Coating of upconversion nanoparticles with silica nanoshells of 5–250 nm thickness

• Cynthia Kembuan,
• Maysoon Saleh,
• Bastian Rühle,
• Ute Resch-Genger and
• Christina Graf

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2410–2421, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.231

• + upconversion nanoparticles (UCNP) is presented. The concept enables the precise adjustment of shell thicknesses for the preparation of thick-shelled nanoparticles for applications in plasmonics and sensing. First, an initial 5–11 nm thick shell is grown onto the UCNPs in a reverse microemulsion. This is

• be similarly necessary for applications in plasmonics or chemical sensing [20][21]. One of the most versatile ways to protect the surface of NP, making hydrophobic particle surfaces hydrophilic and simultaneously providing functional groups for subsequent covalent attachment of, e.g., biomolecules

• microemulsion technique in 2008 [42][43]. However, for certain applications such as sensing and plasmonics, a thicker silica shell is desired that can be loaded with sensor molecules or used as spacer for the plasmonic enhancement of the emission of UCNPs by gold or silver shells [45]. Moreover, since UCNPs can

Semitransparent Sb₂S₃ thin film solar cells by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis for use in solar windows

• Jako S. Eensalu,
• Atanas Katerski,
• Erki Kärber,
• Lothar Weinhardt,
• Monika Blum,
• Clemens Heske,
• Wanli Yang,
• Ilona Oja Acik and
• Malle Krunks

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2396–2409, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.230

•  1 [71]: where λ is the wavelength, and T(λ) (%) is the total transmittance at λ. The resistivity of Sb2S3 layers on glass/TiO2 substrate was measured at room temperature in dark by using the van der Pauw technique (MMR Technologies H50) and collinear four-wire I–V sensing (Eco Chemie BV, AutoLab

Deterministic placement of ultra-bright near-infrared color centers in arrays of silicon carbide micropillars

• Stefania Castelletto,
• Abdul Salam Al Atem,
• Faraz Ahmed Inam,
• Hans Jürgen von Bardeleben,
• Sophie Hameau,
• Ahmed Fahad Almutairi,
• Gérard Guillot,
• Shin-ichiro Sato,
• Alberto Boretti and
• Jean Marie Bluet

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2383–2395, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.229

• element method simulations. Our study provides the pathway for device design and fabrication with an integrated ultra-bright ensemble of VSi and NCVSi for in vivo imaging and sensing in the infrared. Keywords: color centers; micropillars; proton irradiation; quantum sensing; silicon carbide; vacancy

• the near-infrared, there is a need to improve the spontaneous emission rate for room-temperature applications such as magnetic sensing and SPSs. For all the above applications, the fluorescence emission enhancement of the color centers is a crucial issue for room-temperature applications, specifically

• [50] provided an equivalent enhancement (factor of three) of SIL but with a smaller footprint and better scalability. The sensitivity of quantum magnetic sensing using spin carrying color centers undergoing ODMR as probes, such as VSi, is currently of the order of δB ≈ 10μT/√Hz and can be improved in

Multiwalled carbon nanotube based aromatic volatile organic compound sensor: sensitivity enhancement through 1-hexadecanethiol functionalisation

• Nadra Bohli,
• Meryem Belkilani,
• Juan Casanova-Chafer,
• Eduard Llobet and
• Adnane Abdelghani

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2364–2373, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.227

• of trace concentrations of toluene in exhaled breath is associated with lung cancer and can therefore be considered as a biomarker for this pathology [2][3][4]. A gas sensor is generally composed of an active sensing film or material deposited on an electrode. The sensing performance is strongly

• correlated to the active sensing film/material used. Various nanomaterial-based gas sensors have been investigated to monitor the presence of aromatic VOCs. The ones mainly studied are based on metal oxides, carbon nanotubes, graphene and hybrid materials [5][6]. Carbon nanotube based gas sensors (e.g

• information on the various chemical bonds present on the sensor structure. Vapour sensing experimental setup The sensors developed based on Au-MWCNTs and HDT/Au-MWCNTs were tested for the detection of aromatic VOCs (toluene and benzene). The vapours were generated by a dilution bench consisting of a chemical

