Current state of laser synthesis of metal and alloy nanoparticles as ligand-free reference materials for nano-toxicological assays

• Christoph Rehbock,
• Jurij Jakobi,
• Lisa Gamrad,
• Selina van der Meer,
• Daniela Tiedemann,
• Ulrike Taylor,
• Wilfried Kues,
• Detlef Rath and
• Stephan Barcikowski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1523–1541, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.165

• EELS (electron energy loss spectroscopy) were used to analyze the ultrastructure of the particle by localizing nickel on a single-particle basis. Single particle EELS of a NiTi particle, laser-fabricated in acetone and embedded in a polymer, revealed a totally homogeneous ultrastructure [115] (Figure

Growth and characterization of CNT–TiO₂ heterostructures

• Yucheng Zhang,
• Ivo Utke,
• Johann Michler,
• Gabriele Ilari,
• Marta D. Rossell and
• Rolf Erni

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 946–955, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.108

• (EELS) in scanning transmission mode provides structural, chemical and electronic information with an unprecedented spatial resolution and increasingly superior energy resolution, and hence is a necessary tool to characterize the CNT–TiO2 interface, as well as other technologically relevant CNT–metal

• /metal oxide material systems. Keywords: atomic layer deposition (ALD); carbon nanotubes; electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS); interface; titanium dioxide (TiO2); transmission electron microscopy (TEM); Introduction Since the discovery by Iijima in 1991, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have always been on

• energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) is a good candidate. The physical principle of EELS is explained, and a survey of applying EELS to characterization of several technologically important nanomaterials including CNTs and metal/metal oxide nanoparticles is presented. The challenges of studying the TiO2–CNT

Oriented attachment explains cobalt ferrite nanoparticle growth in bioinspired syntheses

• Annalena Wolff,
• Walid Hetaba,
• Marco Wißbrock,
• Stefan Löffler,
• Nadine Mill,
• Katrin Eckstädt,
• Axel Dreyer,
• Inga Ennen,
• Norbert Sewald,
• Peter Schattschneider and
• Andreas Hütten

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 210–218, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.23

• stages of the growth process using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) and electron diffraction measurements. Results In this bioinspired synthesis, stoichiometric Co2FeO4 discs of hexagonal, diamond

• [20]. Since the discs are of a cobalt rich composition, the remaining iron precursor in the solution forms the side product (CoFe2O4). The particles at different stages of the growth process are displayed in Figure 2. EELS and TEM measurements of the nanoparticles at early stages of the growth process

• oriented substructures within the disc exist. EELS measurements show that incomplete discs, such as the diamond-shaped particle in Figure 3d, are of various non-stoichiometric phases with a compositional gradient. Non-aggregated areas, such as region 1, where crystallites are still visible, are of an iron

Probing the plasmonic near-field by one- and two-photon excited surface enhanced Raman scattering

• Katrin Kneipp and
• Harald Kneipp

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 834–842, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.94

• variations. However, surface plasmons can be also excited by low energy [12] and high energy electrons [13][14]. Therefore, as an alternative to optical methods, electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) is emerging as a novel tool to probe plasmonic near-fields of metal nanostructures at nanometer

• -resolutions and even below [15][16][17][18][19]. We have applied EELS for probing the local distribution of plasmonic fields at nanometer scale for nanoaggregates formed by silver particles [18]. Here we discuss experiments for probing the optical near-field of silver nanoaggregates by using one- and two

Influence of particle size and fluorination ratio of CF_x precursor compounds on the electrochemical performance of C–FeF₂ nanocomposites for reversible lithium storage

• Ben Breitung,
• M. Anji Reddy,
• Venkata Sai Kiran Chakravadhanula,
• Michael Engel,
• Christian Kübel,
• Annie K. Powell,
• Horst Hahn and
• Maximilian Fichtner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 705–713, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.80

• . A higher graphitic character of the carbon matrix was found for materials produced with CFx precursors with of a lower F/C ratio). These results were confirmed by EELS and SAED measurements. Cycling behavior of C(FeF2)0.55, C(FeF2)0.55_200, C(FeF2)0.55_300 and C(FeF2)0.55_400. The materials were

Characterization and properties of micro- and nanowires of controlled size, composition, and geometry fabricated by electrodeposition and ion-track technology

• Maria Eugenia Toimil-Molares

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 860–883, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.97

Tuning the properties of magnetic thin films by interaction with periodic nanostructures

