Nanocrystalline TiO₂/SnO₂ heterostructures for gas sensing

• Barbara Lyson-Sypien,
• Anna Kusior,
• Mieczylaw Rekas,
• Jan Zukrowski,
• Marta Gajewska,
• Katarzyna Michalow-Mauke,
• Thomas Graule,
• Marta Radecka and
• Katarzyna Zakrzewska

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 108–122, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.12

• heterostructures of 90 mol % SnO2/10 mol % TiO2 and 10 mol % SnO2/90 mol % TiO2 were synthesized as well. Titanium diisopropoxide bis(acetylacetonate) (TiC16H28O, 75 wt % in isopropanol, ABCR, CAS: 17927-72-9) and tetramethyltin (CAS: 594-27-4), dissolved in absolute ethanol (C2H5OH, 99%, Sigma Aldrich) were used

Effect of Anderson localization on light emission from gold nanoparticle aggregates

• Mohamed H. Abdellatif,
• Marco Salerno,
• Gaser N. Abdelrasoul,
• Ioannis Liakos,
• Alice Scarpellini,
• Sergio Marras and
• Alberto Diaspro

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 2013–2022, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.192

• commercial optical microscope slides (Menzel-Gläser, Germany) and pure fused silica (Heraeus, Germany), called quartz in the following. Before use, the substrates were cleaned by successive sonication (5 min at each step) in warm acetone, then isopropanol, then water, and finally blown dry under a nitrogen

Organoclay hybrid materials as precursors of porous ZnO/silica-clay heterostructures for photocatalytic applications

• Marwa Akkari,
• Pilar Aranda,
• Abdessalem Ben Haj Amara and
• Eduardo Ruiz-Hitzky

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1971–1982, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.188

• ). This suspension was stirred at 50 °C to homogenize the system and then stoichiometric amounts of water and isopropanol (H2O/isopropanol/TMOS 4:2:1 molar ratio) is added to start the hydrolysis of TMOS. After the sol–gel transition the system was dried overnight at 50 °C. The final ZnO/SiO2-clay

In situ formation of reduced graphene oxide structures in ceria by combined sol–gel and solvothermal processing

• Jingxia Yang,
• Johannes Ofner,
• Bernhard Lendl and
• Ulrich Schubert

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1815–1821, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.174

• . The mixture was stirred for 30 min, ultrasonically treated for at least 2 h and then deposited onto glass sheets (20 × 30 cm2), which had been cleaned with 10% KOH, isopropanol and acetone and dried at 100 °C. The deposited films were exposed to ambient humidity at room temperature for 24 h (for

Nanostructured TiO₂-based gas sensors with enhanced sensitivity to reducing gases

• Wojciech Maziarz,
• Anna Kusior and
• Anita Trenczek-Zajac

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1718–1726, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.164

• × 20 mm squares and degreased in the ultrasonic cleaner with the use of acetone and isopropanol. The following samples were prepared: (A) T30 – prior to thermal treatment, the Ti foils were etched in concentrated hydrochloric acid HCl (35–38%, Avantor Performance Materials, Poland) at 55 °C for 30 min

Graphene-enhanced plasmonic nanohole arrays for environmental sensing in aqueous samples

• Christa Genslein,
• Peter Hausler,
• Eva-Maria Kirchner,
• Rudolf Bierl,
• Antje J. Baeumner and
• Thomas Hirsch

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1564–1573, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.150

• graphite following a modified Hummers method and a subsequent chemical reduction [55]. To cover the substrates with a uniform layer of reduced graphene oxide 200 μL of a 0.25 μg·mL solution containing 1:1 (v/v) water and isopropanol was deposited in the middle on the surface and allowed to settle for 5 min

Mesoporous hollow carbon spheres for lithium–sulfur batteries: distribution of sulfur and electrochemical performance

• Anika C. Juhl,
• Artur Schneider,
• Boris Ufer,
• Torsten Brezesinski,
• Jürgen Janek and
• Michael Fröba

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1229–1240, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.114

• electrochemical testing A mixture of the carbon/sulfur composite powder (83 wt %), Super C65 (Timcal, 6 wt %), Printex XE2 (Orion, 6 wt %) and poly(vinyl alcohol) Selvol 425 (Sekisui, 5 wt %) in water, isopropanol and 1-methoxy-2-propanol (65:30:5 weight ratio) was prepared to form a homogeneous slurry. The

Role of solvents in the electronic transport properties of single-molecule junctions

• Katharina Luka-Guth,
• Sebastian Hambsch,
• Andreas Bloch,
• Philipp Ehrenreich,
• Bernd Michael Briechle,
• Filip Kilibarda,
• Torsten Sendler,
• Dmytro Sysoiev,
• Thomas Huhn,
• Artur Erbe and
• Elke Scheer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1055–1067, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.99

