Methionine-mediated synthesis of magnetic nanoparticles and functionalization with gold quantum dots for theranostic applications

• Arūnas Jagminas,
• Agnė Mikalauskaitė,
• Vitalijus Karabanovas and
• Jūrate Vaičiūnienė

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1734–1741, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.174

• resolution. Image processing included flattening (2nd order) to remove the background slope caused by the irregularities of the piezoelectric scanner. The analysis was performed using the SpmLabAnalysis software (Veeco Instruments Inc., USA). Magnetization measurements were accomplished using a vibrating

Surface functionalization of 3D-printed plastics via initiated chemical vapor deposition

• Christine Cheng and
• Malancha Gupta

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1629–1636, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.162

• flow regulated by a piezoelectric actuator [10][11]. Selective laser sintering uses a laser beam to heat a layer of powder above its melting point, fusing it to the previous layers, and then new powder is subsequently rolled over the printed object [12][13]. In stereolithography (SLA), a laser or UV

A biofunctionalizable ink platform composed of catechol-modified chitosan and reduced graphene oxide/platinum nanocomposite

• Peter Sobolewski,
• Agata Goszczyńska,
• Małgorzata Aleksandrzak,
• Karolina Urbaś,
• Joanna Derkowska,
• Agnieszka Bartoszewska,
• Jacek Podolski,
• Ewa Mijowska and
• Mirosława El Fray

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1508–1514, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.151

• modified the chitosan with catechol groups, in order to obtain adhesive properties and improve solubility. Dispersions of rGO–Pt in ethylene glycol were admixed with an aqueous solution of modified chitosan to yield an ink that is suitable for non-contact piezoelectric printing using a commercial

• polymerase chain reaction (PCR) products and low non-specific binding. Our results demonstrate that catechol-modified chitosan/rGO–Pt nanocomposites can be used as inks for piezoelectric printing and facilitate the attachment of biorecognition elements for biosensor applications. Keywords: biosensing

• ; catechol; chitosan; graphene; piezoelectric printing; Introduction Biosensors are a key enabling technology for the paradigm shift towards decentralized, personalized and targeted medicine. They offer the potential to utilize the wealth of information provided by modern molecular biology (genomics and

3D continuum phonon model for group-IV 2D materials

• Morten Willatzen,
• Lok C. Lew Yan Voon,
• Appala Naidu Gandi and
• Udo Schwingenschlögl

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1345–1356, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.136

• approaches, by starting with the elastic and electric equations, and taking into account the full crystalline symmetry and piezoelectric couplings when allowed by symmetry. We apply the theory to obtain the phonons in group-IV elemental 2D materials. Given that there are two fundamental structures for the

• () structures belong to the hexagonal system, while silicene belongs to the trigonal system (point group D3d). Graphene and silicene are non-piezoelectric materials because of the inversion symmetry of the unit cell, while MoS2 is piezoelectric because its unit cell exhibits inversion asymmetry. Application

• graphene, Equation 2, because of the same hexagonal symmetry. However, the stress–strain relations are different because of the presence of piezoelectricity. Specifically, there are additional contributions to the stress–strain constitutive relations: by use of the piezoelectric e-tensor: and the equation

Study of the correlation between sensing performance and surface morphology of inkjet-printed aqueous graphene-based chemiresistors for NO₂ detection

• F. Villani,
• C. Schiattarella,
• T. Polichetti,
• R. Di Capua,
• F. Loffredo,
• B. Alfano,
• M. L. Miglietta,
• E. Massera,
• L. Verdoliva and
• G. Di Francia

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1023–1031, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.103

• have been employed as transducers. For all the substrates, interdigitated Cr/Au (30 nm/120 nm) electrodes have been realized by e-beam evaporation (chamber pressure at about 10−7 mbar) through a shadow mask. The inkjet equipment has been a piezoelectric drop-on-demand Dimatix materials printer 2831

Measuring adhesion on rough surfaces using atomic force microscopy with a liquid probe

• Juan V. Escobar,
• Cristina Garza and
• Rolando Castillo

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 813–825, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.84

• employed for measuring forces in the colloidal probe technique [4][5]. The surface under study is moved up and down by applying a voltage to a piezoelectric translator while recording the cantilever deflection. The deflection of the cantilever is measured with the optical beam deflection technique. As the

