Cross-sectional Kelvin probe force microscopy on III–V epitaxial multilayer stacks: challenges and perspectives

• Mattia da Lisca,
• José Alvarez,
• James P. Connolly,
• Nicolas Vaissiere,
• Karim Mekhazni,
• Jean Decobert and
• Jean-Paul Kleider

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 725–737, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.59

• hinder the extraction of the photogenerated charges. III–V-based solar devices belong to the PV technology of thin and ultrathin films in which layers with widths of the order of a few nanometres are often integrated for an optimal surface passivation or for better carrier extraction, considerably

Recent advances in green carbon dots (2015–2022): synthesis, metal ion sensing, and biological applications

• Aisha Kanwal,
• Naheed Bibi,
• Sajjad Hyder,
• Arif Muhammad,
• Hao Ren,
• Jiangtao Liu and
• Zhongli Lei

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1068–1107, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.93

• . Surface passivation with different functional groups generates surface defects, which produces fluorescence and also generates new active sites for modification for specific applications. CDs can be chemically modified by many heteroatoms, including N, P, and S, and many other chemicals that increase

• proteins, which makes them a better option based on the fact that surface functionality of CDs can be achieved without adding extra substances for doping, modification and surface passivation [54]. A summary of CDs synthesized from carbon-rich plant extract without surface-passivating agents and their

• and 12 h, respectively. The obtained size was about 4 ± 1 nm and the quantum yield was up to 11% [103]. Huang et al. achieved an increase in QY up to 27% by using a bauhinia flower to synthesize N-CDs via a facile microwave method, without any further surface passivation or modification [104]. Prunus

Effect of lubricants on the rotational transmission between solid-state gears

• Huang-Hsiang Lin,
• Jonathan Heinze,
• Alexander Croy,
• Rafael Gutiérrez and
• Gianaurelio Cuniberti

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 54–62, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.3

• potential is reactive. One might wonder how gear surface passivation (e.g., atoms saturated by hydrogen) can affect the bond formation in this case. For perfect passivation, we should not expect any bond formation under normal conditions. In reality, the gear surface passivation should be somewhere between

Design aspects of Bi₂Sr₂CaCu₂O_8+δ THz sources: optimization of thermal and radiative properties

• Mikhail M. Krasnov,
• Natalia D. Novikova,
• Roger Cattaneo,
• Alexey A. Kalenyuk and
• Vladimir M. Krasnov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 1392–1403, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.103

• glue. The crystal is cleaved under ambient conditions. After that the sample is immediately put into a deposition chamber and a protective gold layer of 60–80 nm is deposited to avoid surface passivation. Next, a line pattern of photoresist is written with a length of 100–200 μm and a width of 5–15 μm

Impact of GaAs(100) surface preparation on EQE of AZO/Al₂O₃/p-GaAs photovoltaic structures

• Piotr Caban,
• Rafał Pietruszka,
• Jarosław Kaszewski,
• Monika Ożga,
• Bartłomiej S. Witkowski,
• Krzysztof Kopalko,
• Piotr Kuźmiuk,
• Katarzyna Gwóźdź,
• Ewa Płaczek-Popko,
• Krystyna Lawniczak-Jablonska and
• Marek Godlewski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 578–592, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.48

• ; gallium arsenide; photovoltaics; surface passivation; Introduction The atomic layer deposition (ALD) method is used for silicon passivation in photovoltaics. In recent years we proposed the usage of ALD for the construction of simplified Si-based cells [1]. Once zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods were employed as

• the removal of the native oxide layer followed by an adequate surface passivation technique [13] and/or by a proper choice of the dielectric and its deposition method. Regarding the dielectric, the most common ones are aluminum oxide (Al2O3) and hafnium dioxide (HfO2) for which the preferable

• ) [23][24][25]. Therefore, one should limit the contact time of the GaAs substrate with air/water to an absolute minimum. The attempts that were made to either stop or at least reduce this phenomenon led to the use of surface passivation techniques. One of the well-known and effective methods to protect

