Characterisation of a micrometer-scale active plasmonic element by means of complementary computational and experimental methods

• Ciarán Barron,
• Giulia Di Fazio,
• Samuel Kenny,
• Silas O’Toole,
• Robin O’Reilly and
• Dominic Zerulla

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 110–122, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.12

• on a sapphire substrate via physical vapour deposition (PVD). After this, two separate AFMs are used to machine channels in the silver film to create the desired constriction, which in this case measures 10 μm. The tip of the AFM is held at a set loading force in contact with the thin metal film and

• setup used to perform such measurements. An Adama NM-RC probe (spring constant: 290.3 N/m, nominal resonance frequency: 814 kHz) has been used in contact mode to scan the topography of an electrically modulated sample with a loading force of 1.9 μN. This particular probe is intended for use in

• diamond with a tip radius of 10 ± 5 nm. The deflection sensitivity of the probe was measured to be 81.09 nm/V. To perform an SJEM measurement, a sinusoidal voltage is applied to the metallic element. The surface of the element is then scanned with an AFM in contact mode. Contact mode was selected in this

Antimicrobial and mechanical properties of functionalized textile by nanoarchitectured photoinduced Ag@polymer coating

• Jessica Plé,
• Marine Dabert,
• Helene Lecoq,
• Sophie Hellé,
• Lydie Ploux and
• Lavinia Balan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 95–109, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.11

• Attenuance measurements (OD600, i.e., OD at 600 nm), performed on microbial suspensions in contact with the functionalized textiles after 1, 3, 6, and 24 h of immersion, are plotted in Figure 10. For both E. coli and C. albicans microorganisms, control cultures (without any textile or with silver-free

• fungicidal effect. This is similar to the efficacy of acetic acid and can be classified as slightly fungicidal [53][54]. The inhibition rate of microorganism growth was determined from the OD600nm measurements, for suspensions in contact with 3 wt % and 5 wt % AgNO3-loaded samples. The results are presented

• , which may limit the interactions with silver in comparison to Gram-positive bacteria, that exhibit a peptidoglycan layer directly in contact with the surrounding medium. Similar to Gram-positive bacteria, C. albicans exhibits an external cell wall, in direct contact with the surrounding medium, which

Frontiers of nanoelectronics: intrinsic Josephson effect and prospects of superconducting spintronics

• Anatolie S. Sidorenko,
• Horst Hahn and
• Vladimir Krasnov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 79–82, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.9

• -electron bolometers, with photon NEP of 1.1 × 10−16 W/Hz(1/2), achieved by replacing one of two single superconductor–insulator–normal (SIN) tunnel junctions with a single superconductor–normal (SN) contact [21]. Proposing a new type of cold electron bolometers with traps and hybrid superconducting

Liquid phase exfoliation of talc: effect of the medium on flake size and shape

• Samuel M. Sousa,
• Helane L. O. Morais,
• Joyce C. C. Santos,
• Ana Paula M. Barboza,
• Bernardo R. A. Neves,
• Elisângela S. Pinto and
• Mariana C. Prado

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 68–78, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.8

• be in contact with it for 30 to 60 s to ensure optimal coverage. Then the sample is rinsed again in DI water to remove loose flakes and residual surfactant. An in-depth discussion of this procedure can be found in [24]. AFM measurements were performed on a Park XE-70 microscope, in intermittent

• contact mode using commercial silicon probes (MikroMasch, HQ:NSC35/AlBs or HQ:NSC36/AlBs). For each sample, nine different 5 μm × 5 μm fields were chosen at random and scanned at 0.5 Hz with 500 pixels/line (lateral resolution of 10 nm/pixel). Image processing (line and plane corrections) and flake

Cooper pair splitting controlled by a temperature gradient

• Dmitry S. Golubev and
• Andrei D. Zaikin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 61–67, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.7

• integrals are taken over the contact areas , and tr(x) denote coordinate- and spin-independent tunneling amplitudes. Let us denote the probability for N1 and N2 electrons to be transferred, respectively, through the junctions 1 and 2 during the observation time t as Pt(N1,N2). Introducing the so-called

• the importance of CAR processes in this limit, see also Figure 4. Yet another important physical limit is realized provided the contact has the form of a short diffusive wire with the corresponding Thouless energy exceeding the superconducting gap Δ. In this diffusive limit the transmission

Gap-directed chemical lift-off lithographic nanoarchitectonics for arbitrary sub-micrometer patterning

