Electrical, electrochemical and structural studies of a chlorine-derived ionic liquid-based polymer gel electrolyte

• Ashish Gupta,
• Amrita Jain,
• Manju Kumari and
• Santosh K. Tripathi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 1252–1261, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.92

• , researchers have been developing polymer electrolytes (solid/gel) as an alternative to commercial liquid-based electrolytes which are suitable for electrochemical devices, such as Li-ion batteries, solar cells, fuel cells, and supercapacitors [1][2][3][4][5]. The main aim is to increase the amorphous content

• the range of 200–300 °C [8][9][10][11]. Basically, ILs are room-temperature molten salts made up of bulky asymmetric organic cations and organic/inorganic anions. They act as plasticizers which help increase the amorphous nature of the polymer gel electrolytes, thereby increasing the ionic conduction

• predominantly crystalline PVdF phase and an amorphous HFP phase, which provides necessary mechanical strength and good ion transport matrix. Magnesium-based electrochemical devices are emerging as an alternative to lithium-based devices [26][27][28][29][30]. Magnesium can be an alternative due to its

The effect of cobalt on morphology, structure, and ORR activity of electrospun carbon fibre mats in aqueous alkaline environments

• Markus Gehring,
• Tobias Kutsch,
• Osmane Camara,
• Alexandre Merlen,
• Hermann Tempel,
• Hans Kungl and
• Rüdiger-A. Eichel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 1173–1186, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.87

• oxidation likely results in amorphous species explains the absence of reflexes attributed to oxidised species, such as Co3O4, CoO, or Co(OH)2, in the XRD diffractograms. This behaviour also explains the plateau in the cobalt metal values found for samples carbonised above 800 °C. At these temperatures the

• between amorphous and graphitic carbon. It is more ordered than amorphous carbon, especially in the short range [33]. However, it lacks long-range order, more specifically a 3D stacking order [35]. The graphitisation effects induced by cobalt and elevated temperatures become more distinct with increasing

• respective signal intensities of the XPS C 1s range of the fibres is considered as shown in Figure 6. As expected for an increasing graphitisation, the amount of graphitic carbon (sp2) increases with carbonisation temperature, while the amount of sp3 carbon, expected in more amorphous or polymer-like samples

Irradiation-driven molecular dynamics simulation of the FEBID process for Pt(PF₃)₄

• Alexey Prosvetov,
• Alexey V. Verkhovtsev,
• Gennady Sushko and
• Andrey V. Solov’yov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 1151–1172, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.86

• ][8][9][10], which allow for simulations of the average characteristics of the process concerning local growth rates and the nanostructure composition. However, these approaches do not provide any molecular-level details regarding structure (crystalline, amorphous, or mixed) and the IDC involved. At

• , and amorphous carbon. A choice of the substrate affects the adsorption, desorption, and diffusion of precursor molecules on the surface as well as the yields of secondary and backscattered electrons. These quantities affect the fragmentation rate of the adsorbed precursor molecules and, hence, the

• amorphous substrates, for example, amorphous silica or amorphous carbon, which are commonly used in FEBID and surface science experiments. The structure of precursor molecules, their interaction with a substrate, and the dynamics of nanostructure formation and growth are influenced by interatomic

Assessment of the optical and electrical properties of light-emitting diodes containing carbon-based nanostructures and plasmonic nanoparticles: a review

• Keshav Nagpal,
• Erwan Rauwel,
• Frédérique Ducroquet and
• Protima Rauwel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 1078–1092, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.80

• performance, ETL should have a high reduction potential and appropriate HOMO and LUMO values relative to the p-type emitter and HTL [68]. Other factors affecting their performance include a high electron mobility, an amorphous morphology, a high glass transition temperature, and the ability to be deposited as

Revealing the formation mechanism and band gap tuning of Sb₂S₃ nanoparticles

• Maximilian Joschko,
• Franck Yvan Fotue Wafo,
• Christina Malsi,
• Danilo Kisić,
• Ivana Validžić and
• Christina Graf

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 1021–1033, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.76