Influence of the epitaxial composition on N-face GaN KOH etch kinetics determined by ICP-OES

• Markus Tautz,
• Maren T. Kuchenbrod,
• Joachim Hertkorn,
• Robert Weinberger,
• Martin Welzel,
• Arno Pfitzner and
• David Díaz Díaz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 41–50, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.4

• weighed amount of bulk u-GaN in 30 wt % KOH solution was not successful. Moreover, immersion of elemental Ga in 30 wt % KOH solution led to surface passivation after a short etch period. From the Ga mass dissolved in aqua regia, a concentration of 0.909 mg L−1 Ga after dilution was calculated. An ICP-OES

Hierarchically structured 3D carbon nanotube electrodes for electrocatalytic applications

• Pei Wang,
• Katarzyna Kulp and
• Michael Bron

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1475–1487, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.146

• typical appearance of the CVs for methanol oxidation over Pt-based catalysts. Methanol is oxidized to CO2 in the forward CV scan until Pt is oxidized, leading to a surface passivation and a sudden decrease in the oxidation current. During the backward CV scan, MeOH oxidation starts as soon as the

CuInSe₂ quantum dots grown by molecular beam epitaxy on amorphous SiO₂ surfaces

• Henrique Limborço,
• Pedro M.P. Salomé,
• Rodrigo Ribeiro-Andrade,
• Jennifer P. Teixeira,
• Nicoleta Nicoara,
• Kamal Abderrafi,
• Joaquim P. Leitão,
• Juan C. Gonzalez and
• Sascha Sadewasser

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1103–1111, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.110

• nanodots and the PL emission band together with the quantum confinement model indicate that the observed PL emission originates from quantum-confined states in the CIS nanodots. An additional important observation of the PL analysis is the evidence of the surface passivation of the nanodots by a wet

Sub-wavelength waveguide properties of 1D and surface-functionalized SnO₂ nanostructures of various morphologies

• Venkataramana Bonu,
• Binaya Kumar Sahu,
• Arindam Das,
• Sankarakumar Amirthapandian,
• Sandip Dhara and
• Harish C. Barshilia

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 379–388, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.37

• . Then, surface passivation takes place leading to suppression of the luminescence related to the OB vacancy sites. Moreover, luminescence from OP arises at high energy relative to the luminescence OB vacancies. We previously reported a detailed study on OTS functionalization of the SnO2 NPs [19]. It is

Geometrical optimisation of core–shell nanowire arrays for enhanced absorption in thin crystalline silicon heterojunction solar cells

• Robin Vismara,
• Olindo Isabella,
• Andrea Ingenito,
• Fai Tong Si and
• Miro Zeman

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 322–331, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.31

• from the surface. Plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD) was used for growing thin-film silicon and silicon alloys layers, to implement surface passivation and front surface field. Intrinsic hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si(i):H), with a thickness equivalent to 30 nm on a flat substrate

• defect removal etching [53], which would dramatically improve the surface passivation. Geometrical study of nanowire arrays To further understand the interaction of light with nanowires, and how the presence of the NW array affects the absorption in the active silicon layer, optical simulations were used

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

• suggests that when metal or chemical materials are doped with QDs, the number of surface trap states (which can lead to exponential PL decay) is affected by the surface passivation and by the degree of quantum confinement. In CdSe/ZnS QDs with higher defect densities, binding with GNRs having very

Lead-free hybrid perovskites for photovoltaics

• Oleksandr Stroyuk

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2209–2235, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.207

• accumulate in a surface layer of the HP film exerting a passivating effect and resulting in a longer charge carrier lifetime [102]. The introduction of Ca2+ on the Pb2+ sites of CsPbI3 HP results in a more homogeneous a better contact between the HP and HTL, as well as the surface passivation by a Ca

Green synthesis of fluorescent carbon dots from spices for in vitro imaging and tumour cell growth inhibition