• solvents that are commonly used in the field of molecular electronics (ethanol, toluene, mesitylene, 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene, isopropanol, toluene/tetrahydrofuran mixtures) for the study of single-molecule contacts of functional molecules. We present measurements of the conductance as a function of gap

• -designed MCBJ system equipped with a pipette containing the solvent mesitylene (Mes), 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene (TCB), toluene (Tol), ethanol (EtOH), a mixture of 50% tetrahydrofuran and 50% toluene (Tol/THF) or isopropanol (IPA), see Figure 2c. The mixture Tol/THF has been chosen because with pure THF the

Selective photocatalytic reduction of CO₂ to methanol in CuO-loaded NaTaO₃ nanocubes in isopropanol

• Tianyu Xiang,
• Feng Xin,
• Jingshuai Chen,
• Yuwen Wang,
• Xiaohong Yin and
• Xiao Shao

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 776–783, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.69

• photocatalysts were characterized by XRD, SEM, UV–vis, EDS and XPS and used to photocatalytically reduce CO2 in isopropanol. This worked to both absorb CO2 and as a sacrificial reagent to harvest CO2 and donate electrons. Methanol and acetone were generated as the reduction product of CO2 and the oxidation

• product of isopropanol, respectively. NaTaO3 nanocubes loaded with 2 wt % CuO and synthesized in 2 mol/L NaOH solution showed the best activity. The methanol and acetone yields were 137.48 μmol/(g·h) and 335.93 μmol/(g·h), respectively, after 6 h of irradiation. Such high activity could be attributed to

• the good crystallinity, morphology and proper amount of CuO loading, which functioned as reductive sites for selective formation of methanol. The reaction mechanism was also proposed and explained by band theory. Keywords: CO2 reduction; CuO loading; isopropanol; NaTaO3 nanocubes; photocatalysis

Charge injection and transport properties of an organic light-emitting diode

• Peter Juhasz,
• Juraj Nevrela,
• Michal Micjan,
• Miroslav Novota,
• Jan Uhrik,
• Lubica Stuchlikova,
• Jan Jakabovic,
• Ladislav Harmatha and
• Martin Weis

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 47–52, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.5

• transport properties of OLED devices has been done on the organic double-layer sandwiched between two electrodes ITO/α-NPD/Alq3/Al. The devices were grown on glass slides precoated with ITO with sheet resistance lower than 10 Ω/sq. The substrates were cleaned sequentially in ultrasonic bath by isopropanol

Green and energy-efficient methods for the production of metallic nanoparticles

• Mitra Naghdi,
• Mehrdad Taheran,
• Satinder K. Brar,
• M. Verma,
• R. Y. Surampalli and
• J. R. Valero

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2354–2376, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.243

Electrospray deposition of organic molecules on bulk insulator surfaces

• Antoine Hinaut,
• Rémy Pawlak,
• Ernst Meyer and
• Thilo Glatzel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1927–1934, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.195

• performed a deposition of the solvent solution only, i.e., toluene/isopropanol in the ratio 2:1 on a clean KBr(001) surface. Figure 2a shows a topography image acquired by nc-AFM at room temperature on a KBr(001) surface after a total time of 30 min of UHV-ESI deposition of the pure solvent. This is a long

• -cyanophenyl groups are known to enhance the binding to ionic substrates by electrostatic interaction [37][38]. For the UHV-ESI deposition, molecules were diluted at 1 μL/mL in a mixture of toluene and isopropanol with a 2:1 ratio. Deposition was performed for 5 min at a constant rate of injected solution of 5

• min at controlled flux, by the use of a syringe pump, of 2–10 μL/min. The molecules were diluted in a solution of toluene/isopropanol made from high purity solvents (Sigma-Aldrich) with a ratio of 2:1. Molecule concentration in solution was 1 μg/mL. Molecules, see Figure 3, are based on a triply fused

A facile method for the preparation of bifunctional Mn:ZnS/ZnS/Fe₃O₄ magnetic and fluorescent nanocrystals

• Houcine Labiadh,
• Tahar Ben Chaabane,
• Romain Sibille,
• Lavinia Balan and
• Raphaël Schneider

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1743–1751, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.178

• (Mn(OAc)2·4H2O, 99%), iron(III) chloride hexahydrate (FeCl3·6H2O, 99%), sodium sulfide nonahydrate (Na2S·9H2O, 98+%), 3-mercaptopropionic acid (MPA, 99%) and isopropanol (HPLC grade) were used as received without additional purification. All solutions were prepared using Milli-Q® water (18.2 MΩ·cm

