A differential Hall effect measurement method with sub-nanometre resolution for active dopant concentration profiling in ultrathin doped Si_1−xGe_x and Si layers

• Richard Daubriac,
• Emmanuel Scheid,
• Hiba Rizk,
• Richard Monflier,
• Sylvain Joblot,
• Rémi Beneyton,
• Pablo Acosta Alba,
• Sébastien Kerdilès and
• Filadelfo Cristiano

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1926–1939, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.184

• sheet resistance values observed for high laser energies was due to the formation of a poly-Si layer as a consequence of the full melt of the entire top-Si layer during LTA. For LTA energies below the melting threshold of 0.74 J·cm−2, some dopant activation occurs. However, the Hall effect measurements

Optical near-field mapping of plasmonic nanostructures prepared by nanosphere lithography

• Gitanjali Kolhatkar,
• Alexandre Merlen,
• Jiawei Zhang,
• Chahinez Dab,
• Gregory Q. Wallace,
• François Lagugné-Labarthet and
• Andreas Ruediger

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1536–1543, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.144

• [23]. The resulting local melting reveals the hot spots, but at the cost of the sample destruction. Other methods use surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) [28][29]. In these cases, a Raman active molecule is deposited on the surface of the sample. Its Raman signal is only visible on the hot

Induced smectic phase in binary mixtures of twist-bend nematogens

• Anamarija Knežević,
• Irena Dokli,
• Marin Sapunar,
• Suzana Šegota,
• Ute Baumeister and
• Andreja Lesac

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1297–1307, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.122

• considered to be mostly trans-planar [44]. The increase in hydrocarbon chain conformational disorder has also been intensively studied by FTIR on phospholipid bilayers and is used for monitoring of lipid hydrocarbon chain melting phase transitions [39][45][46][47]. The temperature dependent IR spectra of

Atomistic modeling of tribological properties of Pd and Al nanoparticles on a graphene surface

• Alexei Khomenko,
• Miroslav Zakharov,
• Denis Boyko and
• Bo N. J. Persson

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1239–1246, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.115

• temperature, which we explore, corresponds to the room temperature at standard atmosphere pressure and processes such as melting do not occur. The friction force in both cases first increases, and then reaches a maximum at T ≈ 170 K. Note that the Pd particles exhibit larger friction than the Al particles

Understanding the performance and mechanism of Mg-containing oxides as support catalysts in the thermal dry reforming of methane

• Nor Fazila Khairudin,
• Mohd Farid Fahmi Sukri,
• Mehrnoush Khavarian and
• Abdul Rahman Mohamed

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1162–1183, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.108

• ]. Furthermore, its characteristics such as high thermal stability, high melting point, and low cost make MgO a promising component in endothermic reactions, especially in the DRM process [18][34][49]. Therefore, this review discusses the research regarding the DRM reaction over Mg-containing oxide catalysts as

P3HT:PCBM blend films phase diagram on the base of variable-temperature spectroscopic ellipsometry

• Barbara Hajduk,
• Henryk Bednarski,
• Bożena Jarząbek,
• Henryk Janeczek and
• Paweł Nitschke

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1108–1115, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.102

• transitions and to determine the glass transition temperatures and melting crystallization points of the P3HT:PCBM blend films. By analyzing the influence of the temperature T on the raw ellipsometric data, we have identified a high sensitivity of the ellipsometric angle Δ at a wavelength of 280 nm to

• is a very sensitive optical technique to investigate the phase transitions and to determine the glass temperatures and melting crystallization points for the P3HT:PCBM blend films. By analyzing the influence of the temperature on the raw ellipsometric data, we have identified the high sensitivity of

• characteristic temperatures have been detected in Figure 5. Regarding P3HT, Tg is located at 10.30 °C and the beginning of the melting endotherm at around 215 °C is also visible. The temperature scan for the P3HT:PCBM sample, heated from −50 to 250 °C, reveals only the glass transition at 48.39 °C. The results

Review on nanoparticles and nanostructured materials: history, sources, toxicity and regulations

• Jaison Jeevanandam,
• Ahmed Barhoum,
• Yen S. Chan,
• Alain Dufresne and
• Michael K. Danquah

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1050–1074, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.98

• Nanoparticles (NPs) and nanostructured materials (NSMs) represent an active area of research and a techno-economic sector with full expansion in many application domains. NPs and NSMs have gained prominence in technological advancements due to their tunable physicochemical characteristics such as melting point

