Impact of GaAs(100) surface preparation on EQE of AZO/Al₂O₃/p-GaAs photovoltaic structures

• Piotr Caban,
• Rafał Pietruszka,
• Jarosław Kaszewski,
• Monika Ożga,
• Bartłomiej S. Witkowski,
• Krzysztof Kopalko,
• Piotr Kuźmiuk,
• Katarzyna Gwóźdź,
• Ewa Płaczek-Popko,
• Krystyna Lawniczak-Jablonska and
• Marek Godlewski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 578–592, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.48

• structure of the AZO/GaAs interface is not seen on the images (the intermediate layer was not found between the two layers). One can observe that in the samples A3 and B3 (and more slightly in the samples A2 and B2) a ridged AZO/GaAs interface is present. Conversely, in A4 and B4 samples, the interfaces are

• exhibited even interfaces as shown in the cross-section images. In contrast, the highest RMS values were found in the samples etched with HCl-based solution. Additionally, the interfaces in these samples were very uneven. There is no explicit correlation between the use of sulfur passivation and the

Local stiffness and work function variations of hexagonal boron nitride on Cu(111)

• Abhishek Grewal,
• Yuqi Wang,
• Matthias Münks,
• Klaus Kern and
• Markus Ternes

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 559–565, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.46

• –4.5 V is due to varying contributions from the two interfaces of the dielectric layer. We therefore evaluate the unambiguous shift of the second peak at around 5.6–6.0 V as a measure for the local Φ variation. Our nc-AFM allows us to employ with Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) a second

Interface interaction of transition metal phthalocyanines with strontium titanate (100)

• Reimer Karstens,
• Thomas Chassé and
• Heiko Peisert

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 485–496, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.39

• at interfaces; strontium titanate; transition metal phthalocyanines; Introduction Interfaces between organic semiconductors and oxides are of increasing fundamental interest. Such interfaces determine key properties of a broad variety of electronic devices. Common examples are dye-sensitized solar

• cells, field-effect transistors (FETs), and sensors [1][2]. Possibly, one of the most extensively studied oxide material in this context is rutile titanium dioxide [3]. However, also interfaces between SrTiO3 (STO) and organic molecules are studied increasingly using both experimental [4][5] and

• theoretical approaches [6]. Possible applications of STO/organic interfaces include FETs [7][8], photodiodes [9], and organic spin valves[10]. Strontium titanate is a semiconductor with an indirect band gap of 3.25 eV [11] crystallizing in a perovskite structure with cubic unit cell. The conductivity can be

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

• satisfies the needs of reliability for flexible tactile sensors in realizing human–machine interfaces. This work expands the potential application of S-TENGs from wearable electronics and smart sensing systems to real-time robotics control and virtual reality/augmented reality interactions. Keywords: human

• ]. This form of energy conversion can not only provide sustainable power for electronic systems, but also provide reliable solutions for active sensing and human–computer interfaces [14]. A stretchable TENG with double-helix structure was previously designed. It consisted of silver-coated glass

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

• high Curie temperature is necessary. Mn–Ge alloys epitaxially grown on Ge substrates have been shown to be promising candidates for such spintronic systems [11][12][13]. Transition metal germanides that have sharp interfaces and a tunable Schottky barrier, in particular, can advantageously replace

Structural and optical characteristics determined by the sputtering deposition conditions of oxide thin films

• Petronela Prepelita,
• Florin Garoi and
• Valentin Craciun

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 354–365, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.29

• dielectric interfaces in the structure of a metamaterial. This paper reports the experimental conditions for deposition of ZnO and SiO2 films as an improvement of the rfMS vacuum deposition technique for dielectric layers (e.g., ZnO and SiO2) onto quartz substrates. Here we investigated SiO2 and ZnO thin

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

• , atomic composition, and crystallographic phase [33][34]. Here, the impact of He irradiation on the ferromagnetic multilayer [Co0.6/Pt0.8]15 is studied [35][36]. This multilayer shows perpendicular magnetic anisotropy arising from the Co/Pt interfaces and forms nanometer-scale, labyrinth-like domains with

