Facile chemical routes to mesoporous silver substrates for SERS analysis

• Elina A. Tastekova,
• Alexander Y. Polyakov,
• Anastasia E. Goldt,
• Alexander V. Sidorov,
• Alexandra A. Oshmyanskaya,
• Irina V. Sukhorukova,
• Dmitry V. Shtansky,
• Wolgang Grünert and
• Anastasia V. Grigorieva

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 880–889, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.82

• leached metal be recycled. The etching process is the most efficient in the case of thin films or nanoparticles as no core or underlying layers remain unreacted. The concentration of the etching agent and duration of the treatment are the key kinetic factors to reach complete conversion of precursors [5

Comparative study of antibacterial properties of polystyrene films with TiO_x and Cu nanoparticles fabricated using cluster beam technique

• Vladimir N. Popok,
• Cesarino M. Jeppesen,
• Peter Fojan,
• Anna Kuzminova,
• Jan Hanuš and
• Ondřej Kylián

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 861–869, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.80

• describes a novel approach for the formation of bactericidal polymer thin films (polystyrene in this case), produced by spin-coating, with Ti and Cu NPs deposited from cluster beams. Ti NPs are treated in three different ways in order to study different approaches for oxidation and, thus, efficiency in

• toluene. Thin films are coated on silicon and quartz substrates of 10 × 10 mm2 and annealed at 110 °C (above the glass transition temperature). The thickness of PS films was measured by ellipsometry and found to be 50 ± 5 nm. Ti clusters are produced by magnetron sputtering in a cluster source similar to

Combined pulsed laser deposition and non-contact atomic force microscopy system for studies of insulator metal oxide thin films

• Daiki Katsube,
• Hayato Yamashita,
• Satoshi Abo and
• Masayuki Abe

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 686–692, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.63

• not required. The performance of the combined system is demonstrated for the preparation and high-resolution NC-AFM imaging of atomically flat thin films of anatase TiO2(001) and LaAlO3(100). Keywords: atomic resolution; frequency modulation atomic force microscopy; insulator thin film; pulsed laser

• lattice constant of the metal oxides. To understand and apply these characteristics, various studies have been conducted thus far, including investigations of physical properties by growth of ultra-high-quality metal oxide thin films [2][3], discovery of novel physical properties by fabricating

• observations. To image the insulator metal oxide thin films with atomic resolution, NC-AFM with the frequency modulation mode is used [51]. A commercial cantilever (Budget Sensors, TAP190) is used to obtain NC-AFM topographic images. An Ar+ sputtering gun is installed in the preparation chamber to clean the

Electron interactions with the heteronuclear carbonyl precursor H₂FeRu₃(CO)₁₃ and comparison with HFeCo₃(CO)₁₂: from fundamental gas phase and surface science studies to focused electron beam induced deposition

• Ragesh Kumar T P,
• Paul Weirich,
• Lukas Hrachowina,
• Marc Hanefeld,
• Ragnar Bjornsson,
• Helgi Rafn Hrodmarsson,
• Sven Barth,
• D. Howard Fairbrother,
• Michael Huth and
• Oddur Ingólfsson

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 555–579, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.53

• ratio. Low temperature (≈213 K) surface science studies on thin films of H2FeRu3(CO)13 demonstrate that electron stimulated decomposition leads to significant CO desorption (average of 8–9 CO groups per molecule) to form partially decarbonylated intermediates. However, once formed these intermediates

• molecules in FEBID, UHV-surface science studies have been performed, in which nanoscale thin films of precursor molecules adsorbed onto inert substrates were irradiated with 500 eV electrons. Changes in the composition and bonding in the film have been analyzed with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS

Engineering of oriented carbon nanotubes in composite materials

• Razieh Beigmoradi,
• Abdolreza Samimi and
• Davod Mohebbi-Kalhori

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 415–435, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.41

• polymer layer, manual alignment is preferred [41]. Based on the fundamental principles of this approach, another method for making thin films of CNTs has been developed using the same tools. Fluid containing CNTs is spread on a solid substrate using a spiral film applicator. The surface tension and

Review: Electrostatically actuated nanobeam-based nanoelectromechanical switches – materials solutions and operational conditions

• Liga Jasulaneca,
• Jelena Kosmaca,
• Raimonds Meija,
• Jana Andzane and
• Donats Erts

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 271–300, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.29

• nanostructures (e.g., thin films [5][6][7], nanobundles [8], nanowires [9][10][11][12][13][14], nanotubes [15][16]) fabricated from different materials (e.g., metals [17][18][19], semiconductors [9][10][20][21][22][23], carbon allotropes, including graphene [24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31] and carbon nanotubes

