Structural optical and electrical properties of a transparent conductive ITO/Al–Ag/ITO multilayer contact

• Aliyu Kabiru Isiyaku,
• Ahmad Hadi Ali and
• Nafarizal Nayan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 695–702, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.57

• fraction of Sn is low because it is the dopant element in ITO. The low content of Al is attributed to the very thin layer. The EDXS spectra of the films before and after annealing are shown in Figure 2. The surface morphology of the IAAI and ITO films was studied using atomic force microscopy (AFM) of an

• roughness is attributed to the increasing grain sizes [35]. The large grain sizes of IAAI films reduce the number of grain boundaries and thus the scattering at grain boundaries. This improves the carrier mobility leading to an increased electrical conductivity of the films. The surface morphology of the

• , OXFORD X-MAX, Energy 200 premium was used. Morphological analyses by atomic force microscopic An AFM Standard Operation AFM5010 Hitachi model in tapping mode was used to examine the surface morphology of the films. Root mean square Rrms and average Ra roughness plus morphological grain size analyses were

A novel dry-blending method to reduce the coefficient of thermal expansion of polymer templates for OTFT electrodes

• Xiangdong Ye,
• Bo Tian,
• Yuxuan Guo,
• Fan Fan and
• Anjiang Cai

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 671–677, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.53

• the silicon template. Characterization The surface morphology of the PDMS/SiO2 composite template and the OTFT electrodes was investigated via scanning electron microscopy (SEM, JSM-6390a, Japan). The thermal expansion of the PDMS/SiO2 composite template was examined using a thermomechanical analyzer

• determined based on the curves obtained from the analyzer. Results and Discussion Surface morphology of the PDMS/SiO2 composite template The prepared silicon template as well as microscopic details before and after filling with SiO2 nanoparticles are shown in Figure 2. Figure 2a shows the physical appearance

• ) cleaning of the silicon template; (b) filling with SiO2 nanoparticles; (c) removal of excess SiO2 nanoparticles; (d) grooves filled with SiO2 nanoparticles; (e) covering with PDMS; (f) curing of PDMS; (g) peeling off PDMS; and (h) prepared PDMS/SiO2 composite template. Surface morphology of the silicon

Observation of unexpected uniaxial magnetic anisotropy in La_2/3Sr_1/3MnO₃ films by a BaTiO₃ overlayer in an artificial multiferroic bilayer

• John E. Ordóñez,
• Lorena Marín,
• Luis A. Rodríguez,
• Pedro A. Algarabel,
• José A. Pardo,
• Roger Guzmán,
• Luis Morellón,
• César Magén,
• Etienne Snoeck,
• María E. Gómez and
• Manuel R. Ibarra

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 651–661, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.51

• of the tensile-strained film can be locally altered with the formation of an orthorhombic structure due to different rotation patterns of the MnO6 octahedra to favor epitaxial growth [44][45]. In most of the cases, this is promoted by the substrate surface morphology (e.g., regular step-terrace

Evolution of Ag nanostructures created from thin films: UV–vis absorption and its theoretical predictions

• Robert Kozioł,
• Marcin Łapiński,
• Paweł Syty,
• Damian Koszelow,
• Wojciech Sadowski,
• Józef E. Sienkiewicz and
• Barbara Kościelska

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 494–507, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.40

• measured in situ using a quartz crystal microbalance. To form nanostructures, the as-prepared films were put into a hot furnace and annealed in argon atmosphere at different temperatures for different periods of time. The surface morphology of the samples was analyzed using a FEI Quanta FEG 250 SEM

Formation of nanoripples on ZnO flat substrates and nanorods by gas cluster ion bombardment

• Xiaomei Zeng,
• Vasiliy Pelenovich,
• Bin Xing,
• Rakhim Rakhimov,
• Wenbin Zuo,
• Alexander Tolstogouzov,
• Chuansheng Liu,
• Dejun Fu and
• Xiangheng Xiao

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 383–390, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.29

• bombardment, the modified surface morphology of the flat substrates and nanorods was studied with a scanning electron microscope (SEM) Zeiss Sigma, operated at 20 kV accelerating voltage. An atomic force microscope (AFM) Shimadzu SPM-9500J3 was used to study the ripple formation on the flat ZnO substrates

• formation on the GCIB parameters (incidence angle, accelerating voltage, and fluence). SEM and AFM images shown in Figure 2 and Figure 3, respectively, present the surface morphology of the substrates before and after Ar cluster bombardment at different incidence angles, θ = 0–80°. The acceleration voltage

