Amorphous Ni_xCo_yP-supported TiO₂ nanotube arrays as an efficient hydrogen evolution reaction electrocatalyst in acidic solution

• Yong Li,
• Peng Yang,
• Bin Wang and
• Zhongqing Liu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 62–70, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.6

• the samples. All three samples displayed characteristic anatase TiO2 diffraction peaks of (101), (004), (200), (105), (211), (204), (116), and (215) (JCPDS card No. 21-1272) and the Ti peak at (101) [27]. No diffraction peaks related to Ni–P or NiCoP crystallites was found, illustrating that the

Characterization and influence of hydroxyapatite nanopowders on living cells

• Przemyslaw Oberbek,
• Tomasz Bolek,
• Adrian Chlanda,
• Seishiro Hirano,
• Sylwia Kusnieruk,
• Julia Rogowska-Tylman,
• Ganna Nechyporenko,
• Viktor Zinchenko,
• Wojciech Swieszkowski and
• Tomasz Puzyn

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 3079–3094, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.286

• , followed by 5 min of ultrasonic treatment. The samples were then left for about 10 min to evaporate the ethanol. Afterwards, they were dripped on the surface of carbon-coated copper grids. Sizes of crystallites were measured with the ImageJ software [34], using representative TEM images. Average values

• , it was calculated how many crystals in this size rang are on the analysed TEM images. Only F201 (8%), F202 (15%) and GoHAP90s (40%) exhibited a content of such small crystallites above 1%. The average particle size determined with the use of TEM imaging did not differ significantly from the values

• sizes, large surface area, high crystallinity and relatively high phase purity (F201 and F202), and (ii) materials with bigger crystallites, low surface area, low phase purity and low crystallinity (HApSA+Si, CaHFAP300). Additionally, CaHFAP300 and CaHAP300 (with high, but not toxic, negative effect on

A novel polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane-modified layered double hydroxide: preparation, characterization and properties

• Xianwei Zhang,
• Zhongzhu Ma,
• Hong Fan,
• Carla Bittencourt,
• Jintao Wan and
• Philippe Dubois

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 3053–3068, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.284

• stacking structure of Mg–Al LDH crystallites. The first basal reflection (003) of NLDH at 2θ = 9.83° corresponds to an interlayer distance of 0.90 nm. After the modification with OCPS, the position of the (003) reflection shifts to 6.62°, indicating an interlayer distance of 1.33 nm of OLDH. The

• clear advantage of the one-step method that the possible presence of small organic anions in the interlayer region along with intercalator of much larger size hardly affects the interlayer distance [14]. The intergallery spacing of OLDH crystallites is mainly controlled by OCPS anions despite the

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

• show a dependence of the significant and most prominent reflexes on the film texture (Figure 4b). As can be seen from Figure 4b and Figure 4c the preferential orientation of the crystallites is different from that of bulk silver (JCPDS file No. 04-0783). In case of the as-sputtered silver film the

• crystallites show a preferential (200) orientation. After plasma treatment a gradual change of the preferential orientation can be observed. After argon plasma treatment the preferential orientation completely changes to (111). At the same time the peak width and the positions of the (111) and (200) reflexes

• TEM (FIB) images of an as-sputtered 10 nm silver film with a 10 nm silver film treated with nitrogen plasma (g12-p200) for 5 min shows a decrease in the silver film density indicated by a contrast change through which the boundaries of the different crystallites become visible (Figure 4d,e). At the

ZnO-nanostructure-based electrochemical sensor: Effect of nanostructure morphology on the sensing of heavy metal ions

• Marina Krasovska,
• Vjaceslavs Gerbreders,
• Irena Mihailova,
• Andrejs Ogurcovs,
• Eriks Sledevskis,
• Andrejs Gerbreders and
• Pavels Sarajevs

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2421–2431, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.227

• to 2 mM). The reduction peak current for the highest concentration can be explained by mass crystallization in the solution, in parallel with the sorption process. It is the threshold above which crystallites of lead oxides become visible on the ZnO nanostructured surface by SEM. In order to visually

