Intuitive human interface to a scanning tunnelling microscope: observation of parity oscillations for a single atomic chain

• Sumit Tewari,
• Jacob Bakermans,
• Christian Wagner,
• Federica Galli and
• Jan M. van Ruitenbeek

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 337–348, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.33

• where two macroscopic size electrodes are pulled apart until the last atom contact is formed and then on further pulling of the junction new atoms from the leads join thereby forming atomic chains. From an atomistic point of view, the reason why new atoms from the bulk (where they are having more than

• on gold atomic chains obtained using the MCBJ technique, we have well-defined electrode shapes. One of the electrodes is an atomically flat Au(111) FCC facet and the other electrode is an atomically sharp tip apex prepared using the mechanical annealing technique [18]. Eventually, when attempting to

Geometrical optimisation of core–shell nanowire arrays for enhanced absorption in thin crystalline silicon heterojunction solar cells

• Robin Vismara,
• Olindo Isabella,
• Andrea Ingenito,
• Fai Tong Si and
• Miro Zeman

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 322–331, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.31

• the flat c-Si substrates were characterised via spectroscopic ellipsometry. Finally, using physical vapour deposition, metal electrodes consisting of Ag/Cr/Al were deposited at the front (as patterned grids) and at the rear surfaces of the wafer (full area), with thickness values of 300/30/300 nm and

A Ni(OH)₂ nanopetals network for high-performance supercapacitors synthesized by immersing Ni nanofoam in water

• Donghui Zheng,
• Man Li,
• Yongyan Li,
• Chunling Qin,
• Yichao Wang and
• Zhifeng Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 281–293, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.27

• Developing a facile and environmentally friendly approach to the synthesis of nanostructured Ni(OH)2 electrodes for high-performance supercapacitor applications is a great challenge. In this work, we report an extremely simple route to prepare a Ni(OH)2 nanopetals network by immersing Ni nanofoam in water. A

• shortcoming of bulk nickel hydroxide, various morphologies of Ni(OH)2 with a large specific surface area have been developed. The conventional preparation method of Ni(OH)2 composite electrodes is to press a slurry of nickel hydroxide, conductive agents and binders on a conductive substrate (Ni foam, usually

• diffusion distance and facilitates the electrolyte transport. The as-synthesized Ni(OH)2/Ni-NF/MG electrodes demonstrate an excellent flexibility due to the ductile MG matrix and a good electrochemical performance. Moreover, the influence of immersion time in deionized water on the evolution of the Ni(OH)2

Site-specific growth of oriented ZnO nanocrystal arrays

• Rekha Bai,
• Dinesh K. Pandya,
• Sujeet Chaudhary,
• Veer Dhaka,
• Vladislav Khayrudinov,
• Jori Lemettinen,
• Christoffer Kauppinen and
• Harri Lipsanen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 274–280, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.26

• , three electrode, glass cell. The bare/polymer-coated patterned ITO substrates were used as a working electrode (2 × 2 cm2) while a platinum sheet (2.5 × 2.5 cm2) and a saturated calomel electrode (SCE) were used as the counter and reference electrodes, respectively. The electrolyte (bath) temperature

Nanoporous water oxidation electrodes with a low loading of laser-deposited Ru/C exhibit enhanced corrosion stability

• Sandra Haschke,
• Dmitrii Pankin,
• Vladimir Mikhailovskii,
• Maïssa K. S. Barr,
• Adriana Both-Engel,
• Alina Manshina and
• Julien Bachmann

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 157–167, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.15

• Ru/C layer along the inner pore walls. The amorphous material consists of metallic Ru incorporated in a carbonaceous C matrix as shown by X-ray diffraction combined with Raman and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopies. These porous electrodes reveal enhanced stability during water oxidation as compared

• “nanotubular” in the rest of the paper). These novel metal/carbon nanostructures are characterized regarding their morphology and phase composition. Finally, the electrocatalytic water oxidation performance of planar and nanostructured Ru/C electrodes is studied at pH 4. The focus lies on (1) the optimization

• oxidized, and in part hydrated. Water oxidation at nanostructured Ru/C electrodes We then applied our nanoporous Ru/C electrodes to the water oxidation reaction. Therefore, an approx. 1 μm thick ITO layer at one pore extremity serves as an electrical contact. We choose pH 4 (KH2PO4 buffer) for the