• . Therefore, the classical inner size effects, such as melting point reduction and diffusion enhancement, will be enhanced by grain boundary engineering. The classification by Pokropivny and Skorokhod proposed that the characteristics of NMs are attributed to the particle shape and dimensionality, as per the

• . These deposited particles are the primary reason for increased absorption of the sun’s heat and accelerate the glacial melting process [76][77]. Figure 3 is an example of nanoparticulates present in the smoke. Many forest fire cases have been reported to transport micro- and nanosized particles through

Single-crystalline FeCo nanoparticle-filled carbon nanotubes: synthesis, structural characterization and magnetic properties

• Rasha Ghunaim,
• Maik Scholz,
• Christine Damm,
• Bernd Rellinghaus,
• Rüdiger Klingeler,
• Bernd Büchner,
• Michael Mertig and
• Silke Hampel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1024–1034, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.95

• which the saturation magnetization at room temperature for equiatomic Fe–Co alloys prepared by arc melting equals to 233.5 emu/g. This finding implies that the relatively high saturation magnetization (known for the bulk material) is preserved even for the Fe50Co50 nanoparticles. Further, the

Comparative study of sculptured metallic thin films deposited by oblique angle deposition at different temperatures

• Susann Liedtke,
• Christoph Grüner,
• Jürgen W. Gerlach and
• Bernd Rauschenbach

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 954–962, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.89

• Susann Liedtke Christoph Gruner Jurgen W. Gerlach Bernd Rauschenbach Leibniz Institute of Surface Engineering (IOM), Permoserstraße 15, D-04318 Leipzig, Germany 10.3762/bjnano.9.89 Abstract Metals with a wide range of melting points are deposited by electron beam evaporation under oblique

• comparison of the images reveals that all deposited metals grow as high aspect ratio columns and therefore show overall similar morphologies. To understand why metals with different melting points show comparable morphologies if deposited at 77 K, the homologous temperature TH is used as has also been done

• in previous research [16]. The homologous temperature TH expresses the actual substrate temperature Tsub as a fraction of the melting point Tmelt of the metal: TH = Tsub(K)/Tmelt(K). Due to the substrate temperature of 77 K, all deposited metals have a homologous temperature TH between 0.02 (Ta) and

Facile chemical routes to mesoporous silver substrates for SERS analysis

• Elina A. Tastekova,
• Alexander Y. Polyakov,
• Anastasia E. Goldt,
• Alexander V. Sidorov,
• Alexandra A. Oshmyanskaya,
• Irina V. Sukhorukova,
• Dmitry V. Shtansky,
• Wolgang Grünert and
• Anastasia V. Grigorieva

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 880–889, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.82

• microstructure after 110 °C sintering while fresh crack formation was revealed. In Figure 6b the film is destroyed completely, and Ag particles hardly cover half of the glass slide surface. Such low temperature melting of nanocrystalline silver is typical and was also observed for different forms of highly

Synthesis and characterization of two new TiO₂-containing benzothiazole-based imine composites for organic device applications

• Anna Różycka,
• Agnieszka Iwan,
• Krzysztof Artur Bogdanowicz,
• Michal Filapek,
• Natalia Górska,
• Damian Pociecha,
• Marek Malinowski,
• Patryk Fryń,
• Agnieszka Hreniak,
• Jakub Rysz,
• Paweł Dąbczyński and
• Monika Marzec

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 721–739, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.67

• different temperatures in the spectral range between 1640 and 1440 cm−1, where the bands characteristic of the internal vibrations within imine groups, thiazole and aromatic rings and alkyl chain occur. During the melting process, the positions of the IR bands assigned to the ν(HC=N)imine and ν(C=N)thiazole

• scissoring and bending δ(CH) modes in alkyl chains located at 1465 and 1453 cm−1 are clearly visible. Some changes of the IR spectrum during the melting process can also be noticed in the lower wavenumber range (below 900 cm−1) as presented in Figure 3c. The shifting of the ν(C–S) mode toward lower

• the ratio 1:1/√2:1/2:1/3 and could be assigned to (100), (110), (200) and (300) planes, respectively. The presence of other numerous sharp reflections gives evidence of the crystalline nature of the SP2 compound. On the other hand above the melting temperature (90 °C) all sharp signals disappeared

Engineering of oriented carbon nanotubes in composite materials

• Razieh Beigmoradi,
• Abdolreza Samimi and
• Davod Mohebbi-Kalhori

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 415–435, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.41

• cover a wide area of the substrate [95]. Liquid crystal molecules When a solid is heated to its melting point it loses its molecular order and is converted to a liquid with molecules in random orientation. When heated, some materials such as cholesteryl benzoate first convert to a liquid crystal (LC

