Hexagonal boron nitride: a review of the emerging material platform for single-photon sources and the spin–photon interface

• Stefania Castelletto,
• Faraz A. Inam,
• Shin-ichiro Sato and
• Alberto Boretti

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 740–769, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.61

A novel dry-blending method to reduce the coefficient of thermal expansion of polymer templates for OTFT electrodes

• Xiangdong Ye,
• Bo Tian,
• Yuxuan Guo,
• Fan Fan and
• Anjiang Cai

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 671–677, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.53

• (analytical grade). Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) as the dielectric layer was used as purchased from MicroChem, with a molecular weight of 350,000 and a concentration of 4% in anisole (analytical grade). Preparation of the PDMS/SiO2 composite template via dry blending The experimental procedure for

• electrode alignment in the wet-blended template is that the CTE of the PDMS/SiO2 composite template is 214 ppm/°C, while that of the PMMA dielectric layer to be contacted is 115.2 ppm/°C [24]. The CTE of the PDMS/SiO2 composite template prepared via dry blending was 96 ppm/°C, which better matches that of

Soybean-derived blue photoluminescent carbon dots

• Shanshan Wang,
• Wei Sun,
• Dong-sheng Yang and
• Fuqian Yang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 606–619, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.48

• synthesized from glassy carbon [16], graphite [26], polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) [27], and a graphite–cement mixture [6] via LAL in various liquids. In general, there are three major mechanisms contributing to the photoluminescence (PL) of CDs: 1) size-dependent bandgap (quantum confinement), 2) surface

Synthesis and acetone sensing properties of ZnFe₂O₄/rGO gas sensors

• Kaidi Wu,
• Yifan Luo,
• Ying Li and
• Chao Zhang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2516–2526, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.242

• collected in a poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) chamber (volume: 50 L), the volume of which was calibrated using the following Equation 1: Vx is the volume of the liquid (μL), c is the concentration of the gas to be allocated (ppm), V is the volume of the collection vessel (mL), M is the molecular weight of

Label-free highly sensitive probe detection with novel hierarchical SERS substrates fabricated by nanoindentation and chemical reaction methods

• Jingran Zhang,
• Tianqi Jia,
• Yongda Yan,
• Li Wang,
• Peng Miao,
• Yimin Han,
• Xinming Zhang,
• Guangfeng Shi,
• Yanquan Geng,
• Zhankun Weng,
• Daniel Laipple and
• Zuobin Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2483–2496, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.239

• where the optimized enhancement factor was determined to be 8.6 × 106. Zhong et al. [11] presented nanoparticles formed by HAuCl3 and sodium citrate solutions on the poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) template as a transparent SERS substrate. Then, malachite green at a concentration of 0.1 nmol/L was

• detected using the AuNPs/PMMA film SERS substrates. Zhang et al. [12] fabricated core–shell structures comprised of SiO2 and gold with a sub-10 nm shell thickness by adding HAuCl4 and the reducing agent K2CO3 on the SiO2 surface and found that the SERS enhancement becomes weaker with increasing shell

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

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

• , Anhui, China 10.3762/bjnano.10.159 Abstract Subsurface imaging of Au circuit structures embedded in poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) thin films with a cover thickness ranging from 52 to 653 nm was carried out by using contact resonance atomic force microscopy (CR-AFM). The mechanical difference of the

• unambiguous subsurface imaging. In this work, facing the demands and challenges mentioned above, CR-AFM subsurface imaging was performed on a series of multilayer flexible circuits. Model samples were employed that consist of Au circuit patterns embedded in a poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) polymer matrix

• PMMA–Au–PMMA sandwich structure with a thick PMMA film as the bottom layer, a patterned Au layer as the middle, functional circuit layer, and a thin PMMA film as the top protection layer, as schematically shown in Figure 1. The bottom layer was first coated on a clean silicon substrate by spin casting

Development of a new hybrid approach combining AFM and SEM for the nanoparticle dimensional metrology