A novel method to remove impulse noise from atomic force microscopy images based on Bayesian compressed sensing

• Yingxu Zhang,
• Yingzi Li,
• Zihang Song,
• Zhenyu Wang,
• Jianqiang Qian and
• Junen Yao

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2346–2356, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.225

• , China School of Physics, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China 10.3762/bjnano.10.225 Abstract A novel method based on Bayesian compressed sensing is proposed to remove impulse noise from atomic force microscopy (AFM) images. The image denoising problem is transformed into a compressed sensing

• matrices with some rows removed, are constructed by recording the position of the noise-free pixels. Third, the Bayesian compressed sensing reconstruction algorithm is applied to recover the image. Different from traditional compressed sensing reconstruction methods in AFM, each row of the AFM image is

• proposed method is robust and its performance is not influenced by the noise density in a certain range. Keywords: atomic force microscopy (AFM); Bayesian compressed sensing; denoising; image processing; impulse noise; Introduction Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is a powerful tool in the fields of

Adsorption and desorption of self-assembled L-cysteine monolayers on nanoporous gold monitored by in situ resistometry

• Elisabeth Hengge,
• Eva-Maria Steyskal,
• Rupert Bachler,
• Alexander Dennig,
• Bernd Nidetzky and
• Roland Würschum

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2275–2279, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.219

• ); voltammetry; Findings Nanoporous gold, produced by selective etching of the less noble component of a AuAg master alloy (also known as dealloying), is a very promising material in many applications due to its three-dimensional nanoporous structure. Among many other technological applications as sensing [1][2

Use of data processing for rapid detection of the prostate-specific antigen biomarker using immunomagnetic sandwich-type sensors

• Camila A. Proença,
• Tayane A. Freitas,
• Thaísa A. Baldo,
• Elsa M. Materón,
• Flávio M. Shimizu,
• Gabriella R. Ferreira,
• Frederico L. F. Soares,
• Ronaldo C. Faria and
• Osvaldo N. Oliveira Jr.

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2171–2181, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.210

• sensing performance. Electrochemical immunosensors containing magnetic nanoparticles have been used to detect several cancer biomarkers [22][23][24]. Zhuo and co-workers detected carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and α-fetoprotein (AFP) with a three-layer immunosensor with Fe3O4 magnetic core modified with a

• architecture of the sensing device, in which polyclonal antibodies were immobilized onto magnetic nanoparticles to selectively capture PSA. Furthermore, a proof-of-principle experiment regarding the detection of PSA in healthy and prostate cancer cell lysates is demonstrated, where the data were discriminated

• , respectively. This can be seen by the location of the sandwich-type immunosensing data for these cells in Figure 5. Conclusion In this paper, we leverage sensing technologies to achieve ultrahigh sensitivity in detecting the prostate cancer biomarker PSA by using MNPs to capture PSA in a pre-concentration

Nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond for nanoscale magnetic resonance imaging applications

• Alberto Boretti,
• Lorenzo Rosa,
• Jonathan Blackledge and
• Stefania Castelletto

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2128–2151, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.207

• using ultra-low-field MRI and OMRI sequences. The difference images from the two methods reveal a higher contrast of the NDs compared to water. Moreover, this method permits a better tracking of NDs in biological samples using OMRI sequences. NV-center quantum sensing There are different concepts

• preparation. Specifically, NV forms in both bulk and ND – this option introduces more opportunity in terms of applications, even if the ND NV magnetic sensing technology is less developed. A review of the superior properties of diamond nanomaterials and the NV centers, as well as their uses in biomedical

• enhancement of the dynamic range by a factor of 4 × 103 is achieved for interrogation times exceeding 2 ms. Optical detection of weak magnetic fields in a spin bath is undertaken in [26] by sensing external magnetic dipoles with fluorescent ND due to the charge dynamics of coupled spins. This provides

Ion mobility and material transport on KBr in air as a function of the relative humidity

