On the stability of microwave-fabricated SERS substrates – chemical and morphological considerations

• Limin Wang,
• Aisha Adebola Womiloju,
• Christiane Höppener,
• Ulrich S. Schubert and
• Stephanie Hoeppener

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 541–551, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.44

• acceleration voltage of 5 kV utilizing the in-lens detector. Software and method The automated image processing and analysis to determine the nanoparticle size distributions was performed by using the ImageJ 1.47v software. The workflow involved the application of a particle segmentation algorithm, which uses

• multiple watershed functions to derive the projected particle area. For this, the area occupied by the nanoparticles is identified by doing a manual threshold, which creates a binary image. The particles on the edges of the images were excluded for data extraction. Finally, a histogram of the area

The preparation temperature influences the physicochemical nature and activity of nanoceria

• Robert A. Yokel,
• Wendel Wohlleben,
• Johannes Georg Keller,
• Matthew L. Hancock,
• Jason M. Unrine,
• D. Allan Butterfield and
• Eric A. Grulke

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 525–540, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.43

• . (C) HAADF STEM image. (D–G) EDS-determined chemical composition. NM-212 cerium valence determined by electron energy loss spectroscopy. The left image was obtained at the edge, the right image at the ENM core. Thermogravimetric analysis of NM-212. Representative and near average of three

• determinations. Non-baseline corrected Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy of NM-212 with peaks indicated by dashed lines at 1630, 1420, and 1320 cm−1. Transmission electron microscopy image of calcined solvothermally synthesized nanoceria. Electron energy loss spectroscopy of calcined solvothermally

Determining amplitude and tilt of a lateral force microscopy sensor

• Oliver Gretz,
• Alfred J. Weymouth,
• Thomas Holzmann,
• Korbinian Pürckhauer and
• Franz J. Giessibl

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 517–524, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.42

•  4b shows an STM image of a single iron adatom [26]. The red solid curve in Figure 4c shows the current profile ⟨I⟩ along a line in the x-direction over a single iron adatom on Cu(111) with tip oscillation. The blue dashed curve is the fitted , yielding A = 1050 pm ± 2% and θ = 1.59° ± 2%. The

• the terahertz range [29][30] and is not excited by the tip, which oscillates in the kilohertz range. Figure 7a shows the I(x, z) current map without oscillation. In the inset, an STM image of a CO molecule with a CO tip is shown [31]. The red solid curve in Figure 7b shows the current profile ⟨I

• different heights zi. (b) 2D current map of an iron adatom on Cu(111) taken with a metal tip. The dashed white line indicates the current line at z0 at which the 2D current map is used to calculate the curve with oscillation. The inset shows a constant current STM image of an iron adatom on Cu(111), which

Boosting of photocatalytic hydrogen evolution via chlorine doping of polymeric carbon nitride

• Malgorzata Aleksandrzak,
• Michalina Kijaczko,
• Wojciech Kukulka,
• Daria Baranowska,
• Martyna Baca,
• Beata Zielinska and
• Ewa Mijowska

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 473–484, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.38

• Ar as a carrier). Each catalyst was tested for 3 h. Every hour, 100 µL of gas was withdrawn from the reactor and injected into the gas chromatograph to measure the amount of H2 evolved. TEM images of PCN (a, b) and Cl-PCN (c, d). Scanning transmission electron microscopy image of Cl-PCN (e) and

Rapid controlled synthesis of gold–platinum nanorods with excellent photothermal properties under 808 nm excitation

• Jialin Wang,
• Qianqian Duan,
• Min Yang,
• Boye Zhang,
• Li Guo,
• Pengcui Li,
• Wendong Zhang and
• Shengbo Sang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 462–472, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.37

• and the TEM image of the product Au@Pt-4 confirmed our conjecture, as shown in Figure 3a and 3b. The LSPR peak of Au@Pt-4 is at a wavelength of 728 nm, the length is about 34.6 ± 2.4 nm, the width is about 10.5 ± 1.2 nm, the aspect ratio is about 3.3, and the thickness of the Pt shell on the surface

• that the aspect ratio of the NRs increased. Further from the obtained TEM image of the product Au@Pt-4, it was statistically concluded that the length is about 30.4 ± 1.9 nm and the width of the middle is about 6.8 ± 1.2 nm. In particular, the width of the tip is about 11.5 ± 1.7 nm, which is wider

