Kelvin probe force microscopy work function characterization of transition metal oxide crystals under ongoing reduction and oxidation

• Dominik Wrana,
• Karol Cieślik,
• Wojciech Belza,
• Christian Rodenbücher,
• Krzysztof Szot and
• Franciszek Krok

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1596–1607, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.155

• [1], hydrogen production [2], resistive switching [3] and organic electronics [4][5] to so-called thermoelectric power generators [6]. The performance of all of the abovementioned applications is extremely sensitive to the work function (WF) of the active oxide layer. As a vast majority of

Kelvin probe force microscopy of the nanoscale electrical surface potential barrier of metal/semiconductor interfaces in ambient atmosphere

• Petr Knotek,
• Tomáš Plecháček,
• Jan Smolík,
• Petr Kutálek,
• Filip Dvořák,
• Milan Vlček,
• Jiří Navrátil and
• Čestmír Drašar

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1401–1411, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.138

• preparation and characterization of metallic nanoinclusions on the surface of semiconducting Bi2Se3 that could be used for an enhancement of the efficiency of thermoelectric materials. We used Au forming a 1D alloy through diffusion (point nanoinclusion) and Mo forming thermodynamically stable layered MoSe2

• revealed that long-time exposure (tens of seconds) to the electrical field leads to deep oxidation and the formation of perturbations greater than 1 µm in height, which hinder the I–V measurements. Keywords: Kelvin probe atomic force microscope; nanoinclusion; Schottky barrier; thermoelectric materials

• ; work function; Introduction Increasing energy demand and the negative effects of current energy technologies on the environment lead to increased interest in alternative energy technologies. Thermoelectric (TE) devices, utilizing TE phenomena, i.e., the Seebeck and the Peltier effect, can be

Molecular attachment to a microscope tip: inelastic tunneling, Kondo screening, and thermopower

• Rouzhaji Tuerhong,
• Mauro Boero and
• Jean-Pierre Bucher

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1243–1250, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.124

• accross the molecular junction. Interesting thermoelectric effects in the presence of Kondo correlations were anticipated quite early [33]. In particular, sign changes of the thermopower at low temperatures when entering the Kondo regime. Whereas most experiments to date have been performed on solid-state

Synthesis and characterization of quaternary La(Sr)S–TaS₂ misfit-layered nanotubes

• Marco Serra,
• Erumpukuthickal Ashokkumar Anumol,
• Dalit Stolovas,
• Iddo Pinkas,
• Ernesto Joselevich,
• Reshef Tenne,
• Andrey Enyashin and
• Francis Leonard Deepak

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1112–1124, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.111

• interest of many researchers due to their electrical, optical, mechanical and thermoelectric properties [2] derived from their unique structure. WS2 nanotubes are nanostructures originating from the bending of a single layer of the 2D material tungsten disulfide along one axis, resulting in the

Enhancement in thermoelectric properties due to Ag nanoparticles incorporated in Bi₂Te₃ matrix

• Srashti Gupta,
• Dinesh Chandra Agarwal,
• Bathula Sivaiah,
• Sankarakumar Amrithpandian,
• Kandasami Asokan,
• Ajay Dhar,
• Binaya Kumar Panigrahi,
• Devesh Kumar Avasthi and
• Vinay Gupta

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 634–643, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.63

• , Delhi 110067, India Amity Institute of Nanotechnology, Amity University, Noida-Uttar Pradesh-201303, India 10.3762/bjnano.10.63 Abstract The present study aims to see the enhancement in thermoelectric properties of bismuth telluride (Bi2Te3) annealed at different temperatures (573 and 773 K) through

• nanoparticles on thermoelectric properties can be understood on the basis of a carrier-filtering effect that results in an increase in thermopower along with a control over the reduction in electrical conductivity to maintain a high power factor yielding a high figure of merit. Keywords: bismuth telluride

• ; nanoparticles; power factor; thermoelectric power; Introduction Bismuth telluride (Bi2Te3) is an important semiconductor widely used as thermoelectric (TE) material for room-temperature applications to convert waste heat into electricity. The efficiency of a TE material can be defined by figure of merit (ZT