• Loïc Crouzier,
• Alexandra Delvallée,
• Sébastien Ducourtieux,
• Laurent Devoille,
• Guillaume Noircler,
• Christian Ulysse,
• Olivier Taché,
• Elodie Barruet,
• Christophe Tromas and
• Nicolas Feltin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1523–1536, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.150

• silicon wafers. The technique is based on using a direct-writing system (Raith-Vistec EBPG 5000+ electron-beam lithography system) and PMMA resist. After developing, the mask is transferred using RIE (reactive-ion etching). The P900H60 grating is used as a transfer standard and was calibrated by means of

• -writing system and a PMMA resin in which various patterns are then made by reactive ion etching (RIE). Some tests were also carried out with lift-off techniques for metallic deposition, but the results were found to be less conclusive for the deposit. Results and Discussion Repeatability of AFM and SEM

Direct growth of few-layer graphene on AlN-based resonators for high-sensitivity gravimetric biosensors

• Jimena Olivares,
• Teona Mirea,
• Lorena Gordillo-Dagallier,
• Bruno Marco,
• José Miguel Escolano,
• Marta Clement and
• Enrique Iborra

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 975–984, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.98

• for on-wafer contacting. In order to verify whether the high-temperature process affected the performance of the devices, the SMRs were carefully assessed before and after the growth of the graphene layer. For in-liquid measurements, we used a fluidic system made of PMMA that includes a PDMS chamber

Features and advantages of flexible silicon nanowires for SERS applications

• Hrvoje Gebavi,
• Vlatko Gašparić,
• Dubravko Risović,
• Nikola Baran,
• Paweł Henryk Albrycht and
• Mile Ivanda

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 725–734, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.72

• poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) [14]. However, apart from the flexible substrates, also flexible nanostructures are reported on conventional, solid SERS substrates [19][20][21]. In these reports, vertically oriented silicon nanopillars in contact with a liquid would lean towards each other, trapping

Nanocomposite–parylene C thin films with high dielectric constant and low losses for future organic electronic devices

• Marwa Mokni,
• Gianluigi Maggioni,
• Abdelkader Kahouli,
• Sara M. Carturan,
• Walter Raniero and
• Alain Sylvestre

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 428–441, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.42

• other pure materials such as SiO2, polyimide, polyethylene, alumina (Al2O3), benzocyclobutenes (BCB) and SiO2/poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), nanocomposite parylene C (NCPC) exhibits some interesting properties [39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47]. As an example, parylene C/Silica nanocomposites show

Advanced scanning probe lithography using anatase-to-rutile transition to create localized TiO₂ nanorods

• Julian Kalb,
• Vanessa Knittel and
• Lukas Schmidt-Mende

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 412–418, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.40

• in cold tap water. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images were taken with a Zeiss CrossBeam 1540XB. An Olympus BX51 optical microscope with a 250× objective was employed for bright-field optical images. For reference samples prepared by electron-beam lithography, poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA

Charged particle single nanometre manufacturing

• Philip D. Prewett,
• Cornelis W. Hagen,
• Claudia Lenk,
• Steve Lenk,
• Marcus Kaestner,
• Tzvetan Ivanov,
• Ahmad Ahmad,
• Ivo W. Rangelow,
• Xiaoqing Shi,
• Stuart A. Boden,
• Alex P. G. Robinson,
• Dongxu Yang,
• Sangeetha Hari,
• Marijke Scotuzzi and
• Ejaz Huq

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2855–2882, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.266

• ] using PMMA resist, the positive tone resist for which the classic EBL proximity effect experiments were conducted [20]. The method follows that employed for EBL by Stevens et al. [43] and by Boere et al. [44], and involves exposing doughnut-shaped areas with various inner radii, R1, and determining the

• dose required to fully clear their centres (through the proximity effect). In Shi’s work, the PMMA was spun to a thickness of 20 nm and prebaked for 70 s at 180 °C; development was carried out in MIBK/IPA (1:3) for 60 s. For SHIBL, the outer radius of the doughnut was fixed at R2 = 200 nm while the