• damaged by the laser and their original optical properties were retained. The photograph of the Au@Pt NRs solution also reflects that it has the same great water dispersibility before and after laser irradiation. Finally, the TEM image in Figure 7d visually confirmed that Au@Pt NRs still maintained their

Reconstruction of a 2D layer of KBr on Ir(111) and electromechanical alteration by graphene

• Zhao Liu,
• Antoine Hinaut,
• Stefan Peeters,
• Sebastian Scherb,
• Ernst Meyer,
• Maria Clelia Righi and
• Thilo Glatzel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 432–439, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.35

• the iridium terraces. Figure 1a shows a large-scale topography image of a KBr island on Ir(111) measured by nc-AFM at room temperature. The monoatomic steps between the Ir terraces have a height of 235 pm as expected for Ir(111). The KBr islands are monolayers with an average height of 340 pm under

• structures is presented in the high-resolution image in Figure 2a. The line structures consist of two atomic-scale protrusions separated by a valley. Two types of orthogonal lattice arrangements are observed, that is, one with a regular single-atom repetition along the stripes (red line) and another with a

• the double-row structure connected by Br− ions, which are more strongly bound to the Ir substrate. Figure 3a shows a top view of the optimized structure superimposed to a part of the experimental image. The side view in Figure 3b details the atomic distances along the structure of 641 pm between the

Solution combustion synthesis of a nanometer-scale Co₃O₄ anode material for Li-ion batteries

• Monika Michalska,
• Huajun Xu,
• Qingmin Shan,
• Shiqiang Zhang,
• Yohan Dall'Agnese,
• Yu Gao,
• Amrita Jain and
• Marcin Krajewski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 424–431, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.34

• powder magnified (a) 25,000 times and (b) 100,000 times. (c) TEM image of the Co3O4 powder (inset: a particle size distribution diagram). Electrochemical properties of the Co3O4 electrodes. (a) The first to fifth cycle profiles measured at current density of 100 mA·g−1. (b) Cycling performance measured

A stretchable triboelectric nanogenerator made of silver-coated glass microspheres for human motion energy harvesting and self-powered sensing applications

• Hui Li,
• Yaju Zhang,
• Yonghui Wu,
• Hui Zhao,
• Weichao Wang,
• Xu He and
• Haiwu Zheng

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 402–412, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.32

• layer of silicone rubber and the middle layer of SCGMs. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image (Figure 1b) and the energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) measurement (Figure 1c) show that the SCGMs are evenly dispersed across the silicone rubber. Figure 1d presents the flow chart for the

• load resistances. The maximum power is 308 μW under an external load resistance of 2 MΩ. (e) Photograph of the custom-made resistance test platform. (f) Sheet resistance under tensile strain from 0 to 300%. Optical image of the power supplied by padding the S-TENG with the hand for (a) a calculator and

Spontaneous shape transition of Mn_xGe_1−x islands to long nanowires

• S. Javad Rezvani,
• Luc Favre,
• Gabriele Giuli,
• Yiming Wubulikasimu,
• Isabelle Berbezier,
• Augusto Marcelli,
• Luca Boarino and
• Nicola Pinto

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 366–374, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.30

• seeds would have induced a Mn gradient with a higher concentration close to the Mn droplet, which in our case was not detected [7][30][31]. Second, the width of the NWs is remarkably constant with a very narrow size distribution. In addition, a cross-section HRTEM image along the [110] zone axis (Figure

• distribution of the NWs. The whiskers define minimum and maximum value of each dimension, while the boxes show the 25th and 75th percentile of the distribution with the middle line representing the average value of ≈700 nm for the length and ≈80 nm for the diameter. (a) SEM image of a typical NW, ≃700 nm long

• , and Ge + Mn in the NW and in the buffer layer. In all panels the dashed lines highlight the NW region. Cross-section image of the NW along its length. (a) TEM image of a 1.15 μm long NW capped with a Pt layer. (b) HRTEM image along [110] zone axis. The dashed lines highlight the height of the NW of

Intracranial recording in patients with aphasia using nanomaterial-based flexible electronics: promises and challenges

• Qingchun Wang and
• Wai Ting Siok

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 330–342, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.27

• recording technique for real-time functional brain mapping. It permits real-time functional mapping of cognitive functions and dynamically images neural pathways between brain regions during cognitive processing, in contrast to fMRI and PET, which offer a static image of functional activity without temporal