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

• thermoelectric cooled CCD detector in back-scattering mode was utilized to probe the spectroscopic information. Temperature-dependent PL spectra (InVia, Reinshaw) were acquired using a He–Cd laser at 325 nm (3.81 eV) as an excitation source along with the Linkam, UK adiabatic stage for temperature-dependent

Computational exploration of two-dimensional silicon diarsenide and germanium arsenide for photovoltaic applications

• Sri Kasi Matta,
• Chunmei Zhang,
• Yalong Jiao,
• Anthony O'Mullane and
• Aijun Du

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1247–1253, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.116

• calculations and are in agreement with experimental observations. A recently reported computational study on 2D GeAs2 was performed to investigate its thermal conductivity and its suitability for thermoelectric applications [10]. In order to further study GeAs2 and to compare it with a similar material from

Thermoelectric current in topological insulator nanowires with impurities

• Sigurdur I. Erlingsson,
• Jens H. Bardarson and
• Andrei Manolescu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1156–1161, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.107

• charge current generated by maintaining a temperature difference over a nanowire at zero voltage bias. For topological insulator nanowires in a perpendicular magnetic field the current can change sign as the temperature of one end is increased. Here we study how this thermoelectric current sign reversal

• depends on the magnetic field and how impurities affect the size of the thermoelectric current. We consider both scalar and magnetic impurities and show that their influence on the current are quite similar, although the magnetic impurities seem to be more effective in reducing the effect. For moderate

• impurity concentration the sign reversal persists. Keywords: topological insulators, nanowires, thermoelectric current; Introduction It has been known for quite some time now that the efficiency of thermoelectric devices can be increased by reducing the system size. The size reduction can improve

Combined scanning probe electronic and thermal characterization of an indium arsenide nanowire

• Tino Wagner,
• Fabian Menges,
• Heike Riel,
• Bernd Gotsmann and
• Andreas Stemmer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 129–136, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.15

• resulting in Joule heating. Furthermore, thermoelectric effects cause a heat flux and result in additional temperature gradients. With further miniturization of electronic devices, such as transistors in integrated circuits, contact resistances and local transport properties govern device performance on a

Inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy of difurylethene-based photochromic single-molecule junctions

• Youngsang Kim,
• Safa G. Bahoosh,
• Dmytro Sysoiev,
• Thomas Huhn,
• Fabian Pauly and
• Elke Scheer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2606–2614, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.261

• : inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy; molecular junction; photochromic; single molecule; Introduction Molecular junctions hold promise for the realization of novel miniaturized electronic circuits [1][2][3][4][5][6] as well as for thermoelectric energy conversion devices [7][8][9][10]. Optoelectronic

Substrate and Mg doping effects in GaAs nanowires

• Perumal Kannappan,
• Nabiha Ben Sedrine,
• Jennifer P. Teixeira,
• Maria R. Soares,
• Bruno P. Falcão,
• Maria R. Correia,
• Nestor Cifuentes,
• Emilson R. Viana,
• Marcus V. B. Moreira,
• Geraldo M. Ribeiro,
• Alfredo G. de Oliveira,
• Juan C. González and
• Joaquim P. Leitão

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2126–2138, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.212

• ; photoluminescence; Introduction In recent years, semiconductor nanowires have attracted a great deal of interest as building blocks for a new generation of electronic and optoelectronic devices, namely, batteries, biological and chemical sensors, thermoelectric devices, laser diodes, photo detectors, integrated

Functional materials for environmental sensors and energy systems

• Michele Penza,
• Anita Lloyd Spetz,
• Albert Romano-Rodriguez and
• Meyya Meyyappan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2015–2016, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.201

• sensing and energy applications, carbon-based materials for chemical sensing and energy applications, piezoelectric and thermoelectric materials for energy harvesting applications, new nanotechnology-based sensors for monitoring gaseous and liquid pollutants, surface-sensitive spectroscopy for studying

Two-dimensional silicon and carbon monochalcogenides with the structure of phosphorene

• Dario Rocca,
• Ali Abboud,
• Ganapathy Vaitheeswaran and
• Sébastien Lebègue

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1338–1344, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.135

• dependent on the direction, with a value in the zigzag direction almost 100 times larger than the value in the armchair direction. Accordingly, this material is expected to exhibit a huge anisotropy in the hole mobility that might be of interest for less conventional plasmonic and thermoelectric devices, as