• nanomanipulation approaches. The top-down approach involves lithography, etching and coating technologies to fabricate device structures from bulk materials or thin films [7][19][23][39][47][48][49][50]. The combined approach of fabricating NEM switches requires subsequent transfer and alignment of synthesized

Atomic layer deposition and properties of ZrO₂/Fe₂O₃ thin films

• Kristjan Kalam,
• Helina Seemen,
• Peeter Ritslaid,
• Mihkel Rähn,
• Aile Tamm,
• Kaupo Kukli,
• Aarne Kasikov,
• Joosep Link,
• Raivo Stern,
• Salvador Dueñas,
• Helena Castán and
• Héctor García

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 119–128, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.14

• thin films was investigated. Additionally, the influence of composition and structure on electrical and magnetic properties was studied. Several samples exhibited a measurable saturation magnetization and most of the samples exhibited a charge polarization. Both phenomena were observed in the sample

• with a Zr/Fe atomic ratio of 2.0. Keywords: atomic layer deposition; metal oxides; thin films; Introduction Doped ZrO2 has been a subject of interest because of several potential applications, for example, in microelectronics as a memory material [1]. Also, doping a dielectric film with a magnetic

• results in a significantly higher saturation magnetization than doping ZrO2 with the other transition metals studied. Fe–ZrO2 nanocomposite thin films have been synthesized using a solid state reaction between the Zr and Fe2O3 layers, and their composition, structure, chemical stability and magnetic

Comparative study of post-growth annealing of Cu(hfac)₂, Co₂(CO)₈ and Me₂Au(acac) metal precursors deposited by FEBID

• Marcos V. Puydinger dos Santos,
• Aleksandra Szkudlarek,
• Artur Rydosz,
• Carlos Guerra-Nuñez,
• Fanny Béron,
• Kleber R. Pirota,
• Stanislav Moshkalev,
• José Alexandre Diniz and
• Ivo Utke

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 91–101, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.11

• here we studied 50 nm thick thin films while the previous material was much thicker and received a higher dose during post-growth irradiation of the already deposited underlying material. The same mechanism could also be responsible for the lower copper content found in the present study. Raman

Growth model and structure evolution of Ag layers deposited on Ge films

• Arkadiusz Ciesielski,
• Lukasz Skowronski,
• Ewa Górecka,
• Jakub Kierdaszuk and
• Tomasz Szoplik

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 66–76, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.9

• -assembly; silver; thin films; Introduction Silver is a noble metal with lowest loss in the visible to the near-infrared wavelengths; therefore, the surface plasmon polariton (SPP) wave propagation length crucial for plasmonic devices is greatest at Ag/dielectric interfaces [1][2][3]. A pure Ag layer of 35

Transition from silicene monolayer to thin Si films on Ag(111): comparison between experimental data and Monte Carlo simulation

• Alberto Curcella,
• Romain Bernard,
• Yves Borensztein,
• Silvia Pandolfi and
• Geoffroy Prévot

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 48–56, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.7

• ][22]. In order to avoid such strong coupling, attempts have been made to grow silicene multilayers, or "silicite" thin films, with an atomic structure similar to the one of graphite, by evaporating larger amount of Si. On Ag(111), deposition on a substrate held at 470–500 K results in the formation of

Review on optofluidic microreactors for artificial photosynthesis

• Xiaowen Huang,
• Jianchun Wang,
• Tenghao Li,
• Jianmei Wang,
• Min Xu,
• Weixing Yu,
• Abdel El Abed and
• Xuming Zhang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 30–41, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.5

• membrane-based reactors were reported as well, for instance, mesoporous CdS/TiO2/SBA-15@carbon paper composite membranes [77] and copper-decorated TiO2 nanorod thin films [78]. In addition to the PDMS/PMMA-based microchannel reactors, bacterium has been shown to be a good microreactor as well. Yang et al

Gas-sensing behaviour of ZnO/diamond nanostructures

• Marina Davydova,
• Alexandr Laposa,
• Jiri Smarhak,
• Alexander Kromka,
• Neda Neykova,
• Josef Nahlik,
• Jiri Kroutil,
• Jan Drahokoupil and
• Jan Voves

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 22–29, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.4

• ) in order to investigate their gas sensing properties for nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ammonia (NH3) and carbon dioxide (CO2) at different concentration ranges of 25–100 ppm or 1250–5000 ppm. For this purpose we developed three different gas sensor devices based on i) NCD thin films, ii) ZnO nanorods, and

Dry adhesives from carbon nanofibers grown in an open ethanol flame

• Christian Lutz,
• Julia Syurik,
• C. N. Shyam Kumar,
• Christian Kübel,
• Michael Bruns and
• Hendrik Hölscher

