Femtosecond laser-assisted fabrication of chalcopyrite micro-concentrator photovoltaics

• Franziska Ringleb,
• Stefan Andree,
• Berit Heidmann,
• Jörn Bonse,
• Katharina Eylers,
• Owen Ernst,
• Torsten Boeck,
• Martina Schmid and
• Jörg Krüger

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 3025–3038, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.281

• ]. These benefits of micro-CVP have to be traded off against the cost of additional components (e.g., lens arrays) and new production technologies for the assembly of microabsorber arrays. Also for CIGSe, the concept of micro-concentrator solar cells has received increasing attention in recent years. On

• approach chosen here: The entire micro solar cell array is illuminated with enhanced light intensity, which leads to heating of the whole assembly including the non-active areas, in particular at higher light concentration levels. In a microconcentrator device, however, light will be focused on the

Electrostatic force microscopy for the accurate characterization of interphases in nanocomposites

• Diana El Khoury,
• Richard Arinero,
• Jean-Charles Laurentie,
• Mikhaël Bechelany,
• Michel Ramonda and
• Jérôme Castellon

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2999–3012, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.279

• dielectric constituents that represent a simplified configuration of the particle–interphase–matrix assembly found in nanodielectrics. Specifically, polystyrene (PS) nanoparticles of 380 nm diameter were prepared by self-assembly on metallized substrates. Then, two shells of variable thicknesses (50 and 100

• interphase, alumina is supposed to enhance the effective permittivity of the covered particles and, consequently, PVAc addition should decrease the signal (i.e., interfacial effect due to the presence of a layer above the particles with higher permittivity compared with the PS + PVAc assembly). As changes in

• the EFM signal increases in the presence of a thicker layer at the same tip–sample distance, this indicates that the added material possesses a dielectric permittivity higher than that of the initial particle + shell assembly. Although in our comparisons the added material was not at the surface but

Colloidal chemistry with patchy silica nanoparticles

• Pierre-Etienne Rouet,
• Cyril Chomette,
• Laurent Adumeau,
• Etienne Duguet and
• Serge Ravaine

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2989–2998, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.278

• chloride) [15]. Another way to get valence-endowed particles relies on shape recognition. Shape can indeed direct colloidal assembly as it was shown that linear supracolloidal polymers are obtained by self-assembly of cone-shaped particles in the presence of a depletant [16]. Similarly, microparticles with

• potential of the multipods before and after the chloromethylation/amination of the PS chains (Figure 2e). The comparison of the zeta potential curves shows that the modification stages of the PS residues induce a shift of the IEP to pH 5.3 attesting to the efficient grafting of amine groups. Assembly of

•  3b). Nevertheless, the determination of the assembly yield by statistical analysis of the transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images was not possible, because CMs with a low amount of satellites could be removed with the excess of satellites during this purification step, leading distorted

Ternary nanocomposites of reduced graphene oxide, polyaniline and hexaniobate: hierarchical architecture and high polaron formation

• Claudio H. B. Silva,
• Maria Iliut,
• Christopher Muryn,
• Christian Berger,
• Zachary Coldrick,
• Vera R. L. Constantino,
• Marcia L. A. Temperini and
• Aravind Vijayaraghavan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2936–2946, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.272

• electrocatalytic activity in the quantification of chemical species compared to the isolated components [5]. In earlier studies, some of us reported the preparation of binary nanocomposites of polyaniline (PANI) and hexaniobate (hexNb) nanoscrolls by layer-by-layer assembly and the characterisation by

• spectroscopic and cyclic voltammetry/spectroelectrochemical techniques [6]. The inorganic phase induces a secondary doping of the conductor polymer. In another work [7], Raman and EPR spectra also revealed that a PANI/hexNb nanocomposite prepared by the self-assembly approach exhibits a higher conversion of

In situ characterization of nanoscale contaminations adsorbed in air using atomic force microscopy

• Jesús S. Lacasa,
• Lisa Almonte and
• Jaime Colchero

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2925–2935, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.271

• contamination; tip cleaning; tip–sample interaction; van der Waals interaction; Introduction Surface science is fundamental to understand many processes in industrial applications, environmental science, biology, medicine and phenomena such as self-assembly [1], friction [2][3] and wetting [4]. In any study

The effect of flexible joint-like elements on the adhesive performance of nature-inspired bent mushroom-like fibers

• Elliot Geikowsky,
• Serdar Gorumlu and
• Burak Aksak

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2893–2905, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.268

