New micro/mesoporous nanocomposite material from low-cost sources for the efficient removal of aromatic and pathogenic pollutants from water

• Emmanuel I. Unuabonah,
• Robert Nöske,
• Jens Weber,
• Christina Günter and
• Andreas Taubert

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 119–131, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.11

• ; micro/mesoporous; nanocomposite; water remediation; Introduction Porous carbon-based materials and carbon/inorganic hybrid materials have extensively been used for the adsorption of pollutants, such as heavy metals or aromatic hydrocarbons, from water in developing countries [1][2][3][4]. The removal

• situations. As a result, cheap yet highly efficient materials that can be used for the purification of very large volumes of water are therefore highly sought after [4]. This approach applies to all subgroups of contaminants – heavy metals, organic pollutants, and biological contaminants. One approach to

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

• circuit was excited with Vexc = +3.3 V DC, while its voltage output was connected to a benchtop digital multimeter (Agilent 34405A). Influence of temperature on micro strain gauges As electrical resistivity of metals is temperature-dependent, a drift in the offset voltage may occur while the flow sensor

Surface plasmon resonance enhancement of photoluminescence intensity and bioimaging application of gold nanorod@CdSe/ZnS quantum dots

• Siyi Hu,
• Yu Ren,
• Yue Wang,
• Jinhua Li,
• Junle Qu,
• Liwei Liu,
• Hanbin Ma and
• Yuguo Tang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 22–31, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.3

• formed with metals and semiconductors, i.e., plasmonic, composite QD nanostructures, provides another efficient way to tune the unique optical properties. In the past decades, much attention has been given to the development of metal-enhanced optical properties. Some researchers have noted that certain

Zn/F-doped tin oxide nanoparticles synthesized by laser pyrolysis: structural and optical properties

• Florian Dumitrache,
• Iuliana P. Morjan,
• Elena Dutu,
• Ion Morjan,
• Claudiu Teodor Fleaca,
• Monica Scarisoreanu,
• Alina Ilie,
• Marius Dumitru,
• Cristian Mihailescu,
• Adriana Smarandache and
• Gabriel Prodan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 9–21, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.2

• precursors to oxides (SnO2 and ZnO, in fact Zn-doped SnO2), CO2 and H2O in the laser pyrolysis reaction zone. Due to the much higher reactivity of metals, the metal oxides are formed with priority, and the unoxidized alkyl radicals from the precursors will undergo a complex process involving reactions such

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

• , with N3 (first reported in 1993 [13]) and N719 [14] (Scheme 1) remaining the state-of-the-art dyes. The low natural abundance of ruthenium (≈0.001 ppm in the Earth's crust [15]) and its consequential high cost motivates thorough investigations of the use of dyes based on Earth-abundant metals. Among

• the first row d-block metals, iron, cobalt, nickel, copper and zinc have Earth-crustal abundances of ≈41,000, 20, 80, 50 and 75 ppm, respectively. We and others [16][17][18][19] have realized the potential of DSCs sensitized by bis(diimine)copper(I) complexes, and both we [20] and Dragonetti et al

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

• -defined manner. Therefore, open nanoporous network structures are particularly suitable for property-tuning experiments in an electrochemical environment, due to a large contact area with the electrolyte and macroscopic sample dimensions. In nanoporous metals, the electrochemical control of actuation [1

• nanoporous metals [14][15]. Lately, dealloyed nanoporous palladium (npPd) structures [16] have received attention in the literature as electrochemical actuator materials [17][18][19][20]. Due to the ability of palladium to host hydrogen atoms in its crystal lattice, such actuators show exceptionally strong

• , reversible expansion. This distinguishes palladium from other metals in the same group of the periodic table, such as platinum or nickel, which are only capable of adsorbing hydrogen mainly on their surfaces. In the literature, a solubility of hydrogen in palladium up to concentrations of about 0.7 (H/Pd

Size limits of magnetic-domain engineering in continuous in-plane exchange-bias prototype films