• Nagamalai Vasimalai,
• Vânia Vilas-Boas,
• Juan Gallo,
• María de Fátima Cerqueira,
• Mario Menéndez-Miranda,
• José Manuel Costa-Fernández,
• Lorena Diéguez,
• Begoña Espiña and
• María Teresa Fernández-Argüelles

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 530–544, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.51

• . Generally, the synthesis of C-dots is a multistep and tedious procedure, which is often expensive. Moreover, a surface passivation with other ligands or additives is frequently needed in order to obtain exacerbated intrinsic fluorescence properties [5][12][13]. Recently, green synthesis methods of C-dots

• . Results and Discussion Absorption and photoluminescence characterization of C-dots The C-dots were synthesized using spices as starting material through a green one-pot hydrothermal method that involves pyrolysis, carbonization and passivation [33][34][35], with no need to add surface passivation agents

Co-reductive fabrication of carbon nanodots with high quantum yield for bioimaging of bacteria

• Jiajun Wang,
• Xia Liu,
• Gesmi Milcovich,
• Tzu-Yu Chen,
• Edel Durack,
• Sarah Mallen,
• Yongming Ruan,
• Xuexiang Weng and
• Sarah P. Hudson

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 137–145, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.16

• ], significant progress in increasing the QY has been achieved. Most of the mentioned methods refer to surface passivation [9][10][11] and doping [12][13]. Recently, chemical reduction was also reported as an effective method to enhance the QY of C-dots [14]. Zheng et al. found an increase in QY for C-dots from

• value (45%) using citric acid and urea as precursors via a facile hydrothermal method. They evidenced that surface passivation by urea resulted in the high QY of the C-dots. Herein we report a C-dot synthetic procedure with remarkable QY (37%) by a one-step hydrothermal chemical reduction method, where

A comparative study of the nanoscale and macroscale tribological attributes of alumina and stainless steel surfaces immersed in aqueous suspensions of positively or negatively charged nanodiamonds

• Colin K. Curtis,
• Antonin Marek,
• Alex I. Smirnov and
• Jacqueline Krim

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2045–2059, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.205

• NDs similar to those employed here result in a markedly lower friction coefficients when treated with a dispersant so as to form colloids in oils [53]. This is consistent with a suggestion that the surface passivation treatments of NDs have great impact on the tribological properties. The notion is

Non-intuitive clustering of 9,10-phenanthrenequinone on Au(111)

• Ryan D. Brown,
• Rebecca C. Quardokus,
• Natalie A. Wasio,
• Jacob P. Petersen,
• Angela M. Silski,
• Steven A. Corcelli and
• S. Alex Kandel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1801–1807, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.181

• polymorphs of the bulk crystal structure [21]. Additionally, the asymmetry of the phenanthrene ring should allow for the determination of the molecular orientation during scanning tunneling microscopy experiments. This molecule has been studied in the past for its role in surface passivation of semiconductor

AgCl-doped CdSe quantum dots with near-IR photoluminescence

• Pavel A. Kotin,
• Sergey S. Bubenov,
• Natalia E. Mordvinova and
• Sergey G. Dorofeev

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1156–1166, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.117

• . Halide ions have their own hole traps [26], which can reduce the energy of PL. They also play an important role in the surface passivation, which can lead to higher QYs and result in anisotropic growth of nanoparticles [27]. Herein, we explore the combined influence of both Ag and Cl ions in the modified

Dealloying of gold–copper alloy nanowires: From hillocks to ring-shaped nanopores

• Adrien Chauvin,
• Cyril Delacôte,
• Mohammed Boujtita,
• Benoit Angleraud,
• Junjun Ding,
• Chang-Hwan Choi,
• Pierre-Yves Tessier and
• Abdel-Aziz El Mel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1361–1367, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.127

• images showing the impact of the dealloying potential on Au–Cu nanowires with a nodular morphology initially containing 18 and 23 atom % gold. These two gold compositions were carefully selected within an experimental window in order to avoid surface passivation or the delamination of the wires during

