Tailoring the magnetic properties of cobalt ferrite nanoparticles using the polyol process

• Malek Bibani,
• Romain Breitwieser,
• Alex Aubert,
• Vincent Loyau,
• Silvana Mercone,
• Souad Ammar and
• Fayna Mammeri

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1166–1176, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.116

• crystallinity, with NPs acting as nucleating points. Also, as established by Costa et al., the presence of these NPs promotes the crystallization of PVDF in its β-phase, the most electroactive one, instead of its other allotropic forms [10]. Finally, another improvement consists in making the size of the

A highly efficient porous rod-like Ce-doped ZnO photocatalyst for the degradation of dye contaminants in water

• Binjing Hu,
• Qiang Sun,
• Chengyi Zuo,
• Yunxin Pei,
• Siwei Yang,
• Hui Zheng and
• Fangming Liu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1157–1165, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.115

• affects the formation of ZIF-8. More specifically, it undergoes three main stages: gel formation, nucleation and crystallization [23]. According to Mahmoud’s [35] report, the Ce element which is doped into the lattice of Zn seeds may lower the surface energy, thus leading to a new morphology. Labhane et

Fabrication of silver nanoisland films by pulsed laser deposition for surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy

• Bogusław Budner,
• Mariusz Kuźma,
• Barbara Nasiłowska,
• Bartosz Bartosewicz,
• Malwina Liszewska and
• Bartłomiej J. Jankiewicz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 882–893, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.89

• shape. At a temperature of 340 ± 3 °C, the islands that are formed have a clearly cubic shape (comparing Figure 2F to 2H and 2G to 2I) which is related to different dynamics of the layer growth process and translates into their higher crystallization. The dimensions of the silver nanoislands are

• crystallization of silver nanoislands, leads to a very large decrease in the intensity of the recorded peak for both excitation wavelengths. In this case, however, the obtained relative intensity deviation is the lowest of all samples and ranges from 6 to 7%. The usefulness of the prepared SNIFs as SERS

Co-doped MnFe₂O₄ nanoparticles: magnetic anisotropy and interparticle interactions

• Bagher Aslibeiki,
• Parviz Kameli,
• Hadi Salamati,
• Giorgio Concas,
• Maria Salvador Fernandez,
• Alessandro Talone,
• Giuseppe Muscas and
• Davide Peddis

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 856–865, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.86

• , Figure S1), which in a following step is annealed in air atmosphere at 350 °C for 3 h. This double step approach ensures good crystallization of small particles with relatively narrow size distribution. The samples were named Cn, where n = 0, 25, 50, 75, 100 is the percentage of cobalt. Experimental

Renewable energy conversion using nano- and microstructured materials

• Harry Mönig and
• Martina Schmid

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 771–773, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.76

• ]. Nanostructured materials can be synthesized by a huge variety of approaches, extending from self-assembled structures [9], over various lithographic techniques [10] and imprinting methods [11], to different crystallization routes [12]. The thematic issue “Nano- and microstructures for energy conversion

On the transformation of “zincone”-like into porous ZnO thin films from sub-saturated plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition

• Alberto Perrotta,
• Julian Pilz,
• Stefan Pachmajer,
• Antonella Milella and
• Anna Maria Coclite

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 746–759, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.74

• different methods in the annealing temperature range of 350–450 °C [62][68][69][70][71][72][73]. For the pyrolysis of titanicone, a shift towards higher crystallization temperatures for TiO2 was reported by Abdulagatov et al. [11] due to hindrance of crystallization by organic ligands constraining amorphous

• TiO2 in a carbon matrix. For the zincone-like layers reported here, due to the low organic fraction, the oxidizing atmosphere, and the lower crystallization temperature of ZnO compared to TiO2, the properties of pure ZnO are still maintained. While for the samples annealed at 200 °C (Figure 5b,e,h

Outstanding chain-extension effect and high UV resistance of polybutylene succinate containing amino-acid-modified layered double hydroxides