• . Based on morphological and structural analyses, it is suggested that seed particles (type 0) formed immediately after injecting the antimony precursor into the sulfur precursor. These seeds fused to form amorphous nanoparticles (type I) that contained a lower percentage of sulfur than that corresponding

• to the expected stoichiometric ratio of Sb2S3. The reason for this possibly lies in the formation of an oxygen- or carbon-containing intermediate during the seeding process. Afterward, the type I nanoparticles aggregated into larger amorphous nanoparticles (type II) in a second hierarchical assembly

• process and formed superordinate structures (type III). This process was followed by the crystallization of these particles and a layer-like growth of the crystalline particles by an Ostwald ripening process at the expense of the amorphous particles. It was demonstrated that the kinetic control of the

Progress and innovation of nanostructured sulfur cathodes and metal-free anodes for room-temperature Na–S batteries

• Marina Tabuyo-Martínez,
• Bernd Wicklein and
• Pilar Aranda

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 995–1020, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.75

• even higher than that of metal Na [9]. However, also phosphorous anodes suffer from large volume expansion (up to 490%), but in addition also from low electrical conductivity [76]. The use of amorphous (red) phosphorous can lessen the expansion problem and extend cycle life. For instance, a red

• carbon black and other amorphous carbons. While Na+ does not insert in graphite in contrast to Li+, hard carbon can store considerable amounts of sodium in the range of 300 mAh·g−1 (Figure 10D) [82]. For their use in sodium batteries hard carbon materials can be pre-sodiated prior to the cell assembly

Is the Ne operation of the helium ion microscope suitable for electron backscatter diffraction sample preparation?

• Annalena Wolff

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 965–983, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.73

• steps are designed to reduce the thickness of the amorphous layer on each side of the TEM lamella and to minimize artefacts [24], procedures and induced artefacts for other techniques such as electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) polishing are not well documented in the literature. The work presented

Uniform arrays of gold nanoelectrodes with tuneable recess depth

• Elena O. Gordeeva,
• Ilya V. Roslyakov,
• Alexey P. Leontiev,
• Alexey A. Klimenko and
• Kirill S. Napolskii

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 957–964, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.72

• a long-term Au electrodeposition from acidic electrolyte with pH < 5 leads to the degradation of the AAO template, characterized by a low chemical stability in the as-prepared amorphous state [28][29]. Thus, the proposed design and strategy for the fabrication of the Au NEAs include the formation of

Self-assembly of Eucalyptus gunnii wax tubules and pure ß-diketone on HOPG and glass

• Miriam Anna Huth,
• Axel Huth and
• Kerstin Koch

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 939–949, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.70

• , amorphous substrates. The glasses were cleaned with chloroform before their use in recrystallization studies. Highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) was used as non-polar, crystalline substrates (SPI supplies, West Chester, USA). Freshly cleaned HOPG surfaces were prepared by stripping off a layer of

• extended periods of time. Here, wax and pure ß-diketone dissolved in chloroform were recrystallized on non-polar crystalline HOPG and on polar amorphous glass. Recrystallization on the artificial substrates showed an unequal distribution of the deposited wax and of ß-diketone. Therefore, it took several

9.1% efficient zinc oxide/silicon solar cells on a 50 μm thick Si absorber

• Rafal Pietruszka,
• Bartlomiej S. Witkowski,
• Monika Ozga,
• Katarzyna Gwozdz,
• Ewa Placzek-Popko and
• Marek Godlewski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 766–774, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.60

• University of Science and Technology, Wybrzeze Wyspianskiego 27, 50-370 Wroclaw, Poland 10.3762/bjnano.12.60 Abstract Today, silicon solar cells (amorphous films and wafer-based) are a main source of green energy. These cells and their components are produced by employing various technologies. Unfortunately

• prepared by the Fraunhofer Institute (Germany), the solar cells (SCs) market is dominated by silicon [2]. In 2019, monocrystalline, polycrystalline, and amorphous silicon accounted for about 95% of the PV market. The highest (laboratory device) efficiency for monocrystalline and polycrystalline silicon