Analysis of self-heating of thermally assisted spin-transfer torque magnetic random access memory

• Austin Deschenes,
• Sadid Muneer,
• Mustafa Akbulut,
• Ali Gokirmak and
• Helena Silva

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1676–1683, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.160

• simulations in order to understand the relative contributions of Joule, thermoelectric Peltier and Thomson, and tunneling junction heating. A 2D rotationally symmetric numerical model is used to solve the coupled electro-thermal equations including thermoelectric effects and heat absorbed or released at the

• the temperature, t is the time, k is the thermal conductivity, and Π is the net Peltier coefficient. Thermoelectric Peltier, and Thomson heat terms are included in the heat equation (Equation 2). Tunneling through the device is modeled using an external circuit that circumvents the thin insulating

Nonlinear thermoelectric effects in high-field superconductor-ferromagnet tunnel junctions

• Stefan Kolenda,
• Peter Machon,
• Detlef Beckmann and
• Wolfgang Belzig

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1579–1585, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.152

• : Thermoelectric effects result from the coupling of charge and heat transport and can be used for thermometry, cooling and harvesting of thermal energy. The microscopic origin of thermoelectric effects is a broken electron–hole symmetry, which is usually quite small in metal structures. In addition

• , thermoelectric effects decrease towards low temperatures, which usually makes them vanishingly small in metal nanostructures in the sub-Kelvin regime. Results: We report on a combined experimental and theoretical investigation of thermoelectric effects in superconductor/ferromagnet hybrid structures. We

• investigate the dependence of thermoelectric currents on the thermal excitation, as well as on the presence of a dc bias voltage across the junction. Conclusion: Large thermoelectric effects are observed in superconductor/ferromagnet and superconductor/normal-metal hybrid structures. The spin-independent

Thickness dependence of the triplet spin-valve effect in superconductor–ferromagnet–ferromagnet heterostructures

• Daniel Lenk,
• Vladimir I. Zdravkov,
• Jan-Michael Kehrle,
• Günter Obermeier,
• Aladin Ullrich,
• Roman Morari,
• Hans-Albrecht Krug von Nidda,
• Claus Müller,
• Mikhail Yu. Kupriyanov,
• Anatolie S. Sidorenko,
• Siegfried Horn,
• Rafael G. Deminov,
• Lenar R. Tagirov and
• Reinhard Tidecks

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 957–969, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.88

• DC four-probe method for both polarities of the sensing current (10 μA) to eliminate thermoelectric voltages. The samples were cooled down to liquid helium temperature in a field of 30 kOe, applied in the same direction as in the preceding SQUID measurements. By sweeping the temperature at various

Thermo-voltage measurements of atomic contacts at low temperature

• Ayelet Ofarim,
• Bastian Kopp,
• Thomas Möller,
• León Martin,
• Johannes Boneberg,
• Paul Leiderer and
• Elke Scheer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 767–775, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.68

• temperature gradients into electrical energy and for the local energy dissipation. More fundamentally, the study of thermoelectric effects in atomic-scale nanostructures and in molecular junctions gives important additional information of charge transport [2][3][4]. The thermopower is quantified by the

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

• oxides semiconductors. Zinc oxide (ZnO) is a II–VI semiconductor characterised by a wide band gap of 3.3 eV and a high exciton binding energy of circa 60 meV [4]. ZnO is used in optoelectronic devices, solar cells, data carriers, light emitting diodes (LEDs), gas sensors, thermoelectric devices

Charge and heat transport in soft nanosystems in the presence of time-dependent perturbations

• Alberto Nocera,
• Carmine Antonio Perroni,
• Vincenzo Marigliano Ramaglia and
• Vittorio Cataudella

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 439–464, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.39

• vibrational modes and the electronic degrees of freedom affects the thermoelectric properties within the linear response regime finding out that the phonon thermal conductance provides an important contribution to the figure of merit at room temperature. Our work has been stimulated by recent experimental

• the electronic response, but it also induces nonlinear regimes where the interplay between electronic and vibrational degrees of freedom plays a major role. Keywords: electronic charge quantum pumping; electronic transport theory; nanoelectromechanical systems; thermoelectric properties; time