• Alexander Gaul,
• Daniel Emmrich,
• Timo Ueltzhöffer,
• Henning Huckfeldt,
• Hatice Doğanay,
• Johanna Hackl,
• Muhammad Imtiaz Khan,
• Daniel M. Gottlob,
• Gregor Hartmann,
• André Beyer,
• Dennis Holzinger,
• Slavomír Nemšák,
• Claus M. Schneider,
• Armin Gölzhäuser,
• Günter Reiss and
• Arno Ehresmann

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2968–2979, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.276

• were approximated from the density values of pure metals using with x being the mole fraction, x = n/100. The SRIM compound correction was deactivated for all layers except SiO2. Simulations were performed using the monolayer collision mode for 2 × 106 helium ions with a kinetic energy of 15 keV

Investigation of CVD graphene as-grown on Cu foil using simultaneous scanning tunneling/atomic force microscopy

• Majid Fazeli Jadidi,
• Umut Kamber,
• Oğuzhan Gürlü and
• H. Özgür Özer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2953–2959, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.274

• (graphene–3d metals) or lattice-mismatched configuration (graphene–4d/5d metals) [10]. Material and termination of the apex of the tip play an important role in STM and AFM results as well. Due to the strong interaction between metal tip and carbon atoms, atomic resolution can be obtained in both attractive

• force minimum of both sites. Our results are consistent with these calculations. The use of pure metallic tips is not common in non-contact AFM measurements, since the widely used micro-fabricated levers are made of Si and at best these are coated with metals such as Pt/Ir in order to obtain a metallic

Layered calcium phenylphosphonate: a hybrid material for a new generation of nanofillers

• Kateřina Kopecká,
• Ludvík Beneš,
• Klára Melánová,
• Vítězslav Zima,
• Petr Knotek and
• Kateřina Zetková

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2906–2915, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.269

• defined as salts of phosphonic acids with the general formula RPO3H2 (R = alkyl or aryl group) with metals. They benefit from a well-defined inorganic structure in combination with organic moieties which can be functionalized and modified to obtain desired properties. Many different types of layered metal

• organophosphonates have been prepared. Well-known and well-studied are the organophosphonates of zirconium because of their good stability; however, it is also possible to prepare layered structures with divalent metals such as calcium, strontium or barium [6][7][8][9]. Although the properties of these compounds

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

• physical process of emission is quantum mechanical tunneling of the electrons through the potential barrier, which is tilted due to the electric field (see Figure 14b for a schematic description of the tunneling process). The theory of electron field emission from metals was developed by Ralph H. Fowler

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

• between S-rGO and SnO2 lead to the good sensing properties. Because noble metals offer exceptional catalytic activity, the same group [55] developed Ag–SnO2–rGO ternary hybrids by reducing AgNO3 on the dispersion of SnO2–rGO, and the sensing properties were tested at room temperature. The authors

• micromorphology of hybrids. An important way to enhance the selectivity of composite sensors is mixing or doping with other phases (noble metals or conducting polymers). Similarly, the recovery time can be reduced by surface functionalization of graphene/metal-oxide hybrids with specific functional molecules such

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

• substrates even based on other host metals. (a) Photograph of sputtered silver films on glass substrates with different thicknesses. From left to right: 5, 10, 20, 50 and 200 nm. (b) Photograph showing the mirror-like appearance of the 200 nm silver film. SEM images of (c) 10 nm and (d) 200 nm silver films

Biomimetic surface structures in steel fabricated with femtosecond laser pulses: influence of laser rescanning on morphology and wettability

• Camilo Florian Baron,
• Alexandros Mimidis,
• Daniel Puerto,
• Evangelos Skoulas,
• Emmanuel Stratakis,
• Javier Solis and
• Jan Siegel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2802–2812, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.262

• superhydrophobic states. Results and Discussion Ripples, grooves and spikes formed by single laser scanning The formation of LIPSSs occurs when a certain number of laser pulses has accumulated in a given area in a single laser scan. For metals and semiconductors, three well-differentiated structures, ripples

