Dependence of lattice strain relaxation, absorbance, and sheet resistance on thickness in textured ZnO@B transparent conductive oxide for thin-film solar cell applications

• Kuang-Yang Kou,
• Yu-En Huang,
• Chien-Hsun Chen and
• Shih-Wei Feng

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 75–80, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.9

• were prepared (here within named, c-20, c-40, c-60, and c-70, respectively). Figure 1 shows the atomic force microscopy (AFM) images (5 × 5 μm) of the four ZnO@B samples. The surface roughness is 16.603, 26.756, 51.531 and 56.233 nm for c-20, c-40, c-60, and c-70, respectively. Each sample is composed

• (model T64000) with a 532 nm laser. AFM images (5 × 5 μm) of (a) c-20 (16.603 nm), (b) c-40 (26.756 nm), (c) c-60 (51.531 nm), and (d) c-70 (56.233 nm) ZnO@B samples. The surface roughness of each sample is given in the parentheses. SEM images of the (a) c-20, (b) c-40, (c) c-60, and (d) c-70 ZnO@B

Nanostructured surfaces by supramolecular self-assembly of linear oligosilsesquioxanes with biocompatible side groups

• Maria Nowacka,
• Anna Kowalewska and
• Tomasz Makowski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2377–2387, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.244

• surface roughness, thickness and the arrangement of macromolecules were noted depending on the kind of functional groups on the side chains. Specific changes in the morphology of the surface layer were observed when mica was primed with a monolayer of small organic compounds (e.g., N-acetylcysteine

• matrix in living organisms (e.g., CH3, OH, NH2 and COOH). We have investigated the effect of the kind of functional groups in side chains of LPSQ-COOH/X on the structure (e.g., surface roughness, thickness and arrangement of macromolecules within the coated layer) of the prepared PSAMs. Native mica was

• wettability of P4 can be ascribed to the presence of the acetyl group, protecting the NH2 function of NAC. We have analysed the effect of surface roughness on changes in γS (Figure 1, Figure 2, and Figures S1a, S2a, S3a, S4a and Table S1 in Supporting Information File 1). All surfaces are smooth (with root

Self-organization of gold nanoparticles on silanated surfaces

• Htet H. Kyaw,
• Salim H. Al-Harthi,
• Azzouz Sellai and
• Joydeep Dutta

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2345–2353, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.242

• surface morphology was observed after annealing in vacuum at 600 °C as some of the AuNPs realign themselves in a certain direction (see Figure 7b) due to the softening of the substrate at its glass transition point. Surface roughness, RMS (root mean square), was marginally reduced from 3.05 nm (before

Electroviscous effect on fluid drag in a microchannel with large zeta potential

• Dalei Jing and
• Bharat Bhushan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2207–2216, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.226

• surface charge, boundary slip, nanobubble and surface roughness, which can be neglected in macroscale fluidics, are believed to significantly affect the micro/nano fluid flow [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. When a droplet of certain liquid contacts with a solid surface, the solid–liquid interface

Nanostructured superhydrophobic films synthesized by electrodeposition of fluorinated polyindoles

• Gabriela Ramos Chagas,
• Thierry Darmanin and
• Frédéric Guittard

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2078–2087, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.212

• during the reaction and the polymerization is not favorable. Surface structures and wettability The surface structures were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and surface roughness measurements. The SEM images for Qs = 100 mC·cm−2 are given in Figure 3 and Figure 4 and the surface

• PIndole-5-Fn and proceeds equally in all directions for PIndole-6-Fn. For PIndole-4-Fn, the polymerization should not be favorable to form any structure on the surface. Previous works showed that one of the main parameters governing the surface roughness is the solubility of the oligomers formed in the

• C6F13 fluorinated chains have also the highest oleophobicity even if the oil contact angles are relatively low. Indeed, two equations (the Wenzel and the Cassie–Baxter equation) [36][37] depending on θY are very often used to explain the effect of the surface roughness on the wetting properties. In the

Attenuation, dispersion and nonlinearity effects in graphene-based waveguides

• Almir Wirth Lima Jr.,
• João Cesar Moura Mota and
• Antonio Sergio Bezerra Sombra

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1221–1228, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.125

• substrate, it should be free from wrinkles or distortions. However, the thermal SiO2 deposition process often results in high surface roughness, such that graphene on SiO2 shows no charge homogeneity along its surface [19]. Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN, also known as white graphite) is a graphite