Exploring the fabrication and transfer mechanism of metallic nanostructures on carbon nanomembranes via focused electron beam induced processing

• Christian Preischl,
• Linh Hoang Le,
• Elif Bilgilisoy,
• Armin Gölzhäuser and
• Hubertus Marbach

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 319–329, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.26

• of the square, which due to the lack of proximity effects are exposed to a lower overall electron dose than the center, are not fully covered. The AG process results in the formation of presumably pure crystalline iron [10][12], as evidenced in the blowup SE image in Figure 2c and the orange spectrum

• short waiting time of 5 min, clear and well-defined square deposits are visible in the SEM image for all three applied doses. Local AE spectra of the structures fabricated from 1.01 and 6.08 C/cm2 reveal that the structures consist of iron with very high purity. When the waiting time is increased to 92

• onto a bulk SiO2 substrate the same structure could be relocated. However, the appearance in the SEM image of the structure changed (Figure 4c). A bright circular shape is located around the structure. Furthermore, no clear iron nanocrystals are visible anymore in the corresponding blowup image

The patterning toolbox FIB-o-mat: Exploiting the full potential of focused helium ions for nanofabrication

• Victor Deinhart,
• Lisa-Marie Kern,
• Jan N. Kirchhof,
• Sabrina Juergensen,
• Joris Sturm,
• Enno Krauss,
• Thorsten Feichtner,
• Sviatoslav Kovalchuk,
• Michael Schneider,
• Dieter Engel,
• Bastian Pfau,
• Bert Hecht,
• Kirill I. Bolotin,
• Stephanie Reich and
• Katja Höflich

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 304–318, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.25

• manufacturer). Placing the crossover into the aperture leads to the largest possible current but also to the most divergent beam. Placing the crossover above the aperture reduces not only the beam current but also all image errors by cutting off non-paraxial radiation. While the local sputter rate depends

• electrically contact the graphene sheet and actuate the resonators electrostatically. The motion of the devices is detected using a Michelson interferometer [48]. Figure 6a depicts a secondary electron HIM image of a patterned trampoline graphene resonator. A He ion current of 3 pA was employed at an

• large-area removal of the surrounding gold. Figure 7b,c depicts the corresponding scanning electron beam micrographs. The limited image quality of the lithographically defined tetramer is caused by the fact that the isolated structures are located on a glass substrate, leading to severe charging effects

Doxorubicin-loaded gold nanorods: a multifunctional chemo-photothermal nanoplatform for cancer management

• Uzma Azeem Awan,
• Abida Raza,
• Shaukat Ali,
• Rida Fatima Saeed and
• Nosheen Akhtar

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 295–303, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.24

• . After that, cells were illuminated with a 808 nm NIR laser (power density = 1.5 W/cm2 for 2 min) with a beam spot of 6 mm in diameter and incubated at 37 °C for 24 h. The MTT assay was performed to measure cell inhibition. (a) TEM image of monodispersed GNRs. (b) Histogram showing the aspect ratio of

Differences in surface chemistry of iron oxide nanoparticles result in different routes of internalization

• Barbora Svitkova,
• Vlasta Zavisova,
• Veronika Nemethova,
• Martina Koneracka,
• Miroslava Kretova,
• Filip Razga,
• Monika Ursinyova and
• Alena Gabelova

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 270–281, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.22

• File 1, Figure S3). Image analysis revealed a blocking of Tr internalization after cell exposure to CPZ and MDC, inhibitors of CME, although the effect of MDC was less pronounced. A substantial reduction of ChT internalization was found after cell exposure to F and N, inhibitors of CavME; the effect of

• contrast, none of the CavME inhibitors reduced significantly the entry of BSA-SO-MNPs into A549 cells. CME as the predominant entry pathway of BSA-SO-MNPs into A549 cells was confirmed quantitatively (by AAS) as well as qualitatively (by image analysis), two standard methods commonly utilized to monitor

The nanomorphology of cell surfaces of adhered osteoblasts

• Christian Voelkner,
• Mirco Wendt,
• Regina Lange,
• Max Ulbrich,
• Martina Gruening,
• Susanne Staehlke,
• Barbara Nebe,
• Ingo Barke and
• Sylvia Speller

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 242–256, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.20

• the only method capable of nanoscopic three-dimensional imaging of living cells without the application of dye labels or other modifications. Though SICM was developed already in 1989 [19], it was not much exploited until the method was used to image a number of murine and human cell lines [23