• Adam A. Marek,
• Vincent Verney,
• Christine Taviot-Gueho,
• Grazia Totaro,
• Laura Sisti,
• Annamaria Celli and
• Fabrice Leroux

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 684–695, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.68

• associated with the glass-to-rubber transition. The crystallization temperature (Tc) and the enthalpy of crystallization (∆Hc) were measured during the cooling scan. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) of LDH fillers and composites was performed in air atmosphere (gas flow 30 mL min−1) using a Perkin Elmer TGA7

• layers. The calculated residual masses correspond with the filler loading. The addition of LDHs does not affect the melting temperature Tm which is quite constant at 115–114 °C. A slight decrease can be observed in the crystallization temperature Tc for nanocomposites with LDH/amino acids, from 85 °C

Topochemical engineering of composite hybrid fibers using layered double hydroxides and abietic acid

• Liji Sobhana,
• Lokesh Kesavan,
• Jan Gustafsson and
• Pedro Fardim

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 589–605, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.60

• constant (pH 8.3 ± 0.3) by the simultaneous addition of 2 M NaOH. Then, the resultant slurry was aged in a digestion bomb at 120 °C for 24 h for the crystallization of LDH on cellulose fibers. Thus, Mg–Al LDH was synthesized in the presence of cellulose fibers and subsequently grafted on these fibers

Ceria/polymer nanocontainers for high-performance encapsulation of fluorophores

• Kartheek Katta,
• Dmitry Busko,
• Yuri Avlasevich,
• Katharina Landfester,
• Stanislav Baluschev and
• Rafael Muñoz-Espí

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 522–530, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.53

• an increase in the fluorescence of the model organic fluorophore terrylene diimide by avoiding the ground-state molecular oxygen to react with electronically excited states of the fluorescent hydrocarbon molecule. Keywords: cerium oxide; crystallization; miniemulsion; nanocapsule; photoluminescence

• miniemulsion techniques will be protected by depositing metal-oxide particles on the surface, as proposed in a previous minireview from our team [21]. Deposition of metal-oxide particles on the surface of polymer hybrid nanoparticles via controlled surface crystallization was shown in previous works of our

• group [10][12]. The regular arrangement of functional groups on the nanocapsule surface can provide nucleation and structure-directing centers for the controlled crystallization of metal-oxide particles. We have chosen cerium(IV) oxide nanoparticles to be deposited on the nanocapsule surface in order to

Integration of LaMnO_3+δ films on platinized silicon substrates for resistive switching applications by PI-MOCVD

• Raquel Rodriguez-Lamas,
• Dolors Pla,
• Odette Chaix-Pluchery,
• Benjamin Meunier,
• Fabrice Wilhelm,
• Andrei Rogalev,
• Laetitia Rapenne,
• Xavier Mescot,
• Quentin Rafhay,
• Hervé Roussel,
• Michel Boudard,
• Carmen Jiménez and
• Mónica Burriel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 389–398, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.38

• complete crystallization of the film. The heating conditions of the first step were the same as described in strategy I. Next, after a new heating ramp up to 750 °C (25 °C/min), the second deposition step took place once the temperature was reached. Cooling down began right after the injection was

• dewetting nor Pt diffusion occurred at the interface. The good crystallization of both films was also verified, including the bottom part of the film for the case of strategy III (d1 thickness), which was deposited at a lower temperature. The cross section of strategy III showed more irregular columns

• same thickness of ca. 100 nm. TEM cross-section images from LMO films grown by strategy I (A) and strategy III (B). A) A continuous and homogeneous film is observed. The Si3N4 coating marked with * comes from device fabrication. B) A homogeneous crystallization of LMO from bottom to top was achieved in

Raman study of flash-lamp annealed aqueous Cu₂ZnSnS₄ nanocrystals

• Yevhenii Havryliuk,
• Oleksandr Selyshchev,
• Mykhailo Valakh,
• Alexandra Raevskaya,
• Oleksandr Stroyuk,
• Constance Schmidt,
• Volodymyr Dzhagan and
• Dietrich R. T. Zahn