• dielectric properties of h-BN are similar to the dielectric properties of SiO2. The surface roughness of the h-BN layer is much smaller than the surface roughness of SiO2, so that a graphene nanoribbon is better positioned on the surface of a h-BN layer. Methods for the deposition of a h-BN layer on SiO2/Si

Tattoo ink nanoparticles in skin tissue and fibroblasts

• Colin A. Grant,
• Peter C. Twigg,
• Richard Baker and
• Desmond J. Tobin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1183–1191, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.120

• with a surface roughness Ra of 30 nm over the 10 μm scan region. The collagen fibrils here have a strong degree of parallel orientation, which would suggest that this region may well be scar tissue that was formed following the tattoo process. In a recent AFM study we compared scar tissue and healthy

Electrical characterization of single molecule and Langmuir–Blodgett monomolecular films of a pyridine-terminated oligo(phenylene-ethynylene) derivative

• Henrry M. Osorio,
• Santiago Martín,
• María Carmen López,
• Santiago Marqués-González,
• Simon J. Higgins,
• Richard J. Nichols,
• Paul J. Low and
• Pilar Cea

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1145–1157, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.116

• pressure of 21 mN·m−1 exhibit a root mean squared (RMS) surface roughness of 0.197 nm and indicate less homogeneous monolayers. In contrast, the film roughness was 0.145 nm and 0.098 nm at 13 mN·m−1 and 16 mN·m−1, respectively, indicating that the optimum surface pressure of transference is 16 mN·m−1. At

Scanning reflection ion microscopy in a helium ion microscope

• Yuri V. Petrov and
• Oleg F. Vyvenko

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1125–1137, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.114

• - halfwidth of the angular divergence of RI, φ1, φ2 - polar angles of the incident and of the reflected beams, respectively, in the specimen plane (not shown in Figure 7). To describe the surface morphology we will use the angle α between the specimen plane and the detail of the specimen surface roughness

High sensitivity and high resolution element 3D analysis by a combined SIMS–SPM instrument

• Yves Fleming and
• Tom Wirtz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1091–1099, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.110

• reconstructions do not consider the sample surface topography, because these protocols and the applied software assume a flat sample surface as well as a cube-like analysed volume [6]. In reality, samples exhibit a surface roughness, which is also changed during the ion bombardment, because parameters such as

• , it can be noticed that the surface roughness of the grains changes in a less pronounced way than the surface roughness at the zones corresponding to the Co binder. EUV reticle test structures In the field of lithography, various test structures that mimic large extreme ultra violet (EUV) reticules

Simulation tool for assessing the release and environmental distribution of nanomaterials

• Haoyang Haven Liu,
• Muhammad Bilal,
• Anastasiya Lazareva,
• Arturo Keller and
• Yoram Cohen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 938–951, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.97

• , and interception [42]. The intermedia transport rate due to dry deposition is a function of wind speed (among other parameters, e.g., surface roughness), which is typically reported to be 3.3 ± 0.95 m s−1 (1 standard deviation for 1996–2006) [43], with a maximum of ≈10 m s−1 in the Los Angeles region

Stiffness of sphere–plate contacts at MHz frequencies: dependence on normal load, oscillation amplitude, and ambient medium

• Jana Vlachová,
• Rebekka König and
• Diethelm Johannsmann

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 845–856, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.87

• concept, related to surface roughness. An alternative model (formulated by Savkoor), which assumes a constant frictional stress in the sliding zone independent of the normal pressure, is inconsistent with the experimental data. The apparent friction coefficients slightly increase with normal force, which

• with Coulomb friction. In Coulomb friction, the tangential force is related to the actual area of contact, to be distinguished from the nominal area of contact due to surface roughness. These arguments should not apply on the nanoscale. Savkoor has responded to this criticism with a modified model of

Mapping of elasticity and damping in an α + β titanium alloy through atomic force acoustic microscopy

• M. Kalyan Phani,
• Anish Kumar,
• T. Jayakumar,
• Walter Arnold and
• Konrad Samwer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 767–776, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.79

• (Figure 4c). The topography line profile corresponding to the dotted line (in blue) shown in Figure 4c is given in Figure 4d. A maximum of 10 nm height variation is observed in Figure 4d for the different phases. The surface roughness (SRMS) is found to be less than 0.33 nm for the individual phases. In

Manipulation of magnetic vortex parameters in disk-on-disk nanostructures with various geometry