• Ulf Wiedwald,
• Felix Haering,
• Stefan Nau,
• Carsten Schulze,
• Herbert Schletter,
• Denys Makarov,
• Alfred Plettl,
• Karsten Kuepper,
• Manfred Albrecht,
• Johannes Boneberg and
• Paul Ziemann

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 831–842, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.93

• particle size, the multilayer (with a nominal thickness of 16.8 nm) follows the curvature of the particle array (Figure 8a). By electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) along the line displayed in Figure 8a, the Co content was probed by using intensity profiling of the Co-L3,2 edges. Figure 8b shows the Co

• signal, as well as the dark field (DF) intensity along the line scan. From the EELS line scan, Co is found to be present in the film material filling the contact region between the neighboring particle caps, suggesting that those caps are magnetically connected across the contact region, and form a

• . The figure has been reproduced with permission from [25] – Copyright 2009 Institute of Physics. (a) DF-STEM image of 40 nm Au nanoparticles capped with a magnetic Co/Pt multilayer. Panel (b) shows an EELS line scan taken at the contact region between the two particles along the solid line shown in (a

Towards atomic resolution in sodium titanate nanotubes using near-edge X-ray-absorption fine-structure spectromicroscopy combined with multichannel multiple-scattering calculations

• Carla Bittencourt,
• Peter Krüger,
• Maureen J. Lagos,
• Xiaoxing Ke,
• Gustaaf Van Tendeloo,
• Chris Ewels,
• Polona Umek and
• Peter Guttmann

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 789–797, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.88

• as electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) performed in aberration-corrected transmission electron microscopes operated at low electron acceleration voltages [30]. Alkali titanate nanostructures are very sensitive to electron-beam irradiation, which has prevented detailed studies at high energetic

• resolution by electron spectroscopy. Using NEXAFS–TXM has allowed us to probe our samples at 0.1 eV energy resolution while in recent reports [18][31] based on EELS the energy resolution for analysing similar samples was limited to 0.5 eV. Results and Discussion Figure 1a shows a typical TEM image of the

Focused electron beam induced deposition: A perspective

• Michael Huth,
• Fabrizio Porrati,
• Christian Schwalb,
• Marcel Winhold,
• Roland Sachser,
• Maja Dukic,
• Jonathan Adams and
• Georg Fantner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 597–619, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.70

• microscopy (TEM) investigations which show a progression from nanocrystalline fcc Pt particles in a carbon matrix for Si-free deposits, towards an amorphous structure of the granules. Since only a direct local probe, such as electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) in a TEM, would be able to unequivocally

Nano-structuring, surface and bulk modification with a focused helium ion beam

• Daniel Fox,
• Yanhui Chen,
• Colm C. Faulkner and
• Hongzhou Zhang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 579–585, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.67

• cross section allowing direct observation of the extended effects of high dose irradiation. The effect of the irradiation on the crystal structure of the material is presented. Applications of the sample modification process are presented and further prospects discussed. Keywords: EELS; EFTEM; helium

• surface and structure using advanced transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques such as energy filtered TEM (EFTEM) and electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS). We also present the limitations of this surface modification technique. Results and Discussion Sample 1 is a silicon lamella shown after

• structure of the silicon. Figure 6a is a graph of the EELS spectra recorded from three different locations on the sample. The black solid line at the top was recorded at a region which was not modified by helium ion irradiation. The red dashed line in the middle was recorded from the wedge shape region

Investigation on structural, thermal, optical and sensing properties of meta-stable hexagonal MoO₃ nanocrystals of one dimensional structure

• Angamuthuraj Chithambararaj and
• Arumugam Chandra Bose

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 585–592, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.62

• microscopy (TEM) images clearly depicted the morphology and size of h-MoO3. The morphology study showed that the product comprises one-dimensional (1D) hexagonal rods. From the electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) measurement, the elemental composition was investigated and confirmed from the

• , belonging to the (210) plane of h-MoO3. The electron diffraction, with a highly intense dotted pattern, reveals the single crystalline nature of h-MoO3. Furthermore, the elemental composition and chemical bonding information were confirmed by EELS investigation. Figure 7 depicts the typical EELS profile of

• . The one-dimensional hexagonal rod structure, with regular arrangement and preferred orientation, was observed in SEM, TEM and HRTEM images. From EELS, the O-K edge and Mo-M2,3 peaks confirmed the existence of molybdenum and oxygen. From thermal analysis, the structural transformation from hexagonal to