Characterization of nanostructured ZnO thin films deposited through vacuum evaporation

• Jose Alberto Alvarado,
• Arturo Maldonado,
• Héctor Juarez,
• Mauricio Pacio and
• Rene Perez

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 971–975, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.100

• 45 nm and 123 nm by varying the deposition time (5 to 25 min). The XRD results show that this is a polycrystalline nanostructured thin film, and this is confirmed with the HRSEM images, but it is formed only at 600°C and disappears as the annealing temperature increases. From the photoluminescence we

A simple approach to the synthesis of Cu_1.8S dendrites with thiamine hydrochloride as a sulfur source and structure-directing agent

• Xiaoliang Yan,
• Sha Li,
• Yun-xiang Pan,
• Zhi Yang and
• Xuguang Liu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 881–885, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.90

• temperature [4]. Polycrystalline Cu1.8S powder was prepared by mechanical alloying and subsequent spark plasma sintering and it exhibited excellent thermoelectric properties as a p-type sulfide [5]. An aqueous ammonia assisted approach was developed for the synthesis of Cu1.8S with triangular and rod-like

Structure and mechanism of the formation of core–shell nanoparticles obtained through a one-step gas-phase synthesis by electron beam evaporation

• Andrey V. Nomoev,
• Sergey P. Bardakhanov,
• Makoto Schreiber,
• Dashima G. Bazarova,
• Nikolai A. Romanov,
• Boris B. Baldanov,
• Bair R. Radnaev and
• Viacheslav V. Syzrantsev

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 874–880, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.89

• monocrystals rather than randomly oriented polycrystalline grains or a single monocrystal. The shell thickness was about 11 nm for most particles. As the shell is amorphous, it was not possible to measure its crystallographic structure. There were also a few small particles not connected to a core which had

Microwave assisted synthesis and characterisation of a zinc oxide/tobacco mosaic virus hybrid material. An active hybrid semiconductor in a field-effect transistor device

• Shawn Sanctis,
• Rudolf C. Hoffmann,
• Sabine Eiben and
• Jörg J. Schneider

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 785–791, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.81

• diffractometry (GI-XRD) analysis was employed to gain a deeper insight into the crystallinity of the as deposited ZnO thin film. The ZnO films display a polycrystalline nature of the ZnO being essential for the formation of an active semiconducting layer. Reflection peaks corresponding to the (100), (002) and

Morphological and structural characterization of single-crystal ZnO nanorod arrays on flexible and non-flexible substrates

• Omar F. Farhat,
• Mohd M. Halim,
• Mat J. Abdullah,
• Mohammed K. M. Ali and
• Nageh K. Allam

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 720–725, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.73

• superior to polycrystalline architectures in a unique way: the decrease of the number of grain boundaries ameliorates charge-carrier transport by permitting a direct and quick charge transport pathway and thus decreases the carrier path length, which in turn decreases recombination losses. To this end

• , various methods have been reported in the literature to produce amorphous and polycrystalline ZnO nanomaterials, especially in the form of nanorods. Also, several deposition methods have been reported to fabricate single-crystal ZnO nanorods, such as RF and DC sputtering [6], chemical vapor deposition

A versatile strategy towards non-covalent functionalization of graphene by surface-confined supramolecular self-assembly of Janus tectons

• Ping Du,
• David Bléger,
• Fabrice Charra,
• Vincent Bouchiat,
• David Kreher,
• Fabrice Mathevet and
• André-Jean Attias

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 632–639, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.64

• upper level, terpyridine unit) can partially explain these features. All of the upper units are size-compatible with the huge footprint value. Finally, the self-assembly of the Janus tectons onto a graphene monolayer, grown by chemical vapor deposition onto a polycrystalline foil, was investigated. As

• illustrate the agreement between all Janus tecton lattices. Figure adapted with permission from [25], copyright 2014 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. Self-assembly on graphene. Drift-corrected STM images obtained in air on a monolayer graphene substrate grown by chemical vapor deposition on a polycrystalline

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

• semiconductor. In the present work, the impact of high dose selenium and tellurium (3.5 × 1015 atoms/cm2) implantations on the morphology of polycrystalline Ge thin films is presented, as well as the evolution of the film morphology with thermal annealing conditions (temperature and time). Results and

