Atomic layer deposited films of Al₂O₃ on fluorine-doped tin oxide electrodes: stability and barrier properties

• Hana Krýsová,
• Michael Neumann-Spallart,
• Hana Tarábková,
• Pavel Janda,
• Ladislav Kavan and
• Josef Krýsa

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 24–34, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.2

• 7.2). Chronoamperometric measurements were performed in buffered solution (pH 7.2) at −1.2 V (vs Ag/AgCl). The morphology of the films was characterized ex situ, under ambient conditions, by atomic force microscopy (AFM, Dimension Icon, Bruker, USA) in a semicontact (tapping) mode. A silicon

Mapping of integrated PIN diodes with a 3D architecture by scanning microwave impedance microscopy and dynamic spectroscopy

• Rosine Coq Germanicus,
• Peter De Wolf,
• Florent Lallemand,
• Catherine Bunel,
• Serge Bardy,
• Hugues Murray and
• Ulrike Lüders

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1764–1775, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.159

• , a body-centred tetragonal configuration (β-Sn, also called Si-II) must be formed from the initial cubic diamond silicon (Si-I) in the highly stressed region just below the tip [12]. Furthermore, in air and under ambient conditions, due to the interaction between the tip and the surface, the probe

High-responsivity hybrid α-Ag₂S/Si photodetector prepared by pulsed laser ablation in liquid

• Raid A. Ismail,
• Hanan A. Rawdhan and
• Duha S. Ahmed

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1596–1607, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.142

• 0.64 to 1.85 A/W at 510 nm after adding CTAB. The energy band diagram of the α-Ag2S/p-Si photodetector under illumination was constructed. The fabricated photodetectors exhibited reasonable stability after three weeks of storage under ambient conditions with a responsivity of 70% of the initial value

• compared to other photodetectors based silicon heterojunctions. The main figures of merit of the photodetectors at peak response were investigated after three weeks of storage under ambient conditions (Table 2). There is no significant variation (about 4%) in the values of figures of merit. This indicates

• initial responsivity after storage under ambient conditions for three weeks without any encapsulation. On the basis of these results, the proposed technique is promising and encouraging for the fabrication of inexpensive high-responsivity photodetectors. Schematic diagram of PLAL system used for

Antimicrobial metal-based nanoparticles: a review on their synthesis, types and antimicrobial action

• Matías Guerrero Correa,
• Fernanda B. Martínez,
• Cristian Patiño Vidal,
• Camilo Streitt,
• Juan Escrig and
• Carol Lopez de Dicastillo

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1450–1469, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.129

• cavitation that can be used for the production or modification of a wide range of nanostructured materials. Some examples are spherical Ag [63] and CuO NPs [65], and square-shaped CeO2 NPs [64]. The main advantage of this technique is the simplicity in maintaining the operating conditions (ambient conditions

Role of redox-active axial ligands of metal porphyrins adsorbed at solid–liquid interfaces in a liquid-STM setup

• Thomas Habets,
• Sylvia Speller and
• Johannes A. A. W. Elemans

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1264–1271, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.110

• single-molecule level, employing scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) [7][8][9]. Since our aim was to stay as close as possible to the laboratory conditions at which catalysis takes place (typically in an organic solvent under ambient conditions), we carried out our STM studies at a solid–liquid interface

Magnetic-field-assisted synthesis of anisotropic iron oxide particles: Effect of pH

• Andrey V. Shibaev,
• Petr V. Shvets,
• Darya E. Kessel,
• Roman A. Kamyshinsky,
• Anton S. Orekhov,
• Sergey S. Abramchuk,
• Alexei R. Khokhlov and
• Olga E. Philippova

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1230–1241, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.107

• (TEM) To prepare the TEM specimens, a drop (10 μL) of a freshly sonicated nanoparticle aqueous solution was deposited onto a 140 mesh Formvar-coated copper grid and and air-dried under ambient conditions. TEM micrographs and electron diffraction patterns were obtained on a LEO 912 AB OMEGA microscope

• [57]. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) To prepare the specimens for HRTEM measurements, the samples were manually applied onto the lacey carbon-coated side of the 300 mesh copper grid and air-dried under ambient conditions. The particle morphology was characterized by TEM and