• and pitch angles. Two precision linear stages (MFA-CC, Newport Corp.) are attached to the goniometer assembly and they are configured to displace in the plane Y–Z where Z represents the perpendicular to the surface movements and Y represents the parallel to the surface movements. Two 500-gr load cells

Site-controlled formation of single Si nanocrystals in a buried SiO₂ matrix using ion beam mixing

• Xiaomo Xu,
• Thomas Prüfer,
• Daniel Wolf,
• Hans-Jürgen Engelmann,
• Lothar Bischoff,
• René Hübner,
• Karl-Heinz Heinig,
• Wolfhard Möller,
• Stefan Facsko,
• Johannes von Borany and
• Gregor Hlawacek

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2883–2892, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.267

• -filtered transmission electron microscopy is performed to obtain quantitative values on the Si NC size and distribution in dependence of the layer stack geometry, ion fluence and thermal budget. Employing a focused Ne+ beam from a helium ion microscope, we demonstrate site-controlled self-assembly of

• temperature, the diameter of an individual Si NC, 2rNC, has to be smaller than 5.7 nm. The other factors are the unit charge e and ε0 and εr = 3.9 are the vacuum permittivity and the relative permittivity of silicon dioxide, respectively. Recently, advanced lithographic methods [21] and directed self-assembly

• comparable density and NC size, the fluence in the simulation needs to be significantly lower for all investigated cases. This systematic deviation and the underlying physics is subject of an ongoing investigation. In order to optimize the self-assembly of vertically self-aligned Si NCs with a narrow size

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

• structuring techniques are required. Among several candidates, molecular self-assembly and self-organization of structures represent the so-called bottom-up approach. Nanoindentation, thermal scanning probe lithography, local oxidation lithography, dip-pen lithography, extreme UV lithography or X-ray

Controlling surface morphology and sensitivity of granular and porous silver films for surface-enhanced Raman scattering, SERS

• Sherif Okeil and
• Jörg J. Schneider

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2813–2831, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.263

• obtain porous silver nanostructures [12]. Other routes include the use of gold or silver nanoparticles of different shapes in solution and their assembly on a solid substrate [6][13][14][15][16][17], nanosphere lithography [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25] as well as nanolithography and nanoimprinting [26

Accurate control of the covalent functionalization of single-walled carbon nanotubes for the electro-enzymatically controlled oxidation of biomolecules

• Naoual Allali,
• Veronika Urbanova,
• Mathieu Etienne,
• Xavier Devaux,
• Martine Mallet,
• Brigitte Vigolo,
• Jean-Joseph Adjizian,
• Chris P. Ewels,
• Sven Oberg,
• Alexander V. Soldatov,
• Edward McRae,
• Yves Fort,
• Manuel Dossot and
• Victor Mamane

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2750–2762, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.257

• ease of f-SWCNT dispersion and the resulting different 3D textures after their immobilization at the GCE surface. For example, it was found that the H2SO4 oxidation process produced a more porous SWCNT assembly, and long polyethylene glycol linker (n > 4) favored dispersion of the nanotubes in water

Silencing the second harmonic generation from plasmonic nanodimers: A comprehensive discussion

• Jérémy Butet,
• Gabriel D. Bernasconi and
• Olivier J. F. Martin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2674–2683, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.250

• small gaps can easily be achieved using capillary assembly with optimized templates, for example [7]. The linear optical properties of gold dimers with gaps of 5 nm, 20 nm, and 60 nm are considered first. The scattered intensity is shown as a function of the incident wavelength in Figure 1b. For

• building blocks of plasmonic nanoantennas made by capillary assembly, rectangular arms will be obtained with top-down fabrication techniques, such as nanolithography for example. The arm dimensions are similar to those of the cylindrical nanorods discussed previously; the arm length is 85 nm and its width

Enhanced antineoplastic/therapeutic efficacy using 5-fluorouracil-loaded calcium phosphate nanoparticles

• Shanid Mohiyuddin,
• Saba Naqvi and
• Gopinath Packirisamy

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2499–2515, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.233

• loading of 5-FU inside the aqueous core, as depicted in Figure 1A. During self-assembly, the aqueous soluble drug (5-FU) along with the CaP precursors formed spheroidal aggregates known as a reverse micellar assembly [22]. The size of the particles can be effectively controlled by altering the water