• annealing, leaving deep holes in the Ge film. The image contrast is affected by the variation of both local diffraction conditions and absorption. The moiré pattern visible in various areas of the deposited layer confirms its polycrystalline structure. The pores are difficult to observe in the cross

• present facets when in contact with polycrystalline Ge, and present a spherical shape when in contact with amorphous GeOx. They can be related to the initial Ge dewetting mechanism, and thus, are expected to form during annealing. Figure 5.1 presents an SEM plan-view image obtained on a 340 nm thick Ge

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

• areas in between the layers show the presence of polycrystalline nanoparticles with no preferred orientation (see Figure S5, Supporting Information File 1). The iron oxides magnetite and maghemite show very similar diffraction patterns and d-spacings, therefore it is not possible to differentiate these

Materials and characterization techniques for high-temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells

• Roswitha Zeis

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 68–83, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.8

• conducted on model systems that used single crystal electrodes [61] or polycrystalline films at low electrolyte concentrations. They help us understand fundamental aspects of the interactions between phosphoric acid and the catalyst, but these model systems are far away from realistic conditions in HT

Low cost, p-ZnO/n-Si, rectifying, nano heterojunction diode: Fabrication and electrical characterization

• Vinay Kabra,
• Lubna Aamir and
• M. M. Malik

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2216–2221, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.230

• number 790208. The number of peaks observed in the XRD pattern indicates a polycrystalline nature of the ZnO [3]. The crystallite size was determined to be 26.07 nm using the Scherrer equation. The width of the diffraction peaks and crystallite size together indicate the formation of ZnO nanoparticles

Optical properties and electrical transport of thin films of terbium(III) bis(phthalocyanine) on cobalt

• Peter Robaschik,
• Pablo F. Siles,
• Daniel Bülz,
• Peter Richter,
• Manuel Monecke,
• Michael Fronk,
• Svetlana Klyatskaya,
• Daniel Grimm,
• Oliver G. Schmidt,
• Mario Ruben,
• Dietrich R. T. Zahn and
• Georgeta Salvan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2070–2078, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.215

• the Tb couples antiferromagnetically to the Co substrate [11]. In this work we focus on the study of other device-relevant aspects: the influence of the film thickness, morphology, and molecular orientation on the electrical transport in TbPc2 layers on polycrystalline cobalt films. The TbPc2 molecule

• evaporated on polycrystalline gold and cobalt as well as standing molecules in a 200 nm thick film by exploiting synchrotron methods [17][18]. Thus, we expect that the first TbPc2 layers will similarly lie on the polycrystalline Co films due to their low roughness (rms: 0.4 nm, obtained by AFM measurements

Cathode lens spectromicroscopy: methodology and applications

• T. O. Menteş,
• G. Zamborlini,
• A. Sala and
• A. Locatelli

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1873–1886, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.198

• , investigating the carburisation of the Re(0001) substrate as a function of temperature [45]. The literature shows a plethora of other experiments exploiting the LEED capabilities of LEEM with notable examples of graphene on single and polycrystalline copper [46][47][48], nickel [49] and on non-threefold

Synthesis of Pt nanoparticles and their burrowing into Si due to synergistic effects of ion beam energy losses

• Pravin Kumar,
• Udai Bhan Singh,
• Kedar Mal,
• Sunil Ojha,
• Indra Sulania,
• Dinakar Kanjilal,
• Dinesh Singh and
• Vidya Nand Singh

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1864–1872, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.197

• polycrystalline in nature and (111) and (200) planes are clearly visible in the XRD pattern [47]. The reduced intensities and the broadening of the Pt peaks in the irradiated film confirm the Pt loss on the surface and the formation of NPs. The peak at around 2θ = 56º in the irradiated film is due to the Si

Carbon-based smart nanomaterials in biomedicine and neuroengineering

• Antonina M. Monaco and
• Michele Giugliano

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1849–1863, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.196

• ). Reproduced and modified from [121] with permission. Copyright 2009 Nature Publishing Group. Scanning electron micrographs show that, when exposed to animal blood serum proteins, polycrystalline (PCD) and nanocrystalline diamond (NCD) substrates performed as good as glass or silicon substrates (a). NDs

On the structure of grain/interphase boundaries and interfaces

• K. Anantha Padmanabhan and
• Herbert Gleiter

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1603–1615, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.172