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

• attention due to their synergistic effect for improving the hydrogen evolution reaction as compared to monometallic phosphides. In this work, NiCoP modified hybrid electrodes were fabricated by a one-step electrodeposition process with TiO2 nanotube arrays (TNAs) as a carrier. X-ray diffraction

• to large-scale industrial application. Amorphous catalysts intrinsically contain more defect sites which probably work as active centers compared to the crystalline counterparts. A representative work is that by Zhang et al. where they synthesized Ni–Co–P/nickel foam electrodes via a facile

• components [25][26]. Accordingly, in this study, the TNAs work as the support material in the preparation of NixCoyP/TNA hybrid electrodes by a one-step electrodeposition process. The physiochemical and electrochemical properties of as-prepared NixCoyP/TNAs electrodes were investigated in detail. In acidic

Bidirectional biomimetic flow sensing with antiparallel and curved artificial hair sensors

• Claudio Abels,
• Antonio Qualtieri,
• Toni Lober,
• Alessandro Mariotti,
• Lily D. Chambers,
• Massimo De Vittorio,
• William M. Megill and
• Francesco Rizzi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 32–46, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.4

• sensory hairs found on crickets. To distinguish between rotation and translation normal to the substrate, two electrodes on a membrane were attached to the base of the pillar. The capacitive read-out indicates the movement of the pillar. High-density arrays were designed to increase the total capacitance

Electrolyte tuning in dye-sensitized solar cells with N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) iron(II) sensitizers

• Mariia Karpacheva,
• Catherine E. Housecroft and
• Edwin C. Constable

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 3069–3078, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.285

• additives in an I−/I3−-based electrolyte. We present data for fully masked DSCs to avoid overestimation of their performance [40]. Results and Discussion Effects of solvent and ionic liquid The working electrodes for the DSCs were prepared using commercial FTO/TiO2 electrodes immersed in a MeCN solution

• previously reported [31]. Solar cell fabrication Commercial titania electrodes (opaque, Solaronix) were used for the working electrodes. Each was rinsed with EtOH and dried on a heating plate at 500 °C for 30 min. The electrodes were cooled to 60 °C and immersed in a MeCN solution (0.5 mM) of the iron(II

• ) dye 1 containing (0.1 mM) chenodeoxycholic acid overnight. Each reference working electrode was made by dipping a commercial titania electrode in an EtOH solution (0.3 mM) of dye N719 (Solaronix) overnight. After soaking in the dye baths, the electrodes were removed, washed with the same solvent as

Apparent tunneling barrier height and local work function of atomic arrays

• Neda Noei,
• Alexander Weismann and
• Richard Berndt

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 3048–3052, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.283

• the average of the work function of the tip and the sample [21][22]. A closer look shows that factors like the image potential of the tunneling electron or the electronic structure of the electrodes complicate matters [23][24][25][26]. I still varies exponentially with z, but is replaced with an

Hydrogen-induced plasticity in nanoporous palladium

• Markus Gößler,
• Eva-Maria Steyskal,
• Markus Stütz,
• Norbert Enzinger and
• Roland Würschum

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 3013–3024, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.280

• electrochemical cell, using the same counter and reference electrodes as described for the in situ setup. As chemical dissolution processes can hardly be discerned from mechanical yielding on the basis of strain curves obtained in a dilatometer, dissolution processes should be minimised using an adequate

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

• the capacitive force between induced charges on the electrodes due to the capacitance C relative to the probed region, and a coulombic force between the local surface charges qs (if present) and their image charges on the tip – qs [58][59]. The general equation of the electrostatic force F that

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

• Autolab). The measurements were performed with Ag/AgCl and Pt coil as reference and counter electrodes, respectively, and 1 mol·L−1 sulfuric acid as electrolyte solution. The working electrodes were prepared by dropcasting the samples on glass/Cr(5 nm)/Au(60 nm) substrates prepared by thermal evaporation

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

• such as the fabrication of electrodes, etch masks, nanorods, 3-dimensional, plasmonic and superconducting nanostructures [51][52] not all of which require the highest achievable resolution. In this section we present a brief review of sub-10 nm FEBIP, focusing on the possibilities for patterning

Nanostructure-induced performance degradation of WO₃·nH₂O for energy conversion and storage devices

• Zhenyin Hai,
• Mohammad Karbalaei Akbari,
• Zihan Wei,
• Danfeng Cui,
• Chenyang Xue,
• Hongyan Xu,
• Philippe M. Heynderickx,
• Francis Verpoort and
• Serge Zhuiykov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2845–2854, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.265