A review of defect engineering, ion implantation, and nanofabrication using the helium ion microscope

• Frances I. Allen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 633–664, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.52

• flake from semiconducting to insulating at a dose of ca. 1 × 1015 ions/cm2 [25]. The dose-versus-resistivity plot from this work is shown in Figure 2a. Upon increasing the dose to ca. 1 × 1017 ions/cm2, the material became amorphous, and the conductivity behavior changed to metallic. This was attributed

• by localized helium ion irradiation. For example, using a helium ion dose of 5 × 1014 ions/cm2, permanent local tuning of the charge density in an amorphous thin film of the semiconductor indium gallium zinc oxide (film thickness 50 nm) has been demonstrated, thereby enabling activation of the

• devices (SQUIDs) was demonstrated, using the helium line irradiation method to direct-write metallic and insulating Josephson junctions into pre-fabricated YBCO circuits [38]. By increasing the helium ion dose further, to the order of 1017 ions/cm2, highly resistive (amorphous) regions can be patterned

Nanoporous and nonporous conjugated donor–acceptor polymer semiconductors for photocatalytic hydrogen production

• Zhao-Qi Sheng,
• Yu-Qin Xing,
• Yan Chen,
• Guang Zhang,
• Shi-Yong Liu and
• Long Chen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 607–623, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.50

• significantly enhanced the wettability and photocatalytic performance due to the plasma oxidizing the polymer. In addition, they [83] prepared a crystalline benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b']bis[1]benzothiophene sulfone-containing covalent organic framework (P67) (Figure 8), which exhibited a higher HER than its amorphous or

Stability and activity of platinum nanoparticles in the oxygen electroreduction reaction: is size or uniformity of primary importance?

• Kirill O. Paperzh,
• Anastasia A. Alekseenko,
• Vadim A. Volochaev,
• Ilya V. Pankov,
• Olga A. Safronenko and
• Vladimir E. Guterman

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 593–606, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.49

• min. A drop of the resulting suspension was applied to a standard copper mesh with a diameter of 3.05 mm, covered with a 5–6 nm thick layer of amorphous carbon. Next, the sample was dried in air at room temperature for 60 min. The histograms of platinum nanoparticle size distribution in the catalysts

Impact of GaAs(100) surface preparation on EQE of AZO/Al₂O₃/p-GaAs photovoltaic structures

• Piotr Caban,
• Rafał Pietruszka,
• Jarosław Kaszewski,
• Monika Ożga,
• Bartłomiej S. Witkowski,
• Krzysztof Kopalko,
• Piotr Kuźmiuk,
• Katarzyna Gwóźdź,
• Ewa Płaczek-Popko,
• Krystyna Lawniczak-Jablonska and
• Marek Godlewski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 578–592, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.48

• presence of an amorphous film of native oxides gives rise to midgap surface states in GaAs [8] which results in Fermi-level pinning [9]. Due to a high surface-related recombination velocity, a decrease in the photoluminescence (PL) of the semiconductor is also observed [7]. These phenomena have strong and

Structural and optical characteristics determined by the sputtering deposition conditions of oxide thin films

• Petronela Prepelita,
• Florin Garoi and
• Valentin Craciun

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 354–365, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.29

• was done to determine the type of structure (e.g., polycrystalline or amorphous) and orientation of the thin films. Figure 1 shows typical XRD patterns of ZnO thin films with increasing thickness and prepared via rfMS. Following the effect of the deposition parameters of the oxide films we found that

• thermal treatment, which induces an internal stress in the ZnO thin films. To the same extent, with the depositions made at room temperature on all SiO2 thin films, their structure proved to be essentially amorphous [28][37] with no sharp XRD reflection lines and featuring a matte surface. Based on XPS

• obtained from a source target. In the case of SiO2 thin films, it was confirmed by X-ray diffraction measurements that all structures were amorphous. Following X-ray diffraction analyses, it was proved that ZnO films show an orientation with the c-axis perpendicular to the substrate surface. The results

