Influence of size, shape and core–shell interface on surface plasmon resonance in Ag and Ag@MgO nanoparticle films deposited on Si/SiO_x

• Sergio D’Addato,
• Daniele Pinotti,
• Maria Chiara Spadaro,
• Guido Paolicelli,
• Vincenzo Grillo,
• Sergio Valeri,
• Luca Pasquali,
• Luca Bergamini and
• Stefano Corni

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 404–413, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.40

• caused by diffusion on the surface and agglomeration. Atomic resolution TEM gave evidence of the presence of crystalline multidomains in the NPs, which were due to aggregation and multitwinning occurring during NP growth in the nanocluster source. Co-deposition of Ag NPs and Mg atoms in an oxygen

• experimental and theoretical work on Ag and Ag@MgO core–shell NPs deposited on Si with its native, ultrathin, oxide layer, SiOx (Si/SiOx) is presented. The preformed Ag NPs, produced with a nanocluster aggregation source, were co-deposited with Mg in an O atmosphere to produce MgO shells of variable thickness

• on Si/SiOx substrates in O2 atmosphere in order to form UV–vis transparent oxide shells around the Ag nanocluster cores and to investigate their effect on the morphological and optical properties. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis after deposition in vacuum revealed that the Ag 3d core level

Synthesis, characterization, and growth simulations of Cu–Pt bimetallic nanoclusters

• Subarna Khanal,
• Ana Spitale,
• Nabraj Bhattarai,
• Daniel Bahena,
• J. Jesus Velazquez-Salazar,
• Sergio Mejía-Rosales,
• Marcelo M. Mariscal and
• Miguel José-Yacaman

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1371–1379, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.150

• nanocluster, when a Pt atom is exchanged with a Cu atom from the first, second and third sub-surface layers. The exchange energy was obtained through energy minimizations by using a conjugated gradient algorithm. Eexc is a thermodynamic parameter that indicates the stability of one structure with respect to

• elemental line profiles across the nanoalloy structure obtained after 20 ns of GCLD simulation, (upper panel) TO586 seed and (lower panel) TO201 seed. Calculation of exchange energy (Eexc) for Pt atom diffusion in different sub-surface layers inside a Cu nanocluster with truncated octahedral geometry

DFT study of binding and electron transfer from colorless aromatic pollutants to a TiO₂ nanocluster: Application to photocatalytic degradation under visible light irradiation

• Corneliu I. Oprea,
• Petre Panait and
• Mihai A. Gîrţu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1016–1030, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.115

• Corneliu I. Oprea Petre Panait Mihai A. Girtu Department of Physics, Ovidius University of Constanţa, Constanţa 900527, Romania 10.3762/bjnano.5.115 Abstract We report results of density functional theory (DFT) calculations on some colorless aromatic systems adsorbed on a TiO2 nanocluster, in

• nanocluster. To answer the questions raised above we determine the electronic structure and the optical spectra of the pollutant itself, and find where the deprotonation is more likely to take place. We also simulate the pollutant–catalyst system to analyze the binding configurations. We discuss the energy

• focuses on the optimized geometry and electronic structure of the free pollutants. The third subsection presents the binding of the pollutants to the titania nanocluster, the fourth presents the optical properties of the adsorbed pollutants, and the last subsection attempts to explain the experimental

Gas sensing with gold-decorated vertically aligned carbon nanotubes

• Prasantha R. Mudimela,
• Mattia Scardamaglia,
• Oriol González-León,
• Nicolas Reckinger,
• Rony Snyders,
• Eduard Llobet,
• Carla Bittencourt and
• Jean-François Colomer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 910–918, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.104

• , it was shown that the sensitivity of the CNT gas sensor depends on nanocluster size and sensor working temperature [13][14][15][16][17]. Indeed, the nanoscale size of the metal cluster is necessary to maximize the effect of the gas adsorption and so to affect the electron transport in the CNTs by

• charge transfer. Concerning the nature of metal nanocluster, it has been shown that despite the fact that gold is inert in bulk form, it is catalytically active in the nanometer range [18]. This increased reactivity has been explained by the presence of low-coordinated gold atoms such as the atoms on the

The role of oxygen and water on molybdenum nanoclusters for electro catalytic ammonia production

• Jakob G. Howalt and
• Tejs Vegge

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 111–120, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.11

• , we present theoretical investigations of the influence of oxygen adsorption and reduction on pure and nitrogen covered molybdenum nanocluster electro catalysts for electrochemical reduction of N2 to NH3 with the purpose of understanding oxygen and water poisoning of the catalyst. Density functional

• theory calculations are used in combination with the computational hydrogen electrode approach to calculate the free energy profile for electrochemical protonation of O and N2 species on cuboctahedral Mo13 nanoclusters. The calculations show that the molybdenum nanocluster will preferentially bind oxygen

• free bands above the Fermi level. Periodic boundary conditions with a Monkhorst–Pack [15] k-point sampling of 2 × 2 × 2 were used to perform a methodological consistent comparison with previously obtained results on stepped and flat surfaces [1][16]. A 7 Å vacuum layer on all sides of the nanocluster

Low-dose patterning of platinum nanoclusters on carbon nanotubes by focused-electron-beam-induced deposition as studied by TEM

• Xiaoxing Ke,
• Carla Bittencourt,
• Sara Bals and
• Gustaaf Van Tendeloo

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 77–86, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.9

• nanotubes; FEBID; nanocluster; platinum; patterning; radiation-induced nanostructures; TEM; Introduction Hybrid nanostructures consisting of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) decorated with metal nanoclusters enable access to various electrical and catalytic properties. Therefore, they are considered as building

• in Supporting Information File 1. We have observed that although the Pt nanoclusters are distributed uniformly along the long axis of the CNT, their distribution along the circumference is less homogeneous. A statistical analysis of the nanocluster distribution around the circumference of the CNT has

• been carried out based on the 3D reconstruction. As shown in Figure 1d, the distribution of nanoclusters has been quantified as a function of the angle α between the electron beam and the tangent plane of the CNT circumference. It can be seen from Figure 1d that the nanocluster distribution can fit

Manipulation of gold colloidal nanoparticles with atomic force microscopy in dynamic mode: influence of particle–substrate chemistry and morphology, and of operating conditions

• Samer Darwich,
• Karine Mougin,
• Akshata Rao,
• Enrico Gnecco,
• Shrisudersan Jayaraman and
• Hamidou Haidara

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 85–98, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.10

• corresponds to the position of the tip on the surface and the yellow, blue and red disks are the positions of spherical particles pushed by the tip along its scan path. AFM images of nanocluster movement during their manipulation (a) gold nanorods deposited onto silicon wafer, scan size: 12 µm; (b) antimony