• HR800, Villeneuve-d'Ascq, France) equipped with 100× magnification lens. The copper substrates were dip-coated in the sample solutions and dried under ambient conditions. The measurements of the produced films were conducted at room temperature and atmospheric air. A He–Ne laser (λ = 632.8 nm) was used

High permittivity, breakdown strength, and energy storage density of polythiophene-encapsulated BaTiO₃ nanoparticles

• Adnanullah Khan,
• Amir Habib and
• Adeel Afzal

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1190–1197, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.103

• microscopy (JEOL JSM 6490LA SEM) and atomic force microscopy (JSPM-5200 scanning probe microscope). Electrical properties of the bulk materials are measured under ambient conditions with a Wayne Kerr 6505B precision impedance analyzer and a Hipotronics HD103 3kV DC Hipot Tester. Results and Discussion

Wet-spinning of magneto-responsive helical chitosan microfibers

• Dorothea Brüggemann,
• Johanna Michel,
• Naiana Suter,
• Matheus Grande de Aguiar and
• Michael Maas

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 991–999, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.83

• . After 30 min, the fibers were collected from the coagulation bath and dried overnight under ambient conditions. To facilitate further analysis, the composite fibers were transferred to glass coverslips (VWR, Darmstadt, Germany). For the manual production of helical microfibers, wet-spun extrudates were

• ). Vibrating sample magnetometer analysis An EZ9 vibrating sample magnetometer (Microsense, Rottweil, Germany) was used to analyze the magnetization of chitosan fibers with varying IOP concentration. Prior to magnetometer analysis, the fibers were dried under ambient conditions for 24 h. Hysteresis curves were

Measurement of electrostatic tip–sample interactions by time-domain Kelvin probe force microscopy

• Christian Ritz,
• Tino Wagner and
• Andreas Stemmer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 911–921, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.76

• the electrostatic potential above the graphene flake and the SiO2 substrate. The patterns observable on the graphene flake are most likely caused by water droplets, which have formed due to the ambient conditions [34][35]. Small changes in the patterns were observed between two different scans

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

• miscellaneous transition rates for the optical and non-radiative transitions of the emitters. The SPEs show a very good photo-stability under ambient conditions and in monolayers. A correlation between the defect orientation and the h-BN hexagonal structure is observed by studying the excitation polarization

• to integrate hBN SPSs with large-scale, on-chip quantum photonic devices that work under ambient conditions or elevated temperatures. Resonant excitation of SPEs in h-BN is also used to control their quantum properties such as spectral broadening and Rabi oscillation. Using resonance excitation with

• instability taking the form of large ZPL spectral diffusion and discrete jumps of up to 100 nm (red-shifted) under ambient conditions. However, they are most stable under illumination at 532 nm [130]. A photochemical reaction with activation energy between 2.3 and 3.0 eV potentially contributes to the ZPL

Electromigration-induced directional steps towards the formation of single atomic Ag contacts

• Atasi Chatterjee,
• Christoph Tegenkamp and
• Herbert Pfnür

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 680–687, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.55

• Ag structures as they are quite susceptible to sulfur contamination under ambient conditions. UHV also provided an ultra-clean environment for point contact measurements. Two out of the four available tips were used for the EM measurements. The tips were pre-cooled by making electrical (and

Exfoliation in a low boiling point solvent and electrochemical applications of MoO₃

• Matangi Sricharan,
• Bikesh Gupta,
• Sreejesh Moolayadukkam and
• H. S. S. Ramakrishna Matte

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 662–670, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.52

• concentration was dripped onto the cleaned GCE using a micropipette and dried under ambient conditions. Nafion® was used as the binder. To study the effect of the conducting additive, different ratios of conductive carbon black (CB) were added and sonicated for 15 min to obtain homogeneous dispersions, which

Luminescent gold nanoclusters for bioimaging applications

• Nonappa

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 533–546, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.42

• single atom. Additionally, due to covalently bound ligands, the NCs show extraordinary stability under ambient conditions. While plasmonic AuNPs display size-dependent surface plasmon resonance (SPR), NCs display characteristic molecule-like electronic spectra. This is attributed to the small size and