• Maxim E. Stebliy,
• Alexander G. Kolesnikov,
• Alexey V. Ognev,
• Alexander S. Samardak and
• Ludmila A. Chebotkevich

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 697–703, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.70

• diameters of 600 and 200 nm, respectively, were separated by a 3 nm thick Cu interlayer. The nanostructures were fabricated on naturally oxidized Si(111) substrates by means of electron-beam lithography, magnetron sputtering and standard lift-off process. Geometry and surface roughness were checked with

Self-assembled anchor layers/polysaccharide coatings on titanium surfaces: a study of functionalization and stability

• Ognen Pop-Georgievski,
• Dana Kubies,
• Josef Zemek,
• Neda Neykova,
• Roman Demianchuk,
• Eliška Mázl Chánová,
• Miroslav Šlouf,
• Milan Houska and
• František Rypáček

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 617–631, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.63

• by RRMS values of 0.7 ± 0.3 nm, 1.8 ± 0.2 nm and 2.9 ± 1.0 nm, respectively. The increase in the ellipsometric thickness of 5 nm combined with the AFM findings of the surface roughness (similar to the values characteristic for the anchor layers) indicates the formation of continuous ALG films, which

• profilometry: Macroscopic surface roughness and waviness measurements were performed using a Tencor P-10 (Texas, USA) surface profiler with 1 mm long scans at a speed of 20 μm∙s−1 and a sampling rate of 200 Hz using a maximum stylus force of 0.02 N. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM): The SEM analysis was

• M NaOH, and piranha (H2SO4/H2O2)) except for those treated with a H2SO4/HCl solution. Microscale texturing similar to that reported here has been obtained by treatments such as machining [45][46], anodic oxidation [45][46] and chemical oxidation using piranha [12]. The increase in the surface

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

• , the fresh films deposited on the glass substrate were cut with a scalpel. After 48 h at room temperature, this cut on the film was observed by AFM for the thickness estimation. The evaluation of the surface roughness and thickness was performed by using WSxM 5.0 Develop3.2 software. The wettability of

Hollow plasmonic antennas for broadband SERS spectroscopy

• Gabriele C. Messina,
• Mario Malerba,
• Pierfrancesco Zilio,
• Ermanno Miele,
• Michele Dipalo,
• Lorenzo Ferrara and
• Francesco De Angelis

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 492–498, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.50

• calculations (not reported for brevity). In order to save calculation time, we neglected the surface roughness in this optimization, whereas it will be considered later for the evaluation of the electric field enhancement. The model considers antennas with an 18 nm thick silver layer deposited on the surface

• range for a single antenna with a surface roughness of 4 nm on the tip was calculated. The results are reported in Figure 3 with the limited spectral range of 400–900 nm shown for clarity. The device exhibits very good performance regarding both the electric field enhancement and absorption. Both

• simulations of a silver nanotube with 1.4 µm height, 160 nm width, surface roughness of 4 nm and illuminated by TM polarized light impinging at 5°. The blue line represents the electric field enhancement calculated 1 nm above the upper antenna edge and normalized with respect to the impinging wave amplitude

Fundamental edge broadening effects during focused electron beam induced nanosynthesis

• Roland Schmied,
• Jason D. Fowlkes,
• Robert Winkler,
• Phillip D. Rack and
• Harald Plank

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 462–471, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.47

• 500 nm SiO2 top-layer providing a root mean square (RMS) surface roughness values of less than 0.1 nm, and 2) the same substrates with 60 nm Au electrodes, fabricated through electron-beam lithography using a 3 nm Cr interfacial adhesion layer. While the former were used for atomic force microscopy

Oxygen-plasma-modified biomimetic nanofibrous scaffolds for enhanced compatibility of cardiovascular implants

• Anna Maria Pappa,
• Varvara Karagkiozaki,
• Silke Krol,
• Spyros Kassavetis,
• Dimitris Konstantinou,
• Charalampos Pitsalidis,
• Lazaros Tzounis,
• Nikos Pliatsikas and
• Stergios Logothetidis

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 254–262, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.24

• to determine the topographical features of the studied surfaces and the effect of the plasma treatment on their roughness. The surface roughness parameters of the untreated and plasma-treated electrospun scaffolds are summarized in Table 1, while the obtained topographies of the samples are presented

• in Figure 1d–f. The average surface roughness (Ra), was found to increase after the O2-plasma treatment with mild power conditions (P = 20 W) which is attributed to the incorporation of the polar groups on the surface. Indeed, during plasma treatment the polymer chains on the surface break and polar