• forms well-developed crystallites of lead oxides mixture, whereas Cd(NO3)2 forms a very thin amorphous layer on the ZnO surface. The SEM images were recorded using secondary electrons, whose output depth is within the range of 1–10 nm; the fact that the contours of the ZnO nanotubes (bright points) are

• easily visible through the film therefore indicates that the thickness of the Cd film does not exceed 10 nm. It can be concluded that Cd sediments form a very thin layer of horizontally oriented crystallites. This confirms that bonds between Cd ions and the ZnO surface are much weaker than between

Lead-free hybrid perovskites for photovoltaics

• Oleksandr Stroyuk

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

• . Cs2AgInCl6 HP was produced by a hydrothermal synthesis allowing the size of the final crystallites to be tailored by adjusting the hydrothermal treatment duration [179]. The perovskite crystallizes in the rock-salt structure with alternating [AgCl6] and [InCl6] octahedra (Figure 15a) and shows a direct

Synthesis of hafnium nanoparticles and hafnium nanoparticle films by gas condensation and energetic deposition

• Irini Michelakaki,
• Nikos Boukos,
• Dimitrios A. Dragatogiannis,
• Spyros Stathopoulos,
• Costas A. Charitidis and
• Dimitris Tsoukalas

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1868–1880, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.179

• ]. The size of the crystallites was calculated to be ca. 11 nm. This value is smaller than the average nanoparticle diameter defined from TEM images equal to D = 16 nm. This observation indicates that the nanoparticles are not single crystals, which is expected in our case, because the nanoparticles have

• transmission microscopy (HRTEM) and X-ray diffraction. In both cases the nanoparticles were exposed to atmospheric air prior to characterization. HRTEM images indicate that the NTFs formed for both cases of energetic deposition (Vs = 2 and 4.5 kV) are nanocrystalline. The individual crystallites are

Cryochemical synthesis of ultrasmall, highly crystalline, nanostructured metal oxides and salts

• Elena A. Trusova and
• Nikolai S. Trutnev

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1755–1763, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.166

• salt crystallites could also be reduced to ≤50 nm by freezing in a liquid nitrogen atmosphere, which is a significant improvement over analogous salts obtained by traditional methods (average diameter 300–1000 nm). The characterization of the obtained nanopowders was carried out using X-ray diffraction

• protective coating with a thickness of 2–3 nm on the surface of NaNO3 crystallites, preventing their association. The results obtained show that the cryochemical processing of the solutions during the preparation phase of production allows nanopowders to be obtained with improved morphological and textural

• , aqueous solutions of Al- and Fe-sulfates were used to obtain highly dispersed Al2O3 and Fe2O3 crystallites by a freeze-drying technique. The formation and growth of chain-like aggregates of crystallites was shown as a process followed the surface diffusion mechanism. It was observed that the orientation

Controllable one-pot synthesis of uniform colloidal TiO₂ particles in a mixed solvent solution for photocatalysis

• Jong Tae Moon,
• Seung Ki Lee and
• Ji Bong Joo

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1715–1727, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.163

• samples were subjected to calcination at high temperatures, small TiO2 crystallites were grown, severely fused and finely shirked, which resulted in decreased mesoporosity and a small BET surface area but increased crystallinity. To estimate the carbon content and thermal behavior of the TiO2 samples, TGA

• light [34]. Another hypothesis regarding the exceptional activity of anatase and rutile P25 is that the presence of rutile crystallites generates a favorable structure in which rapid electron transfer from rutile to lower energy lattice trapping centers of anatase phase occurs under visible-light

Friction force microscopy of tribochemistry and interfacial ageing for the SiO_x/Si/Au system

• Christiane Petzold,
• Marcus Koch and
• Roland Bennewitz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1647–1658, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.157

• the contact region. b) Detail of panel a) showing the amorphous Si with its sharp boundary to crystalline Si as well as crystallites (highlighted) in the Au layer. c) Close-up resolving the crystal lattice in the Au coating layer. The lattice distance was measured to be 2.4 Å. d) Detail of the

Sulfur-, nitrogen- and platinum-doped titania thin films with high catalytic efficiency under visible-light illumination