• thin films displayed a maximum response of 80% for 1% of hydrogen gas at 250 °C [36]. 2D WO3·2H2O films developed by a facile dipping process exhibited a significantly improved response time as electrochromic electrodes compared to WO3 thin films [37]. The acidic precipitation reaction was also adopted

• to fabricate WO3·2H2O electrochemical energy storage electrodes with a higher rate capability than annealed WO3 [38]. The investigation of 2D sheets of WO3 and a rGO–WO3 composite prepared via a one-pot hydrothermal method suggested that the rGO–WO3 composite could be a promising material for

Graphene-enhanced metal oxide gas sensors at room temperature: a review

• Dongjin Sun,
• Yifan Luo,
• Marc Debliquy and
• Chao Zhang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2832–2844, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.264

• ], graphene has been widely used in various fields such as photocatalysts, lithium battery electrodes, supercapacitors, gas sensors and electronic devices [2][3][4] due to its high specific surface area (2630 m2/g) and high carrier mobility at room temperature [5]. The electrical properties of graphene are

• sensors based on rGO/metal oxides, which exhibit enhanced sensing performance mainly due to the formation of heterojunctions. Tai et al. [46] deposited ZnO nanoparticles and GO thin films on gold interdigital electrodes (IDEs) through a simple spray process and thermally reduced the deposits to ZnO–rGO

• during the carbothermal reduction (1150 °C). Another was the formation of Schottky barriers between ZnO and the metal electrodes, which caused ZnO to exhibit p-type semiconductor properties. The gas-sensing performance parameters of the abovementioned sensors for reducing gases based on metal oxides and

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

• silver electrodes. This is the most widely studied synthesis and is still subject to further investigation and optimization to obtain more efficient SERS substrates [2][8][9][10][11]. One modification of the electrochemical fabrication of SERS substrates involves the electrochemical etching of silver to

• radio frequency field using a frequency of 13.56 MHz. The setup consists simply of two parallel plates about 10 cm apart where the substrate is placed on the bottom electrode. These electrodes are connected to radio frequency generator generating the alternating electric field at 13.56 MHz frequency

Near-infrared light harvesting of upconverting NaYF₄:Yb³⁺/Er³⁺-based amorphous silicon solar cells investigated by an optical filter

• Daiming Liu,
• Qingkang Wang and
• Qing Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2788–2793, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.260

• and ethanol for several times, and dried at 70 °C. The a-Si:H solar cell with an intrinsic p–i–n configuration was deposited on a 3 mm glass substrate by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. The front and back contact electrodes were deposited as AZO transparent conductive films. Then, the

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

• modify electrodes (e.g., glassy carbon electrodes, GCEs) in order to decrease the overpotential value, increase sensitivity and reduce the occurrence of electrode fouling by degradation of the analyzed (bio)molecules [4]. They can increase the electron transfer rate between electrode and target molecules

• added to the analyzed solution; in C, glucose was added to the solution. The modified GCE electrodes were used as working electrodes in a conventional three-electrode setup. The scan rate was 5 mV·s−1. Arrows in B indicate the anodic and cathodic wave of the grafted ferrocene groups. Molecular-dynamics

Contactless photomagnetoelectric investigations of 2D semiconductors

• Marian Nowak,
• Marcin Jesionek,
• Barbara Solecka,
• Piotr Szperlich,
• Piotr Duka and
• Anna Starczewska

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2741–2749, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.256

• the Van der Pauw method. For these measurements of resistivity and the Hall coefficient, the samples were equipped with 150 nm thick Au electrodes deposited using a Q150R ES rotary-pumped sputter coater with a film thickness monitor. For the PME-Corbino investigations of graphene with

Low cost tips for tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy fabricated by two-step electrochemical etching of 125 µm diameter gold wires

• Antonino Foti,
• Francesco Barreca,
• Enza Fazio,
• Cristiano D’Andrea,
• Paolo Matteini,
• Onofrio Maria Maragò and
• Pietro Giuseppe Gucciardi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2718–2729, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.254

• liquid surface. Both electrodes are dipped 5 mm below the air–liquid interface (Figure 1b). The etching process is inspected with a stereo microscope (Figure 1d) mounted with a CCD camera (Thorlabs). The etching is carried out in two steps as depicted in Figure 1a–c and shown in Supporting Information