• image of a whole osteoblast in the fixed state. The morphology is polar, that is, a flat region (lamellipodium) at the “leading” side and a bulkier region containing the nucleus at the trailing side were formed. The height of the bulky side of the shown cell is 8 µm while that of the lamellipodium is

• flexible. Figure 2a shows an example of a typical SICM topography of the border region in the live state (see Figure 2b for the corresponding bright-field microscopy image). Features with lateral dimensions of approximately 1 µm × 0.8 µm protruding 100–300 nm from the surrounding (Figure 2c), at a density

Extended iron phthalocyanine islands self-assembled on a Ge(001):H surface

• Rafal Zuzak,
• Marek Szymonski and
• Szymon Godlewski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 232–241, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.19

• consider now high-resolution imaging analysis. Already within the STM image in Figure 3a, we can notice lobes that differ in their apparent height. The separation between differently bright nearest neighboring lobes, which reaches approximately 0.7 nm, suggests that they originate from the same molecule

• very same molecule are colored in different shades of gray. The intensity of the color corresponds schematically to the apparent height of the recorded STM image and, thus, mimic the real height of the specific part of the molecule, that is, the outer benzene ring. This is indicated in the lower part

• information about the island structure, we consider the image displayed in Figure 3d and the magnification in Figure 3e. Within the image in Figure 3d, the dashed white line indicates the island domain boundary, which is perpendicular to the surface reconstruction rows. The STM image of the molecular island

Scanning transmission helium ion microscopy on carbon nanomembranes

• Daniel Emmrich,
• Annalena Wolff,
• Nikolaus Meyerbröker,
• Jörg K. N. Lindner,
• André Beyer and
• Armin Gölzhäuser

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 222–231, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.18

• can be optimized either for most efficient signal collection or for maximum image contrast. The designed setup allows for the imaging of thin low-density materials that otherwise provide little signal or contrast and for a clear end-point detection in the fabrication of nanopores. In addition, the

• detector is able to determine the thickness of membranes with sub-nanometer precision by quantitatively evaluating the image signal and comparing the results with Monte Carlo simulations. The thickness determined by the dark-field transmission detector is compared to X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and

• to image a sample area and vary the acceptance angles from 3 to 98 mrad under constant microscope conditions. Thus, it is possible to study the behavior of the STIM signal at different acceptance angles. Results and Discussion STIM detector design The designed dark-field STIM detector (Figure 1a) is

Determination of elastic moduli of elastic–plastic microspherical materials using nanoindentation simulation without mechanical polishing

• Hongzhou Li and
• Jialian Chen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 213–221, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.17

• distribution inside a microsphere of 11.5 µm radius for an indentation depth of 1.15 µm at E/σy = 10: (a) at maximum load; (b) after complete unloading; (c) enlarged image of the residual stress distribution. Funding This work was supported by the Startup Fund from Fujian Normal University; and the National

TiO_x/Pt₃Ti(111) surface-directed formation of electronically responsive supramolecular assemblies of tungsten oxide clusters

• Marco Moors,
• Yun An,
• Agnieszka Kuc and
• Kirill Yu. Monakhov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 203–212, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.16

• observed for W3O9 immobilized on a surface. Figure 3b shows a single W3O9 cluster after an intermediate image scan with a negative bias voltage of −1.0 V, resulting in an effective current flow from the negatively charged sample to the positively charged tip. Obviously, this treatment has a significant

• of the z’-TiOx phase grown on Pt3Ti(111): (a) An overview image (50 × 50 nm; UB = 1.57 V; IT = 160 pA) of the clean oxide phase. In the upper left area, oxide-free patches of the metallic substrate can still be found. (b) An atomic resolution scan (9.4 × 9.4 nm; UB = 1.22 V; IT = 160 pA) of the z

• (7.7 × 7.7 nm; UB = 1.00 V; IT = 86 pA) of individual W3O9 clusters. STM images of the w’-TiOx phase grown on Pt3Ti(111): (a) An overview image (100 × 100 nm; UB = 2.50 V; IT = 62 pA) of the clean oxide phase. The oxide film covers the entire surface. (b) A high-resolution scan (50 × 50 nm; UB = 1.57 V

Toward graphene textiles in wearable eye tracking systems for human–machine interaction

• Ata Jedari Golparvar and
• Murat Kaya Yapici

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 180–189, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.14