Implementation of data-cube pump–probe KPFM on organic solar cells

• Benjamin Grévin,
• Olivier Bardagot and
• Renaud Demadrille

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 323–337, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.24

• of the photocarriers [36]. We now focus on the photoresponse of the phase-segregated organic blend, i.e., the photoactive layer of the device without the cathode electrode, given by configuration 2 in Figure 3b. The surface morphology of the PTB7:PC71BM blend (Figure 7a) is consistent with that

High-performance asymmetric supercapacitor made of NiMoO₄ nanorods@Co₃O₄ on a cellulose-based carbon aerogel

• Meixia Wang,
• Jing Zhang,
• Xibin Yi,
• Benxue Liu,
• Xinfu Zhao and
• Xiaochan Liu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 240–251, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.18

• structure of the prepared samples was characterized by XRD (D8 Advance, Bruker) using Cu Kα radiation (λ = 0.15406 nm) over a scan range of 5–80°. XPS (Thermo escalab 250Xi, Thermo fisher) measurements were performed using the monochromatized Al Kα radiation at 1486.6 eV. The surface morphology of the

An investigation on the drag reduction performance of bioinspired pipeline surfaces with transverse microgrooves

• Weili Liu,
• Hongjian Ni,
• Peng Wang and
• Yi Zhou

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 24–40, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.3

• Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, University of Calgary, Calgary T2N1N4, Canada 10.3762/bjnano.11.3 Abstract A novel surface morphology for pipelines using transverse microgrooves was proposed in order to reduce the pressure loss of fluid transport. Numerical simulation and experimental research efforts

• surface morphology of shark skin and bird feathers. In Figure 1a, it is evident that the surface of shark skin is rough and covered with microgrooves. Sharks are known to be one of the fastest fish in the ocean. The phenomenon of nonsmooth surfaces with low drag has attracted the attention of researchers

Synthesis and acetone sensing properties of ZnFe₂O₄/rGO gas sensors

• Kaidi Wu,
• Yifan Luo,
• Ying Li and
• Chao Zhang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2516–2526, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.242

• characteristic peaks of rGO, that should be observed at about 24°, are not clearly identified in the patterns, which may be ascribed to the low mass fraction of rGO in the ZnFe2O4/rGO composites [35][36]. The surface morphology and the size of the hollow spheres of pure ZnFe2O4 and the ZnFe2O4/rGO composites

• improved by incorporation of rGO. The rGO mass fraction of the ZnFe2O4/rGO spheres was 0, 0.1, 0.25, 0.5 and 1 wt %, respectively. Upon introduction of rGO, the size and the hollow structure of the sphere were not affected, while the surface morphology was modified and became more regular. The ZnFe2O4/rGO

Semitransparent Sb₂S₃ thin film solar cells by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis for use in solar windows

• Jako S. Eensalu,
• Atanas Katerski,
• Erki Kärber,
• Lothar Weinhardt,
• Monika Blum,
• Clemens Heske,
• Wanli Yang,
• Ilona Oja Acik and
• Malle Krunks

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2396–2409, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.230

• solar cell cross sections were recorded in the combined energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (Bruker spectrometer, ESPRIT 1.8, 7 kV) and scanning electron microscope (Zeiss HR FESEM Ultra 55, 4 kV) system. The surface morphology of glass/ITO/TiO2/Sb2S3 samples was recorded in a HR-SEM (Helios NanoLab

Targeted therapeutic effect against the breast cancer cell line MCF-7 with a CuFe₂O₄/silica/cisplatin nanocomposite formulation

• B. Rabindran Jermy,
• Vijaya Ravinayagam,
• Widyan A. Alamoudi,
• Dana Almohazey,
• Hatim Dafalla,
• Lina Hussain Allehaibi,
• Abdulhadi Baykal,
• Muhammet S. Toprak and
• Thirunavukkarasu Somanathan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2217–2228, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.214

• rearrangement of the peak position at about 487 cm−1 with the tetrahedral and octahedral sites of MFe2O4. The absorption band at 580 cm−1 clearly shows the presence of an Fe–O bond of spinel present over the HYPS support (Figure 3). The surface morphology of CuFe2O4/HYPS was analyzed using TEM and SEM-EDX