• Boštjan Žener,
• Lev Matoh,
• Giorgio Carraro,
• Bojan Miljević and
• Romana Cerc Korošec

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1629–1640, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.155

• angle. Larger crystallites were found in samples synthesized with HCl (REF–Thiourea_20, 39–60 nm) compared to samples synthesized with H2SO4 (S1–S5, 10–18 nm). The results also show a trend of decreasing crystallite size with increasing volume of H2SO4 added during the synthesis (S1–S5). We contribute

A novel copper precursor for electron beam induced deposition

• Caspar Haverkamp,
• George Sarau,
• Mikhail N. Polyakov,
• Ivo Utke,
• Marcos V. Puydinger dos Santos,
• Silke Christiansen and
• Katja Höflich

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1220–1227, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.113

• deposits, with crystallites below ≈20 nm in diameter. Selected area electron diffraction (SAED) of the deposit (Figure 2e) yields diffraction rings which fully correspond to pure Cu, with no rings corresponding to Cu oxides. SAED was carried out for different regions within the deposit covering a

Understanding the performance and mechanism of Mg-containing oxides as support catalysts in the thermal dry reforming of methane

• Nor Fazila Khairudin,
• Mohd Farid Fahmi Sukri,
• Mehrnoush Khavarian and
• Abdul Rahman Mohamed

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1162–1183, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.108

• to the ZrO2 support suppressed carbon deposition, which occurred between the crystallites of t-ZrO2 and prohibited a shift of the zirconia support from the tetragonal phase to the monoclinic phase. This catalyst tends to survive with low carbon formation (0.89 mg/gcatalyst/h for 40 h with CO2 and CH4

Comparative study of sculptured metallic thin films deposited by oblique angle deposition at different temperatures

• Susann Liedtke,
• Christoph Grüner,
• Jürgen W. Gerlach and
• Bernd Rauschenbach

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 954–962, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.89

• measurements are carried out exemplarily for Al thin films to study the orientation of these crystallites. Stereographic projections of the in-plane pole figures for such films are calculated [17]. Thereby, Figure 2a and 2b depict the calculated stereographic projections for a vertically deposited (θ = 0

• the Al crystallites are oriented in the same direction. Additionally, in Figure 2f and 2h four broad but still separated pole density maxima at a polar angle α = 54.7° are obtained. Notice that the underlying symmetry of Al is cubic. Consequently, this experimentally observed angle is in good

• , it can be noted that the calculated positions of the pole density maxima are in good agreement with the measured positions of the pole density maxima. Furthermore, Figure 2e and 2g reveal that the [100] direction of the crystallites γ differs from the tilt angle β of the columns, both measured with

Effect of annealing treatments on CeO₂ grown on TiN and Si substrates by atomic layer deposition

• Silvia Vangelista,
• Rossella Piagge,
• Satu Ek and
• Alessio Lamperti

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 890–899, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.83

• is even clearer looking at the inset of Figure 6b: After annealing at 900 °C, the (111) and (200) crystallites have equivalent size, Further, we notice that after annealing at 900 °C the (111) and (200) peaks have the same intensity, which hints to a preferential crystallographic orientation of the

Facile chemical routes to mesoporous silver substrates for SERS analysis

• Elina A. Tastekova,
• Alexander Y. Polyakov,
• Anastasia E. Goldt,
• Alexander V. Sidorov,
• Alexandra A. Oshmyanskaya,
• Irina V. Sukhorukova,
• Dmitry V. Shtansky,
• Wolgang Grünert and
• Anastasia V. Grigorieva

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 880–889, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.82

• efficient method for synthesis of silver polygonal structures with amazingly precise shape control using silver(I) oxide as a structural precursor. According to the technique described also elsewhere [27], polycrystalline uniform Ag2O polyhedron-like crystallites could be quantitatively obtained. Such cubic

• and octahedral crystallites are of interest as models for mesoporous silver synthesis. In the present manuscript we used submicrometer-sized Ag2O cubes as precursors for mesoporous silver structures resulting from diffusion-limited reduction [26][27]. The same reduction method was also used to