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2719–2728, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.271

• measurements and many helpful discussions related to CNT growth, Marco Heiler and Harald Leiste for the preparation of the thin films and Richard Thelen for support with the AFM based adhesion measurements. J.S. gratefully acknowledges funding from the Helmholtz Postdoc Programme (PD-157). The K-Alpha

Exploring wear at the nanoscale with circular mode atomic force microscopy

• Olivier Noel,
• Aleksandar Vencl and
• Pierre-Emmanuel Mazeran

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2662–2668, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.266

• friction, energy dissipation and worn material at the local scale or to exhibit local heterogeneity of the material. To summarize, CM-AFM applied to wear experiments regarding different applications such as tribochemistry and wear of thin films presents numerous advantages compared to conventional AFM wear

Patterning of supported gold monolayers via chemical lift-off lithography

• Liane S. Slaughter,
• Kevin M. Cheung,
• Sami Kaappa,
• Huan H. Cao,
• Qing Yang,
• Thomas D. Young,
• Andrew C. Serino,
• Sami Malola,
• Jana M. Olson,
• Stephan Link,
• Hannu Häkkinen,
• Anne M. Andrews and
• Paul S. Weiss

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2648–2661, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.265

• films and nanoparticles, lifted-off Au–alkanethiolate thin films lack a measurable optical signature. We therefore devised fabrication, characterization, and simulation strategies by which to interrogate the nanoscale structure, chemical functionality, stoichiometry, and spectral signature of the

Enhanced photoelectrochemical water splitting performance using morphology-controlled BiVO₄ with W doping

• Xin Zhao and
• Zhong Chen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2640–2647, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.264

• BiVO4 by simply tuning the solvent ratio in precursor solutions. Planar and porous W-doped BiVO4 thin films were prepared and compared. The porous film, which exhibits increased surface area and enhanced light absorption, has displayed enhanced charge separation and interfacial charge injection. Our

• . By changing the solvent ratio, planar and porous nanostructured W-doped BiVO4 thin films were prepared. The photocurrent of the porous W-doped BiVO4 is ca. 50% higher than that of planar W-doped BiVO4. We have analyzed this improvement quantitatively with regard to contributions from light absorption

• , charge separation and interfacial charge injection. The quantitative analysis provides a powerful insight into the materials potentials and limitations, and is useful for the development of other PEC systems in the future. Results and Discussion The synthesis of W-doped BiVO4 thin films was carried out

Localized growth of carbon nanotubes via lithographic fabrication of metallic deposits

• Fan Tu,
• Martin Drost,
• Imre Szenti,
• Janos Kiss,
• Zoltan Kónya and
• Hubertus Marbach

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2592–2605, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.260

• mbar [22][23][25]. Laser cut Si(100) wafers were purchased from the Institute of Electronic Materials Technology, Warsaw, Poland, and were boron-doped (4.5 × 1017–5.4 × 1017 atom cm−3), resulting in a specific resistivity of 0.065–0.074 Ω·cm. The Si sample was utilized with its native oxide. Al2O3 thin

• films were prepared via sputter coating on a SiOx/Si(100) surface. As depicted in Figure 11, catalytic CVD experiments were carried out at atmospheric pressure in a horizontal quartz tube (MTA-SZTE Reaction Kinetics and Surface Chemistry Research Group, University of Szeged, Hungary). The tube was

Direct writing of gold nanostructures with an electron beam: On the way to pure nanostructures by combining optimized deposition with oxygen-plasma treatment

• Domagoj Belić,
• Mostafa M. Shawrav,
• Emmerich Bertagnolli and
• Heinz D. Wanzenboeck

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2530–2543, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.253

• the deposition parameters, making use of conventional equipment and a standard precursor. The ultrahigh vacuum/surface science approach to studying the effect of electron beam irradiation on nanometer thin films of a common Me2-Au-acac precursor from Wnuk et al. [69][70] represents a valuable starting

Refractive index sensing and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy using silver–gold layered bimetallic plasmonic crystals

• Somi Kang,
• Sean E. Lehman,
• Matthew V. Schulmerich,
• An-Phong Le,
• Tae-woo Lee,
• Stephen K. Gray,
• Rohit Bhargava and
• Ralph G. Nuzzo

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2492–2503, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.249

• , as well as the surrounding dielectric environment. Sputter coating and e-beam evaporation are both widely used tools for fabricating metal thin films, yet the distribution of the deposited metal film resulting from each of the two methods are quite different due to the distinctive deposition

• observed here in this work. Conclusion The influence of the mass coverage of Ag and Au thin films as well as the geometrical parameters of the nanohole arrays of bimetallic (bilayer) plasmonic crystals were characterized through multispectral bulk RI sensing and SERS measurements combined with insights