• Chang-Ming Wang,
• Hong-Sheng Chan,
• Chia-Li Liao,
• Che-Wei Chang and
• Wei-Ssu Liao

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 34–44, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.4

• and device fabrication [13][14]. Nevertheless, pattern resolution and reproducibility in contact printing approaches are affected by several factors, most notably the ink molecule lateral diffusion, gas phase transportation, and rubber stamp deformation [15][16]. These are unavoidable issues in soft

• master mold is placed in contact with the SAM, which initiates a covalent bonding between stamp surface siloxyl groups and alkanethiol hydroxy tails. Removal of the stamp from the SAM-covered surface lifts off alkanethiol molecules at the contact region, and thus circumventing the lateral diffusion issue

• placed in the gap between the supporting substrate and a capping layer [43][44][45]. On the other hand, capillary force can induce the formation of nanochannel gaps when a structural top layer is brought into contact with the bottom surface [43]. Through these techniques, structures that are at the

The influence of structure and local structural defects on the magnetic properties of cobalt nanofilms

• Alexander Vakhrushev,
• Aleksey Fedotov,
• Olesya Severyukhina and
• Anatolie Sidorenko

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 23–33, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.3

• problem of obtaining clearly separated contact layers is highly relevant. Using simulations, it was demonstrated that optimization of the nanofilm interface can be obtained either by introducing additional intermediate thin layers neutral to the original composition, such as aluminum oxide, or by

Atmospheric water harvesting using functionalized carbon nanocones

• Fernanda R. Leivas and
• Marcia C. Barbosa

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 1–10, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.1

• molecular dynamics simulations the process of capturing and collecting water in a functionalized carbon nanocone. The process is analyzed in a system in which the larger diameter of the cone is in contact with a vapor reservoir and the smaller diameter is in contact with an initially empty reservoir. The

• idea of combining thermostats to produce vapor is not new. It has already been used to reproduce water evaporation and condensation [45][46]. In contact with the carbon slab on region 1, there is a carbon nanocone constructed by cutting the apex angle, as illustrated in Figure 3. This nanocone has a

• mesh method. Periodic boundary conditions were applied along the x- and y-directions, and non-periodic boundary conditions were applied along the z-direction (see Figure 1). Results and Discussion Figure 1 illustrates the analyzed system, composed of a water vapor reservoir in contact with the base of

Electrical and optical enhancement of ITO/Mo bilayer thin films via laser annealing

• Abdelbaki Hacini,
• Ahmad Hadi Ali,
• Nurul Nadia Adnan and
• Nafarizal Nayan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1589–1595, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.133

• resistivity follows for higher annealing energies. The resistivity variation can be explained by the behavior of the metal–semiconductor contact and the effect of laser annealing on the structural defects of the surface. The inclusion of a thin metal film with low resistivity and the reduction of grain

Utilizing the surface potential of a solid electrolyte region as the potential reference in Kelvin probe force microscopy

• Nobuyuki Ishida

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1558–1563, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.129

• contact potential difference (CPD) between a tip and the sample. It has been used to evaluate a wide range of electronic and ionic devices [5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. The CPD is quantified by applying a regulated DC voltage, relative to an electrical ground, to the tip or the sample, to minimize the

• the reduction of Ti ions in the solid electrolyte owing to direct contact between the Li metal and solid electrolyte, a poly(ethylene oxide)-based polymer electrolyte film (Osaka Soda Co., Ltd.), denoted PEO, was inserted between them. Before the KPFM measurements, the sample was heated at 150 °C for

Induced electric conductivity in organic polymers

• Konstantin Y. Arutyunov,
• Anatoli S. Gurski,
• Vladimir V. Artemov,
• Alexander L. Vasiliev,
• Azat R. Yusupov,
• Danfis D. Karamov and
• Alexei N. Lachinov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1551–1557, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.128

• the preparation of a sample for electron microscopy. Results and Discussion The experiment was carried out in a four-contact configuration at direct or alternating currents. Both R(T) and V(I) dependences of the Pb–PDP–Pb sandwich could be measured, as shown in Figure 2a, and the transport

• is significantly different. In particular, as the voltage increases, there is the tendency for the current flowing through the heterostructure to saturate. Previously [2], it was found that at high temperatures, the mechanism of overcoming the barrier at the metal/polymer contact is satisfactorily