• known for its ability to increase the endurance performance of athletes, which resulted in its inclusion to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) prohibited list. Results and Discussion Following the procedure proposed by Lyu et al. [26], Ag2O cubic crystallites were synthesized by alkaline precipitation

Heavy-metal detectors based on modified ferrite nanoparticles

• Urszula Klekotka,
• Ewelina Wińska,
• Elżbieta Zambrzycka-Szelewa,
• Dariusz Satuła and
• Beata Kalska-Szostko

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 762–770, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.69

• dominate magnetite phase. The most intense reflexes were recognized and indexed to (220), (311), (400), (422), (511), (440), respectively, typical for magnetite [24]. The peak widths, however, are different among the presented samples. This can be caused by chemical modification of the crystallites related

Synthesis and characterization of two new TiO₂-containing benzothiazole-based imine composites for organic device applications

• Anna Różycka,
• Agnieszka Iwan,
• Krzysztof Artur Bogdanowicz,
• Michal Filapek,
• Natalia Górska,
• Damian Pociecha,
• Marek Malinowski,
• Patryk Fryń,
• Agnieszka Hreniak,
• Jakub Rysz,
• Paweł Dąbczyński and
• Monika Marzec

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 721–739, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.67

• out to be too rough to be measured with AFM, these samples were prepared with the spin coating technique (1000 rpm, 40 s). As one can see in Figure 10a, the topography of pure SP2 imine and SP2:TiO2 composites in each case reveals quite large crystallites randomly distributed on the glass surface, and

Optimisation of purification techniques for the preparation of large-volume aqueous solar nanoparticle inks for organic photovoltaics

• Furqan Almyahi,
• Thomas R. Andersen,
• Nathan A. Cooling,
• Natalie P. Holmes,
• Matthew J. Griffith,
• Krishna Feron,
• Xiaojing Zhou,
• Warwick J. Belcher and
• Paul C. Dastoor

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 649–659, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.60

• ). The surface morphology/topography showed, as expected, a decreased number of SDS crystallites on the surface of the ASNP film with increased ultrafiltration steps. The device performance revealed distinct peaks in efficiency with ultrafiltration: centrifuge purified inks reached a maximum efficiency

• aggregates present in the film prepared from an ink with a dilution factor of 625 are no longer observed once a highly purified ink with a dilution factor of 9.8 × 106 is utilized and thus we ascribe the observed aggregates to SDS crystallites which are eliminated with SDS removal. When using crossflow

Towards 3D crystal orientation reconstruction using automated crystal orientation mapping transmission electron microscopy (ACOM-TEM)

• Aaron Kobler and
• Christian Kübel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 602–607, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.56

• the electron-transparent TEM specimen lamellas are often only a few tens of nanometers thick, overlapping structures, such as crystallites of different orientations and phases, are unavoidable and typically unwanted. Nevertheless, in some cases it is even desirable to have overlapping crystallites to

• reduce the influence of the free surface and to increase the interaction between crystallites to represent bulk behavior, especially related to in situ studies (e.g., tensile or thermal testing) inside the TEM [2][5][6][7][8][9]. However, the 2D projection of a 3D volume with overlapping structures

• experimental spot diffraction pattern [32]. In the case of overlapping crystallites, the experimental diffraction pattern is a superimposed result of the corresponding individual crystal orientations [34][35]. Hence, superimposed diffraction patterns have more than one match with a cross-correlation index

Fabrication and photoactivity of ionic liquid–TiO₂ structures for efficient visible-light-induced photocatalytic decomposition of organic pollutants in aqueous phase

• Anna Gołąbiewska,
• Marta Paszkiewicz-Gawron,
• Aleksandra Sadzińska,
• Wojciech Lisowski,
• Ewelina Grabowska,
• Adriana Zaleska-Medynska and
• Justyna Łuczak

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 580–590, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.54

• line width analysis of the anatase (101) reflection peak, the average crystal size of the crystallites (d) forming photocatalysts with the highest (IL:TBOT molar ratio 1:3) and the lowest photoactivity (IL:TBOT molar ratio 1:10), estimated by the Scherrer equation, were determined and summarized in

