100 eV) and hard (2.1–18 keV) X-ray beams [104][105]. Sample preparation and measurements were performed

Growth of a self-assembled monolayer decoupled from the substrate: nucleation on-command using buffer layers

• Robby Reynaerts,
• Kunal S. Mali and
• Steven De Feyter

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1291–1302, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.113

• concentration dependence of self-assembly was examined within the concentration range of 7.7 × 10−4 M to 4.0 × 10−5 M. For concentrations below 4.0 × 10−5 M, no self-assembly was observed. Figure 2 shows large-scale and high-resolution STM images of the different polymorphs of BA-OC14 observed at the 1

• -phenyloctane–HOPG interface together with the proposed molecular models. Polymorph A (Figure 2a,d) is formed exclusively within the concentration range of 7.7 × 10−4 M to 1.9 × 10−4 M. This network has been reported by us earlier [45]. The high-resolution image provided in Figure 2d shows that the lamellar

• surface coverage (≈60%), another network with a significantly different unit cell (Figure 2b,e and Table 1) was observed. This network, referred hereon as polymorph B, lacks the peculiar bright-dark contrast observed in the STM images of polymorph A. Figure 2e,h shows a high-resolution STM image of

An atomic force microscope integrated with a helium ion microscope for correlative nanoscale characterization

• Santiago H. Andany,
• Gregor Hlawacek,
• Stefan Hummel,
• Charlène Brillard,
• Mustafa Kangül and
• Georg E. Fantner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1272–1279, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.111

• gallium-ion FIBs. The resulting combined AFM–HIM instrument would, therefore, profit from the sub-nanometer lateral resolution of the HIM and the atomic resolution in the vertical axis of the AFM, proving particularly powerful for high-resolution correlative characterization of non-conductive samples

• . With the integrated electron flood gun (FG) of the HIM providing charge neutralization, uncoated polymers and biological samples can be imaged with high resolution while the AFM would bring complementary information such as laterally resolved mechanical properties. These multiparametric measurements

• have previously been difficult to obtain as sample preparation of such samples for SEM or TEM are often incompatible with the needs of high-resolution AFM measurements. AFM is also useful in assisting helium ion beam lithography. Many resists, including poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), have higher

Magnetic-field-assisted synthesis of anisotropic iron oxide particles: Effect of pH

• Andrey V. Shibaev,
• Petr V. Shvets,
• Darya E. Kessel,
• Roman A. Kamyshinsky,
• Anton S. Orekhov,
• Sergey S. Abramchuk,
• Alexei R. Khokhlov and
• Olga E. Philippova

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1230–1241, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.107

• . Fe3O4 nanorods were examined using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy proving that they are single-crystalline and do not have any preferred crystallographic orientation along the axis of the rods. According to the data obtained a growth mechanism was proposed for the rods that consists of

• obtained at a slightly acidic pH. Thus, we determined the optimum pH for nanorod preparation. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) results showed that the synthesized nanorods were single crystals formed by the magnetic-field-assisted growth of small nanocrystals, whereas some amount of

• [57]. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) To prepare the specimens for HRTEM measurements, the samples were manually applied onto the lacey carbon-coated side of the 300 mesh copper grid and air-dried under ambient conditions. The particle morphology was characterized by TEM and

3D superconducting hollow nanowires with tailored diameters grown by focused He⁺ beam direct writing

• Rosa Córdoba,
• Alfonso Ibarra,
• Dominique Mailly,
• Isabel Guillamón,
• Hermann Suderow and
• José María De Teresa

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1198–1206, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.104

• [29][30]. Hence, the He+ FIBID technique is highly recommended for direct writing of 3D nano-objects with high resolution and aspect ratio [17][19][31][32][33][34][35]. A successful example of tailored 3D nano-objects grown by He+ FIBID has been reported by Kohama and co-workers [35]. The authors

• from the substrate to the top of the pillar [36][37]. This shows the need for future systematic experiments varying the dwell time in pulsed growth or varying the flux of precursor gas. (High-resolution) scanning transmission electron microscopy Dependence of NW inner diameter on the ion beam current

• ) and a longitudinal (y–z) section, and a colored three-dimensional reconstruction. Microstructure Concerning the microstructure of the NWs, high-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy (HRSTEM) images have been acquired sequentially and processed to extract the crystallographic structure

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

• of the Raman peaks of crystalline Si and amorphous Si by applying tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy, at sample positions being 8 nm apart. The local crystallinity revealed using confocal Raman spectroscopy and tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy agrees well with the high-resolution transmission electron

• regarding the sensitivity and the diffraction-limited optical resolution. Thus, a high-resolution technique that reveals both, the structural and the optical properties at the nanometer scale is needed to study the fraction of crystalline phases and defects within the SiNWs. Tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy

• growth. However, it is worth mentioning that other mechanisms of Pt-catalyzed growth of nanowires were also previously observed [29]. The overall morphology of the SiNWs was investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The high-resolution TEM investigation of the core area indicates that the

Monolayers of MoS₂ on Ag(111) as decoupling layers for organic molecules: resolution of electronic and vibronic states of TCNQ

• Asieh Yousofnejad,
• Gaël Reecht,
• Nils Krane,
• Christian Lotze and
• Katharina J. Franke

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1062–1071, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.91

• monolayer. High-resolution STM images recorded at 0.8 V (Figure 3c) allow for the resolution of the individual molecules and their arrangement. Each TCNQ molecule appears with back-to-back double U-shapes separated by a nodal plane. As will be discussed later, and based on previous work on TCNQ [5][23