• magnetization component. Based on previous experiments, we assume that the interfaces inside the multilayer are modified so severely that the magnetization switched to in-plane [32][33][34][35]. In contrast, an ion dose of 10 ions/nm2 does not lead to a modification of the multilayer that is observable in the

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

• that excess membrane was “consumed” in more anisotropic or spread cell shapes to compensate for the increased surface-to-volume ratio in the course of spreading. Ruffles could serve as a membrane reserve prior to formation of large adhesion interfaces. This would be compatible with the observation that

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

• ), and blinks have been used for hands-free operation in HCI and human–machine interfaces (HMIs) [11]. With the help of HCI and HMIs one can emulate a computer mouse [12], type using a virtual keyboard [13], drive a wheelchair or control a robotic arm [14], change TV channels [15], and even improve user

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

• , their interfaces become electrically charged. Due to contact electrification (CE, or triboelectrification) [86], opposite charges will be induced when the two materials are separated by a mechanical force, which will correspondingly generate a potential difference between the two materials due to

• (most common design in previous works) as a typical representative example, we further systematically analyze the working mechanism of the detailed charge-transfer process. Figure 2b elucidates the charge generation and the electron-transfer process at the friction interfaces (paper/the other dielectric

• layer) and electrodes (upper/bottom electrode) during one contact–separation cycle of P-TENGs. The electrification occurs at the interfaces between the paper and the other dielectric layer owing to different electronegativities when they come into contact. Different triboelectric charges (positive and

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

• -standing, large-area PM monolayer remains challenging. Previous approaches for the oriented assembly of PM were based on solid supports [8][29][30] or interfaces between liquids [31][32]. Other approaches, by implementing transmembrane proteins such as BR in lipid bilayers, have so far been used only to

Atomic layer deposited films of Al₂O₃ on fluorine-doped tin oxide electrodes: stability and barrier properties

• Hana Krýsová,
• Michael Neumann-Spallart,
• Hana Tarábková,
• Pavel Janda,
• Ladislav Kavan and
• Josef Krýsa

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 24–34, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.2

• of electrified interfaces is particularly challenging, because electron or hole transport through the coating must be maintained. Previously, ALD and other coating techniques have been shown to protect a semiconducting hematite electrode against corrosion and photocorrosion by using titanium dioxide

• thin layers of insulators may allow for electron transport across these layers if tunnelling occurs. It will be shown in the next sections that, for the thinnest deposited layers, this process is responsible for electrical currents passing across bulk solid/Al2O3/liquid interfaces. A special feature of

• alumina coatings was ascribed to its capability of passivating semiconductor/electrolyte interfaces, thus reducing photogenerated charge-carrier recombination (e.g., on BiVO4 [16]). In this work, Al2O3 films were deposited via ALD on thermally grown SiO2 on silicon or on fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO

Towards 3D self-assembled rolled multiwall carbon nanotube structures by spontaneous peel off

• Jonathan Quinson

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1865–1872, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.168

• typically found at the Nx/Cx+1 interface (Figure 1b, Figure 4, Figure 5, Supporting Information File 1, Figure S1 and Figure S2, and [16]). In Figure 1b, these features can be observed at the N2/C3 interface. After peeling off and rolling (Figure 1a), the N section of the broken Nx/Cx+1 interfaces becomes

• curvature that is not usually reported for MWCNT forests or MWCNTs grown under a hydrocarbon flow [21][23]. Control experiments show that creating C1/N2 or N1/C2 interfaces does not lead to rolled structures (Supporting Information File 1, Figure S1 and Figure S2). Thus, two junctions are necessary to

• develop complex structures. The formation of MWCNT structures with a spherical shape is likely derived from a combination of peeling off and rolling phenomena. The peeling off is achieved by developing weak interfaces between different sections of a MWCNT forest. Developing a Nx/Cx+1 is an example of how

Self-standing heterostructured NiC_x-NiFe-NC/biochar as a highly efficient cathode for lithium–oxygen batteries

• Shengyu Jing,
• Xu Gong,
• Shan Ji,
• Linhui Jia,
• Bruno G. Pollet,
• Sheng Yan and
• Huagen Liang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1809–1821, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.163

• seems to facilitate the process of adsorption/desorption of intermediate species and the charge transfer ability during hydrogen evolution reaction (HER)/OER. In addition, the interfaces between Ni3C and N-doped C probably strongly reshuffle the electronic density, resulting in enhanced catalytic

Nanomechanics of few-layer materials: do individual layers slide upon folding?