Design of polar self-assembling lactic acid derivatives possessing submicrometre helical pitch

• Alexej Bubnov,
• Cyril Vacek,
• Michał Czerwiński,
• Terezia Vojtylová,
• Wiktor Piecek and
• Věra Hamplová

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 333–341, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.33

• twist grain boundary – TGBA* and TGBC* phases or cubic SmQ* phase and re-entrant orthogonal and tilted phases; (ii) the utilisation of the lactic unit as a precursor of chiral centre minimises the synthetic cost with respect to the most commonly used chiral precursors; (iii) the melting points in the

• molecular terminal element. An increase of the length of such a chain results in broadening of the ferroelectric SmC* phase also, similar to [40]. The melting point as well as the upper temperature of existence of the SmC* phase decreased with increasing length of the alkyl chain at the chiral carbon atom

• and the same length of non-chiral terminal chain. For all compounds the SmC* phase remains quite stable also at its supercooled state, i.e., below the melting point; the crystallisation does not occur even under an applied electric field. Moreover, the uniform alignment of the SmC* phase texture is

Review: Electrostatically actuated nanobeam-based nanoelectromechanical switches – materials solutions and operational conditions

• Liga Jasulaneca,
• Jelena Kosmaca,
• Raimonds Meija,
• Jana Andzane and
• Donats Erts

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 271–300, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.29

• approximately 104 switching cycles operating at 1 V drain voltage in a 3T configuration with 100 nm gap between the beam and the drain electrode [19]. Choice of material for the NEM switching element The material properties (Young’s modulus, free surface energy, electrical conductivity, melting temperature

• difficult to fabricate due to their high intrinsic stress, large surface roughness and grain size, inherent porosity, and low strength. To date, there are rather few reports on metallic NEM switches [17][18][114][115]. Molybdenum is attractive as a NEM switch material due to its high melting temperature

• fabrication in addition to such benefits as high stiffness (Young’s modulus 447 GPa), hardness (5 GPa), and high melting point (2333 °C [116]). Ru-based NEM relays with small gap widths have shown an even smaller coupling area than that of Cu-based devices, with a pull-in voltage of 5 V [18], together with

Synthesis and characterization of electrospun molybdenum dioxide–carbon nanofibers as sulfur matrix additives for rechargeable lithium–sulfur battery applications

• Ruiyuan Zhuang,
• Shanshan Yao,
• Maoxiang Jing,
• Xiangqian Shen,
• Jun Xiang,
• Tianbao Li,
• Kesong Xiao and
• Shibiao Qin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 262–270, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.28

• . Molybdenum dioxide (MoO2) materials are particularly attractive among the transition-metal oxides due to their high melting point, high chemical stability and low electrical resistivity (190 S cm−1). This material has great potential for applications in several fields such as sensing, catalysis

Gas-assisted silver deposition with a focused electron beam

• Luisa Berger,
• Katarzyna Madajska,
• Iwona B. Szymanska,
• Katja Höflich,
• Mikhail N. Polyakov,
• Jakub Jurczyk,
• Carlos Guerra-Nuñez and
• Ivo Utke

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 224–232, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.24

• range of typical room temperature FEBID experiments. Experimental The precursor AgO2CC2F5 (CAS 509-09-1) was synthesized as reported in the literature [17]. The precursor purity was confirmed with elemental analysis (calc./found %C 13.09/13.30) and melting point determination (Tm commercial (98% purity

Dielectric properties of a bisimidazolium salt with dodecyl sulfate anion doped with carbon nanotubes

• Doina Manaila Maximean,
• Viorel Cîrcu and
• Constantin Paul Ganea

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 164–174, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.19

• melting and clearing points. Hence, there is the interest to design such materials for further electro-optical applications [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32]. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and nanoparticles were also dispersed in LCs [33][34][35][36]. It is well-known that the order of the LCs can be

• ′ phase is not thermodynamically stable at room temperature and it transitions to the first crystalline phase at 287.15 K during the subsequent heating run (in fact, it is a melting transition followed by the cold crystallization to the Cr phase). The following heating–cooling cycles are perfectly

Nematic topological defects positionally controlled by geometry and external fields

• Pavlo Kurioz,
• Marko Kralj,
• Bryce S. Murray,
• Charles Rosenblatt and
• Samo Kralj

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 109–118, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.13

• to positive uniaxiality requires melting of the nematic ordering in the transition area. A typical spatial variation of the director field, , in the radial direction and order changes of the parameter along the symmetry axis are depicted in Figure 8. In the given case, the fingertip (where the