Synthesis of graphene–transition metal oxide hybrid nanoparticles and their application in various fields

• Arpita Jana,
• Elke Scheer and
• Sebastian Polarz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 688–714, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.74

• binding energy of 60 meV. It has been extensively studied because of its potential application in solar cells, sensors, diode lasers, piezoelectric devices, as surface acoustic wave propagators, antibacterial agents and ultraviolet light emitters. Graphene-based ZnO hybrids proved to be promising

Dispersion of single-wall carbon nanotubes with supramolecular Congo red – properties of the complexes and mechanism of the interaction

• Anna Jagusiak,
• Barbara Piekarska,
• Tomasz Pańczyk,
• Małgorzata Jemioła-Rzemińska,
• Elżbieta Bielańska,
• Barbara Stopa,
• Grzegorz Zemanek,
• Janina Rybarska,
• Irena Roterman and
• Leszek Konieczny

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 636–648, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.68

• characteristic: stiffness (elasticity) of the material (DMT Modulus; the higher value of the modified Young's modulus means the more stiff material), adhesion forces (it allows mapping the maximum force with which the microcantilever is attracted by the sample at the time of retract of the piezoelectric scanner

The longstanding challenge of the nanocrystallization of 1,3,5-trinitroperhydro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX)

• Florent Pessina and
• Denis Spitzer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 452–466, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.49

• , etc. Ultrasonic spray pyrolysis Since the nineties, spray crystallization and synthesis has been performed using several atomizers, and among them piezoelectric transducers [75][76]. As a spray technique, the goal is to produce one particle per droplet, but here the crystallization is controlled by

• particles and sub-micrometer-sized CL-20:HMX cocrystals. The claimed large-scale synthesis has not been fairly investigated. For instance increasing the number of piezoelectric transducers and scaling up the furnace would require excessive amounts of electrical power, thus making the cost-effectiveness of

Multimodal cantilevers with novel piezoelectric layer topology for sensitivity enhancement

• Steven Ian Moore,
• Michael G. Ruppert and
• Yuen Kuan Yong

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 358–371, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.38

• of the transducer layout on the cantilever for higher order modes has not been addressed. To fully utilize an integrated piezoelectric transducer, this work alters the layout of the piezoelectric layer to maximize both the deflection of the cantilever and measured piezoelectric charge response for a

• multifrequency AFM and has the potential to provide higher resolution imaging on higher order modes. Keywords: atomic force microscopy; multifrequency AFM; multimodal AFM; piezoelectric cantilever, self-sensing; Introduction The invention of the atomic force microscope (AFM) [1] provided for the observation of

• AFM cantilever instrumentation requires a piezoelectric stack actuator at the base of the cantilever for excitation [3] inevitably adding additional resonances as is visible from the so called forest of peaks [22]. These additional frequency components make cantilever resonance tuning almost

Template-controlled piezoactivity of ZnO thin films grown via a bioinspired approach

• Nina J. Blumenstein,
• Fabian Streb,
• Stefan Walheim,
• Thomas Schimmel,
• Zaklina Burghard and
• Joachim Bill

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 296–303, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.32

• of functional inorganic materials under mild reaction conditions where organic templates direct the deposition process. In this study, this principle was adapted for the formation of piezoelectric ZnO thin films. The influence of two different organic templates (namely, a carboxylate-terminated self

• -assembled monolayer and a sulfonate-terminated polyelectrolyte multilayer) on the deposition and therefore on the piezoelectric performance was investigated. While the low negative charge of the COOH-SAM is not able to support oriented attachment of the particles, the strongly negatively charged sulfonated

• polyelectrolyte leads to texturing of the ZnO film. This texture enables a piezoelectric performance of the material which was measured by piezoresponse force microscopy. This study shows that it is possible to tune the piezoelectric properties of ZnO by applying templates with different functionalities

Impact of surface wettability on S-layer recrystallization: a real-time characterization by QCM-D

• Jagoba Iturri,
• Ana C. Vianna,
• Alberto Moreno-Cencerrado,
• Dietmar Pum,
• Uwe B. Sleytr and
• José Luis Toca-Herrera