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 222–227, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.20

• University of Technology, 09107 Chemnitz, Germany L. V. Pysarzhevsky Institute of Physical Chemistry, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv, 03028, Ukraine 10.3762/bjnano.10.20 Abstract The effect of flash-lamp annealing (FLA) on the re-crystallization of thin films made of colloidal Cu2ZnSnS4

• as stabilizers. We establish the range of FLA conditions providing an efficient re-crystallization in the thin film of NCs, while preserving their kesterite structure and improving their crystallinity remarkably. The formation of secondary phases at higher FLA power densities, as well as the

• sulfide Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS); CuS; Cu-Sn-S; kesterite; phonon; pulsed light crystallization; Raman spectroscopy; secondary phase; SnS; Introduction Affordable and non-toxic solar energy materials having a high absorption coefficient and a bandgap in the solar illumination range are an ever-growing research

Study of silica-based intrinsically emitting nanoparticles produced by an excimer laser

• Imène Reghioua,
• Mattia Fanetti,
• Sylvain Girard,
• Diego Di Francesca,
• Simonpietro Agnello,
• Layla Martin-Samos,
• Marco Cannas,
• Matjaz Valant,
• Melanie Raine,
• Marc Gaillardin,
• Nicolas Richard,
• Philippe Paillet,
• Aziz Boukenter,
• Youcef Ouerdane and
• Antonino Alessi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 211–221, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.19

• , higher spatial resolution is required for further investigation. Our TEM experiments also highlighted the amorphous nature of the obtained nanoparticles for samples produced with various values of energy per pulse. Such results indicate that crystallization is not induced, so even if high energy

Uniform Sb₂S₃ optical coatings by chemical spray method

• Jako S. Eensalu,
• Atanas Katerski,
• Erki Kärber,
• Ilona Oja Acik,
• Arvo Mere and
• Malle Krunks

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 198–210, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.18

• two-step process on ZnO nanorod/TiO2 substrates [7]. In this study, we applied this two-step process, i.e., depositing amorphous Sb2S3 layers on planar substrates, followed by post-deposition crystallization. The aim of this study was to produce crystalline, continuous, Sb2S3 optical coatings with

• deposition of amorphous Sb2S3 layers. Second, all layers were thermally treated in an inert environment (vacuum, <4 × 10−6 Torr) to induce crystallization, without oxidation. Preliminary experiments at deposition temperatures lower than 182 °C (decomposition of SC(NH2)2 [14][15]) yielded inhomogeneous red

• -170 and 6-220-170) and narrows by 5 cm−1 at most after vacuum thermal treatment at 200 °C (3-210-200). The narrowing of the Raman bands due to thermal treatment leads us to suppose that crystallization continues during the vacuum thermal treatment and proceeds further at higher thermal treatment

Co-intercalated layered double hydroxides as thermal and photo-oxidation stabilizers for polypropylene

• Qian Zhang,
• Qiyu Gu,
• Fabrice Leroux,
• Pinggui Tang,
• Dianqing Li and
• Yongjun Feng

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2980–2988, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.277

• insignificant influence on the crystallization behavior of PP [24]. For HALS-Ca2Al/PP and MP-Ca2Al/PP, the typical reflection (002) peaks of HALS-Ca2Al and MP-Ca2Al clearly appear (marked with “†”) with an increase in spacing from 0.77 to 0.88 nm for HALS-Ca2Al and from 2.52 to 2.68 nm for MP-Ca2Al. Probably

• interactions between guest anions and the host LDH. Subsequently a series of HnMn′-Ca2Al/PP composite films was prepared. The results show that the addition of HnMn′-Ca2Al-LDH has no negative effect on the crystallization behavior of PP, while it improves significantly the stability of the composites against

The nanoscaled metal-organic framework ICR-2 as a carrier of porphyrins for photodynamic therapy