Nanocellulose: Recent advances and its prospects in environmental remediation

• Katrina Pui Yee Shak,
• Yean Ling Pang and
• Shee Keat Mah

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2479–2498, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.232

• due to its higher crystallinity (Figure 2b). This is because CNCs have an elongated rod-like shape made up of crystalline regions isolated from CNFs [24]. Its assembly occurs through a series of alterations, beginning with the excision of amorphous regions in CNFs to isolate the crystalline regions

Hydrothermal-derived carbon as a stabilizing matrix for improved cycling performance of silicon-based anodes for lithium-ion full cells

• Mirco Ruttert,
• Florian Holtstiege,
• Jessica Hüsker,
• Markus Börner,
• Martin Winter and
• Tobias Placke

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2381–2395, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.223

• . Cell assembly and electrochemical investigations Electrochemical investigations were carried out in a three electrode configuration using Swagelok-type T-cells that were assembled in a glove box (UNIlab, MBraun) with argon atmosphere and H2O and O2-values below 0.1 ppm. The composite electrodes

High-throughput micro-nanostructuring by microdroplet inkjet printing

• Hendrikje R. Neumann and
• Christine Selhuber-Unkel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2372–2380, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.222

• densities is highly important in many fields, ranging from nano-optics to biosensor technologies and biomaterials. A well-established method to fabricate quasi-hexagonal patterns of metal nanoparticles is block copolymer micelle nanolithography, which relies on the self-assembly of metal-loaded micelles on

• spacing between a few tens to several hundreds of nanometers is block copolymer micelle nanolithography (BCML) [8]. This technique is based on the self-assembly of metal-containing micelles on surfaces during dip-coating or spin-coating. BCML is very efficient in coating large areas with nanoparticles in

• assembly of the micelles gives rise to hexagonal micelle patterns. As the self-assembly does not lead to a perfect hexagonal ordering of the micelles, the patterns generated with BCML are often referred to as “quasi-hexagonal” patterns [9]. In our experiments, quasi-hexagonal patterns of gold nanoparticles

Magnetism and magnetoresistance of single Ni–Cu alloy nanowires

• Andreea Costas,
• Camelia Florica,
• Elena Matei,
• Maria Eugenia Toimil-Molares,
• Ionel Stavarache,
• Andrei Kuncser,
• Victor Kuncser and
• Ionut Enculescu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2345–2355, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.219

• magnetometers, but the overall magnetic behavior of the assembly cannot be straightforwardly connected to the magnetic behavior of the single nanowire. It depends not only on the size dispersion of the nanowires but also on their geometrical configuration and mutual magnetic interaction among the single

Block copolymers for designing nanostructured porous coatings

• Roberto Nisticò

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

• thin coatings, one simple route involves the use of self-assembled amphiphilic block copolymers either as the porogen (acting as sacrificial templating agents for the production of inorganic architectures) or as a source of the porogen (by self-assembly for the production of polymeric substrates

• -assembly; Review Introduction Porous materials have received much attention because they can be successfully applied in many fields, such as nanotechnology, membrane separation, microfluidics and nanofluidics, sensing, catalysis, and biomedicine [1][2][3][4][5]. The manufacture of well-ordered devices at

• using different synthetic routes to facilitate the incorporation of multiple chemical functionalities into the porous framework or at the pore surface [33]. The self-assembly of block copolymers is an exceptional strategy for inducing well-ordered and regular porosity in polymers [6][32]. Block

Lead-free hybrid perovskites for photovoltaics

• Oleksandr Stroyuk

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2209–2235, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.207

• CsSnX3 nanorods applied as light harvesters with TiO2/SpiroMeOTAD ETL/HTL combination revealed relatively high PCEs increasing from 9.66% for X = Cl to 10.46% for X = Br to 12.96% for X = I (Table 1), all three devices demonstrating a high Voc of 0.85–0.87 V [72]. A controlled self-assembly phenomenon

Dumbbell gold nanoparticle dimer antennas with advanced optical properties

• Janning F. Herrmann and
• Christiane Höppener

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2188–2197, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.205

• interaction of linker molecules, which may be used for a directed assembly of individual antenna parts. Besides of the general discussion on methodologies, the effect of the crystallinity of the employed noble metals has attracted attention [45]. The versatility of colloidal chemistry provides nowadays a tool

• box of nanoparticles made of different materials, shapes and sizes. In addition, the crystallinity of these structures leads to the formation of facets, edges and corners. Using colloidal nanoparticles, their chemical assembly demands for certain properties of the specific linker molecules [46]. In