• QDs was labelled as solution A. The Mn:ZnS/ZnS QDs were precipitated by adding isopropanol, collected by centrifugation, and washed three times with isopropanol, then dried in vacuum. The obtained nanocrystals could be dispersed in water to form a stable and clear colloidal solution. Preparation of

• temperature. A black powder was recovered by centrifugation after adding isopropanol. Synthesis of bifunctional core/shell/shell Mn:ZnS/ZnS/Fe3O4 nanocrystals The bifunctional Mn:ZnS/ZnS/Fe3O4 QDs were prepared from the Mn:ZnS/ZnS colloidal solution A. 5.5 mL of solution A was added to 94.5 mL of ultrapure

Electron-stimulated purification of platinum nanostructures grown via focused electron beam induced deposition

• Brett B. Lewis,
• Michael G. Stanford,
• Jason D. Fowlkes,
• Kevin Lester,
• Harald Plank and
• Philip D. Rack

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 907–918, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.94

• pre-cleaned 100 nm thermal SiO2 on Si substrate and then purified. The deposition and subsequent purification was performed using a FEI NOVA 600 dual-beam system equipped with FEI and Omniprobe gas injection systems. Prior to deposition, the substrate was sonicated in isopropanol for 5 min and

Transformation of hydrogen titanate nanoribbons to TiO₂ nanoribbons and the influence of the transformation strategies on the photocatalytic performance

• Melita Rutar,
• Nejc Rozman,
• Matej Pregelj,
• Carla Bittencourt,
• Romana Cerc Korošec,
• Andrijana Sever Škapin,
• Aleš Mrzel,
• Srečo D. Škapin and
• Polona Umek

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 831–844, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.86

• spectroscopy. According to electron paramagnetic resonance measurements the calcination in the reductive atmosphere also resulted in a partial reduction of Ti4+ to Ti3+. The photocatalytic performance of the derived TiO2 NRs was estimated on the basis of the photocatalytic oxidation of isopropanol. After

• phase composition, the morphology, the content of nitrogen, the chemical state of the nitrogen, the specific surface area and the presence of Ti3+. The photocatalytic performances of the prepared TiO2 NRs were evaluated by monitoring the oxidation of isopropanol to acetone in a solid gas reactor

• prepared TiO2 NR samples was evaluated by monitoring the photocatalytic oxidation of isopropanol (iPrOH), for which acetone is the main product. For the purposes of this study, the mechanism of iPrOH oxidation is simplified in accordance with the following two-step reaction (Equation 1): The first reaction

Electroburning of few-layer graphene flakes, epitaxial graphene, and turbostratic graphene discs in air and under vacuum

• Andrea Candini,
• Nils Richter,
• Domenica Convertino,
• Camilla Coletti,
• Franck Balestro,
• Wolfgang Wernsdorfer,
• Mathias Kläui and
• Marco Affronte

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 711–719, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.72

• adhesive tape. After rinsing with acetone and isopropanol, hundreds of discs were left on the surface. Typical Raman spectra of the as-deposited discs are shown in the Supporting Information File 1. The discs were located by an optical microscope and then patterned in the hour-glass geometry by oxygen

Simple approach for the fabrication of PEDOT-coated Si nanowires

• Mingxuan Zhu,
• Marielle Eyraud,
• Judikael Le Rouzo,
• Nadia Ait Ahmed,
• Florence Boulc’h,
• Claude Alfonso,
• Philippe Knauth and
• François Flory

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 640–650, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.65

• , thickness 255–305 μm) were ultrasonically cleaned for 15 min in acetone and isopropanol. After several rinsing steps in deionized water, the wafers were immersed in piranha solution (H2SO4:H2O2 3:1 v/v) and subsequently in deionized water for 15 min. The EMACE technique is described in the literature [28

Synergic combination of the sol–gel method with dip coating for plasmonic devices

• Cristiana Figus,
• Maddalena Patrini,
• Francesco Floris,
• Lucia Fornasari,
• Paola Pellacani,
• Gerardo Marchesini,
• Andrea Valsesia,
• Flavia Artizzu,
• Daniela Marongiu,
• Michele Saba,
• Franco Marabelli,
• Andrea Mura,
• Giovanni Bongiovanni and
• Francesco Quochi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 500–507, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.52

• vessel at RT. The molar ratio of water:precursor of the starting solution was 5 for all sols. Soda-lime glass was employed as a substrate for reference film deposition. Before coating, the substrates were cleaned with water and soap, distilled water, acetone and finally, rinsed with isopropanol. The

Oxygen-plasma-modified biomimetic nanofibrous scaffolds for enhanced compatibility of cardiovascular implants

• Anna Maria Pappa,
• Varvara Karagkiozaki,
• Silke Krol,
• Spyros Kassavetis,
• Dimitris Konstantinou,
• Charalampos Pitsalidis,
• Lazaros Tzounis,
• Nikos Pliatsikas and
• Stergios Logothetidis