• temperature, k is the Boltzmann constant, e is the electron charge, A is the contact area, A* is the Richardson constant, Is the saturation current. To proceed, it is important to determine the saturation current using, e.g., the semi-logarithmic dependence of the current on applied voltage. This is the so

Frequency-dependent nanomechanical profiling for medical diagnosis

• Santiago D. Solares and
• Alexander X. Cartagena-Rivera

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1483–1489, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.122

• measured while it is in close contact with the surrounding tissue. Similar developments could be envisioned for measurements inside veins or arteries, in which case the sensing device could be inserted by means of a catheter, such as those already in use [33]. In this case, greater miniaturization would be

• body through small insertions. It is also worth mentioning that the AFM measurement principle does not need to be limited to the use of microscale or nanoscale probes. In fact, the mathematics of the viscoelastic contact problem between a probe of known geometry (e.g., a sphere) and a flat surface [15

Structural studies and selected physical investigations of LiCoO₂ obtained by combustion synthesis

• Monika Michalska,
• Paweł Ławniczak,
• Tomasz Strachowski,
• Adam Ostrowski and
• Waldemar Bednarski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1473–1482, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.121

• also observed using this microscope. The SEM images show the morphology of the LiCoO2 obtained at different synthesis temperatures. Before analysis, the samples were sputtered with graphite to improve the electrical contact. All samples were observed at 1 kV. EPR analysis Electron paramagnetic

Coherent amplification of radiation from two phase-locked Josephson junction arrays

• Mikhail A. Galin,
• Vladimir M. Krasnov,
• Ilya A. Shereshevsky,
• Nadezhda K. Vdovicheva and
• Vladislav V. Kurin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1445–1457, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.119

• substrate with the thickness 0.38 mm. It contains three closely located straight strips with a separation of only 4 μm. Each strip has the length L = 5 mm and the width w = 14 μm and contains 332 JJs distributed uniformly along the strip. The junction area is 8 × 8 μm2. Contact electrodes are connected to

• facilitate access to the contact pads of the bottom array, the substrate of the top array was trimmed to a width of about 3 mm. The arrays are similar to those in sample-1, but with a different shape of connecting electrodes (cf. Figure 1a,b and Figure 5a), which does not influence the measurements. The

Dry under water: air retaining properties of large-scale elastomer foils covered with mushroom-shaped surface microstructures

• Matthias Mail,
• Stefan Walheim,
• Thomas Schimmel,
• Wilhelm Barthlott,
• Stanislav N. Gorb and
• Lars Heepe

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1370–1379, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.113

• the surface tension of water, cos θ is the water contact angle of poly(vinylsiloxane) which was assumed to be 95°, and ρw = 997 kg/m3 the density of water, and g the gravitational acceleration. The reduced bubble lifetime for h > hmax whereas Vi is the initial volume of the air layer, with Ai the

• investigations of the diffusion behavior at different pressures are plotted in the graph. The results are in good agreement with the theoretically predicted values. Further, our results indicate that both the size and shape of the contact area between water and air plays a crucial role for the stability of the

• air layer. The loss of air happened not only at the interface of water and air between the top side of the MSM, but also on the sides. This means the water-contact-area/volume ratio of the air layer is a crucial parameter for the long term stability of the kept air. Previous works have focused

Straight roads into nowhere – obvious and not-so-obvious biological models for ferrophobic surfaces

• Wilfried Konrad,
• Christoph Neinhuis and
• Anita Roth-Nebelsick

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1345–1360, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.111

• is described that started with a posed technical problem for which seemingly obvious biological models exist. The technical problem was to devise a ferrophobic surface that prevents the contact between the copper surface of a tuyère (a water cooled aeration pipe within a blast furnace) and liquid

• extend a short distance into the blast furnace (Figure 1b,c). Occasionally, liquid iron that runs down along the inner side of the outer wall of the furnace makes contact with the tuyère. If the heat input exceeds the capacity of the tuyère’s water cooling system, the tuyère burns through, and, as a

• straightforward to search for suitable biological models of external surfaces that prevent the contact to a liquid and that are able to create stable air/liquid interfaces resilient to perturbation. The biological models we considered first were the structured surfaces of Salvinia molesta leaves (see Figure 2

Bending and punching characteristics of aluminum sheets using the quasi-continuum method

• Man-Ping Chang,
• Shang-Jui Lin and
• Te-Hua Fang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1303–1315, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.108