• Jan Hynek,
• Sebastian Jurík,
• Martina Koncošová,
• Jaroslav Zelenka,
• Ivana Křížová,
• Tomáš Ruml,
• Kaplan Kirakci,
• Ivo Jakubec,
• František Kovanda,
• Kamil Lang and
• Jan Demel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2960–2967, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.275

• preparation of nanoICR-2. The use of pure formamide (FA) or mixtures with DMF of more than 50 vol % FA at 100 °C led to the formation of nanoparticles with approximately 30 nm in diameter. The origin of the nanoparticle formation is probably the suppression of the crystallization along the c-axis leading to a

Variation of the photoluminescence spectrum of InAs/GaAs heterostructures grown by ion-beam deposition

• Alexander S. Pashchenko,
• Leonid S. Lunin,
• Eleonora M. Danilina and
• Sergei N. Chebotarev

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2794–2801, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.261

• container with the batch was carried out by a resistive heater to a temperature above the melting point of GaAs (1250 °C), which is the highest-melting compound. The melt was kept for 10 min under such conditions, then rapid shutdown of the heating elements was followed by crystallization of the initial

Improved catalytic combustion of methane using CuO nanobelts with predominantly (001) surfaces

• Qingquan Kong,
• Yichun Yin,
• Bing Xue,
• Yonggang Jin,
• Wei Feng,
• Zhi-Gang Chen,
• Shi Su and
• Chenghua Sun

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2526–2532, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.235

• treatment is employed (650 °C) as shown in Figure 2e. Moreover, the surface layers show higher crystallization after catalysis tests, as shown in Figure 2f, indicating that additional efforts to improve the thermal stability of these nanostructures is needed. Although the calculated AE and DE can provide an

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

• compare the sedimentation characteristics of both substances, the concentration of nitrate was increased 100 times (to 300 mM), which led to an intense crystallization process and the formation of visually appealing sediments. As can be seen from Figure 6, for the same solution concentrations, Pb(NO3)2

• cadmium ions that prevent the rough ZnO surface to act as crystallization precursors in the heteroepitaxial growth process. In other words, particles will, with more probability, join an existing layer and increase its thickness rather than participate in the formation of a new precursor or the next layer

Block copolymers for designing nanostructured porous coatings

• Roberto Nisticò

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

• : i) the orientation of the polymer chains within the lamella crystals, ii) the orientation of the lamella crystals within the domain structure of the block copolymer, and iii) the domain structure itself. Additionally, it is also possible to rationalize the crystallization behavior in BCs considering

• the degree of miscibility of the components. This suggests that the microphase separation morphology is also affected by the composition of the blocks forming the BCs. Semicrystalline BCs give two different crystallization modes: break-out crystallization and confined crystallization (the last one

Nanoscale characterization of the temporary adhesive of the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus

• Ana S. Viana and
• Romana Santos

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2277–2286, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.212

• microscopy (AFM) The adhesive material was observed either dry, moist or under native conditions. In the first case, footprints deposited on mica were rinsed with distilled water to prevent imaging artefacts due to salt crystallization, then allowed to dry in ambient air for at least 24 h and further dried

Surface energy of nanoparticles – influence of particle size and structure

• Dieter Vollath,
• Franz Dieter Fischer and
• David Holec

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2265–2276, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.211

• function of temperature and radius to characterize the status of crystallization. Figure 10 displays some of these results for four different particles sizes as function of the temperature [47]. The results displayed in Figure 10 shows an important feature: independent of the particle diameter, even at a

• temperature significantly lower than the melting temperature, the particles do not show perfect crystallization. It is important to keep in mind that the values given in Figure 10 are averaged over the whole particle. One may assume that a significant contribution to this reduced order stems from the surface

• different particle diameter as function of the temperature obtained by molecular dynamics simulations [47]. Even at a temperature significantly different from the melting temperature, perfect crystallization is not observed. Melting temperature of lead according to Coombes [16]. This figure shows two ranges