Growth model and structure evolution of Ag layers deposited on Ge films

• Arkadiusz Ciesielski,
• Lukasz Skowronski,
• Ewa Górecka,
• Jakub Kierdaszuk and
• Tomasz Szoplik

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 66–76, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.9

• manipulated. Annealing the samples at temperatures close to the melting point (300 °C for 35 nm thick Ag layer) results in a uniform density of the silver layer, which ultimately terminates the segregation process. Experimental All materials were deposited from fabmate or tungsten crucibles, using a PVD75

The role of ligands in coinage-metal nanoparticles for electronics

• Ioannis Kanelidis and
• Tobias Kraus

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2625–2639, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.263

• resolution, they fit through the small nozzles of inkjet printers, they sediment only slowly, and they have lower melting temperatures than the bulk. Many of them carry ligand molecules that need to be considered when using them for electronics. This review is devoted to the role of the ligands. Surface

• particles with organic molecules, one may sinter them to create metallic, conductive connections [32]. The conditions required for successful sintering depend on the tendency of the surface ligands to desorb, which lets particles fuse without melting [122]. Metal nanoparticle films with low insulator–metal

Synthesis of [{AgO₂CCH₂OMe(PPh₃)}_n] and theoretical study of its use in focused electron beam induced deposition

• Jelena Tamuliene,
• Julian Noll,
• Peter Frenzel,
• Tobias Rüffer,
• Alexander Jakob,
• Bernhard Walfort and
• Heinrich Lang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2615–2624, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.262

• ), of which the first one corresponds to the melting of 2. However, weight loss of 2 during heat treatment can already be observed at 200 °C, indicating partial evaporation passing over into decomposition, whereas the corresponding DSC signals, as well as vapor pressure measurements (Supporting

Au₅₅, a stable glassy cluster: results of ab initio calculations

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

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2221–2229, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.222

• that is close to the melting enthalpy of bulk gold. Additionally, the surface energy of this cluster was calculated using two different theoretical approaches resulting in values close to the surface energy for bulk gold. It shall be emphasized that it is now possible to give a confidence interval for

• , which is the final relaxed structure. The second regime describes the formation of the cluster. The energy released during this process is close to the enthalpy of melting of gold, 1.24 × 104 J·mol−1 [28]. The two regimes can be explained as: (i) formation of an amorphous cluster from the random

• [29]. The transition to the glassy structure is connected with an energy release equal to the melting enthalpy. Such a phenomenon is not observed for bulk materials, where the formation of the glassy structure is not connected with any energy release. (ii) The interatomic distance is smaller than in

Ta₂N₃ nanocrystals grown in Al₂O₃ thin layers

• Krešimir Salamon,
• Maja Buljan,
• Iva Šarić,
• Mladen Petravić and
• Sigrid Bernstorff

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2162–2170, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.215

• alternative plasmonic materials includes the transition-metal nitrides such as TiN, ZrN, TaN or HfN [11][12][13]. Their advantages are compatibility with the silicon CMOS technology and physical properties suitable for harsh environments (high melting point, chemical stability) [14]. In addition, most of

In situ controlled rapid growth of novel high activity TiB₂/(TiB₂–TiN) hierarchical/heterostructured nanocomposites

• Jilin Wang,
• Hejie Liao,
• Yuchun Ji,
• Fei Long,
• Yunle Gu,
• Zhengguang Zou,
• Weimin Wang and
• Zhengyi Fu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2116–2125, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.211

• and carbides have attracted great attention for advanced engineering applications due to their exceptional hardness, thermal and chemical stability at high temperatures [1][2][3]. For example, titanium diboride (TiB2) processes high hardness and a high melting point, good chemical and metallurgical

• melting point, the B2O3 begins to transform into liquid [37]. The molten liquid B2O3 acts as a protective layer and restrains the reaction between remaining TiB2 particle and O2 [36][40]. Thirdly, with the increase of temperature, the evaporation of liquid B2O3 becomes more extensive due to its higher

Preparation and characterization of polycarbonate/multiwalled carbon nanotube nanocomposites

• Claudio Larosa,
• Niranjan Patra,
• Marco Salerno,
• Lara Mikac,
• Remo Merijs Meri and
• Mile Ivanda

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2026–2031, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.203

• % loading, in both heating as well as cooling cycles. The DSC curve of the nanocomposite in the heating cycle exhibits a glass transition temperature at ≈143.5 °C. No amorphous polymer can exhibit a melting transition, as melting is a first-order transition occurring only for crystalline polymers. However