Nano-rings with a handle – Synthesis of substituted cycloparaphenylenes

• Anne-Florence Tran-Van and
• Hermann A. Wegner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1320–1333, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.145

• structures are great challenges for modern organic synthesis. In 2002 the first rational synthesis of C60 was presented showing the possibility to control each atom in the final target [6]. The choice of suitable synthetic methods is critical to cope with the strain as well as the lack of functional groups

• template or building block for a bottom-up approach [11][12][13]. Since 2008 several groups have presented successful syntheses of CPPs with different diameters and their properties were studied [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24]. The main challenge of such a synthesis is, similar to C60, to

Neutral and charged boron-doped fullerenes for CO₂ adsorption

• Suchitra W. de Silva,
• Aijun Du,
• Wijitha Senadeera and
• Yuantong Gu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 413–418, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.49

• to reduce the global emissions of greenhouse gases. It is crucial to find suitable materials to achieve an efficient CO2 capture. Here we report our study of CO2 adsorption on boron-doped C60 fullerene in the neutral state and in the 1e−-charged state. We use first principle density functional

• , heterofullerenes also offer excellent tuneable chemical and physical properties [10]. Gas adsorption on heterofullerenes is an appealing subject. B. Gao et al. [11] studied CO2 adsorption on calcium decorated C60 fullerene and F. Gao et al. [12] studied O2 adsorption on nitrogen-doped fullerene. Boron-doped C60

• fullerenes are one of the most structurally stable heterofullerenes [9]. Guo et al. synthesized B-doped C60 fullerenes for the first time, in microscopic amounts by laser vaporisation [13]. Zou et al. [14] demonstrated the synthesis of B-doped C60 fullerene by using radio frequency plasma-assisted vapour

Fullerenes as adhesive layers for mechanical peeling of metallic, molecular and polymer thin films

• Maria B. Wieland,
• Anna G. Slater,
• Barry Mangham,
• Neil R. Champness and
• Peter H. Beton

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 394–401, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.46

• , Crown St, Liverpool, L69 7ZD, UK 10.3762/bjnano.5.46 Abstract We show that thin films of C60 with a thickness ranging from 10 to 100 nm can promote adhesion between a Au thin film deposited on mica and a solution-deposited layer of the elastomer polymethyldisolaxane (PDMS). This molecular adhesion

• adhesive properties of the fullerene C60, and show that films with a thickness greater than 10 nm can be used for this application. The use of a sublimed C60 adhesion layer also ensures high chemical purity, is compatible with formation under ultra-high vacuum (UHV) conditions and is known, even for

• thicknesses down to 3 nm, to provide effective protection for buried ‘UHV-clean’ surfaces on exposure to atmosphere [30]. In addition, small organic molecules, such as C60, are readily soluble in a range of solvents offering a flexible approach to the selective removal of the adhesion layers in subsequent

Uncertainties in forces extracted from non-contact atomic force microscopy measurements by fitting of long-range background forces

• Adam Sweetman and
• Andrew Stannard

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 386–393, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.45

• ‘off’ measurements are, in principle, available [6][11]. In this paper we perform a simple set of force measurements using the same tip apex on two different surface locations where we are able to use the ‘on-minus-off’ method. This is done by depositing C60 molecules onto a clean Si(111)-(7 × 7

• ) surface, and subsequently examining the both the tip–C60 and tip-silicon interactions. This method provides a useful way of checking the validity of the fitting method as we have access to two different interaction potentials (with ‘on’ and ‘off’ curves available in both cases), against which to test the

• were prepared by standard flash annealing to 1200 °C, rapid cooling to 900 °C, and then slow cooling to room temperature. A low coverage of C60 was prepared by depositing the molecules from a tantalum pocket onto the room temperature substrate. Following deposition the sample was immediately

Morphological characterization of fullerene–androsterone conjugates

• Alberto Ruiz,
• Margarita Suárez,
• Nazario Martin,
• Fernando Albericio and
• Hortensia Rodríguez

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 374–379, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.43

• , University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 400l, South Africa 10.3762/bjnano.5.43 Abstract Here we report on the self-organization characteristics in water of two diastereomer pairs of fullerene–androsterone hybrids that have the hydrophobic C60 appendage in the A and D ring of the androsterone moiety