Porous silver-coated pNIPAM-co-AAc hydrogel nanocapsules

• William W. Bryan,
• Riddhiman Medhi,
• Maria D. Marquez,
• Supparesk Rittikulsittichai,
• Michael Tran and
• T. Randall Lee

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1973–1982, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.194

• . However, the surface morphology of the porous nanoshells is rough (see Figure 4b). Possible reasons for the roughness include destabilizing intercalation of the salt precursor into the polymer matrix and insufficient nucleation sites, leading to lengthy time periods needed for nanocapsule growth. To

Novel hollow titanium dioxide nanospheres with antimicrobial activity against resistant bacteria

• Carol López de Dicastillo,
• Cristian Patiño,
• María José Galotto,
• Yesseny Vásquez-Martínez,
• Claudia Torrent,
• Daniela Alburquenque,
• Alejandro Pereira and
• Juan Escrig

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1716–1725, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.167

• , structural and thermal properties. In addition, the antimicrobial activity against common and multidrug-resistant bacteria were also studied. Crucial factors, such as the size, surface morphology and crystal structure of the NPs, were found to affect their antibacterial mechanism. Thus, the comparison of the

Tuning the performance of vanadium redox flow batteries by modifying the structural defects of the carbon felt electrode

• Ditty Dixon,
• Deepu Joseph Babu,
• Aiswarya Bhaskar,
• Hans-Michael Bruns,
• Joerg J. Schneider,
• Frieder Scheiba and
• Helmut Ehrenberg

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1698–1706, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.165

• scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis, it can be seen that the surface morphology of the fibers of both samples looked identical and thus any kind of surface roughening leading to an increase of the surface area can be ignored. This is further supported by our previous study were the BET measurements

Layered double hydroxide/sepiolite hybrid nanoarchitectures for the controlled release of herbicides

• Ediana Paula Rebitski,
• Margarita Darder and
• Pilar Aranda

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1679–1690, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.163

• spectrometer equipped with a 4 mm MAS NMR probe, with the samples rotating at a rate of approximately 10 kHz and using a π/2 pulse of recycle delay of 5.9 μs and 5.0 s. Chemical shifts are referenced to tetramethylsilane (TMS) at δ = 0 ppm. Surface morphology of the samples was studied with the field-emision

Stationary beam full-field transmission helium ion microscopy using sub-50 keV He⁺: Projected images and intensity patterns

• Michael Mousley,
• Santhana Eswara,
• Olivier De Castro,
• Olivier Bouton,
• Nico Klingner,
• Christoph T. Koch,
• Gregor Hlawacek and
• Tom Wirtz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1648–1657, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.160

• kinetics related to charge build-up and charge dissipation processes. To explore the possible correlation between the local surface morphology and the observed intensity patterns, the same BN sample was also imaged in the prototype THIM, where Figure 4C shows the THIM intensity pattern. Through a

• sample edges. The patterns carry information on the surface morphology. However, for these powder samples there is too much information to separate many different features. Further study is required to provide a deeper understanding of the processes involved. The results presented in this paper show that

• there is potential to gain information about surface morphology from the spot patterns in deflected He+ ion images. The results presented here indicate that the final deflected intensity distribution in the far field carries contributions from sample morphology in addition to other possible phenomena

A highly efficient porous rod-like Ce-doped ZnO photocatalyst for the degradation of dye contaminants in water

• Binjing Hu,
• Qiang Sun,
• Chengyi Zuo,
• Yunxin Pei,
• Siwei Yang,
• Hui Zheng and
• Fangming Liu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1157–1165, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.115

• a sunlight simulator. The results showed that ZnO doped with 3% Ce exhibits the highest RhB degradation rate. To understand the crystal structure, elemental state, surface morphology and chemical composition, the photocatalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron

• to improve its photocatalytic activity by modifying its surface morphology [10][11]. Wang et al. [12] prepared Ce-doped ZnO with different doping levels by using a one-step solution method, using methylene blue as the target pollutant for photodegradation. After exposure to light for 200 minutes, the

•  4. We calculated the Ce state using curve-fitting based on the literature [33]. The results revealed that the percentage of RCe3+ (Ce3+/(Ce3+ + Ce4+)) and RCe4+ (Ce4+/(Ce3+ + Ce4+)) was 26.4% and 73.6%, respectively. To examine the surface morphology, SEM was carried out. Figure 5 shows SEM images