• Ronaldo J. C. Batista,
• Rafael F. Dias,
• Ana P. M. Barboza,
• Alan B. de Oliveira,
• Taise M. Manhabosco,
• Thiago R. Gomes-Silva,
• Matheus J. S. Matos,
• Andreij C. Gadelha,
• Cassiano Rabelo,
• Luiz G. L. Cançado,
• Ado Jorio,
• Hélio Chacham and
• Bernardo R. A. Neves

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1801–1808, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.162

• layered materials as it determines the interlayer slip, which is the dominant mechanism to relieve stress at van der Waals interfaces, leading to phenomena such as the change from plate-like to membrane-like shapes in graphene, hBN, and MoS2 bubbles [12] or the circumferential faceting of multi-walled

• insights about the interlayer interaction in the growing field of heterolayered 2D materials, probing the mechanical properties of typical interfaces such as graphene/hBN, graphene/TMDs, hBN/TMDs, or any other technologically relevant two-dimensional heterostructure. (a) AFM image of a folded edge of a

Molecular dynamics modeling of the influence forming process parameters on the structure and morphology of a superconducting spin valve

• Alexander Vakhrushev,
• Aleksey Fedotov,
• Vladimir Boian,
• Roman Morari and
• Anatolie Sidorenko

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1776–1788, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.160

• composition layers under high vacuum and stationary temperature conditions. The structure and thickness of the formed nanolayers and the distribution of elements at their interfaces were studied. The alternating layers of the formed nanosystem and their interfaces are shown to have significantly different

Absorption and photoconductivity spectra of amorphous multilayer structures

• Oxana Iaseniuc and
• Mihail Iovu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1757–1763, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.158

• absorption depending on the nature and the thickness of each amorphous layer, on the wavelength, and on contact phenomena at the interfaces between different layers and between the amorphous layers and the metal electrodes with different work functions. Keywords: amorphous multilayer structures

• applied voltage. When a positive voltage is applied to the illuminated Al electrode, the maximum is shifted toward the region of higher energies of the spectrum. As was mentioned in [8], this behavior can be associated with contact phenomena at the interfaces between metallic electrode and amorphous

• polarity for all investigated amorphous thin-film structures. This result can be explained by drift processes of non-equilibrium carriers in amorphous semiconductors as well as by the contact phenomena between interfaces of different amorphous materials and the metallic electrodes. Transmission spectra T

The influence of an interfacial hBN layer on the fluorescence of an organic molecule

• Christine Brülke,
• Oliver Bauer and
• Moritz M. Sokolowski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1663–1684, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.149

• ]. Specifically, the use of 2DMs in layered heterostructures has been promoted [2][3]. Here, one challenge lies in the understanding of not only the processes in the individual materials, but also of those that occur at the interfaces between layers of different materials. Advantageously, some 2DMs can be grown

• energy transfer [6]. Here, CT is in our focus since energy transfer, although additionally present, varies less abruptly on the scale of single layers [7]. A simple energy diagram of the CT process of a fluorescent molecule across interfaces is depicted in Figure 1. As an example, we use the sample

PTCDA adsorption on CaF₂ thin films

• Philipp Rahe

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1615–1622, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.144

• ); scanning tunnelling microscopy; Introduction The study of molecular adsorption on thin insulating films is motivated by the possibility to investigate and utilise molecular properties in their largely undisturbed state [1]. Molecule–thin film insulator interfaces are additionally of central importance in

Detecting stable adsorbates of (1S)-camphor on Cu(111) with Bayesian optimization

• Jari Järvi,
• Patrick Rinke and
• Milica Todorović

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1577–1589, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.140

• Jari Jarvi Patrick Rinke Milica Todorovic Department of Applied Physics, Aalto University, P.O. Box 11100, 00076 Aalto, Espoo, Finland 10.3762/bjnano.11.140 Abstract Identifying the atomic structure of organic–inorganic interfaces is challenging with current research tools. Interpreting the