• the experiments are on boundaries of metallic materials. These restrictions require a careful consideration whether an approach based on crystallographic concepts is applicable. In a grain boundary of a polycrystalline material, the structure is periodic because the boundary conditions, i.e., those

Restructuring of an Ir(210) electrode surface by potential cycling

• Khaled A. Soliman,
• Dieter M. Kolb,
• Ludwig A. Kibler and
• Timo Jacob

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1349–1356, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.148

• cycling; scanning tunnelling microscopy; surface restructuring; Introduction The surface structure of metal electrodes is a decisive factor for kinetics of many electrochemical processes and electrocatalytical reactions [1][2][3]. Since the behaviour of polycrystalline material is often quite complex

Effects of palladium on the optical and hydrogen sensing characteristics of Pd-doped ZnO nanoparticles

• Anh-Thu Thi Do,
• Hong Thai Giang,
• Thu Thi Do,
• Ngan Quang Pham and
• Giang Truong Ho

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1261–1267, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.140

• of 16.2 and 16.5 nm from all the peaks, respectively. A more precise determination of the primary particle size is inevitably be accompanied by a significant error due to their aggregate nature and the formation of polycrystalline nanoparticles. Consequently, other methods were used to evaluate the

• . Based on the measured BET surface area the size of the ZnO and Pd/ZnO samples was estimated to be 28 nm and 31 nm, respectively. Thus, BET data satisfactorily correlate with XRD results, and the discrepancy between BET and XRD data can be explained by the complicated geometry of the polycrystalline

Topology assisted self-organization of colloidal nanoparticles: application to 2D large-scale nanomastering

• Hind Kadiri,
• Serguei Kostcheev,
• Daniel Turover,
• Rafael Salas-Montiel,
• Komla Nomenyo,
• Anisha Gokarna and
• Gilles Lerondel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1203–1209, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.132

• ]. It is a simple, inexpensive and quick preparation method for fabrication of structures even on a large surface. However, the spontaneous process leads to the formation of micro-domain arrays, polycrystalline in nature, consisting of randomly oriented ordered regions, or grains, which limit the

• (“bottom up” approach). Many articles have reported the grapho-epitaxy of self-assembled block copolymers on two-dimensional periodically patterned templates with an aim to control the orientation of the structures [19][20]. The network obtained by the self-organization of copolymer is polycrystalline and

• orientation and long-range order as seen in the SEM images in Figure 2a. The spontaneous process (simple self-organization) as captured by the SEM images in Figure 2b leads to the formation of a polycrystalline structure composed of randomly oriented ordered regions. This difference in orientations is

Electron-beam induced deposition and autocatalytic decomposition of Co(CO)₃NO

• Florian Vollnhals,
• Martin Drost,
• Fan Tu,
• Esther Carrasco,
• Andreas Späth,
• Rainer H. Fink,
• Hans-Peter Steinrück and
• Hubertus Marbach

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1175–1185, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.129

• ) spectroscopy. It has previously been shown that Fe(CO)5 decomposes autocatalytically on Fe seed layers (EBID) and on certain electron beam-activated surfaces, yielding high purity, polycrystalline Fe nanostructures. In this contribution, we investigate the growth of structures from Co(CO)3NO and compare it to

• autocatalytic growth process [7][8][16][17][18][19]. The morphology ranges from scattered clusters for low electron doses and shorter growth times, to fused, polycrystalline patches of cubic crystallites for high electron doses and long growth times [7][8][16][17][18][19]. After preparation of the Fe deposits

• , which above a threshold of 0.05 C/cm2 is almost independent of the electron dose applied during the initial EBID step. The deposits prepared by EBID/EBISA and autocatalytic growth from Fe(CO)5 are composed of polycrystalline, high purity Fe (typically more than 90–95 atom %). While the electron

Nanoforging – Innovation in three-dimensional processing and shaping of nanoscaled structures

• Andreas Landefeld and
• Joachim Rösler

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1066–1070, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.118

• initial position. This principle allows fast and precise forging between both forming surfaces (video Supporting Information File 2). The bar stock was produced from a 0.5 mm drawn polycrystalline tungsten wire with a purity of 99.995%. Tungsten can be relatively easy machined electrochemically. It is

Pyrite nanoparticles as a Fenton-like reagent for in situ remediation of organic pollutants