• surface roughness of the PCL, and reaches a plateau after about 50 nm, which corresponds to the E of the sample. Therefore, the calculated E value, for the untreated and the O2-plasma-treated PCL varies between 1–4 GPa and 1.5–2.5 GPa, respectively. Conclusively, the nanoindentation testing showed that

Boosting the local anodic oxidation of silicon through carbon nanofiber atomic force microscopy probes

• Gemma Rius,
• Matteo Lorenzoni,
• Soichiro Matsui,
• Masaki Tanemura and
• Francesc Perez-Murano

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 215–222, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.20

• quantifiable; their line height and width are in the limits of AFM resolution and Si surface roughness. On the other side, for CNF-patterned lines, an unexpected widening of the line features is especially characteristic of the 22 V and 24 V tests. The analysis of the line profile suggests that the resulting

Increasing throughput of AFM-based single cell adhesion measurements through multisubstrate surfaces

• Miao Yu,
• Nico Strohmeyer,
• Jinghe Wang,
• Daniel J. Müller and
• Jonne Helenius

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 157–166, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.15

• presented. Characterization of the protein coating on PDMS masks To characterize the surface roughness and the protein coating, glass and PDMS surfaces were imaged using AFM. Several protein-coated surfaces of both PDMS and glass were imaged. Surfaces of protein-coated glass were smooth with height

• proteins as described for non-labeled proteins. The cantilever coating was performed as previously described [30]. In short, the cantilevers were plasma-cleaned and incubated overnight in 2 mg/mL ConA (Sigma) containing PBS at 4 °C. Characterization of protein coatings To characterize surface roughness and

SERS and DFT study of copper surfaces coated with corrosion inhibitor

• Maurizio Muniz-Miranda,
• Francesco Muniz-Miranda and
• Stefano Caporali

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2489–2497, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.258

• substrate must exhibit a surface roughness at the nanometer level. In these nanoscale structures, the excitation of electrons from the metal surface by laser irradiation can be confined, resulting in plasmon resonance [16]. The existence of this resonance is a necessary condition to observe a SERS signal by

• adsorbed species on the metal surface. In order to obtain a suitable surface roughness from a smooth copper substrate, etching in nitric acid was performed (as previously demonstrated [17]), followed by immersion in ammonia solution. The reducing environment limits the oxidation of the copper surface

• ) of the etched sample surface reveals a fine surface arrangement, showing the formation of submicrometer dendritic structures, typical of rapid growth crystals. The existence of these nanostructures is additionally proved by measuring the surface roughness. A line profile was obtained on the etched

Aquatic versus terrestrial attachment: Water makes a difference

• Petra Ditsche and
• Adam P. Summers

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2424–2439, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.252

• faced by tires on roads of varying roughness and wetness has driven the development of theories that may be applicable to biological systems [50][51]. These theories are difficult to assess in a biological context, but an examination of the parameters, surface roughness, substrate compliance, friction

Characterization of 10,12-pentacosadiynoic acid Langmuir–Blodgett monolayers and their use in metal–insulator–metal tunnel devices

• Saumya Sharma,
• Mohamad Khawaja,
• Manoj K. Ram,
• D. Yogi Goswami and
• Elias Stefanakos

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2240–2247, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.233

• PDA. However, this AFM characterization could only provide information about the surface morphology and not the film thickness. The surface roughness of the underlying nickel film was recorded as 18 ± 1 Å [24]. Discussion of the MIM structure: Initially, due to the extreme thinness of the PDA

• 0.01 M HCl electrolyte. AFM micrograph of 30 monolayer of PDA deposited using the Langmuir–Blodgett technique showing a surface roughness of 34.2 Å. The roughness of the underlying Ni-coated silicon substrate was 18 Å. A schematic representation of the challenges in MIM device fabrication using LB

Modification of a single-molecule AFM probe with highly defined surface functionality

• Fei Long,
• Bin Cao,
• Ashok Khanal,
• Shiyue Fang and
• Reza Shahbazian-Yassar

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2122–2128, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.221

• spectroscopy experiment Single-molecule probe modification: The alkyne-modified probe was engaged to the Cu substrate in contact mode with 1 nN force in 0.05 M azide solution. The average surface roughness Ra of the Cu surface was 1.33 ± 0.24 nm determined through AFM topography (shown in Figure S8, Supporting