• the plasmonic response of the device over a wider wavelength range, here exploiting the unique plasmonic modes of Ag in the visible range to supplement and enhance those provided by Au. This distinctive PC design further serves to compensate for the chemical instability of Ag by coating it with thin

Towards molecular spintronics

• Georgeta Salvan and
• Dietrich R. T. Zahn

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2464–2466, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.245

• molecules; (magneto-)optical spectroscopy; molecular spintronics; photoelectron spectroscopy; surface science; thin films; The discovery of tunneling and giant magnetoresistance in inorganic spin valves has led to a revolution in the field of magnetic memory and the significant increase in the storage

• . Fabrication, characterization, and optimization of molecular thin films and interfaces: Various deposition techniques to create suitable molecular films were tested for a variety of molecules. The structure, morphology, and molecular orientation of the layers were fundamentally characterized and optimized

• guests with topics beyond the molecular systems investigated in our Research Unit, for example: theoretical predictions on metal/C60 interfaces [16], magneto-resistive donor/acceptor transistors [17], spin-crossover complexes [18], ferromagnetic thin films obtained from organic blends [19], and

Au nanostructure fabrication by pulsed laser deposition in open air: Influence of the deposition geometry

• Rumen G. Nikov,
• Anna Og. Dikovska,
• Nikolay N. Nedyalkov,
• Georgi V. Avdeev and
• Petar A. Atanasov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2438–2445, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.242

• ). Initially, PLD technology was used mainly for deposition of thin films with a high crystallinity, accurate stoichiometry, and thickness control on the order of an atomic monolayer [10]. In recent years, this method has been increasingly applied to growing nanostructures with properties that depend on the

Comparing postdeposition reactions of electrons and radicals with Pt nanostructures created by focused electron beam induced deposition

• Julie A. Spencer,
• Michael Barclay,
• Miranda J. Gallagher,
• Robert Winkler,
• Ilyas Unlu,
• Yung-Chien Wu,
• Harald Plank,
• Lisa McElwee-White and
• D. Howard Fairbrother

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2410–2424, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.240

• etch substrates or equipment. The use of electrons was motivated in part by previous ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) surface science studies which showed that for 1–2 monolayer (ML) thin films of organometallic precursors with halide ligands, the halogens can be removed [29][31]. The importance of halogen

Tailoring the nanoscale morphology of HKUST-1 thin films via codeposition and seeded growth

• Landon J. Brower,
• Lauren K. Gentry,
• Amanda L. Napier and
• Mary E. Anderson

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2307–2314, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.230

• -organic frameworks (MOFs), composed of both metal ions and organic ligands, represent a class of extremely porous, crystalline materials with high surface area. Research has investigated their integration as thin films, namely surface-anchored metal-organic frameworks (surMOFs), into a wide variety of

• parameters to control the morphology of the MOF with regards to nanoscale features such as thickness, roughness, and grain size. Herein, means for fabricating surMOFs of HKUST-1 via codeposition and seeded growth have been investigated to gain further control over the morphology of these thin films. By

• film than the local sampling of the AFM. AFM has been integral to mapping out the nanoscale morphology of surMOF thin films as well as identifying features formed on the surface of MOF crystals [11][12][29][30][31][32]. AFM was employed to investigate how the morphology of the film changed as a

The interplay between spin densities and magnetic superexchange interactions: case studies of mono- and trinuclear bis(oxamato)-type complexes

• Azar Aliabadi,
• Bernd Büchner,
• Vladislav Kataev and
• Tobias Rüffer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2245–2256, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.224

• of spintronic devices in detail, we focused on the synthesis of type-III complexes as models of SMMs with the aim to deposit them as thin films on surfaces. Already in 2006, we reported on the deposition of thin films of a type-III complex by spin coating [27], although the surface roughness of the

• thin films prevented any reliable characterization by magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE) spectroscopic studies. Spectroscopic MOKE measurements of such thin films would be, from a rather fundamental point of view but also with respect to potential applications of SMMs and SCMs, very interesting as

• magneto-optical effects are used in various optoelectronic devices [28]. It took us roughly a decade to understand how to tailor type-III complexes to engineer from them smooth thin films them suitable for spectroscopic MOKE studies [29], but this odyssey is not content of this review. Along with these

Vapor-based polymers: from films to nanostructures

• Meike Koenig and
• Joerg Lahann

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2219–2220, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.221

• thin films via initiated chemical vapor deposition and the impact of crosslinking on the mechanical and chemical stability [14]. Vapor-based techniques can also be used to create chemically or topographically structured coatings on various substrates, which is of interest for example in the development