Ta₂N₃ nanocrystals grown in Al₂O₃ thin layers

• Krešimir Salamon,
• Maja Buljan,
• Iva Šarić,
• Mladen Petravić and
• Sigrid Bernstorff

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2162–2170, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.215

• -of-plane dimension of the NPs, Dz, is comparable to the thickness of the metallic layer dmetal. In other words, each metallic layer comprises only a 2D array of NPs. In the ML12m8 sample, on the other hand, the ratio dmetal/Dz is about four, and therefore short-range ordering is still possible in all

Ester formation at the liquid–solid interface

• Nguyen T. N. Ha,
• Thiruvancheril G. Gopakumar,
• Nguyen D. C. Yen,
• Carola Mende,
• Lars Smykalla,
• Maik Schlesinger,
• Roy Buschbeck,
• Tobias Rüffer,
• Heinrich Lang,
• Michael Mehring and
• Michael Hietschold

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2139–2150, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.213

• /bjnano.8.213 Abstract A chemical reaction (esterification) within a molecular monolayer at the liquid–solid interface without any catalyst was studied using ambient scanning tunneling microscopy. The monolayer consisted of a regular array of two species, an organic acid (trimesic acid) and an alcohol

Bi-layer sandwich film for antibacterial catheters

• Gerhard Franz,
• Florian Schamberger,
• Hamideh Heidari Zare,
• Sara Felicitas Bröskamp and
• Dieter Jocham

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1982–2001, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.199

• 1.5 mm, the substrate can be regarded plain (). The reflected light is diffracted by a diffraction grating and recorded by a photodiode array. By relating the recorded spectrum of the coated substrate to a previously recorded spectrum of the pure substrate, a background-corrected signal is accessible

Carbon nano-onions as fluorescent on/off modulated nanoprobes for diagnostics

• Stefania Lettieri,
• Marta d’Amora,
• Adalberto Camisasca,
• Alberto Diaspro and
• Silvia Giordani

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1878–1888, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.188

• HR 800 UV LabRam Raman microscope. For the Raman measurements, the samples were deposited directly on a silicon wafer and excited with a built-in 632 nm laser. Absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy Absorption spectra were recorded on an Agilent Cary 8454 UV–vis diode array spectrophotometer

Application of visible-light photosensitization to form alkyl-radical-derived thin films on gold

• Rashanique D. Quarels,
• Xianglin Zhai,
• Neepa Kuruppu,
• Jenny K. Hedlund,
• Ashley A. Ellsworth,
• Amy V. Walker,
• Jayne C. Garno and
• Justin R. Ragains

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1863–1877, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.187

• triangular facets result from the orientation of Au(111) on mica [54]. The surface coverage of the Au–Me thin film measured 79% for an array of nanopores with 500 nm periodicity. A hexagonal arrangement of seven nanopores within the film is shown in closer detail in Figure 1b. The edges of the nanopores are

Synthesis and functionalization of NaGdF₄:Yb,Er@NaGdF₄ core–shell nanoparticles for possible application as multimodal contrast agents

• Dovile Baziulyte-Paulaviciene,
• Vitalijus Karabanovas,
• Marius Stasys,
• Greta Jarockyte,
• Vilius Poderys,
• Simas Sakirzanovas and
• Ricardas Rotomskis

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1815–1824, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.183

• MR imaging and T1-weighted contrast enhancement. A series of aqueous solutions of UCNPs were placed in an array of 2.0 mL Eppendorf tubes with the order of UCNP concentrations and deionized water (0 mg/mL) was used as the reference. The parameters for T1-weighted MR imaging sequence was set as

Non-intuitive clustering of 9,10-phenanthrenequinone on Au(111)

• Ryan D. Brown,
• Rebecca C. Quardokus,
• Natalie A. Wasio,
• Jacob P. Petersen,
• Angela M. Silski,
• Steven A. Corcelli and
• S. Alex Kandel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1801–1807, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.181