• importantly, the Au-BSA NCs are stable under ambient conditions and retain their PL even after drying (Figure 1G,H) allowing for long-term storage [64]. Several other proteins including lysozyme, human serum albumin (HSA) and insulin have been used to prepare inherently luminescent AuNCs [65][66][67][68][69

Implementation of data-cube pump–probe KPFM on organic solar cells

• Benjamin Grévin,
• Olivier Bardagot and
• Renaud Demadrille

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 323–337, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.24

• rpm for 1 s (≈30 nm) and annealed at 120 °C for 10 min under ambient conditions. The substrate was then transferred into an argon-filled glovebox for spin-coating of an active layer of the PTB7:PC71BM solution (1:1.5 weight ratio, 25 mg∙mL−1 total concentration) in anhydrous chlorobenzene. The blend

The effect of heat treatment on the morphology and mobility of Au nanoparticles

• Sven Oras,
• Sergei Vlassov,
• Simon Vigonski,
• Boris Polyakov,
• Mikk Antsov,
• Vahur Zadin,
• Rünno Lõhmus and
• Karine Mougin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 61–67, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.6

• ]. The solution was stirred for 5 min and then stored at 4 °C until needed [10]. Annealing The silicon wafers (100, n/phosphorus-doped, 3–6 ohm·cm, Mat-Technology) were cleaned with ethanol and the NPs were deposited by drop-casting. The drops were dried at ambient conditions. Five samples of Au NPs on

Recent progress in perovskite solar cells: the perovskite layer

• Xianfeng Dai,
• Ke Xu and
• Fanan Wei

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 51–60, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.5

• dimension of 16 cm2 are produced by combining the advantages of SAS and the use of a metal grid. The mentioned studies pave the way towards highly efficient large-area PSCs. However, spray coating is not frequently used since it is usually performed under ambient conditions, which may perturb the sensitive

• ambient conditions. 2D Ruddlesden–Popper (2DRP) perovskite is the first widely used 2D perovskite material. Kanatzidis et al. [58] first incorporated butylammonium (BA) into the perovskite to promote its vertical crystal growth on the substrate. They obtained a stable device with a PCE of 4.02% by

• only 2.2% after 1,512 hours without encapsulation when exposed to ambient conditions with 55% relative humidity (RH). Very recently, Stoumpos et al. [60] reported a novel 2D perovskite that adopted the Dion–Jacobson (DJ) structure, which is considered to be more stable and more efficient than its RP

Evaluation of click chemistry microarrays for immunosensing of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP)

• Seyed Mohammad Mahdi Dadfar,
• Sylwia Sekula-Neuner,
• Vanessa Trouillet,
• Hui-Yu Liu,
• Ravi Kumar,
• Annie K. Powell and
• Michael Hirtz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2505–2515, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.241

• cantilevers (MikroMasch, USA). All measurements were done in air and under ambient conditions. As a measure of the roughness, the root-mean-square average of the height deviations with regard to the mean image data plane (Rq in the software) was sampled from 5 × 5 μm2 images (three per sample) using the AFM

Mobility of charge carriers in self-assembled monolayers

• Zhihua Fu,
• Tatjana Ladnorg,
• Hartmut Gliemann,
• Alexander Welle,
• Asif Bashir,
• Michael Rohwerder,
• Qiang Zhang,
• Björn Schüpbach,
• Andreas Terfort and
• Christof Wöll

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2449–2458, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.235

• methods and instrumentation All STM measurements were carried out under ambient conditions, using either a Joel JSPM 4210 microscope or an Agilent STM setup, which had been cross-calibrated by imaging HOPG with atomic resolution. The tips were prepared mechanically by cutting a 0.25 mm Pt0.8Ir0.2 wire

Polyvinylpyrrolidone as additive for perovskite solar cells with water and isopropanol as solvents

• Chen Du,
• Shuo Wang,
• Xu Miao,
• Wenhai Sun,
• Yu Zhu,
• Chengyan Wang and
• Ruixin Ma

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2374–2382, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.228

• vast majority of PSCs relies on the use of highly polar aprotic solvents during the preparation process, such as dimethylformamide (DMF), which is toxic and detrimental to both humans and the environment. Here, we describe the preparation of PSCs under ambient conditions from an aqueous solution of