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

• this work we present samples prepared at substrate temperatures of 490, 530, and 580 °C; they will be referred to by their growth temperature. Characterization The surface morphology was determined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) in a FEI Quanta 650 FEG SEM microscope. Scanning transmission

Concurrent nanoscale surface etching and SnO₂ loading of carbon fibers for vanadium ion redox enhancement

• Jun Maruyama,
• Shohei Maruyama,
• Tomoko Fukuhara,
• Toru Nagaoka and
• Kei Hanafusa

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 985–992, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.99

• performed without CSnPc for comparison. The treatment conditions and the obtained samples are summarized in Table 1. Surface morphology The FESEM images of TGP, TGP-CSnPc, and TGP-CSnPc-550Air are shown in Figure 1 and Figure S1 (Supporting Information File 1). The surface morphology of the carbon fiber

In situ AFM visualization of Li–O₂ battery discharge products during redox cycling in an atmospherically controlled sample cell

• Kumar Virwani,
• Younes Ansari,
• Khanh Nguyen,
• Francisco José Alía Moreno-Ortiz,
• Jangwoo Kim,
• Maxwell J. Giammona,
• Ho-Cheol Kim and
• Young-Hye La

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 930–940, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.94

• surface morphology over long scanning periods, we employed a spiral image collection scheme, which was designed to minimize the effect of scanning on the structures generated during the Li/O2 electrochemistry (Figure 1). The spiral scheme was composed of nine images of 3 × 3 μm each, collected from center

Novel reversibly switchable wettability of superhydrophobic–superhydrophilic surfaces induced by charge injection and heating

• Xiangdong Ye,
• Junwen Hou and
• Dongbao Cai

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 840–847, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.84

• (compared to Figure 2b). Therefore, we conclude that the change in coating wettability was not induced by the surface morphology. To establish the reason for the wettability change, Kelvin probe force microscopy was used to detect the surface potential of the electrode contact area and the electrode non

An efficient electrode material for high performance solid-state hybrid supercapacitors based on a Cu/CuO/porous carbon nanofiber/TiO₂ hybrid composite

• Mamta Sham Lal,
• Thirugnanam Lavanya and
• Sundara Ramaprabhu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 781–793, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.78

• formation of the composite from as-spun fiber during different steps of the synthesis is shown in Figure 1. Physical characterization The surface morphology and elemental composition of the samples was investigated with an Inspect F50 field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) operating at 20 kV

Features and advantages of flexible silicon nanowires for SERS applications

• Hrvoje Gebavi,
• Vlatko Gašparić,
• Dubravko Risović,
• Nikola Baran,
• Paweł Henryk Albrycht and
• Mile Ivanda

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 725–734, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.72

• fabrication temperature and metal-plating duration significantly influence the flexibility of the SiNWs and, consequently, determine the SERS enhancement. Second, it is demonstrated how the immersion in a liquid followed by drying results in the formation of SiNWs bundles influencing the surface morphology

• thickness of the SiNWs [34]. Geometry, density and the changes in surface morphology of the SiNWs influence the variations in SERS intensity. The second observation can be explained in two ways. Firstly, 4-MPBA interacts with water; and secondly, EtOH or H2O capillary forces influence the surface morphology

• . The first image shows the dry sample while the second and the third image show the same sample after immersion in ethanol and water. From these Figures, it can be concluded that the liquid immersion strongly influences the surface morphology of the SiNWs. Figure S10 in Supporting Information File 1

Self-assembly and wetting properties of gold nanorod–CTAB molecules on HOPG

• Imtiaz Ahmad,
• Floor Derkink,
• Tim Boulogne,
• Pantelis Bampoulis,
• Harold J. W. Zandvliet,
• Hidayat Ullah Khan,
• Rahim Jan and
• E. Stefan Kooij

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 696–705, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.69

• . As indicated, the CTAB stripes seem to disappear with time in the regions where the surface morphology is probed using AFM. From all these images, however, we cannot conclusively determine the origin of the removal rate of the stripes. Zooming out does not reveal molecules piling up at the edges of

Commercial polycarbonate track-etched membranes as substrates for low-cost optical sensors

• Paula Martínez-Pérez and
• Jaime García-Rupérez

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 677–683, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.67

• and reagents were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich (St. Louis, MO, USA), unless otherwise noted. Firstly, the surface morphology of Whatman® 800307 PCTE membranes (19 mm diameter with pores of 30 nm diameter, 11 µm thickness and a refractive index of 1.5551 at 2400 nm (obtained using the dispersion