• –sample bias of −0.5 V, and a 5 pA setpoint. This image is a large array of 9,10-phenanthrenequinone rows, with the Au(111) herringbone visible underneath. The inset is the 2D Fourier transform of the image, and the red overlay shows the periodicity obtained from the 2D FFT. a) A 250 Å × 212 Å STM

(Metallo)porphyrins for potential materials science applications

• Lars Smykalla,
• Carola Mende,
• Michael Fronk,
• Pablo F. Siles,
• Michael Hietschold,
• Georgeta Salvan,
• Dietrich R. T. Zahn,
• Oliver G. Schmidt,
• Tobias Rüffer and
• Heinrich Lang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1786–1800, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.180

• using voltages between 1.5 and 2 V while higher voltages also switch neighboring molecules. In addition, states 1 and 2 are part of a large and highly ordered self-assembled array and it is possible to read-out the conductance at a specified position, and thus state 1 or 2, in a non-manipulative manner

Nanotribological behavior of deep cryogenically treated martensitic stainless steel

• Germán Prieto,
• Konstantinos D. Bakoglidis,
• Walter R. Tuckart and
• Esteban Broitman

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1760–1768, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.177

• radius of ca. 100 nm. Penetration depths of 50, 100, and 200 nm were set. A 3 × 4 array of indentations was performed in the specimens at each penetration depth, spaced at 20 μm from each other. The significance of the obtained results was determined by analysis of variance (ANOVA), using the statistical

Surface functionalization of 3D-printed plastics via initiated chemical vapor deposition

• Christine Cheng and
• Malancha Gupta

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1629–1636, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.162

• used to deposit functional polymer coatings [21][22]. In the iCVD process, monomer and tert-butyl peroxide (TBPO) initiator are introduced in the vapor phase to a reactor chamber under vacuum, whereupon the initiator is thermally cleaved by a heated filament array. Monomer and initiator radicals adsorb

• (Figure 2a). Variations in contact angle measurements at the top and bottom of the pieces and among different pieces can be attributed to slight variations in geometry during the printing process. During deposition, the top side was closer to the heated filament array and the bottom side was placed on a

• expect different temperatures at the top and bottom of the 3D-printed objects due to the heat from the filament array. To systematically study this effect, we studied depositions at stage temperatures of 15 °C, 35 °C and 45 °C (Table 1). For these stage temperatures, the temperature at the bottom of a

Fixation mechanisms of nanoparticles on substrates by electron beam irradiation

• Daichi Morioka,
• Tomohiro Nose,
• Taiki Chikuta,
• Kazutaka Mitsuishi and
• Masayuki Shimojo

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1523–1529, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.153

• -1 Sengen, Tsukuba, 305-0047, Japan 10.3762/bjnano.8.153 Abstract For applications such as the fabrication of plasmonic waveguides we developed a patterning technique to fabricate an array of nanoparticles on a substrate using focused electron beams (Noriki, T.; Abe, S.;.Kajikawa, K.; Shimojo, M

• -scattering leads to an increase in line width and thus reduces the resolution of this patterning technique. Keywords: accelerating voltage; electron beam; gold; Monte Carlo simulation; nanoparticle array; Introduction Techniques to fabricate assemblies or arrays of nanostructures on a desired area have

Calcium fluoride based multifunctional nanoparticles for multimodal imaging

• Marion Straßer,
• Joachim H. X. Schrauth,
• Sofia Dembski,
• Daniel Haddad,
• Bernd Ahrens,
• Stefan Schweizer,
• Bastian Christ,
• Alevtina Cubukova,
• Marco Metzger,
• Heike Walles,
• Peter M. Jakob and
• Gerhard Sextl

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1484–1493, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.148

• . The MRI examinations took place within the following hour. All measurements were performed at a 1.5 T system (Magnetom Avanto, Siemens) in combination with a 4 + 4 channel multifunctional coil array (NORAS MRI products). The relaxation time constant T1 was obtained through a segmented 2D