• electrodes. (c) Photograph of the electrodes. (d) Photograph of the overall setup. Temporal evolution of the two step electrochemical etching process. (a) A meniscus is formed at the air–liquid interface when the wire is immersed in the solution. (b) The meniscus height decreases rapidly during the high

Impact of the anodization time on the photocatalytic activity of TiO₂ nanotubes

• Jesús A. Díaz-Real,
• Geyla C. Dubed-Bandomo,
• Juan Galindo-de-la-Rosa,
• Luis G. Arriaga,
• Janet Ledesma-García and
• Nicolas Alonso-Vante

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2628–2643, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.244

• minimize the contribution of the charging current from the scan rate, linear-sweep voltammograms (LVS) were recorded at v = 5 mV/s in anodic direction from 0.05 to 1.0 V/RHE. A constant polarization at 0.05 V/RHE for 10 s was applied to the electrodes prior to running the LSV, as a pretreatment to minimize

• of their specific systems [27][60][61]. A similar approach was used to evaluate the PEC properties of the TNTs. For this purpose, the electrodes were illuminated in a cell with quartz window while performing LSV using the same pretreatment of 10 s polarization. The photocurrent, jph, is then obtained

• (Equation 1): where A is a constant, and n is a parameter for direct (n = 0.5) or indirect (n = 2) optical transitions. For our study, an indirect optical transition was assumed (n = 2) since it is commonly accepted as the main process governing the nanocrystalline electrodes [67][68]. Then, the

Pattern generation for direct-write three-dimensional nanoscale structures via focused electron beam induced deposition

• Lukas Keller and
• Michael Huth

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2581–2598, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.240

• vertices on both, the SiO2 substrate and gold electrodes on a different height). 4.3 Advanced shadow avoiding algorithm The advanced approach to avoid shadowing effects is based on considering the shadow effect caused by the small amount of deposit generated by any given DE on all subsequent DEs. In order

Exploring the photoleakage current and photoinduced negative bias instability in amorphous InGaZnO thin-film transistors with various active layer thicknesses

• Dapeng Wang and
• Mamoru Furuta

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2573–2580, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.239

• at 160 °C from a sintered IGZO ceramic target by DC magnetron sputtering with a mixed gas of Ar/O2 = 29.4/0.6 sccm at a deposition pressure of 1 Pa. After patterning of the IGZO films as the active channel, a SiOx etch-stopper (200 nm), source and drain electrodes, and a 200 nm-thick SiOx passivation

Thickness-dependent photoelectrochemical properties of a semitransparent Co₃O₄ photocathode

• Malkeshkumar Patel and
• Joondong Kim

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2432–2442, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.228

• is noteworthy to mention that Co3O4 films grown by Kirkendall diffusion have the advantages of a porous structure, a higher growth rate, and easy fabrication. Here, we report thickness-controlled Co3O4 photoactive electrodes in PEC cells that include the water oxidation and the reduction potentials

• can be controlled by film thickness. Having identified this useful semitransparency of Co3O4, we prepared working electrodes to study the thickness-dependent performance of the photoelectrochemical cell. Figure 2c shows a semitransparent Co3O4 working electrode with an active area of 1 cm2. Clear

• electrodes with a potential of 1.65 V vs a Co3O4 electrode in 400 mL of an alkaline bath (1 M KOH). The measured current value is presented in Figure 6b for a current density of 25 mA·cm−2 that is stable over a period of 24 h. In order to see the morphological changes after 24 h, the Co3O4 electrodes were

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

• , nanostructures of ZnO were synthesized in four different morphologies: nanorods, nanoneedles, nanotubes and nanoplates. To determine the peculiarities of adsorption for each morphology, a series of electrochemical measurements were carried out using these nanostructured ZnO coatings on the working electrodes

• were carried out using these nanostructured ZnO coatings on the working electrodes using aqueous solutions of Pb(NO3)2 and Cd(NO3)2 as analytes with different concentrations. Experimental Design and fabrication of the ZnO nanostructure-based electrochemical sensor Three morphologies of well-aligned one

• carried out with the LAB18 thin film deposition system (Kurt J. Lesker, USA) in DC magnetron sputtering mode. As a result, a set of electrodes consisted of four mutually separated planar elements, as illustrated in Figure 1. All of the manipulations described below were carried out using a metal mask