• the range of validity of the approach, focusing first on the case of zero bias voltage at any temperature, then on the case of zero temperature at finite bias voltages. The thermoelectric properties have then been analyzed within the linear response regime focusing on the phonon thermal contribution

Determination of Young’s modulus of Sb₂S₃ nanowires by in situ resonance and bending methods

• Liga Jasulaneca,
• Raimonds Meija,
• Alexander I. Livshits,
• Juris Prikulis,
• Subhajit Biswas,
• Justin D. Holmes and
• Donats Erts

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 278–283, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.25

• sulfide; in situ; mechanical properties; nanowires; Young’s modulus; Introduction Antimony sulfide or stibnite is a highly anisotropic semiconductor material with potential applications in thermoelectric and optoelectronic [1][2] devices due to its high achievable thermoelectric power and

Controlled graphene oxide assembly on silver nanocube monolayers for SERS detection: dependence on nanocube packing procedure

• Martina Banchelli,
• Bruno Tiribilli,
• Roberto Pini,
• Luigi Dei,
• Paolo Matteini and
• Gabriella Caminati

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 9–21, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.2

• substrates were simultaneously coated by the same AgNC layer. Quartz crystal microbalance measurements. QCM experiments with impedance monitoring were performed on a QCM-Z500 (KSV Instruments Ltd) equipped with a thermoelectric (TE) module (Oven Instruments). The resonant frequency shift and the change in

Thermoelectricity in molecular junctions with harmonic and anharmonic modes

• Bijay Kumar Agarwalla,
• Jian-Hua Jiang and
• Dvira Segal

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2129–2139, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.218

• electrical and thermal conductances are sensitive to whether the mode is harmonic/anharmonic, the Seebeck coefficient, the thermoelectric figure-of-merit, and the thermoelectric efficiency beyond linear response, conceal this information. Keywords: counting statistics; efficiency; molecular junctions

• utilized to study charge transfer in donor–bridge–acceptor organic molecules [11] and organic molecular semiconductors [12], as well as thermoelectric effects in quantum dot devices [13][14]. Recently, Erpenbeck et al. had provided a thorough computational study of transport characteristics with

• whether the conductance is HOMO or LUMO dominated. More generally, the thermoelectric performance beyond linear response is of interest, with the two metal leads maintained at (largely) different temperatures and chemical potentials. What information can linear and nonlinear thermoelectric transport

Simulation of thermal stress and buckling instability in Si/Ge and Ge/Si core/shell nanowires

• Suvankar Das,
• Amitava Moitra,
• Mishreyee Bhattacharya and
• Amlan Dutta

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1970–1977, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.201

• and suitability as novel thermoelectric devices [7]. This effect is found to be extremely prominent for ultrathin nanowires with diameters smaller than ≈20 nm [8]. The figure of merit can be further improved by introducing surface disorder without compromising the excellent electronic conductance [9

Paramagnetism of cobalt-doped ZnO nanoparticles obtained by microwave solvothermal synthesis

• Jacek Wojnarowicz,
• Sylwia Kusnieruk,
• Tadeusz Chudoba,
• Stanislaw Gierlotka,
• Witold Lojkowski,
• Wojciech Knoff,
• Malgorzata I. Lukasiewicz,
• Bartlomiej S. Witkowski,
• Anna Wolska,
• Marcin T. Klepka,
• Tomasz Story and
• Marek Godlewski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1957–1969, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.200

• ][13][14], solar cells [10], catalysts [15], energy storage (battery) materials [16], fast data storage [17], light-emitting diodes (LEDs) [18], gas sensors [10], thermoelectric devices [19], varistors [20][21], window materials for displays [21], laser technology [10], surface acoustic wave devices

Conductance through single biphenyl molecules: symmetric and asymmetric coupling to electrodes

• Karthiga Kanthasamy and
• Herbert Pfnür

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1690–1697, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.171

• , because of its high stability, so that rectifying behavior as well as thermoelectric properties could be studied. In this paper, we concentrate on the variation of the end groups for this molecule. Starting with [1,1’-biphenyl]-4,4’-dithiol as a reference, we compare the conducting properties with those