• suitably functionalized fullerene derivatives with physical and biological properties interesting for biomedicine and materials science [2]. The covalent linkage of C60 to moieties, such as porphyrins [3], anionic polymethine cyanine [4], and other bioactive molecules such as amino acids [5], peptides [6

• ][7], nucleotides, sugars and steroids [8][9], have allowed the solubilization of these hybrid derivatives in aqueous media, thus enhancing certain biological activities. For the potential use of C60 derivatives as drug delivery systems, the size of the particles is important. In general, fast drug

Size-dependent characteristics of electrostatically actuated fluid-conveying carbon nanotubes based on modified couple stress theory

• Mir Masoud Seyyed Fakhrabadi,
• Abbas Rastgoo and
• Mohammad Taghi Ahmadian

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 771–780, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.88

• C60 molecule and simulated it by using molecular dynamics [29]. It was supposed that there is a flow through the CNT junction and a C60 molecule could block it inside the CNT. In spite of invaluable ideas behind the designs presented in [27][28][29], their extremely slow responses may impede a

Optimization of solution-processed oligothiophene:fullerene based organic solar cells by using solvent additives

• Gisela L. Schulz,
• Marta Urdanpilleta,
• Roland Fitzner,
• Eduard Brier,
• Elena Mena-Osteritz,
• Egon Reinold and
• Peter Bäuerle

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 680–689, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.77

• :PC61BM solar cell with its vacuum-processed DCV5T-Bu4:C60 counterpart. Interestingly in this case, the efficiencies of the small-molecule organic solar cells prepared by using solution techniques are approaching those fabricated by using vacuum technology. This result is significant as vacuum-processed

• unit blended with C60 in a ratio of 2:1 [10]. In the case of solution-processed BHJSCs, a septithiophene derivative incorporating regioregular octyl chains, capped with DCV groups, and blended with [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PC61BM), displayed a PCE of 3.7% when spin-coated from a

• vacuum-deposited DCV5T-Bu4 [18][19][20], which in combination with C60 gave an efficiency of 3.4% in planar heterojunctions [18] and 3.5% in bulk heterojunctions [21]. Herein, the synthesis and characterization of the DCV5T-Bu4 is described, as well as the photovoltaic performance of solution-processed

Topological edge properties of C_60+12n fullerenes

• A. Mottaghi and
• Ali R. Ashrafi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 400–405, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.47

• discovery of buckminsterfullerene C60 by Kroto and Smalley in 1985 [1][2], some mathematicians spent their time looking at the mathematical properties of these new materials. We refer to [3] for more information on the mathematical properties of fullerene graphs. Suppose G is a graph. A mapping f: G → G is

• calculated. By these tables and a case-by-case investigation on the molecular graph of Fn led to the following observation: The PI, edge Szeged and edge revised Szeged indices of C60+12n fullerenes can be computed by the following formulae: It is possible to find a proof for this observation by a tedious

Electronic and transport properties of kinked graphene

• Jesper Toft Rasmussen,
• Tue Gunst,
• Peter Bøggild,
• Antti-Pekka Jauho and
• Mads Brandbyge

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 103–110, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.12

• a (25,25) nanotube. Experiments by Ruffieux et al. [38] compare hydrogen adsorption on C60 molecules, CNTs, and graphite to show that reactivity is increased with curvature. In our case we find that the local electronic density of states changes little for the atoms on the pristine bent graphene

Probing three-dimensional surface force fields with atomic resolution: Measurement strategies, limitations, and artifact reduction

• Mehmet Z. Baykara,
• Omur E. Dagdeviren,
• Todd C. Schwendemann,
• Harry Mönig,
• Eric I. Altman and
• Udo D. Schwarz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 637–650, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.73

• sample surface. Force fields have now been recorded on NiO(001) [10][12][13], MgO/Ag(001) [14], NaCl(001) [15][16], Si(111)-(7×7) [17][18][19], HOPG [20][21], KBr(001) [9][22][23], Cu(111) [24], and CaCO3() [25] surfaces, as well as single molecules of PTCDA [26][27], pentacene [28], CO [29], C60 [30