Scanning transmission helium ion microscopy on carbon nanomembranes

• Daniel Emmrich,
• Annalena Wolff,
• Nikolaus Meyerbröker,
• Jörg K. N. Lindner,
• André Beyer and
• Armin Gölzhäuser

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 222–231, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.18

• contribution that is overlaying the STIM signal in later experiments, a CNM with a thickness of about 2 nm was imaged (Figure 2). This amorphous and insulating membrane is placed on a conductive Quantifoil TEM support grid. The sample was first imaged in a configuration that excludes all transmitted ions from

• measurement of this spot is compared to a non-exposed part of the membrane. The non-exposed membrane shows barely visible D and G bands on a strong photoluminescence background as it is reported for amorphous hydrogenated carbon films [32]. After exposure to TEM, the photoluminescence drops and the D and G

• bands become more pronounced, similar to a film of high-temperature annealed nanographite [33]. It was previously demonstrated in TEM that, at an energy of 80 keV, a graphitization of free-standing amorphous carbon can be induced [34]. It is also known that CNMs can turn from the amorphous state into

A review on the green and sustainable synthesis of silver nanoparticles and one-dimensional silver nanostructures

• Sina Kaabipour and
• Shohreh Hemmati

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 102–136, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.9

• amorphous calcium phosphate particles for enhanced adhesive applications [124]. The spray pyrolysis process requires using an atomizer, a tube furnace, a reaction tube, a collection filter, and a vacuum pump [124]. This method is also often used for production of metal powders and demonstrates less

The role of gold atom concentration in the formation of Cu–Au nanoparticles from the gas phase

• Yuri Ya. Gafner,
• Svetlana L. Gafner,
• Darya A. Ryzkova and
• Andrey V. Nomoev

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 72–81, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.6

• amorphous carbon or magnesium oxide substrates by the laser evaporation of a bulk alloy with various stoichiometric compositions (Cu–Au, Cu3Au, and Au3Cu). An analysis of individual clusters carried out by using electron diffraction and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) showed that Cu

• –Au clusters are formed with chemical compositions corresponding to the composition of the evaporated material [14]. In the case of cluster deposition onto amorphous carbon, various cluster morphologies were observed, such as cuboctahedral and decahedral. For clusters supported on a MgO substrate

• copper (aCu = 3.610 Å) is an evidence that the nanoparticles deposited onto the amorphous carbon substrate were a Cu–Au nanoalloy [3]. Next, we analyzed the structure of the Cu3Au nanoparticles [3] in order to determine the possible temperature of the nanoparticles at the moment of their collision with

Effect of different silica coatings on the toxicity of upconversion nanoparticles on RAW 264.7 macrophage cells

• Cynthia Kembuan,
• Helena Oliveira and
• Christina Graf

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 35–48, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.3

• protect UCNPs surfaces from dissolution. In contrast to a more complex polymeric coating, silica surfaces can be easily functionalized with a wide range of coupling agents and biomolecules, and the interior of the silica shell can be modified by integrating dye molecules, for example. However, amorphous

• that even a thin silica coating shell of <2 nm or of 5 nm can already reduce the luminescence quenching of UCNPs in an aqueous dispersion [19]. Besides, several studies revealed that silica-coated UCNPs have a low toxicity in vitro and in vivo compared with other nanoparticles [7][11][39]. Amorphous

• lanthanide core. It has to be considered that amorphous silica obtained from a Stöber-like growth process is an inherently porous material with a pore size of 1–4 nm [35][36]. Thus, it contains pores that are larger than water molecules, as well as lanthanide and other ions (e.g., Na+ and F−) that are

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

• -deposited ALD Al2O3 films are typically amorphous with a poor resistance to chemical attack [11][12][13]. These films do not withstand, for example, exposition to environmental media, such as 5% NaCl and sea water, to diluted HCl and H2SO4 (pH 4) [11], to acidic (1 M H2SO4) or alkaline (1 M NaOH) solutions