Near-infrared light harvesting of upconverting NaYF₄:Yb³⁺/Er³⁺-based amorphous silicon solar cells investigated by an optical filter

• Daiming Liu,
• Qingkang Wang and
• Qing Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2788–2793, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.260

• rods were incorporated in a polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) layer on the rear side of a-Si:H solar cell. Under AM1.5 solar irradiation, a facile optical filter was used to scrutinize the effect of upconversion on the cell performance. Compared with a bare cell, the NaYF4:Yb3+/Er3+-based a-Si:H cell

• in Figure 4c. Optical scattering can be measured by the haze ratio, which is defined as the ratio of diffusely transmitted light to total transmitted light [19][20]. The PMMA layer containing UC nanorods on glass exhibits a higher haze ratio in the range of 400–800 nm than a PMMA layer without

• mixture containing NaYF4:Yb3+/Er3+ (0.6 wt %) and polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA, 10 wt %) was prepared in trichloroethane. One UC/PMMA layer was spin-coated on the back contact at 900 rpm for 60 s, heated at 120 °C for 1 h and slowly cooled down to room temperature. Finally, white paint was applied as back

Oriented zinc oxide nanorods: A novel saturable absorber for lasers in the near-infrared

• Pavel Loiko,
• Tanujjal Bora,
• Josep Maria Serres,
• Haohai Yu,
• Magdalena Aguiló,
• Francesc Díaz,
• Uwe Griebner,
• Valentin Petrov,
• Xavier Mateos and
• Joydeep Dutta

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2730–2740, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.255

• commercial graphene-SA containing several (n = 3) carbon layers, a SA based on randomly oriented SWCNTs in a PMMA film [32], and a few-layer MoS2 SA [31]. One can observe a similar broadband absorption feature for the ZnO NRs as in these reference SAs. The photoluminescence (PL) spectrum of ZnO NRs grown for

• based on randomly oriented SWCNTs in a PMMA film (all of them deposited on a 1 mm-thick fused silica substrate), and a commercial transmission-type semiconductor saturable absorber (SESA, for Tm laser). For the Yb laser, the performance of all such nanostructured SAs is modest. In general, this is

• with n = 3 carbon layers, multilayer MoS2 film [31] and SWCNT/PMMA film [32]; (d) room temperature photoluminescence (PL) spectrum of ZnO NRs grown for 15 h, the excitation wavelength is 0.350 µm: grey curve – the measured PL spectrum, color bands – decomposition of the PL spectrum into Gaussian

Polarization-dependent strong coupling between silver nanorods and photochromic molecules

• Gwénaëlle Lamri,
• Alessandro Veltri,
• Jean Aubard,
• Pierre-Michel Adam,
• Nordin Felidj and
• Anne-Laure Baudrion

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2657–2664, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.247

• , we diluted the sample in a poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) solution in toluene and spin-coated them onto the sample. The phototransition is realized by illuminating the sample with a Xe lamp filtered with a 400 nm low-pass filter. The excitation lasts two minutes and the polymer film becomes violet

Characterization of the microscopic tribological properties of sandfish (Scincus scincus) scales by atomic force microscopy

• Weibin Wu,
• Christian Lutz,
• Simon Mersch,
• Richard Thelen,
• Christian Greiner,
• Guillaume Gomard and
• Hendrik Hölscher

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2618–2627, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.243

• with scales from S. scincus (provided by G. Gassner, Natural History Museum, Vienna, Austria). These were not tested for their content of glycans [16]. For comparison, we also analysed technical materials such as graphite, Teflon, poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), polyether ether ketone (PEEK

• conducted additional adhesion experiments with a sharp silicon tip on scales of S. diadema and on surfaces of some tribological relevance (PMMA, Teflon, highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) and silicon). Figure 4d provides the averaged adhesion forces (n = 10) on 15 arbitrarily chosen positions