Intrinsic ultrasmall nanoscale silicon turns n-/p-type with SiO₂/Si₃N₄-coating

• Dirk König,
• Daniel Hiller,
• Noël Wilck,
• Birger Berghoff,
• Merlin Müller,
• Sangeeta Thakur,
• Giovanni Di Santo,
• Luca Petaccia,
• Joachim Mayer,
• Sean Smith and
• Joachim Knoch

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2255–2264, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.210

• Moore’s law to reach the Si-crystallization limit of ca. 1.5 nm [15]. In our present work, we prove by hybrid-density functional theory (h-DFT) simulations and synchrotron-based long-term ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS) that usn-Si indeed can have a massive ΔE of their electronic density of

• -type Si wafers (Sb doping, 5 to 15 × 10−3 Ω cm) of (111)-surface orientation underwent wet-chemical cleaning. After deposition the wafers were annealed in a quartz tube furnace for 1 min at 1100 °C in pure N2 ambient to induce Si crystallization. Subsequently, the samples were H2-passivated at 450 °C

• , extending the potential of structural miniaturization down to the Si-crystallization limit of ca. 1.5 nm [15]. Energy offsets with SiO2- and Si3N4-embedding for one Si10-NC (0.8 nm size) embedded in SiO2 and the other Si10-NC embedded in Si3N4 within one approximant. The main graph shows the electronic DOS

Lead-free hybrid perovskites for photovoltaics

• Oleksandr Stroyuk

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

• MAPI counterpart (Eg = 1.55 eV, ≈800 nm) [74] and comparably high absorption coefficients of ≈105 cm−1 [106]. Thick MASnI3 perovskite wafers synthesized by a temperature-reduction-induced crystallization showed an even narrower bandgap of ≈1.2 eV [107]. The FASnI3 compound with a bulkier formamidinium

• -based cells with the solution-processed HP layers is also limited by a rough interface between MABI and typical ETL/HTL materials. The interface quality can be increased by controlling the rate of MABI crystallization, in particular, by introducing additions of N-methylpyrrolidone (NMP) to DMF which is

• typically used as a solvent for the spin-coating deposition of MABI layers [160]. NMP slows the HP crystallization favoring the formation of a more uniform MABI layer and providing a ≈50% enhancement of the photocurrent generation efficiency. Simultaneously, the optimized morphology shows an enhanced

Spin-coated planar Sb₂S₃ hybrid solar cells approaching 5% efficiency

• Pascal Kaienburg,
• Benjamin Klingebiel and
• Thomas Kirchartz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2114–2124, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.200

• routes based on different precursors reported in the literature. By studying the film morphology, sub-bandgap absorption and solar cell performance, improved annealing procedures are found and the crystallization temperature is shown to be critical. In order to determine the optimized processing

• device efficiency of 2.7% was obtained for Sb/TU ratios that imply a strongly sulfur-deficient stoichiometry according to the previously mentioned study [29]. However, Gil et al. [38] performed crystallization in an H2S atmosphere which could increase the sulfur content in the film. In a follow up work

• annealing process that considerably improves substrate coverage. We compare both process routes in terms of morphology, electronic defects and device performance with a focus on the crystallization step. For optimized annealing conditions, we vary the hole transport material and illustrate a qualitatively

Uniform cobalt nanoparticles embedded in hexagonal mesoporous nanoplates as a magnetically separable, recyclable adsorbent

• Can Zhao,
• Yuexiao Song,
• Tianyu Xiang,
• Wenxiu Qu,
• Shuo Lou,
• Xiaohong Yin and
• Feng Xin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1770–1781, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.168

• Figure 1. The diffraction peaks in Figure 1a correspond well to the typical planes of CoAl LDH, suggesting its good crystallization and high purity. After coating with PDA, the resulting core–shell composite (LDH@PDA-2.5) displays characteristic diffraction peaks located at the same Bragg angles as pure