• amorphous to polycrystalline γ-Al2O3 [12] or to oriented θ-Al2O3 [13]. However, on thermodynamic grounds, alumina is soluble in both acidic and alkaline media [8]. Besides protection, Al2O3 ALD layers have also been used for passivating surface states on water-oxidizing hematite photoanodes [14][15]. Very

Bio-imaging with the helium-ion microscope: A review

• Matthias Schmidt,
• James M. Byrne and
• Ilari J. Maasilta

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 1–23, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.1

Scanning transmission imaging in the helium ion microscope using a microchannel plate with a delay line detector

• Eduardo Serralta,
• Nico Klingner,
• Olivier De Castro,
• Michael Mousley,
• Santhana Eswara,
• Serge Duarte Pinto,
• Tom Wirtz and
• Gregor Hlawacek

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1854–1864, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.167

• high-angle scattering events, or moving it down to increase the angular resolution and distance for time-of-flight measurements. With this new system, we show composition-dependent contrast for amorphous materials and the contrast difference between small-angle and high-angle scattering signals. We

• using the beam deflected in a polar and azimuthal angular sector. For amorphous materials under perpendicular incidence, the transmitted beam is expected to be scattered symmetrically around the axis of incidence. The average polar angle of scattering depends on both the material and the thickness of

• transmission imaging mode and further tuning of acceptance angles can be done in post-processing. Additionally, ToF-resolved recording of the transmission events can be integrated into this system. Here, we use this system to study the mass-thickness-dependent contrast in amorphous materials and demonstrate

Unravelling the interfacial interaction in mesoporous SiO₂@nickel phyllosilicate/TiO₂ core–shell nanostructures for photocatalytic activity

• Bridget K. Mutuma,
• Xiluva Mathebula,
• Isaac Nongwe,
• Bonakele P. Mtolo,
• Boitumelo J. Matsoso,
• Rudolph Erasmus,
• Zikhona Tetana and
• Neil J. Coville

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1834–1846, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.165

• to the presence of amorphous silica. In the mSiO2@NiPS sample, this peak could be correlated to an overlap of silica with the (002) plane of nickel phyllosilicate [35]. Additional peaks at 2θ = 34°, 36°, and 60° in the mSiO2@NiPS sample were assigned to (200), (202), and (060) diffractions of the 1:1

Nanocasting synthesis of BiFeO₃ nanoparticles with enhanced visible-light photocatalytic activity

• Thomas Cadenbach,
• Maria J. Benitez,
• A. Lucia Morales,
• Cesar Costa Vera,
• Luis Lascano,
• Francisco Quiroz,
• Alexis Debut and
• Karla Vizuete

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1822–1833, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.164

• diameter corresponding to the pore size of the porous matrix and, consequently, by a high specific surface area. Silica matrices, such as Santa Barbara Amorphous silica (SBA-15) or Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology silica (KIT-6), have been used successfully as hard templates to

• acid (TA) as complexing reagents and HNO3-acidified water as solvent, we found only amorphous products, as observed in the X-ray diffractograms in Figure 1. This result can be attributed to the incorporation of Lewis-acidic metals, such as bismuth, into the amorphous silica framework during the

• reaction, which leads to overall amorphous products [44][45][46][47]. The impact on the phase formation of BiFeO3 of using different alcohols, that is, 2-methoxyethanol and ethanol as solvents and tartaric acid as a complexing reagent in the synthesis is shown in Figure 2. Ethanol is commonly used in

Molecular dynamics modeling of the influence forming process parameters on the structure and morphology of a superconducting spin valve

• Alexander Vakhrushev,
• Aleksey Fedotov,
• Vladimir Boian,
• Roman Morari and
• Anatolie Sidorenko

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1776–1788, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.160

• reach 12, which corresponds to the ideal crystalline state of a hexagonal close-packed lattice, indicating an amorphous-like structure of cobalt nanofilms. Variations in the coordination number within the intermediate niobium layer are more significant. When approaching the contact regions with cobalt

• the coordination number distribution in the material showed that the layers have a different structure when multilayer nanofilms are formed under normal conditions. The niobium substrate structure is close to crystalline; cobalt nanofilms are characterized by an amorphous-like structure. In the