• the adhesion force increases with an increase of the contact area between the punch and the workpiece. However, when the debris crumple, the slip phenomenon appears [61]. Besides, comparing the three crystal orientation curves, O1 shows a more stable curve during the loading process, while the O2 and

• increased with an increase of the taper angle. When the taper angle increases, the contact area between the punch and the workpiece is decreased, and a higher internal energy is stored in the atoms, resulting in a higher fracture strength [63]. Figure 14 shows the shear stress distribution of various taper

Growing up in a rough world: scaling of frictional adhesion and morphology of the Tokay gecko (Gekko gecko)

• Anthony J. Cobos and
• Timothy E. Higham

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1292–1302, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.107

• structure on speed and acceleration capacity in climbing geckos, and they found that acceleration was greatest on the smoothest surface (wood) where the most contact between the adhesive system and the surface could be made [27]. This illustrates that the main issue faced by geckos that are attaching via

• adhesive pads is the contact area between the setae and the surface. With increasingly rough surfaces, the area for contact decreases, leading to decreased adhesive performance. In a modeling framework, the force of adhesion can be related to surface energy of the substrate, the area of the adhering pad

• ][37]. A key factor that is relatively unexplored is that the morphology of the adhesive system likely changes with body size, which can then impact the amount of contact made between the adhesive system and the surface on which it is clinging or moving. For example, setal length and toepad area have

Laser-processed antiadhesive bionic combs for handling nanofibers inspired by nanostructures on the legs of cribellate spiders

• Sebastian Lifka,
• Kristóf Harsányi,
• Erich Baumgartner,
• Lukas Pichler,
• Dariya Baiko,
• Karsten Wasmuth,
• Johannes Heitz,
• Marco Meyer,
• Anna-Christin Joel,
• Jörn Bonse and
• Werner Baumgartner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1268–1283, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.105

• the case for these reasons: (1) Due to the smaller radius, the fiber also becomes softer. In consequence, the easier deflection can increase the contact area, resulting in larger forces. The van der Waals force is proportional to the root of the radius, μ ∼ √R, and the materials stiffness, expressed

• by the area moment of inertia J, is proportional to the fourth power of the radius, J ∼ R4. Hence, the fiber gains more contact area much faster than the force decreases. (2) With a smaller radius, more fibers can attach simultaneously to the surface, which leads to a further increase in the total

• approach related to the surface free energy of the fluid, we use an energy approach related to the bending energy of the nanofibers to describe the fiber adhesion on structured surfaces. An important point is that the theory presented here deals with cylindrical fibers that come into contact with the

Studies of probe tip materials by atomic force microscopy: a review

• Ke Xu and
• Yuzhe Liu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1256–1267, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.104

• a homemade cantilevered non-contact atomic force microscopy (NC-AFM) system. As the first step of tip sharpening, the focus is on the controlled extraction of individual clusters. The experimental results show that controlled extraction of individual clusters induces a change in tip sharpness, which

• assembly methods, direct growth of carbon nanotubes by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) allows for increased bond strength between CNT tips and AFM probes. A pore growth method was used by Hafner et al. [42]. The method uses AFM imaging in contact mode to flatten the silicon tip, followed by hydrogen

• percussive mode AFM imaging, and the growth of PdNWCNT does not significantly decrease the cantilever spring constant and cantilever mass factor. PdNWCNTs showed better performance than standard CNTs in some SPM applications. For example, because it is difficult to form good ohmic contact CNTs, the existence

Roll-to-roll fabrication of superhydrophobic pads covered with nanofur for the efficient clean-up of oil spills

• Patrick Weiser,
• Robin Kietz,
• Marc Schneider,
• Matthias Worgull and
• Hendrik Hölscher

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1228–1239, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.102

• unwanted dirt [5][6]. The lotus effect is commonly achieved by hierarchical nano- and micro-structuring of surfaces made from materials with low surface energy leading to very high contact angles (above 150°). This strategy is inspired by the lotus leaf [1] but can be found on many other surfaces in nature

• a significant increase of the contact angle of water droplets. The fractal structure minimizes contact area as well as adhesion forces between surface and water droplet, thereby equipping the surface with self-cleaning properties equivalent to the lotus effect [24]. Additionally, the high increase

• comparable high contact angle (95–100°, depending on the exact type [25][26][27]), which helps to achieve a high contact angle also for the structured surface. Second, we know from previous studies that it has a comparable wide process window for the hot pulling of nanofur [28]. Third, polypropylene is well