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 91–98, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.10

• -layers on different supports [17][18]. The QCM-D responses, i.e., the resonance frequency f and the energy dissipation D of the shear oscillatory motion of a piezoelectric quartz crystal sensor, change upon adsorption or desorption of material on the surface of that sensor. The measured parameters are

Graphene–polymer coating for the realization of strain sensors

• Carmela Bonavolontà,
• Carla Aramo,
• Massimo Valentino,
• Giampiero Pepe,
• Sergio De Nicola,
• Gianfranco Carotenuto,
• Angela Longo,
• Mariano Palomba,
• Simone Boccardi and
• Carosena Meola

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 21–27, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.3

• described a simple fabrication process to produce a low-cost graphene film on a PMMA substrate. The process makes use of the direct application of a nanostructured graphite colloidal suspension to a PMMA slat. Bending tests have been performed on this structure in order to study its piezoelectric response

Noise in NC-AFM measurements with significant tip–sample interaction

• Jannis Lübbe,
• Matthias Temmen,
• Philipp Rahe and
• Michael Reichling

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1885–1904, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.181

• speculate that the low-frequency deviation is caused by mechanical instabilities within the system, or by instabilities within the piezoelectric excitation system. For example, low-frequency noise has been observed when using photothermal excitation [23]. Disabling the amplitude control loop results in a

Sb₂S₃ grown by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis and its application in a hybrid solar cell

• Erki Kärber,
• Atanas Katerski,
• Ilona Oja Acik,
• Arvo Mere,
• Valdek Mikli and
• Malle Krunks

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1662–1673, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.158

• (CSP) is a simple and fast method in which a solution of precursor materials is pulverized and the aerosol is then guided by flow of carrier gas onto a hot substrate. The droplets can be produced pneumatically, or, ultrasonically with a piezoelectric generator submerged in the solution bath. The

Hydrophilic silver nanoparticles with tunable optical properties: application for the detection of heavy metals in water

• Paolo Prosposito,
• Federico Mochi,
• Erica Ciotta,
• Mauro Casalboni,
• Fabio De Matteis,
• Iole Venditti,
• Laura Fontana,
• Giovanna Testa and
• Ilaria Fratoddi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1654–1661, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.157

• the Smolukovsky equation [55]. The scanning tunneling microscope (Tops System, WA Technology) consists of a UHV attachment with an antivibration stacking and a piezoelectric tube with 2 mm maximum scanning area for the tip movement. The lateral resolution of the microscope is ±1 Å and the accuracy in

Viability and proliferation of endothelial cells upon exposure to GaN nanoparticles

• Tudor Braniste,
• Ion Tiginyanu,
• Tibor Horvath,
• Simion Raevschi,
• Serghei Cebotari,
• Marco Lux,
• Axel Haverich and
• Andres Hilfiker

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1330–1337, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.124

• good candidate material due to its chemical inertness and, in particular, its piezoelectric properties, which opens the possibility of it being able to transmit an electrical signal to cells. This might be used to activate cells receptors through simple external activation (e.g., via an ultrasound

• field). In comparison to other materials intensively investigated in this area (such as boron nitride nanotubes [13], barium titanate [14], or hydroxyapatite [15]), nanoscale GaN, in addition to its biocompatibility, shows strong enhancement of the piezoelectric properties compared to the bulk material

• semiconductor material, widely used in optoelectronics, in particular in industrial production of UV solid-state lasers and light-emitting diodes. This material has many remarkable characteristics, including piezoelectric properties, high thermal stability, radiation hardness, and excellent chemical inertness

Optical absorption signature of a self-assembled dye monolayer on graphene

• Tessnim Sghaier,
• Sylvain Le Liepvre,
• Céline Fiorini,
• Ludovic Douillard and
• Fabrice Charra

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 862–868, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.78

• to the PTCDI solution. The STM images were recorded under ambient conditions (ca. 300 K) with a custom-made digital system by the immersion of a 250 μm mechanically cut tip of Pt/Ir (90/10) purchased from Goodfellow into a 5 μL droplet of solution. The scanning piezoelectric ceramic was calibrated by

Understanding interferometry for micro-cantilever displacement detection

• Alexander von Schmidsfeld,
• Tobias Nörenberg,
• Matthias Temmen and
• Michael Reichling