Magnetic and luminescent coordination networks based on imidazolium salts and lanthanides for sensitive ratiometric thermometry

• Pierre Farger,
• Cédric Leuvrey,
• Mathieu Gallart,
• Pierre Gilliot,
• Guillaume Rogez,
• João Rocha,
• Duarte Ananias,
• Pierre Rabu and
• Emilie Delahaye

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2775–2787, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.259

• coordination networks can be obtained either by the use of specific luminescent organic ligands or by the use of main-group elements, d10 transition metals or of trivalent lanthanide ions for the inorganic moiety [13][14]. The luminescent properties of the trivalent lanthanide ions are particularly interesting

Comparative biological effects of spherical noble metal nanoparticles (Rh, Pd, Ag, Pt, Au) with 4–8 nm diameter

• Alexander Rostek,
• Marina Breisch,
• Kevin Pappert,
• Kateryna Loza,
• Marc Heggen,
• Manfred Köller,
• Christina Sengstock and
• Matthias Epple

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2763–2774, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.258

• /bjnano.9.258 Abstract For a comparative cytotoxicity study, nanoparticles of the noble metals Rh, Pd, Ag, Pt, and Au (spherical, average diameter 4 to 8 nm) were prepared by reduction in water and colloidally stabilized with poly(N-vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP). Thus, their shape, size, and surface

• , palladium, platinum, gold) that do not release ions are not cytotoxic under these conditions. Keywords: cytotoxicity; electron microscopy; metals; nanoparticles; nanotoxicity; Introduction Inorganic and metallic nanoparticles represent a well-established part of materials science, heterogeneous catalysis

• ][52]. This previously prompted us to carry out a multicentre study where the same silver nanoparticles were investigated in different laboratories with different biological assays [44]. Following the same approach, we have synthesized and thoroughly characterized nanoparticles of the noble metals Rh

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

• fact that no iron or other metals are visible by XPS spectroscopy, while TEM micrographs have shown some residual catalyst particles embedded in carbonaceous remains or inside CNT bundles, as shown in Figure 2a. These carbon shells certainly hide the metallic species from the XPS analysis, which is

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

• tips are TERS-active, while 50% of the tips have a radius of curvature smaller than 35 nm. Light emission from the tip apex Tightly coupled plasmonic metals, such as nanorods dimers [51], nanocubes on surfaces [52], or TERS tips in contact with surfaces [53][54], emit light over a broad continuum, even

Nanoantenna structures for the detection of phonons in nanocrystals

• Alexander G. Milekhin,
• Sergei A. Kuznetsov,
• Ilya A. Milekhin,
• Larisa L. Sveshnikova,
• Tatyana A. Duda,
• Ekaterina E. Rodyakina,
• Alexander V. Latyshev,
• Volodymyr M. Dzhagan and
• Dietrich R. T. Zahn

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2646–2656, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.246

• metal surfaces proposed in [1] has been the subject of intensive research over the past years [2][3][4]. Several groups showed that the IR response by organic molecules can be significantly enhanced in a variety of organic systems by depositing the molecules on nanostructured surfaces of noble metals

Au–Si plasmonic platforms: synthesis, structure and FDTD simulations

• Anna Gapska,
• Marcin Łapiński,
• Paweł Syty,
• Wojciech Sadowski,
• Józef E. Sienkiewicz and
• Barbara Kościelska

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2599–2608, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.241

• the simulated systems. For metals in an oscillating external field, this function depends on the oscillation frequency, and its proper modeling is a very important step in the simulation process. In our case, the dielectric functions of gold [26] and silicon [27] were fitted to the Lorentz model [28

• important in the case of metals that have a high melting point and form a eutectic compound with the substrate. In addition, the method proposed in our work can be used for the manufacturing of nanostructures on large surfaces, which gives the possibility of application, for example, in plasmonics or