• Dominik J. Kirpal,
• Korbinian Pürckhauer,
• Alfred J. Weymouth and
• Franz J. Giessibl

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2084–2093, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.203

• range for each experiment. Experimental For the experiments we used a custom-designed AFM equipped with a qPlus sensor. The qPlus sensor is a stiff (k = 1800 N/m) self-sensing quartz sensor with a resonance frequency around f0 = 32 kHz. It has enabled unprecedented results in low-temperature AFM, such

Review of advanced sensor devices employing nanoarchitectonics concepts

• Katsuhiko Ariga,
• Tatsuyuki Makita,
• Masato Ito,
• Taizo Mori,
• Shun Watanabe and
• Jun Takeya

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2014–2030, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.198

• logical conversion to outputs (response, energy, products, etc.). Good sensing systems have many contributions regarding the former part. This is why the importance of sensors has been re-recognized in modern sensor technology. In recent decades, the development of sensor technologies has highly depended

• on advancements in microfabrication and nanofabrication of device structures. These so-called nanotechnological advancements enable us to prepare sensing devices with various advantageous features with an ultrasmall device size (thus requiring an ultrasmall amount of the target sample), highly

• integrated connection, and high sensitivity [42][43]. In addition to these nanotechnological advancements in device fabrication, sensing materials for molecular recognition have been continuously explored on the basis of supramolecular chemistry with the aid of synthetic organic chemistry and materials

Nanostructured and oriented metal–organic framework films enabling extreme surface wetting properties

• Andre Mähringer,
• Julian M. Rotter and
• Dana D. Medina

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1994–2003, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.196

• ][41][42][43][44][45]. Thereby, they are attractive synthesis targets for a large variety of applications, including gas storage and separation, chemical sensing, thermoelectrics, capacitors, transistors or photovoltaics [46][47][48][49][50][51][52]. Due to their exceptional variety of structural

First principles modeling of pure black phosphorus devices under pressure

• Ximing Rong,
• Zhizhou Yu,
• Zewen Wu,
• Junjun Li,
• Bin Wang and
• Yin Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1943–1951, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.190

• transition under axial strain [5][32]. The sensitivity to and the resilience against strain make BP an ideal material for strain-sensing electronics and flexible electronic devices. Xiao et al. fabricated few-layer BP nanosheets by chemical vapor transport [25], and observed a phase transition from an

Charge-transfer interactions between fullerenes and a mesoporous tetrathiafulvalene-based metal–organic framework

• Manuel Souto,
• Joaquín Calbo,
• Samuel Mañas-Valero,
• Aron Walsh and
• Guillermo Mínguez Espallargas

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1883–1893, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.183

• constructed from metallic nodes and organic linkers, have been a major breakthrough in chemistry in the last decades [1][2]. Because of their immense structural and functional possibilities, this class of hybrid materials finds several applications in, for example, gas storage and separation, sensing or

Processing nanoporous organic polymers in liquid amines

• Jeehye Byun,
• Damien Thirion and
• Cafer T. Yavuz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1844–1850, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.179

• high porosity, which is beneficial for applications such as gas sorption, gas separation, heterogeneous (photo)catalysis, sensing, and (opto)electronics. However, the network structures are practically insoluble. Thus, the processing of nanoporous polymers into nanoparticles or films remains

Biocatalytic oligomerization-induced self-assembly of crystalline cellulose oligomers into nanoribbon networks assisted by organic solvents

• Yuuki Hata,
• Yuka Fukaya,
• Toshiki Sawada,
• Masahito Nishiura and
• Takeshi Serizawa

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1778–1788, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.173

• nanoarchitectonics [1][4][11]. Achievements include nanopatterning [12], drug delivery [13], molecular sensing [14], nanodevices [15][16], and cell architectures [17][18]. On the other hand, crystalline poly- and oligosaccharides, such as cellulose and chitin, lag behind in nanoarchitectonics despite the superiority

Growth dynamics and light scattering of gold nanoparticles in situ synthesized at high concentration in thin polymer films

• Corentin Guyot,
• Philippe Vandestrick,
• Ingrid Marenne,
• Olivier Deparis and
• Michel Voué