• . For example, although camera-based eye tracking setups solve the invasivity issue and display long-term functionality, they are hardly affordable due to their hardware (e.g., camera) and image processing requirements. Additionally, in videooculography, the camera has to be positioned at a location

• tailored explicitly to EOG-based human–computer/robot interaction (HCI/HRI). (a) Schematic of the three-step process to obtain conformal graphene coatings on a variety of textiles including nylon, cotton, and polyester; (b) image of the graphene textile “active” electrode with integrated buffer circuitry

Imaging of SARS-CoV-2 infected Vero E6 cells by helium ion microscopy

• Natalie Frese,
• Patrick Schmerer,
• Martin Wortmann,
• Matthias Schürmann,
• Matthias König,
• Michael Westphal,
• Friedemann Weber,
• Holger Sudhoff and
• Armin Gölzhäuser

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 172–179, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.13

• compensation capability, the HIM can image insulating biological samples without additional conductive coatings. Here, we present an exploratory HIM study of SARS-CoV-2 infected Vero E6 cells, in which several areas of interaction between cells and virus particles, as well as among virus particles, were imaged

• field of cell biology for imaging various human and animal cells. These include cartilage [2], cancer [3], liver [4], kidney [5] and stem cells [6], as well as fibrin fibers [7]. To visualize viruses and their host organisms, HIM has so far been applied to image T4 phage-infected E. coli bacteria [8

• , while many more cell lines have been reported to be refractory to SARS-CoV-2 infection [15]. Both scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) have been used to image SARS-CoV-2 [16][17][18][19][20]. While TEM achieves unsurpassed resolution and can visualize

Paper-based triboelectric nanogenerators and their applications: a review

• Jing Han,
• Nuo Xu,
• Yuchen Liang,
• Mei Ding,
• Junyi Zhai,
• Qijun Sun and
• Zhong Lin Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 151–171, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.12

Mapping the local dielectric constant of a biological nanostructured system

• Wescley Walison Valeriano,
• Rodrigo Ribeiro Andrade,
• Juan Pablo Vasco,
• Angelo Malachias,
• Bernardo Ruegger Almeida Neves,
• Paulo Sergio Soares Guimarães and
• Wagner Nunes Rodrigues

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 139–150, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.11

• . The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image presented in Figure 2 shows the nanostructured section of a fragment of the red region indicated in Figure 1a. The section was partially polished using a focused ion beam (FIB) and the multilayered structure is clearly visible. The corrugated surface is the

• voltage, we obtain a parabolic function, as can be seen in Figure 4. Fitting the data with the function where VSP is the tip–sample surface potential difference due to their different work functions [21], we obtain the coefficient α. Construction of the relative permittivity map From the topographic image

• in the sample image, we have 21 pairs of values, that is, a frequency shift and its respective bias voltage. Through Equation 7 we obtain the α coefficient for each pixel element in the sample, Figure 5b. The parameters in Equation 6, except the α coefficient and the thickness h, are the same for all

Fusion of purple membranes triggered by immobilization on carbon nanomembranes

• René Riedel,
• Natalie Frese,
• Fang Yang,
• Martin Wortmann,
• Raphael Dalpke,
• Daniel Rhinow,
• Norbert Hampp and
• Armin Gölzhäuser

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 93–101, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.8

• sedimentation: (a, b) initial drop-casting experiments showing a low substrate coverage of approx. 35% and/or cluster formation. (c–f) Sedimentation in an electric field: (c, e) AFM image at different magnifications, (d) SEM image and (f) PF-KPFM image showing the uniform orientation of the PM fragments with

The role of gold atom concentration in the formation of Cu–Au nanoparticles from the gas phase

• Yuri Ya. Gafner,
• Svetlana L. Gafner,
• Darya A. Ryzkova and
• Andrey V. Nomoev

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 72–81, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.6

• shape corresponding to a minimum of surface energy. Therefore, we can conclude that the Cu3Au clusters precisely hit the substrate in the liquid state through collision, which corroborates the HRTEM image of a flat 2D nanoparticle [3]. Since particles with a maximum size of 5.5 nm (approx. 7000 atoms

• stage of the simulation (T = 77 K, t = 25 ns). Dashed lines show the average content of copper atoms in binary Cu–Au nanoparticles at various target compositions. Image of a Cu60Au40 nanoparticle obtained by MD modeling. Copper atoms are shown in green and gold atoms are shown in red. Funding This