• Carolina Gil-Lozano,
• Elisabeth Losa-Adams,
• Alfonso F.-Dávila and
• Luis Gago-Duport

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 855–864, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.97

• . The nanoparticles tended to aggregate, forming polydisperse clusters of rounded particles ranging in size from 20 nm (individual nanoparticle) to 150 nm (largest cluster). At the initial stages of the process, the clusters were polycrystalline, as indicated by the SAED pattern (Figure 2b). However, as

• nm. a) TEM image of the typical distribution of the nanoparticles, comprising polycrystalline aggregates of pyrite. b) SAED pattern of the nanoparticles. c) HR-TEM image showing the structure of the nanoparticles. Individual nanoparticles tended to self-assemble, thereby forming finite-size

Volcano plots in hydrogen electrocatalysis – uses and abuses

• Paola Quaino,
• Fernanda Juarez,
• Elizabeth Santos and
• Wolfgang Schmickler

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 846–854, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.96

• principle. At polycrystalline metals there are even more sites and therefore more options. The relation between the two species is not simple, since the energy of the weakly adsorbed hydrogen depends on the coverage with the upd species. The best investigated case is Pt(111) in acid solutions, where the

Scale effects of nanomechanical properties and deformation behavior of Au nanoparticle and thin film using depth sensing nanoindentation

• Dave Maharaj and
• Bharat Bhushan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 822–836, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.94

• strength or hardness seen with nano-objects has been explained by the dislocation starvation model or the Hall–Petch effect for single crystalline and polycrystalline nano-objects, respectively. In the dislocation starvation model, the absence of dislocations in the interior of the nano-object does not

• allow for plastic deformation to occur. Similar to thin films, for indentation of micro and nano-objects, there is also a contribution to hardening due to the occurrence of large strain gradients at shallow depths for both single and polycrystalline materials. Details of the mechanisms which lead to

• enhanced hardness with polycrystalline bulk solids, surface thin films and nano-objects are presented in the next section. These mechanisms are explained to aid in understanding of mechanical properties and deformation behavior of materials. Nanoparticles made of Au are of interest since they are used in

Carbon dioxide hydrogenation to aromatic hydrocarbons by using an iron/iron oxide nanocatalyst

• Hongwang Wang,
• Jim Hodgson,
• Tej B. Shrestha,
• Prem S. Thapa,
• David Moore,
• Xiaorong Wu,
• Myles Ikenberry,
• Deryl L. Troyer,
• Donghai Wang,
• Keith L. Hohn and
• Stefan H. Bossmann

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 760–769, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.88

• /Fe3O4 nanoparticles are roughly spherical with a core/shell structure (Figure 2). The mean core diameter is 12 nm, and the shell thickness is 2 nm. HRTEM indicate that each Fe/Fe3O4 nanoparticle assumes polycrystalline structure with rigid edges. TEM images (Figure 3) of recycled catalyst after 10 runs

• of reactions shows that the nanoparticles fused to larger irregularly shaped particles with crystalline substructures on the surface. HRTEM reveal that the substructure is polycrystalline. The XRD patterns of the Fe/Fe3O4 nanoparticles as a function of the number of catalytic runs is shown in Figure

Adsorption and oxidation of formaldehyde on a polycrystalline Pt film electrode: An in situ IR spectroscopy search for adsorbed reaction intermediates

• Zenonas Jusys and
• R. Jürgen Behm

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 747–759, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.87

• adsorption/oxidation of formaldehyde on a polycrystalline Pt film electrode under experimental conditions optimizing the chance for detecting weakly adsorbed reaction intermediates. Employing in situ IR spectroscopy in an attenuated total reflection configuration (ATR-FTIRS) with p-polarized IR radiation to

• hydrogen in the methanol adsorbate on an emersed polycrystalline Pt electrode was suggested from electrochemical thermal desorption mass spectrometry (ECTDMS) measurements based on the detection of carbon monoxide, hydrogen and traces of carbon dioxide during thermal desorption [44]. In a series of recent

• addition of oxygen from the dissociative electrosorption of water, which, in contrast to Pt(100) [64], can essentially be ruled out on a polycrystalline Pt electrode at this low potential [65]. The absence of reactive OHad species on the electrode surface at these potentials can also be concluded from the