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1768–1777, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.172

• can be used for constructing passively Q-switched or mode-locked lasers [13][14][15]. This type of lasers has numerous applications in telecommunications, medicine, material processing and optical fiber sensing [16][17]. Moreover, AuNPs are good candidates for preparing passive Q-switch films because

Remarkable electronic and optical anisotropy of layered 1T’-WTe₂ 2D materials

• Qiankun Zhang,
• Rongjie Zhang,
• Jiancui Chen,
• Wanfu Shen,
• Chunhua An,
• Xiaodong Hu,
• Mingli Dong,
• Jing Liu and
• Lianqing Zhu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1745–1753, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.170

• phenomena and for applications ranging from electronics [11] and photonics [12][13] to sensing [14][15] and actuation [16] at the nanoscale. Recently, tungsten telluride (WTe2), as a member of the TMDC family, has drawn tremendous research interest since the discovery of its large non-saturating positive

The impact of crystal size and temperature on the adsorption-induced flexibility of the Zr-based metal–organic framework DUT-98

• Simon Krause,
• Volodymyr Bon,
• Hongchu Du,
• Rafal E. Dunin-Borkowski,
• Ulrich Stoeck,
• Irena Senkovska and
• Stefan Kaskel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1737–1744, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.169

• flexible MOFs are being reported and their use in the areas of storage [4], separation [5] and sensing [6] of gases is being evaluated; their structural flexibility and adsorption behavior can be manipulated by applying chemical functionalization to the ligand [7] and metal cluster [8]. However, recent

Subsurface imaging of flexible circuits via contact resonance atomic force microscopy

• Wenting Wang,
• Chengfu Ma,
• Yuhang Chen,
• Lei Zheng,
• Huarong Liu and
• Jiaru Chu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1636–1647, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.159

• ) has emerged as a promising way. Various SPM-based nanoscale subsurface imaging methods have been proposed that rely on different detection mechanisms including thermal, magnetic, electric, and mechanical sensing. Among them, contact resonance atomic force microscopy (CR-AFM) demonstrates the unique

• stiffer cover layer and a softer bottom layer can enable much easier subsurface sensing of the flexible circuits via CR-AFM, and the middle layer material does not have much influence. Optimization of CR-AFM subsurface imaging Based on the systematic investigation of the main variables, a contrast

Kelvin probe force microscopy work function characterization of transition metal oxide crystals under ongoing reduction and oxidation

• Dominik Wrana,
• Karol Cieślik,
• Wojciech Belza,
• Christian Rodenbücher,
• Krzysztof Szot and
• Franciszek Krok

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1596–1607, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.155

• method employing KPFM and local conductivity AFM for the characterization of the work function of transition metal oxides may help in understanding the impact of reduction and oxidation on electronic properties, which is of high importance in the development of effective sensing and catalytic devices

• splitting [1][44]. For industrial uses, the samples have to be exposed to ambient conditions, therefore it is necessary to investigate the impact of air exposure on electronic surface properties. Moreover, transition metal oxides are often regarded as promising materials for sensing applications, due to the

Materials nanoarchitectonics at two-dimensional liquid interfaces

• Katsuhiko Ariga,
• Michio Matsumoto,
• Taizo Mori and
• Lok Kumar Shrestha

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1559–1587, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.153

• molecules for producing structurally well-regulated one-dimensional nanotubes [78]. Self-assembled and polymerized materials are often used in sensing devices utilizing molecular imprinting mechanisms [79]. Two-dimensional films made of assemblies of ion-recognizing macrocyclic host molecules, ion

• , research approaches with the nanoarchitectonics concept are now seen in many recent publications in various fields including materials production [97][98], structural fabrication [99][100][101][102][103][104][105][106][107][108], sensing [109][110][111][112], energy applications [113][114][115][116][117

• exhibit interesting properties [209][210][211][212][213][214][215]. Such materials can be also nano-engineered at liquid interfaces. Niederberger and co-workers successfully fabricated two-dimensionally aligned arrays of one-dimensional W18O49 nanowires and used them for H2-sensing at room temperature