A review of demodulation techniques for amplitude-modulation atomic force microscopy

• Michael G. Ruppert,
• David M. Harcombe,
• Michael R. P. Ragazzon,
• S. O. Reza Moheimani and
• Andrew J. Fleming

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1407–1426, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.142

• constant-height mode. Keywords: amplitude estimation; atomic force microscopy; amplitude modulation; digital signal processing; field-programmable gate array; Introduction Amplitude modulation is one of the oldest forms of modulation in analog communication systems, mostly due to its simplicity of

Micro- and nano-surface structures based on vapor-deposited polymers

• Hsien-Yeh Chen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1366–1374, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.138

• technologies for vapor-based coatings largely depend on adaptation from these lithographical approaches (Figure 1). A DNA array was fabricated in a photolithographical liftoff process on a vapor-deposited (chemical vapor deposition, CVD) poly-p-xylylene surface, and the resulting array surface showed excellent

• uniformity with reduced array-to-array variation [19]. Vapor-phased plasma polymerization to prepare polyacrylic acid has also used to pattern and functionalize microfluidic devices based on wet and dry etching techniques [20]. Combining plasma polymerization and lithographical processes has also been used

• -/microstructures [35]. Similarly, direct writing using a scanning probe microscopy-based nanolithographic technique (dip-pen nanolithography, DPN) was used to deliver chemical substances with submicrometer features on a wide range of poly(p-xylylene) deposited substrates [36]. An array of micro-sized plasma was

Charge transport in organic nanocrystal diodes based on rolled-up robust nanomembrane contacts

• Vineeth Kumar Bandari,
• Lakshmi Varadharajan,
• Longqian Xu,
• Abdur Rehman Jalil,
• Mirunalini Devarajulu,
• Pablo F. Siles,
• Feng Zhu and
• Oliver G. Schmidt

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1277–1282, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.129

• ], indirect evaporation [22][23], ‘ready-made’ approaches [24][25], and robust mechanical contacts [26][27][28][29], the rolled-up nanotechnology provides the precise positioned electrodes and high fabrication yield of array devices, and does not require the chemical modification of functional organic layers

A top-down approach for fabricating three-dimensional closed hollow nanostructures with permeable thin metal walls

• Carlos Angulo Barrios and
• Víctor Canalejas-Tejero

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1231–1237, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.124

• fabrication sequence of an array of closed nanocages (hollow nanopillars) made of thin-walled Al. First, an array of SU-8 negative resist nanopillars are created by electron-beam lithography (EBL) on an Al-coated Si substrate (Figure 1a). The SU-8 nanopillars exhibit a smooth surface with rounded top edges

• and near-vertical or slightly positive leaning sidewalls. The latter is a consequence of proximity effects and the negative character of the resist. Then, a thin film of Al (thickness on the horizontal surface of 40 nm) is deposited by evaporation on the SU-8 nanopillar array (Figure 1b). The

• film sidewall coating and suggesting that the SU-8 material has been effectively removed. The hollowing-out process was corroborated by gently breaking some of the metal nanocages with a scalpel. Figure 2 shows an SEM image of an array of Al nanocages after the intentional breaking. No evidence of the

Metal oxide nanostructures: preparation, characterization and functional applications as chemical sensors

• Dario Zappa,
• Angela Bertuna,
• Elisabetta Comini,
• Navpreet Kaur,
• Nicola Poli,
• Veronica Sberveglieri and
• Giorgio Sberveglieri

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1205–1217, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.122

• stability of the final devices. In order to prepare an array of sensors, different metal oxides have been studied, both conventional and new ones. We have investigated different preparation techniques and materials and we have compared their sensing properties towards two well-known and studied species (an

• metal oxides exhibit cross-sensitivity to other chemical species too. This lack of selectivity toward specific chemical species is one of the major drawbacks of the conductometric use of metal oxides. However, an array of devices based on different materials, each with its own sensing properties (a so