• recorded on every sample mentioned above. These measurements reveal that the averaged adhesion forces on sandfish S. scincus (67.3 nN) are a little larger than on silicon (54.2 nN), Teflon (46.1 nN) or S. diadema (41.3 nN) while adhesion on PMMA (98.2 nN) is considerably higher. Interestingly, the adhesion

Block copolymers for designing nanostructured porous coatings

• Roberto Nisticò

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2332–2344, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.218

• plasma oxidization [53], electron beam curing, as well as laser and/or selective decomposition (as reported in Table 1). Hozumi and co-workers [74] investigated the removal of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) domains in a PS-b-PMMA copolymer film by using 172 nm vacuum-ultraviolet (VUV) light. In this

• case, the selective etching of activated oxygen molecules generated by the VUV radiation towards the two blocks (PS and PMMA) allowed for the preferential decomposition of PMMA and the consequent formation of a PS nanoporous network. The modulation of the irradiation time and pressure caused chemical

• and physical modifications of the PS nanostructures, since the complete removal of PMMA phase produces a hydrophobic PS surface whereas an irradiation at a pressure of 103 Pa caused the partial decomposition of the PS matrix with the modification of the material pore size and structure. By focusing on

Metal–dielectric hybrid nanoantennas for efficient frequency conversion at the anapole mode

• Valerio F. Gili,
• Lavinia Ghirardini,
• Davide Rocco,
• Giuseppe Marino,
• Ivan Favero,
• Iännis Roland,
• Giovanni Pellegrini,
• Lamberto Duò,
• Marco Finazzi,
• Luca Carletti,
• Andrea Locatelli,
• Aristide Lemaître,
• Dragomir Neshev,
• Costantino De Angelis,
• Giuseppe Leo and
• Michele Celebrano

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2306–2314, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.215

• SiOx are deposited on the surface via plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) to later improve the adhesion of the negative-tone HSQ resist on the III–V layer. A first positive-tone lithography step with PMMA resist is performed to realize the alignment structures, followed by electron beam

Two-dimensional photonic crystals increasing vertical light emission from Si nanocrystal-rich thin layers

• Lukáš Ondič,
• Marian Varga,
• Ivan Pelant,
• Alexander Kromka,
• Karel Hruška and
• Robert G. Elliman

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2287–2296, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.213

• PhCs were fabricated as follows: The initial SiNC-rich/SiO2 plate was first cut into three identical pieces with the sizes of 1 cm × 2 cm. The surface of the samples was coated with 120 nm of an electron-sensitive polymer (PMMA). Then on each piece, six periodic structures (1.3 mm × 1.3 mm) were “drawn

• ” by electron beam lithography (“e-LiNE system”, Raith GmbH, Germany) into a polymer mask forming a 2D periodic patterns of holes. A 60 nm thick gold layer was subsequently evaporated and part of the gold was removed by lift-off of the PMMA to define a mask for etching. Afterwards, the samples were

Electrospun one-dimensional nanostructures: a new horizon for gas sensing materials

• Muhammad Imran,
• Nunzio Motta and
• Mahnaz Shafiei

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2128–2170, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.202

• NTs are synthesized using layer-by-layer (LBL) self-assembly of tungsten as well as catalyst precursor on PMMA electrospun nanofibers. Pristine WO3 NTs exhibit a high response (Rgas/Rair) of 63.59 to 5 ppm NO at 350 °C. On the other hand, a high response of 2.24 for the Pt-WO3 NTs and 2.35 for the Pd

Synthesis of hafnium nanoparticles and hafnium nanoparticle films by gas condensation and energetic deposition

• Irini Michelakaki,
• Nikos Boukos,
• Dimitrios A. Dragatogiannis,
• Spyros Stathopoulos,
• Costas A. Charitidis and
• Dimitris Tsoukalas

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1868–1880, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.179