High-temperature resistive gas sensors based on ZnO/SiC nanocomposites

• Vadim B. Platonov,
• Marina N. Rumyantseva,
• Alexander S. Frolov,
• Alexey D. Yapryntsev and
• Alexander M. Gaskov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1537–1547, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.151

• (XPS). The electrophysical and gas sensing properties of the materials were investigated by in situ conductivity measurements in the presence of the reducing gases CO and NH3 (20 ppm), in dry conditions (relative humidity at 25 °C RH25 = 0) and in humid air (RH25 = 30%) in the temperature range 400–550

• alumina micro-hotplates provided with vapor-deposited Pt contacts (0.3 × 0.2 mm2) separated by a 0.2 mm gap and with embedded Pt-meanders. The paste was dried at room temperature in ambient air and then calcined at 250 °C in purified air for 20 h to remove the binder. The thick sensing layer was about 1

Selective gas detection using Mn₃O₄/WO₃ composites as a sensing layer

• Yongjiao Sun,
• Zhichao Yu,
• Wenda Wang,
• Pengwei Li,
• Gang Li,
• Wendong Zhang,
• Lin Chen,
• Serge Zhuivkov and
• Jie Hu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1423–1433, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.140

• Abstract Pure WO3 sensors and Mn3O4/WO3 composite sensors with different Mn concentrations (1 atom %, 3 atom % and 5 atom %) were successfully prepared through a facile hydrothermal method. As gas sensing materials, their sensing performance at different temperatures was systematically investigated for gas

• detection. The devices displayed different sensing responses toward different gases at specific temperatures. The gas sensing performance of Mn3O4/WO3 composites (especially at 3 atom % Mn) were far improved compared to sensors based on pure WO3, where the improvement is related to the heterojunction formed

• door for potential applications in gas recognition and detection. Keywords: Mn3O4/WO3 composites; heterojunctions; working temperature; gas sensing; selectivity; Introduction Tungsten oxide (WO3) is a highly stable, classical transition metal oxide. When synthesized, WO3 usually presents a yellowish

Gas sensing properties of individual SnO₂ nanowires and SnO₂ sol–gel nanocomposites

• Alexey V. Shaposhnik,
• Dmitry A. Shaposhnik,
• Sergey Yu. Turishchev,
• Olga A. Chuvenkova,
• Stanislav V. Ryabtsev,
• Alexey A. Vasiliev,
• Xavier Vilanova,
• Francisco Hernandez-Ramirez and
• Joan R. Morante

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1380–1390, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.136

• , Universitetskaya, 1, Voronezh, 394018, Russia NRC Kurchatov Institute, Kurchatov Sq. 1, 123182, Moscow, Russia Rovira i Virgili University, Av. Paisos Catalans 17-19, 43007, Tarragona, Spain World Sensing, S.L., Viriat 47, 10th floor, 08014 Barcelona, Spain, Catalonia Institute for Energy Research, Sant Adrià de

• selectivity to target gases. The aim of this work is the comparison of gas sensing properties of tin dioxide in the form of individual nanowires and nanopowders obtained by sol–gel synthesis. This comparison is necessary because the traditional synthesis procedures of small particle, metal oxide materials

• considerably smaller amounts of hydroxy groups compared to the nanopowders. This leads to a decrease in the parasitic sensitivity of the sensing materials to humidity. In addition, we demonstrated that the nanowires are characterized by a nearly single-crystalline structure, ensuring higher stability of the

Highly ordered mesoporous silica film nanocomposites containing gold nanoparticles for the catalytic reduction of 4-nitrophenol

• Mohamad Azani Jalani,
• Leny Yuliati,
• Siew Ling Lee and
• Hendrik O. Lintang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1368–1379, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.135

• complex ([Au3Pz3]C10TEG) as a self-assembled template. Indeed, the resulting mesostructured silica nanocomposites not only exhibited perfect self-repairing properties, but also worked as a metal ion sensor [26] with excellent phosphorescent sensing and temperature imaging capabilities [27]. Hence, it is