• compounds (SIAD, Italy) were injected inside the chamber for 30 min, followed by 1 h of recovery using synthetic air. The relative humidity was kept constant at 50%. Small sensor system The device we used in this work is a “Small Sensor System” (S3). The sensor array is located in a thermally controlled

Assembly of metallic nanoparticle arrays on glass via nanoimprinting and thin-film dewetting

• Sun-Kyu Lee,
• Sori Hwang,
• Yoon-Kee Kim and
• Yong-Jun Oh

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1049–1055, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.106

• with the periodic array of inverted pyramidal pits and annealed in a furnace at ≈300–500 °C to assemble nanoparticle arrays via solid-state dewetting of the deposited films. The base pressure and RF power of the sputtering system were 3 × 10−6 Torr and 100 W, respectively. Fourier transform infrared

• sol–gel silica at 550 °C and then dewetted at high temperatures (≈300–500 °C) to form nanoparticles. Figure 5 shows the visual appearance of a transparent glass substrate with a Ag nanoparticle array at low magnification. The metal nanoparticles formed in a square region of approximately 20 × 20 mm2

• Ag film was dewetted at 300 °C. In Figure 6c,d, one can see that an ordered array of small particles formed in the pits, while large agglomerates formed on the mesa during the dewetting of the 10 nm thick Ag film. Well-ordered arrays of Ag particles appeared when ≈12–15 nm films were annealed at ≈400

CVD transfer-free graphene for sensing applications

• Chiara Schiattarella,
• Sten Vollebregt,
• Tiziana Polichetti,
• Brigida Alfano,
• Ettore Massera,
• Maria Lucia Miglietta,
• Girolamo Di Francia and
• Pasqualina Maria Sarro

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1015–1022, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.102

• electrochemical exfoliation can be employed. Each provides a sensing layer with a pronounced specificity towards a particular analyte [3][4][5][6]. However, the issue of selectivity is far away from being solved. A possible solution could be represented by resorting to the design of an array of sensors that can

• . In a CMOS-compatible process, all these devices could be directly fabricated on the same chip at micrometre-size. It is finally worth mentioning that, once proven the reliability of this process, it paves the way for the creation of a sensor array, able to provide selective responses towards the

• analytes. In addition, the possibility of miniaturizing such an array goes in the direction of creating a portable electronic nose. Conclusion We have shown the potential of a transfer-free deposition technique for the fabrication of graphene-based gas sensors by a process that is fully compatible with

Nanoantenna-assisted plasmonic enhancement of IR absorption of vibrational modes of organic molecules

• Alexander G. Milekhin,
• Olga Cherkasova,
• Sergei A. Kuznetsov,
• Ilya A. Milekhin,
• Ekatherina E. Rodyakina,
• Alexander V. Latyshev,
• Sreetama Banerjee,
• Georgeta Salvan and
• Dietrich R. T. Zahn

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 975–981, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.99

• enhancement up to 1014 can be achieved. Although SEIRA is a relatively new tool for detection of organic and biological substances, it is found to be very effective for probing extremely low concentrations. Adato et al. demonstrated detection of 3 × 10−19 moles of silk protein for the entire nanoantenna array

• ) employed for the IR investigation are shown in Figure 1. The period of the array is 5 µm and the distance between nanoantenna edges is about 100 nm. For the quantitative estimation of the nanoantenna-assisted plasmonic enhancement of the fabricated arrays, ultrathin CoPc films (with a thickness up to 3 nm

• CoPc on nanoantenna arrays allows the homogeneity of the CoPc coverage on a nanoantenna array to be investigated using Raman mapping. The intensity of the C=N stretching mode at 1543 cm−1 was monitored. The Raman map obtained for a Au nanoantenna array with a 3 nm thick CoPc film shown in Figure 2b,c