Influence of the preparation method on the photocatalytic activity of Nd-modified TiO₂

• Patrycja Parnicka,
• Paweł Mazierski,
• Tomasz Grzyb,
• Wojciech Lisowski,
• Ewa Kowalska,
• Bunsho Ohtani,
• Adriana Zaleska-Medynska and
• Joanna Nadolna

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 447–459, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.43

• photocatalysts prepared by the hydrothermal method showed a higher contraction of crystallites than those obtained by the sol–hydrothermal method. The present study reveals that loading with neodymium ions hindered the increase in grain size of TiO2 during hydrothermal synthesis. Our findings correlate with some

• investigation, the presence of lanthanides in the obtained samples contributed to a decrease in size of the crystallites, which probably caused an increase in the specific surface area of photocatalysts [24][32][33]. The difference in ion radii (0.99 Å for Nd3+ and 0.75 Å for Ti4+) suggests that Nd3+ ions

• of Ti–O–Nd bonds probably restricts direct contact between TiO2 crystallites and stabilizes the anatase phase and crystallite growth [25][35]. Morphology Surface morphology of the obtained photocatalysts was studied using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Figure 2 shows a SEM image of pristine TiO2

Facile synthesis of ZnFe₂O₄ photocatalysts for decolourization of organic dyes under solar irradiation

• Arjun Behera,
• Debasmita Kandi,
• Sanjit Manohar Majhi,
• Satyabadi Martha and
• Kulamani Parida

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 436–446, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.42

• microscopy (FESEM) provides surface morphology and topography of the prepared materials. Figure 2 shows the surface topography of ZFO-500. The sample consists of agglomerated nanoparticles with smooth surface. The agglomeration of ZFO-500 is accompanied with the formation of small crystallites [28]. TEM The

Blister formation during graphite surface oxidation by Hummers’ method

• Olga V. Sinitsyna,
• Georgy B. Meshkov,
• Anastasija V. Grigorieva,
• Alexander A. Antonov,
• Inna G. Grigorieva and
• Igor V. Yaminsky

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 407–414, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.40

• oriented crystallites with almost parallel c-axes. The inclination angle between the crystallites is characterized by a mosaic spread, which is between 0.1° and 3° for HOPG [10]. In this paper, we used a new material, highly annealed pyrolythic graphite (HAPG). The mosaic spread of a flat HAPG film can be

• before the treatment The mosaic structure of the HAPG was examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The HAPG surface after cleavage is shown in Figure 2. The size of the crystallites in the basal plane range from 10 to 200 μm, while for comparison, they are about 10 μm for HOPG with the mosaic

• . The samples were tilted relative to the electron beam by 45°, which enhances the contrast between the crystallites [25]. A Renishaw InVia Raman spectrometer was used. The spectra were recorded using a 514.4 nm laser with a power of 14 mW. a) Raman spectra of the highly annealed pyrolythic graphite

Photocatalytic and adsorption properties of TiO₂-pillared montmorillonite obtained by hydrothermally activated intercalation of titanium polyhydroxo complexes

• Mikhail F. Butman,
• Nikolay L. Ovchinnikov,
• Nikita S. Karasev,
• Nataliya E. Kochkina,
• Alexander V. Agafonov and
• Alexandr V. Vinogradov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 364–378, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.36

• mass fraction of rutile crystallites (XR) in the samples of TiO2-pillared materials was determined from the radiographs by the ratio of heights of peaks (101) of anatase IA and (110) of rutile IR according to the equation [29]: The hydrothermally intercalated samples annealed at 300–800 °C are a

• the growth of crystallites. Indeed, the size of the anatase crystallites sequentially increases from 5.6 to 12.7 nm (Table 2) with increasing calcination temperature from 300 to 800 °C. According to the data of Figure 2, the phase transformation of anatase into rutile lies in the temperature range

• ), agglomerates of TiO2 crystallites with different shapes and sizes dispersed on the surface of MM are clearly seen. On the surface of TiO2-PMMH500 (Figure 5b-1) there are coral-like formations of titanium oxide, between which the TiO2 aggregates are distributed. Such a surface profile of a hydrothermally