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 841–851, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.76

• any tip–sample interaction. The optical fiber, IV, is glued in a ferrule, V, which is bent by 15° with respect to the vertical axis to match the cantilever angle. The fiber end is coarse-approached from the top with a piezoelectric actuator moving the triangular sapphire prism, VI, along the z-axis

High-resolution noncontact AFM and Kelvin probe force microscopy investigations of self-assembled photovoltaic donor–acceptor dyads

• Benjamin Grévin,
• Pierre-Olivier Schwartz,
• Laure Biniek,
• Martin Brinkmann,
• Nicolas Leclerc,
• Elena Zaborova and
• Stéphane Méry

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 799–808, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.71

• ). The lateral lag (due to thermal drift and piezoelectric actuator creep) between the set of images used for the SPV calculation was corrected by using the lattice tool of the WsXM software [22] (see Figure S9 in Supporting Information File 1). After correcting the images, the residual lateral error in

Microwave solvothermal synthesis and characterization of manganese-doped ZnO nanoparticles

• Jacek Wojnarowicz,
• Roman Mukhovskyi,
• Elzbieta Pietrzykowska,
• Sylwia Kusnieruk,
• Jan Mizeracki and
• Witold Lojkowski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 721–732, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.64

• , varistors, TFT display windows and laser technology [5][6][7]. ZnO displays pyroelectric and piezoelectric properties, thanks to which it is used in electroacoustic devices [8]. It is a biocompatible material used for producing biosensors and in drug delivery applications [9]. Thanks to antibacterial

Length-extension resonator as a force sensor for high-resolution frequency-modulation atomic force microscopy in air

• Hannes Beyer,
• Tino Wagner and
• Andreas Stemmer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 432–438, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.38

• [4][5]. Recently, atomic resolution has been achieved with a qPlus sensor in air on potassium bromide and graphite [2][6]. In this paper, we demonstrate the suitability of the piezoelectric self-sensing length-extension resonator (LER) [7][8] for high-resolution FM-AFM imaging in air. The LER has a

• turn is screwed to a Cypher droplet holder (Figure 1b) for operation in a Cypher AFM (Asylum Research). The resonator is excited electrically by applying a small AC voltage to one of its electrodes (input) and the displacement-induced piezoelectric current is detected on the other electrode which is

Efficiency improvement in the cantilever photothermal excitation method using a photothermal conversion layer

• Natsumi Inada,
• Hitoshi Asakawa,
• Taiki Kobayashi and
• Takeshi Fukuma

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 409–417, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.36

• of its simple setup and high usability. In the method, a cantilever oscillation is excited by vibrating a piezoelectric actuator integrated in a cantilever holder. However, spurious resonances in the surrounding liquid and mechanical parts often deteriorate the stability and accuracy of AFM

High-bandwidth multimode self-sensing in bimodal atomic force microscopy

• Michael G. Ruppert and
• S. O. Reza Moheimani

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 284–295, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.26

• standard microelectromechanical system (MEMS) processes to coat a microcantilever with a piezoelectric layer results in a versatile transducer with inherent self-sensing capabilities. For applications in multifrequency atomic force microscopy (MF-AFM), we illustrate that a single piezoelectric layer can be

• simultaneously used for multimode excitation and detection of the cantilever deflection. This is achieved by a charge sensor with a bandwidth of 10 MHz and dual feedthrough cancellation to recover the resonant modes that are heavily buried in feedthrough originating from the piezoelectric capacitance. The setup

• enables the omission of the commonly used piezoelectric stack actuator and optical beam deflection sensor, alleviating limitations due to distorted frequency responses and instrumentation cost, respectively. The proposed method benefits from a more than two orders of magnitude increase in deflection to

Single-molecule mechanics of protein-labelled DNA handles

• Vivek S. Jadhav,
• Dorothea Brüggemann,
• Florian Wruck and
• Martin Hegner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 138–148, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.16

• label at the 3’ end of the bead-coupled DNA strand was tethered to a biotin-coated bead, by bringing both beads within close proximity of each other (a few hundred nanometres). The position of this pipette was controlled with a closed-loop piezoelectric element, during force–displacement measurements