Near-field surface plasmon field enhancement induced by rippled surfaces

• Mario D’Acunto,
• Francesco Fuso,
• Ruggero Micheletto,
• Makoto Naruse,
• Francesco Tantussi and
• Maria Allegrini

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 956–967, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.97

• –metal (MIM) cavities characterized by the cavity Q-factor and the effective mode volume Veff, so that a large Q/Veff ratio results in enhanced light–matter interaction, as typically quantified by the LDOS. Let us consider a one-dimensional array of coupled QNMs, where the QNMs are exponentially

• realization of a rippled surface for (A) a wavelength of λ = 480 nm, with a maximum Γ ≈ 105, and (B) λ = 785 nm, with a maximum Γ ≈ 1011. (A) The profile is extracted from the Figure 1A and represents a type of an aligned array of nanogaps. (B) The effect of polarization where the dashed curve (green

Bio-inspired micro-to-nanoporous polymers with tunable stiffness

• Julia Syurik,
• Ruth Schwaiger,
• Prerna Sudera,
• Stephan Weyand,
• Siegbert Johnsen,
• Gabriele Wiegand and
• Hendrik Hölscher

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 906–914, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.92

• overall damping capability of the material. All tests were conducted at room temperature (25.5 °C) under ambient conditions. The measurements were performed at 20 different positions arranged in an array of 5 by 4 (see below in Figure 2b). Results and Discussion Porous PMMA films were produced via a

• to the centre of the film, indicating that CO2 has reached this area in smaller concentration during the saturation stage. The indentation pattern consists of an array of five columns and four rows which are easily recognizable in Figure 2b. The pore size and density are comparable over one column

• of the cross section with a gradient of pores before and after indentation. (a) The original surface before indentation. (b) The same sample position after indentation. The complex modulus was measured at 20 locations organised in a 5 × 4 array. The residual imprints of the flat punch are clearly

Synthesis of coaxial nanotubes of polyaniline and poly(hydroxyethyl methacrylate) by oxidative/initiated chemical vapor deposition

• Alper Balkan,
• Efe Armagan and
• Gozde Ozaydin Ince

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 872–882, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.89

• , SUPRA VP 35). For the electrical characterization of the PANI thin films and PANI/pHEMA nanotubes, an array of chrome (3 nm) and gold (150 nm) electrodes with a diameter of 200 µm and a spacing of 200 µm were deposited on the nanotubes and thin films using an e-beam evaporator (Torr). Prior to the e

Relationships between chemical structure, mechanical properties and materials processing in nanopatterned organosilicate fins

• Gheorghe Stan,
• Richard S. Gates,
• Qichi Hu,
• Kevin Kjoller,
• Craig Prater,
• Kanwal Jit Singh,
• Ebony Mays and
• Sean W. King

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 863–871, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.88

• images of the fin structures examined in this study. The schematic in Figure 1a specifically illustrates that an array of approximately 100 nm tall fins with widths of 20, 90, and 500 nm were fabricated in the organosilicate. As shown in the AFM image presented in Figure 1b, the length of the 20 nm wide

Measuring adhesion on rough surfaces using atomic force microscopy with a liquid probe

• Juan V. Escobar,
• Cristina Garza and
• Rolando Castillo

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 813–825, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.84

• between a liquid drop and rough surfaces using a conventional atomic force microscope. In this method, a micrometric liquid mercury drop is attached to an AFM tipless cantilever to measure the force required to pull this drop off a rough surface. We test the method with two surfaces: a square array of

• . Also, the drop does not break during a pull-off process, and its solvophobic behavior with specific surfaces is known [26]. As rough surfaces, we use a patterned surface composed of a regular array of sharp (nanometer-sized) silicon peaks, and a Hg-phobic multi-scaled diamond surface with heterogeneous

• as a discussion of the measured force of adhesion between three pairs of contacting bodies: a) An array of sharp silicon peaks and a mercury drop probe. For comparison, we also present results of force measurements between b) the aforementioned surface composed of sharp silicon peaks and a solid