• monolayer formation and hybrid interfaces. In the following sections, we first introduce our computational methods for adsorbate structure identification with BOSS, the first-principles calculations, and their application on detecting the stable adsorbates of camphor on Cu(111). We then present our results

Adsorption and self-assembly of porphyrins on ultrathin CoO films on Ir(100)

• Feifei Xiang,
• Tobias Schmitt,
• Marco Raschmann and
• M. Alexander Schneider

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1516–1524, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.134

• with respect to functionalization and corresponding potential applications, porphyrins represent a fascinating class of molecules the properties of which at inorganic interfaces still have to be fully understood [1]. The investigation of adsorption properties and structures using surface science

Self-assembly and spectroscopic fingerprints of photoactive pyrenyl tectons on hBN/Cu(111)

• Domenik M. Zimmermann,
• Knud Seufert,
• Luka Ðorđević,
• Tobias Hoh,
• Sushobhan Joshi,
• Tomas Marangoni,
• Davide Bonifazi and
• Willi Auwärter

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1470–1483, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.130

• ; Introduction Atomic-level control of molecular materials at interfaces is crucial to fully exploit the materials’ potential in electronic, optoelectronic, spintronic, and sensing applications [1][2]. Specifically, the effects of adsorption, conformation, and supramolecular organization on the resulting

• electronic and optical properties of molecular tectons and the respective assemblies must be comprehensively characterized [3][4][5][6]. Diverse self-assembly protocols have been extensively explored on metal substrates, and organic–metal interfaces have been analyzed in great detail [7][8]. In many cases

Impact of fluorination on interface energetics and growth of pentacene on Ag(111)

• Qi Wang,
• Meng-Ting Chen,
• Antoni Franco-Cañellas,
• Bin Shen,
• Thomas Geiger,
• Holger F. Bettinger,
• Frank Schreiber,
• Ingo Salzmann,
• Alexander Gerlach and
• Steffen Duhm

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1361–1370, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.120

• . Keywords: decoupling; fluorination; metal–organic interfaces; organic pi-conjugated molecules; X-ray standing wave technique; Introduction The performance of organic (opto)electronic devices is strongly affected by the energy level alignment at the various interfaces in such devices [1][2][3

• ]. Fluorination is a viable way to change the ionization energies (IEs) of organic semiconductor thin films [4][5][6], which are an important parameter for energy level alignment [7][8]. Moreover, at organic–metal interfaces, fluorination is believed to decrease the coupling strength between the substrate and the

• adsorbate [9][10][11]. However, at such interfaces, vertical adsorption heights [12][13], interface dipoles (vacuum level shifts) [9][14] and consequently the energy level alignment [15][16][17] are affected by fluorination. Furthermore, fluorination can change the molecular multilayer growth [18][19][20

Controlling the proximity effect in a Co/Nb multilayer: the properties of electronic transport

• Sergey Bakurskiy,
• Mikhail Kupriyanov,
• Nikolay V. Klenov,
• Igor Soloviev,
• Andrey Schegolev,
• Roman Morari,
• Yury Khaydukov and
• Anatoli S. Sidorenko

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1336–1345, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.118

• Usadel equations [22], using the Kupriyanov–Lukichev boundary conditions [23][24], at the S/F interfaces. Here, Gp,q and Φp,q are normal and anomalous Green’s functions, respectively, and ω = πT(2n + 1) is the Matsubara frequency. In addition, where H is the exchange energy in the F-layer, p and q are

Effect of localized helium ion irradiation on the performance of synthetic monolayer MoS₂ field-effect transistors

• Jakub Jadwiszczak,
• Pierce Maguire,
• Conor P. Cullen,
• Georg S. Duesberg and
• Hongzhou Zhang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1329–1335, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.117

• this paper, we investigate the effect of the defect population on the performance of MoS2 FETs via varying the area of ion irradiation in the FET channel. We also examine the performance of devices upon irradiation of one of the electrical contact interfaces. Experimental Monolayer MoS2 samples were

• in each pair a single electrode interface was also irradiated. SEM images in Figure 3a show the irradiated channel areas colored in green and the non-irradiated MoS2 channel areas in red, on example devices in the high IR regime. In all three IR regimes, allowing one of the electrode–MoS2 interfaces