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 254–262, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.24

• XY stage, was set at 40 mm. The glass substrates were cleaned prior to electrospinning with isopropanol and methanol and blow-dried using N2 flow. Each fabricated film was left overnight to allow the evaporation of any residual solvents. Plasma treatment After the fabrication of the electrospun

Kelvin probe force microscopy in liquid using electrochemical force microscopy

• Liam Collins,
• Stephen Jesse,
• Jason I. Kilpatrick,
• Alexander Tselev,
• M. Baris Okatan,
• Sergei V. Kalinin and
• Brian J. Rodriguez

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 201–214, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.19

• measurements are demonstrated in ionically-active (polar isopropanol, milli-Q water and aqueous NaCl) and ionically-inactive (non-polar decane) liquids by electrochemical force microscopy (EcFM), a multidimensional (i.e., bias- and time-resolved) spectroscopy method. In the absence of mobile charges (ambient

• , and electrochemical processes (e.g., Faradaic reactions). EcFM measurements conducted in isopropanol and milli-Q water over Au and highly ordered pyrolytic graphite electrodes demonstrate both sample- and solvent-dependent features. Finally, the feasibility of using EcFM as a local force-based mapping

• electrostatic measurements in both ionically-active and -inactive liquids. EcFM is employed to detect the bias- and time-dependent electrostatic and electrochemical forces between probe and sample under ambient, non-polar (ionically-inactive decane) and polar (ionically-active isopropanol, milli-Q water and

Materials and characterization techniques for high-temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells

• Roswitha Zeis

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 68–83, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.8

• nanoparticles onto carbon nanotubes, preventing agglomeration and detachment from the substrate. GDEs based on this type of material were prepared simply by vacuum filtration of a suspension of isopropanol and polymer-wrapped carbon nanotubes. The GDL, a carbon paper, was used as a filter. The GDEs were

Liquid-phase exfoliated graphene: functionalization, characterization, and applications

• Mildred Quintana,
• Jesús Iván Tapia and
• Maurizio Prato

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2328–2338, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.242

• physical properties of graphene, which is detrimental to their electrical performance. As an alternative, it is possible to prepare graphene dispersions in chloroform, acetone, or isopropanol. These are all volatile solvents that have generally lower surface tensions, and are therefore more easily

Nanoencapsulation of ultra-small superparamagnetic particles of iron oxide into human serum albumin nanoparticles

• Matthias G. Wacker,
• Mahmut Altinok,
• Stephan Urfels and
• Johann Bauer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2259–2266, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.235

• magnetometer at constant temperature (300 K) and a series of different constant external fields. Surface modification of magnetite 25 USPIO An amount of 3 g of magnetite 25 particles in isopropanol 20% [v/v] were sedimented magnetically. To the supernatant 26 mL of purified water and 14 mL of salpetric acid 65

Modification of a single-molecule AFM probe with highly defined surface functionality

• Fei Long,
• Bin Cao,
• Ashok Khanal,
• Shiyue Fang and
• Reza Shahbazian-Yassar

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2122–2128, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.221

• ramped over the surface in isopropanol, and more than 1000 force curves were recorded for each of the five probes. Among them, 17–26% showed adhesive interactions appearing at a tip–surface separation greater than zero. Typical force curves obtained were shown in Figure 2A and Figure 2B for the Si probe

• from Thermo Scientific. All other chemicals including isopropanol are of reagent grade from Sigma-Aldrich. AFM experiments were carried out on a Bruker Dimension ICON AFM system. Preparation of AFM probes Amino-functionalization of Si probes: Si probes were functionalized with amino groups according to

• : In order to verify the result of the modification, the probe was ramped over a glass slide with a monolayer of amino-terminated poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) in isopropanol. The amino groups should form hydrogen bonds with the carboxylic acid group on the probe in the contacting period during ramping

Growth evolution and phase transition from chalcocite to digenite in nanocrystalline copper sulfide: Morphological, optical and electrical properties

• Priscilla Vasthi Quintana-Ramirez,
• Ma. Concepción Arenas-Arrocena,
• José Santos-Cruz,
• Marina Vega-González,
• Omar Martínez-Alvarez,
• Víctor Manuel Castaño-Meneses,
• Laura Susana Acosta-Torres and
• Javier de la Fuente-Hernández

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1542–1552, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.166

• dried at room temperature. Both films and powder products, received a thermal treatment at 100 °C in air in a stove during 1 h. Characterization Powders of two syntheses, aqueous and organic, respectively, of CuxS were re-dispersed in isopropanol and toluene. One aliquot from these solutions was placed