Microwave-induced electric discharges on metal particles for the synthesis of inorganic nanomaterials under solvent-free conditions

• Vijay Tripathi,
• Harit Kumar,
• Anubhav Agarwal and
• Leela S. Panchakarla

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1019–1025, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.86

• the phase purity of ZnF2. Figure S6 in Supporting Information File 1 shows the SEM and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images of ZnF2 nanorods produced in the presence of sulfur. The SEM images indicate the high yield of ZnF2 nanorods. The high-resolution TEM (HRTEM) image in Figure S6d

Uniform Fe₃O₄/Gd₂O₃-DHCA nanocubes for dual-mode magnetic resonance imaging

• Miao Qin,
• Yueyou Peng,
• Mengjie Xu,
• Hui Yan,
• Yizhu Cheng,
• Xiumei Zhang,
• Di Huang,
• Weiyi Chen and
• Yanfeng Meng

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1000–1009, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.84

• iron and gadolinium distribute uniformly across the FGDA nanocubes (Figure 2f,g). In addition, the high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) image (Figure 2c, inset in red) shows that the interplanar spacing within the nanocubes is 0.296 ± 0.02 nm, which corresponds to the (220) crystal

• . Characterization of nanocubes and nanoparticles A high-resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM, JEM-2010F, Japan), operated at an acceleration voltage of 200 kV, was used to investigate the morphology and size of the nanocubes. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS, Oxford, X-MaxN, UK) was used to

Three-dimensional solvation structure of ethanol on carbonate minerals

• Hagen Söngen,
• Ygor Morais Jaques,
• Peter Spijker,
• Christoph Marutschke,
• Stefanie Klassen,
• Ilka Hermes,
• Ralf Bechstein,
• Lidija Zivanovic,
• John Tracey,
• Adam S. Foster and
• Angelika Kühnle

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 891–898, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.74

• resolution. However, the majority of 3D AFM studies have been focused on the arrangement of water at carbonate surfaces. Here, we present an analysis of the assembly of ethanol – an organic molecule with a single hydroxy group – at the calcite and magnesite (10.4) surfaces by using high-resolution 3D AFM and

• obtained to date. Furthermore, no information on the interfacial orientation and binding configuration has been collected experimentally. Here, we report on high-resolution 3D AFM data that reveals both the lateral and the vertical solvation structure at the calcite–ethanol interface in a single data set

• confirms the laterally alternating minima and maxima within the first layer and the oscillatory vertical density profile predicted by the MD simulations. Conclusion We combined high-resolution 3D AFM with MD simulations to characterize the solvation structure of ethanol above calcite and magnesite (10.4

Transition from freestanding SnO₂ nanowires to laterally aligned nanowires with a simulation-based experimental design

• Jasmin-Clara Bürger,
• Sebastian Gutsch and
• Margit Zacharias

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 843–853, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.69

• passively. In the following, this procedure is called the standard procedure. The characterization of the samples was performed using a high-resolution scanning electron microscope (SEM, Nova NanoSEM 430) from FEI. Results and Discussion Numerical results The following section is aimed at a better

Adsorption behavior of tin phthalocyanine onto the (110) face of rutile TiO₂

• Lukasz Bodek,
• Mads Engelund,
• Aleksandra Cebrat and
• Bartosz Such

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 821–828, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.67

• interactions between SnPc molecules and the rutile surface, while DFT-based simulations combined with high-resolution STM images imply that a Sn-down geometry may be preferred as a consequence of steric adjustment between the molecular shape and the corrugated (110) surface. Experimental The experiment was

• comparison of experimental and simulated images of SnPc molecules is presented in Figure 3. To discuss the molecular geometry on the surface, we combined RT-STM images of SnPc molecules forming a monolayer (Figure 3a) with high-resolution LT-STM images of isolated molecules. Experimental data are compared

• show any significant difference. Scanning parameters: 50 × 50 nm2; a) It = 1.3 pA, b) It = 3.3 pA; Utip = 1 V. Scale bars: 5 nm. a, b) Set of high-resolution LT-STM images presenting SnPc molecules adsorbed onto a rutile (110) surface with c) inset image showing the varying molecular arrangement of Sn

Epitaxial growth and superconducting properties of thin-film PdFe/VN and VN/PdFe bilayers on MgO(001) substrates

• Wael M. Mohammed,
• Igor V. Yanilkin,
• Amir I. Gumarov,
• Airat G. Kiiamov,
• Roman V. Yusupov and
• Lenar R. Tagirov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 807–813, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.65

• an accuracy of ±0.5%. Neither impurities nor surface contaminations were detected (compare with [40]). All recorded high-resolution XPS spectra of VN and Pd1−xFex films were calibrated to the binding energies of crystalline VN at 513.6 eV and of metallic Pd at 335.0 eV [33][37], respectively

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

• aggregates with an average diameter of 72 ± 16 nm (see Figure S9, Supporting Information File 1 for size distributions). In high-resolution TEM images of the primary small Ni NPs (Figure 2d), interplanar spacings of the lattice fringes of 0.21 nm and 0.23 nm could be measured, which corresponds to the {111

• were conducted with the same instrument. High-resolution TEM images were recorded with an FEI Titan 80-300 transmission electron microscope [69] operated at 300 kV accelerating voltage. The microscope is equipped with an image CS corrector and a 2k × 2k GATAN UltraScan 1000 CCD. Nanoparticle size and