Application of nanoarchitectonics in moist-electric generation

• Jia-Cheng Feng and
• Hong Xia

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1185–1200, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.99

• occurs when a liquid is in contact with a solid with a surface charge. This interaction is mainly dominated by the electric double layer (EDL), which consists of a layer of ions (Stern layer) that is tightly adsorbed to the charged surface and a layer of counter ions (diffusion layer) that is attracted

• interaction. The actual charge transfer is much more complicated, involving the contact angle, dielectric function, temperature, and ion concentration [15][16][17]. In MEGs, compared to bulk materials, nanoarchitectonics yields a higher specific surface area to the active material, which makes the contact

• ion species. Dropping a droplet of 80 μL 0.6 M CuCl2 solution from 15 cm above the contact point onto a 70° tilted graphene surface under gravity may create a pulse voltage of 30 mV and a short-circuit current of 1.7 μA, as shown in Figure 2c–f. Carbon nanoparticles form nanoscale networks by stacking

Microneedle-based ocular drug delivery systems – recent advances and challenges

• Piotr Gadziński,
• Anna Froelich,
• Monika Wojtyłko,
• Antoni Białek,
• Julia Krysztofiak and
• Tomasz Osmałek

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1167–1184, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.98

• a constant controlled rate according to zero-order kinetics [79][80][81]. Drug-loaded soft contact lenses can be classified as non-dissolving implants [82][83]. Satisfactory results are also obtained with in situ gelling liquid implants [84][85] or film forming liquids [86][87][88]. In addition to

• ) [130], and poly(lactic-co-glycolic)acid (PLGA) [131] are widely investigated as microneedle materials. Among them, there are hydrogel-forming agents swelling upon the contact with interstitial fluid in the skin during microneedle application. These polymers include poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate

• swelling upon the contact with the fluid at the administration site. It is noteworthy that the polymer matrix does not dissolve under physiological conditions and can be removed after the drug is released [117][144]. As the microneedles absorb interstitial fluid from the surrounding tissue, they can be

A cantilever-based, ultrahigh-vacuum, low-temperature scanning probe instrument for multidimensional scanning force microscopy

• Hao Liu,
• Zuned Ahmed,
• Sasa Vranjkovic,
• Manfred Parschau,
• Andrada-Oana Mandru and
• Hans J. Hug

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1120–1140, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.95

• macroscopic wire tip to the free prong. Compared to the typically used microscopic AFM cantilevers, the tuning fork sensor has a rather high stiffness, k ≈ 2 kN/m. This facilitates AFM operation with small oscillation amplitudes (A < 100 pm) because a snap-to-contact or instabilities of the phase-locked loop

• pulley system that locks in at the microscope bottom such that a mechanical contact between the Cu cone and the cone-shaped part of the LHe microscope shield is achieved. To obtain access to the microscope, the LN2 shield can be rotated such that it connects to the inner LHe shield to open up an access

• sphere running on a hardened steel plate. Note that initially a sapphire plate was used. However, we found the plate cracked after a few days of piezo motor operation, presumably caused from an ultrasound-actuated contact resonance of the Al2O3 sphere on the sapphire plate arising from the triangular

Green synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles toward highly efficient photocatalysis and antibacterial application

• Vo Thi Thu Nhu,
• Nguyen Duy Dat,
• Le-Minh Tam and
• Nguyen Hoang Phuong

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1108–1119, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.94

• adding ZnO NPs into the solutions containing E. coli, the suspensions were stirred. Samples were taken out at different contact times of 1, 3, and 6 h to evaluate the influence of time on the antibacterial efficiency. The solution was obtained after being diluted to decimal concentrations of 1/10, 1/100

• with ZnO NPs doses of 1, 5, and 10 mg/mL and contact time intervals of 1, 3, and 6 h. The ZnO NP concentration of 1 mg/mL is not enough to inhibit all E. coli bacteria after 6 h of treatment. By increasing the concentration of ZnO NPs to 5 mg/mL at contact times of 3 and 6 h, the inhibitory efficiency

• reached 99.83 and 100%, respectively. When the dose of the photocatalyst increased to 10 mg/mL, the E. coli inhibition efficiency reached 99.35% with a contact time of 1 h and the efficiency was 100% when the contact time was 3 h. The results of E. coli bacteria inhibition by ZnO NPs synthesized by the