• , several scenarios, such as derformation, fragmentation and implantation of the NPs, are possible [40][43]. In this study we observed partial and complete deformation of the NPs. 3D NTF patterning In order to fabricate 3D NTF patterns, a spin-coated PMMA film on a Si substrate was initially patterned via e

• . This observation suggests that the polymer matrix has undergone a change during energetic deposition of nanoparticles. A possible explanation is that the clusters locally heat the PMMA above glass transition temperature, which results in their immersion into the polymer matrix forming a metal–polymer

Toward the use of CVD-grown MoS₂ nanosheets as field-emission source

• Geetanjali Deokar,
• Nitul S. Rajput,
• Junjie Li,
• Francis Leonard Deepak,
• Wei Ou-Yang,
• Nicolas Reckinger,
• Carla Bittencourt,
• Jean-Francois Colomer and
• Mustapha Jouiad

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1686–1694, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.160

• -assisted wet-chemical method was employed to transfer the MoS2 layer on conducting substrates [20]. A layer of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), 200 nm thick, was coated onto the surface of the MoS2/SiO2/Si sample surface (PMMA/MoS2/SiO2/Si), then floated on buffered oxide etchant. After leaving it

• overnight, the silica layer was removed, freeing the PMMA/MoS2 film from the growth substrate (SiO2/Si). The sample was subsequently transferred to deionized water to rinse the chemical etchants. Then, the desired substrate (here, FTO) was used to lift the PMMA/MoS2 out of the water. The sample was then

• dried overnight to let the water trapped underneath the MoS2 NSs to be removed naturally. Next, the sample was baked at 110 °C for 10 min to improve the uniformity and the adhesion to the substrate. Finally, the PMMA was dissolved in acetone. Physical characterization methods The morphology of

Nanocomposites comprised of homogeneously dispersed magnetic iron-oxide nanoparticles and poly(methyl methacrylate)

• Sašo Gyergyek,
• David Pahovnik,
• Ema Žagar,
• Alenka Mertelj,
• Rok Kostanjšek,
• Miloš Beković,
• Marko Jagodič,
• Heinrich Hofmann and
• Darko Makovec

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1613–1622, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.153

• with the methyl methacrylate (MMA) monomer. The resulting suspension of magnetic nanoparticles decorated with poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) chains in toluene were colloidal, even in the presence of a magnetic field gradient. Nanocomposites were precipitated from these suspensions. The transmission

• electron microscopy investigation of the prepared nanocomposites revealed that the magnetic nanoparticles were homogeneously dispersed in the PMMA matrix, even in amounts up to 53 wt %. The uniform dispersion of the nanoparticles in the PMMA matrix was attributed to the good solvation of the grafted PMMA

• chains from the magnetic nanoparticles by the PMMA chains of the matrix. The nanocomposites were superparamagnetic and exhibited large values for the saturation magnetization of up to 36 emu/g. Moreover, the nanocomposite with the largest amount of incorporated nanoparticles exhibited relatively large

Evaluation of replicas manufactured in a 3D-printed nanoimprint unit

• Manuel Caño-García,
• Morten A. Geday,
• Manuel Gil-Valverde,
• Xabier Quintana and
• José M. Otón

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1573–1581, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.149

• angles can be directly correlated to the lack of nanoimprint reproducibility of any relief features. A comparable result is obtained for the height measurements. Again Ormostamp and NOA81 render a fraction of the master height substantially higher than materials using solvents. The PMMA case is

• to qualify any material as appropriate; therefore a larger than usual number of samples (more than 100) were prepared. Both, thermally curable and UV-curable materials have been tested: Ormostamp®, NOA81, SU8 photoresist, Microposit S1818 photoresist, and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA). Ormostamp

• slowly to room temperature. PMMA: A 5% w/w solution of poly(methyl methacrylate) in chloroform was used. The solution must be spin-coated on a substrate. This material is thermally printed. Once the solution is deposited and the solvent has been removed, the sample is heated up to its glass temperature