Strong spin-filtering and spin-valve effects in a molecular V–C₆₀–V contact

• Mohammad Koleini and
• Mads Brandbyge

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 589–596, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.69

• Plads, Building 345E, DK-2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark 10.3762/bjnano.3.69 Abstract Motivated by the recent achievements in the manipulation of C60 molecules in STM experiments, we study theoretically the structure and electronic properties of a C60 molecule in an STM tunneljunction with a magnetic tip

• and magnetic adatom on a Cu(111) surface using first-principles calculations. For the case of a vanadium tip/adatom, we demonstrate how spin coupling between the magnetic V atoms, mediated by the C60, can be observed in the electronic transport, which display a strong spin-filtering effect, allowing

• experimentally. Recently, it has been demonstrated in low temperature scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) experiments how C60 molecules can be picked up by the STM-tip, and how they could controllably be used to contact structures such as adatoms, clusters, and molecules placed on a substrate surface [5][6][7

Self-assembled monolayers and titanium dioxide: From surface patterning to potential applications

• Yaron Paz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 845–861, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.94

• transport between SAMs and titanium dioxide, the characterization of the prepared films is somewhat partial; it is thus very rare to find manuscripts that provide data on the organization and orientation of the adsorbed molecules as well as on their surface concentration. The finding that C60 may transfer

• electrons to titanium dioxide upon illumination with visible light [86] led to the study of a system in which the C60 is anchored to the titanium dioxide through a SAM mediator. The mediator comprised salicylic acid (attached to the TiO2 surface through its carboxylate group) connected to a pyrrodine group

• of a modified C60 [87]. An agreement between the measured photocurrent action spectrum and the absorption spectrum of the modified fullerene served as an indication that the photoactive species was the modified fullerene. A photon-to-current conversion efficiency as high as 15% was measured

Enhancement of the critical current density in FeO-coated MgB₂ thin films at high magnetic fields

• Andrei E. Surdu,
• Hussein H. Hamdeh,
• Imad A. Al-Omari,
• David J. Sellmyer,
• Alexei V. Socrovisciuc,
• Andrei A. Prepelita,
• Ezgi T. Koparan,
• Ekrem Yanmaz,
• Valery V. Ryazanov,
• Horst Hahn and
• Anatolie S. Sidorenko

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 809–813, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.89

• . The obtained value of Jc ~ 105 A/cm2 at T = 20 K and B = 7 T (see Figure 6) is higher than the Jc value of 104 A/cm2 at T = 5 K and B = 7 T, and the Jc value of 102 A/cm2 at T = 10 K and B = 7 T reported recently in [13], which was obtained by doping of MgB2 with C60. Conclusion In summary, we

Manipulation of gold colloidal nanoparticles with atomic force microscopy in dynamic mode: influence of particle–substrate chemistry and morphology, and of operating conditions

• Samer Darwich,
• Karine Mougin,
• Akshata Rao,
• Enrico Gnecco,
• Shrisudersan Jayaraman and
• Hamidou Haidara

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 85–98, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.10

• , the first accurate manipulation studies of nanoparticles were performed by STM. In a pioneer experiment, Cuberes et al. moved single C60 molecules along the steps of a Cu(111) surface using an STM in UHV [7]. In addition, the majority of the STM experiments were performed at cryogenic temperatures [8

• intermittent tapping mode. The first mode used in AFM was the contact mode. Manipulation of large C60 islands on NaCl was performed by Lüthi et al. using contact AFM [11]. Even if the shear between islands and crystal surface can be derived from the frictional forces experienced by the AFM tip while scanning

Oriented growth of porphyrin-based molecular wires on ionic crystals analysed by nc-AFM

• Thilo Glatzel,
• Lars Zimmerli,
• Shigeki Kawai,
• Ernst Meyer,
• Leslie-Anne Fendt and
• Francois Diederich

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 34–39, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.4

• studies by non-contact atomic force microscopy (nc-AFM) were done on ionic crystals with adsorbed PTCDA [17][18][19][20][21][22], PTCDI [23] or C60 [24]. In the case of porphyrins, the growth [25][26][27] and electronic properties [28] of stable, monolayered molecular wires on KBr(001) with a length of up