• 0.3 V (Figure 5e), only tiny pores form around the hillocks. The limited porosity is probably related to a surface passivation effect due to the relatively high initial content of Au. Further increasing the dealloying voltage to 0.4 V (Figure 5f) results in the generation of nanoporosity very similar

Photocurrent generation in carbon nanotube/cubic-phase HfO₂ nanoparticle hybrid nanocomposites

• Protima Rauwel,
• Augustinas Galeckas,
• Martin Salumaa,
• Frédérique Ducroquet and
• Erwan Rauwel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1075–1085, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.101

• generation are expected from the hybrid material studied in under band gap excitation conditions. Nevertheless, one has to also consider that nanoparticles in contact with the CNT may undergo surface passivation along with corresponding changes in the electron trap states within the band gap [35

Addition of Zn during the phosphine-based synthesis of indium phospide quantum dots: doping and surface passivation

• Natalia E. Mordvinova,
• Alexander A. Vinokurov,
• Oleg I. Lebedev,
• Tatiana A. Kuznetsova and
• Sergey G. Dorofeev

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1237–1246, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.127

Electrical properties of single CdTe nanowires

• Elena Matei,
• Camelia Florica,
• Andreea Costas,
• María Eugenia Toimil-Molares and
• Ionut Enculescu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 444–450, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.45

• . Focused ion beam-induced metallization was used to produce individual nanowires with electrical contacts and electrical measurements were performed on these individual nanowires. The influence of a bottom gate was investigated and it was found that surface passivation leads to improved transport

• found that (similar to other cases of semiconductor nanowires) the surface passivation leads to an improvement in the electrical properties [16][17]. Results and Discussion Electrochemical deposition of CdTe is a process that has been studied over several decades, and is one of the first reports of an

Carbon nano-onions (multi-layer fullerenes): chemistry and applications

• Juergen Bartelmess and
• Silvia Giordani

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1980–1998, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.207

• carboxylate functional groups, together with the defective nature of the CNOs, also led to the observed fluorescence emission in the visible and NIR, which was imposed by spontaneous surface passivation and quantum confinement and allowed for multicolor biological imaging. The specimens were fed with

Silicon and germanium nanocrystals: properties and characterization

• Ivana Capan,
• Alexandra Carvalho and
• José Coutinho

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1787–1794, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.189

• -covered nanocrystals with the same size. Like the hydrogenated Si NCs, chlorinated Si NCs doped with phosphorus or boron require a high activation energy to transfer an electron or hole, respectively, to undoped Si NCs. The electronic levels of surface dangling bonds are similar for both types of surface

• passivation, although in the chlorinated Si NCs some fall off the narrower gap. Functionalisation with chlorine, nitrogen and fluorine was also found to be an effective way to control the bandgap of nanodiamonds [68]. Nanocrystals functionalized with organic groups have so far only been considered in a

The cell-type specific uptake of polymer-coated or micelle-embedded QDs and SPIOs does not provoke an acute pro-inflammatory response in the liver

• Markus Heine,
• Alexander Bartelt,
• Oliver T. Bruns,
• Denise Bargheer,
• Artur Giemsa,
• Barbara Freund,
• Ludger Scheja,
• Christian Waurisch,
• Alexander Eychmüller,
• Rudolph Reimer,
• Horst Weller,
• Peter Nielsen and
• Joerg Heeren

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1432–1440, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.155

• that the metals within the inorganic core are potentially toxic. Apparently, QDs with a special nano-sized formulation and surface passivation prevent acute toxic effects. Given that only some of the reports found pathological effects in a clinical sense, parameters that are more sensitive such as

Direct nanoscale observations of the coupled dissolution of calcite and dolomite and the precipitation of gypsum

• Francesco G. Offeddu,
• Jordi Cama,
• Josep M. Soler and
• Christine V. Putnis

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1245–1253, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.138

• mechanism is known as passivation or armoring [3][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. While metal phases tend to precipitate between the calcite grains, gypsum tends to precipitate strongly adhered on the dissolving calcite surface, which is the main mechanism responsible for surface passivation [14][15][16][17