• with other linker molecules, such as dithiols, CB[n]-mediated dimer assembly enables to reduce the interparticle gap sizes down to the sub-nanometer regime. As a consequence, nanoparticle aggregates induced by interactions with CB[n]s have been shown to provide strong interparticle hot-spots, and thus

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

• applications. This approach shows good potential for applications involving the self-assembly of anisotropic NPs to generate new functional devices [63]. There are two major methods for producing electrospun NP fibers [40]: (i) “indirect synthesis”, that requires some post-processing methods after

• 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

A scanning probe microscopy study of nanostructured TiO₂/poly(3-hexylthiophene) hybrid heterojunctions for photovoltaic applications

• Laurie Letertre,
• Roland Roche,
• Olivier Douhéret,
• Hailu G. Kassa,
• Denis Mariolle,
• Nicolas Chevalier,
• Łukasz Borowik,
• Philippe Dumas,
• Benjamin Grévin,
• Roberto Lazzaroni and
• Philippe Leclère

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2087–2096, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.197

• nominal thickness of the P3HT-COOH deposit (13 nm) is similar to the roughness of the columnar assembly. No correlation is observed between the columnar topography and the corresponding surface potential image (Figure 5b), which shows variations within [260; 500] mV. By comparison with the data of Figure

Self-assembled quasi-hexagonal arrays of gold nanoparticles with small gaps for surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy

• Emre Gürdal,
• Simon Dickreuter,
• Fatima Noureddine,
• Pascal Bieschke,
• Dieter P. Kern and
• Monika Fleischer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1977–1985, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.188

• lithography; optical antenna; self-assembly; SERS; Introduction Over the last decades self-assembled layers of gold nanoparticles have taken an important role in emerging nanotechnologies. Noble metal nanoparticles show localized surface plasmon polariton resonances (LSPRs) in the visible and infrared

• enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) [10]. Ordered arrays of such particles can be fabricated by different methods. Electron-beam lithography for example is a top-down method which provides good control, but is time consuming and costly. In contrast, the self-assembly of block-copolymers is a bottom-up

• glass slide was placed on top of the substrate after a drop of about 10 µL of water was applied. The assembly was then exposed for 4 min to deep UV light (254 nm, 85 W). After this step, the substrate was placed in an aqueous solution of enthanolamine (2 mM, Sigma-Aldrich) and potassium gold(III

Synthesis of a MnO₂/Fe₃O₄/diatomite nanocomposite as an efficient heterogeneous Fenton-like catalyst for methylene blue degradation

• Zishun Li,
• Xuekun Tang,
• Kun Liu,
• Jing Huang,
• Yueyang Xu,
• Qian Peng and
• Minlin Ao

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1940–1950, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.185

• assembly of composites and their application in wastewater treatments. Then, the as-prepared Fe3O4/diatomite shows a slightly rough surface and a part of the pores are blocked by the attachments, indicating the evenly loading of the tiny Fe3O4 nanoparticles. For the MnO2/Fe3O4/diatomite, a rather rough

Preparation of micro/nanopatterned gelatins crosslinked with genipin for biocompatible dental implants

• Reika Makita,
• Tsukasa Akasaka,
• Seiichi Tamagawa,
• Yasuhiro Yoshida,
• Saori Miyata,
• Hirofumi Miyaji and
• Tsutomu Sugaya

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1735–1754, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.165

• ) [30], coating on patterned substrates [31][32][33], self-assembly of collagen fibers [34], and crosslinking, using glutaraldehyde [35], formaldehyde [36], carbodiimide [37], genipin [38][39], riboflavin [40], transglutaminase [41], silane coupling agents [42], as well as thermal dehydration [43][44

Nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes coated with zinc oxide nanoparticles as sulfur encapsulator for high-performance lithium/sulfur batteries

• Yan Zhao,
• Zhengjun Liu,
• Liancheng Sun,
• Yongguang Zhang,
• Yuting Feng,
• Xin Wang,
• Indira Kurmanbayeva and
• Zhumabay Bakenov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1677–1685, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.159

• a separator. The electrolyte was 1 M lithium bistrifluoromethanesulfonamide (LiTFSI) in tetraethylene glycol dimethyl ether as a solvent. The CR2025 coin cells assembly was carried out in an argon-filled glovebox (Mikrouna, Shanghai). The charge/discharge cycling performances was investigated using