• paper, we describe the preparation of perovskite solar cells from an aqueous solution of lead nitrate as precursor under ambient conditions. In order to improve the photoelectric performance of the PSCs, PVP was added to the precursor solution. A combination of SEM, EIS, PL, UV, and other

• whole process was carried out under ambient conditions. Thus, our preparation method involves less toxic substances and is more environmentally friendly. Compared with previous preparation methods using aqueous lead nitrate solution as a precursor, our method can improve the photovoltaic performance of

Microfluidics as tool to prepare size-tunable PLGA nanoparticles with high curcumin encapsulation for efficient mucus penetration

• Nashrawan Lababidi,
• Valentin Sigal,
• Aljoscha Koenneke,
• Konrad Schwarzkopf,
• Andreas Manz and
• Marc Schneider

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2280–2293, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.220

• different types of Pluronic (F68, F127, 9400, 6200, 3100,10500 and 6400) with different block lengths and thus different HLB values in a 1:1 volume ratio at ambient conditions for predefined time intervals. Afterwards, the nano-suspension was centrifuged at 5000g for 10 min to separate the NPs from mucin

Nontoxic pyrite iron sulfide nanocrystals as second electron acceptor in PTB7:PC₇₁BM-based organic photovoltaic cells

• Olivia Amargós-Reyes,
• José-Luis Maldonado,
• Omar Martínez-Alvarez,
• María-Elena Nicho,
• José Santos-Cruz,
• Juan Nicasio-Collazo,
• Irving Caballero-Quintana and
• Concepción Arenas-Arrocena

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2238–2250, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.216

• acquired with a JEOL JSM 7800F. STM [32][33] measurements were carried out under ambient conditions with the Nanosurf Easyscan 2 STM device. For the latter measurements, FeS2 was dissolved in chlorobenzene at a concentration of 0.2 mg/mL and deposited on a highly ordered pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) surface

• reference cell. Current density versus voltage (J–V) curves were measured using a Keithley 2450 source meter under ambient conditions. External quantum efficiency (EQE or IPCE) was measured in a home-built EQE set up [32]. A potentiostat/galvanostat PARTAT 2273 system was used for the IS measurements. The

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

• has been realized with single-neuron sensitivity and intact organism applicability with an NV quantum diamond microscope under ambient conditions. The method was applied for excised single neurons from marine worm and squid and then to marine worms for extended periods. The key element to making the

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

• chemical reactions or material exchange and movement. The adsorbed water layer that is present under ambient conditions plays an important role especially for highly soluble materials. Surface atoms can easily diffuse into the thin water layer and, when surface conditions are favorable, they can re-attach

• and recorded the evolution of these defects as a function of the time. We observed an exponential decay of the size of the defects and material accumulations, and from this data we determined energy barriers to dissolution and aggregation of approximately 0.9 eV. Keywords: ambient conditions; atomic

• force microscopy; material transport; relative humidity; Introduction Defining surface properties under ambient conditions is challenging as they are heavily influenced by the environment. In general, there are various contributing factors such as temperature, air pressure and air composition

Synthesis and potent cytotoxic activity of a novel diosgenin derivative and its phytosomes against lung cancer cells

• Liang Xu,
• Dekang Xu,
• Ziying Li,
• Yu Gao and
• Haijun Chen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1933–1942, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.189

• under ambient conditions with a silicon cantilever with L = 115 μm, W = 25 μm, and T = 605 nm. For TEM measurements, the DiP and P2P were diluted with ddH2O to a concentration of 10 μg/mL. 8.5 μL of the dispersion was dripped on the copper grid and dried in air overnight before imaging. Cell cultures

Long-term entrapment and temperature-controlled-release of SF₆ gas in metal–organic frameworks (MOFs)

• Hana Bunzen,
• Andreas Kalytta-Mewes,
• Leo van Wüllen and
• Dirk Volkmer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1851–1859, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.180

• these conditions for 10 min and then cooled to room temperature. The formed precipitate was isolated by centrifugation, washed well with DMF (3 × 5 mL) and dried in air at ambient conditions to give an off-white crystalline material (166 mg). Prior to the SF6-loading experiments, the material was kept