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

• the chosen process parameters, a wide range of different materials can be obtained. On the one hand, polycrystalline metals can be realized, mainly of ferromagnetic type like Fe, Co or Fe–Co alloys [12][13] or noble metals, such as Pt, Au and Ag [14][15][16]. On the other hand, granular metals [17

• ] but also various oxides and carbides in either amorphous or polycrystalline form [18][19] are accessible. By employing additional postdeposition treatments the metal volume content of some otherwise granular metals can be increased to virtually 100% [20][21][22]. Despite the apparent simplicity of the

Friction reduction through biologically inspired scale-like laser surface textures

• Johannes Schneider,
• Vergil Djamiykov and
• Christian Greiner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2561–2572, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.238

• behaviour visualized in Figure 4b. For sliding speeds above 40 mm/s, the biologically inspired surface morphology decreased the friction coefficient. The fact that the friction increased for the textured surfaces when pairing them in slow moving, lubricated contacts against ceramics or metals might

• , polymers are known the be more prone to stick–slip effects compared to ceramics and metals. This might be an additional explanation for the absence of stick–slip with these two counter body materials. Compared to our own previous work [23], we were able to significantly decrease friction forces in dry

Improved catalytic combustion of methane using CuO nanobelts with predominantly (001) surfaces

• Qingquan Kong,
• Yichun Yin,
• Bing Xue,
• Yonggang Jin,
• Wei Feng,
• Zhi-Gang Chen,
• Shi Su and
• Chenghua Sun

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2526–2532, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.235

• global warming effects, around 25 times greater than that of carbon dioxide (CO2). For a more efficient use of natural gas and to minimize the direct emission of CH4, the catalytic oxidation of CH4 at low temperature has been investigated extensively over the last decades [5][6][7][8]. Noble metals have

• , such as transition metal (TM) oxides and various complex structures (e.g., perovskite, spinel and hexaaluminate) have been tested as catalysts for CH4 oxidation. But so far their performance is still much lower than noble metals. An ideal catalyst for CH4 oxidation should have a high capacity to adsorb

Nanocellulose: Recent advances and its prospects in environmental remediation

• Katrina Pui Yee Shak,
• Yean Ling Pang and
• Shee Keat Mah

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2479–2498, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.232

• easily protonated under acidic conditions [89]. The amino group possesses a lone pair of electrons which is attributed to the nitrogen atoms and may form a covalent bond with metal ions. The adsorption of metals ions is coordinated by amino and hydroxy groups found in the functionalized cellulose. Amine

• are still rare since researchers mainly focused on adsorption of metals from diluted aqueous solution or photocatalysis as discussed in previous sections. Agglomeration remains an issue in the application of CNCs as flocculants. This is due to the hydrogen bond networks arising from the –OH groups on

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

• sensitivity in detecting lead ions compared to cadmium ions. Keywords: cadmium; electrochemical sensors; heavy metal ions; lead; one-dimensional nanostructures; ZnO; Introduction Today, due to the rapid growth of industry and transport, the issues of environmental pollution by heavy metals, particularly by

• lead, mercury, cadmium and cobalt, are becoming more and more topical. Many metals form stable organic compounds that dissolve well in water and result in the migration of heavy metal ions in aquatic and terrestrial systems, thereby resulting in high levels of contamination [1][2]. Lead is one of the

• most harmful heavy metals. Its presence is hazardous to the environment, it is toxic and carcinogenic, and it tends to accumulate in living organisms, where it replaces other elements in bones and tissues, and causes long-term poisoning [3][4][5]. That is why the creation of a sensor that could detect

SERS active Ag–SiO₂ nanoparticles obtained by laser ablation of silver in colloidal silica

• Cristina Gellini,
• Francesco Muniz-Miranda,
• Alfonso Pedone and
• Maurizio Muniz-Miranda

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2396–2404, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.224

• computational approach, which provides important information on the adsorption of different molecules on SERS-active metals [44][45][46][47]. Actually, the SERS bands observed in the Ag–SiO2 colloid appear quite similar to the Raman bands of the argentous coordination compound [42][48] Ag(I)(bpy)2, where the