In situ characterization of nanoscale contaminations adsorbed in air using atomic force microscopy

• Jesús S. Lacasa,
• Lisa Almonte and
• Jaime Colchero

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2925–2935, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.271

• contamination; tip cleaning; tip–sample interaction; van der Waals interaction; Introduction Surface science is fundamental to understand many processes in industrial applications, environmental science, biology, medicine and phenomena such as self-assembly [1], friction [2][3] and wetting [4]. In any study

• . In ambient air, surfaces are covered by a variety of molecules and nanoparticles that drastically modify its properties as compared to ideal and clean surfaces. Quite a few fields ranging from fundamental studies of wetting phenomena [6] to semiconductor industry [7] are very aware of the importance

Controlling surface morphology and sensitivity of granular and porous silver films for surface-enhanced Raman scattering, SERS

• Sherif Okeil and
• Jörg J. Schneider

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2813–2831, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.263

• silver crystallites in the films. With the systematic combination of oxidizing and reducing rf plasmas and a variation of the different plasma parameters, complex 3D silver nanostructures with tunable surface roughness and nanoporosity can be obtained. Optical behavior and surface wetting of differently

• well-known for silver nanoparticles. In case of argon plasma treatment (Figure 9c) increasing plasma treatment time results in an increase of absorption of the silver film over the whole UV–vis spectrum indicating some sort of densification of the silver film [87]. The wetting behavior was analyzed by

Biomimetic surface structures in steel fabricated with femtosecond laser pulses: influence of laser rescanning on morphology and wettability

• Camilo Florian Baron,
• Alexandros Mimidis,
• Daniel Puerto,
• Evangelos Skoulas,
• Emmanuel Stratakis,
• Javier Solis and
• Jan Siegel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2802–2812, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.262

• objective to reproduce not only the geometry and morphology of structures found in natural systems, but – most importantly – their specific functionality. Biomimetic applications that aim to control the wetting properties of a material surface must take into account the surface topography, since it strongly

• influences the surface energy and thus the wetting behavior [5][6][7][8][9][10]. A particular kind of controllable surface modification induced by pulsed lasers was discovered in 1965 by Milton Birnbaum [11] – upon irradiation of a germanium wafer with multiple laser pulses, self-organized periodic surface

• wetting and friction properties of a material for numerous applications [5][6][8][23][24]. Yet the type of LIPSSs investigated so far for these applications was mostly limited to those mentioned above (ripples, groves and spikes), and less so the more complex structures that are accessible by exploring a

Variation of the photoluminescence spectrum of InAs/GaAs heterostructures grown by ion-beam deposition

• Alexander S. Pashchenko,
• Leonid S. Lunin,
• Eleonora M. Danilina and
• Sergei N. Chebotarev

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2794–2801, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.261

• : the top with a GaAs strain-reducing layer; the bottom with a strained buffer layer (wetting layer) [15][16][17][18][19]. Thus, the simplified energy band diagram of the active region of an InAs/GaAs heterostructure is an InAs quantum dot built into a GaAs matrix in the form of a quantum well. It

• quantum dot. In the case of using the third method, other mechanisms of optical transitions are possible. The growth of QDs occurs in the Stranski–Krastanov mode, when the substrate wetting layer is elastically stressed. An InAs/GaAs heteropair is ideal for creating conditions for a transition from 2D to

• QD or in the wetting layer. Therefore, the photoluminescence in the grown samples can go through the ground (PLGS) and excited (PLES) states of the electrons at the QDs and also through the energy levels in the wetting layer (PLWL). The measured PL spectra of the vertically stacked QD arrays are

Characterization of the microscopic tribological properties of sandfish (Scincus scincus) scales by atomic force microscopy

• Weibin Wu,
• Christian Lutz,
• Simon Mersch,
• Richard Thelen,
• Christian Greiner,
• Guillaume Gomard and
• Hendrik Hölscher

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2618–2627, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.243

• . Nonetheless, larger images frequently reveal very fine groves, which might originate from scratches. A cross section of a dorsal scale imaged by electron microscopy is displayed in Figure 3c and shows an inner structure that suggest that the scale consists of several thin layers. Wetting properties Some

ZnO-nanostructure-based electrochemical sensor: Effect of nanostructure morphology on the sensing of heavy metal ions

• Marina Krasovska,
• Vjaceslavs Gerbreders,
• Irena Mihailova,
• Andrejs Ogurcovs,
• Eriks Sledevskis,
• Andrejs Gerbreders and
• Pavels Sarajevs

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2421–2431, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.227

• chemically pure: no other elements other than Zn and O were detected. Cyclic voltammetry studies Prior to the CV measurements, 250 μL of distilled water was pipetted into each cell, left for ten minutes to ensure the complete wetting of the nanostructured surface, and then the CV curves were recorded. It was

Spin-coated planar Sb₂S₃ hybrid solar cells approaching 5% efficiency

• Pascal Kaienburg,
• Benjamin Klingebiel and
• Thomas Kirchartz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2114–2124, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.200

• File 1. In the relevant temperature range of 265 °C to 300 °C, the Sb2S3 domains tend towards a droplet-like morphology with increasing temperature which can be interpreted as an on-going de-wetting of the substrate. The issue of de-wetting was reported for the transition from the amorphous to the

• . For the Sb-TU process, higher crystallization temperatures cause a de-wetting of the substrate. New features arise on top of the Sb2S3 film in the Sb-BDC process for longer crystallization times and crystallization at 300 °C. At the same time significantly increased defect formation was observed. The

A visible-light-controlled platform for prolonged drug release based on Ag-doped TiO₂ nanotubes with a hydrophobic layer

• Caihong Liang,
• Jiang Wen and
• Xiaoming Liao

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1793–1801, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.170

• their well-defined geometry, stable structure [1], high surface-to-volume ratio, highly hydrophilic wetting characteristic [2][3], and remarkable photocatalysis properties [4]. However, the traditional drug delivery systems still exhibit many obvious drawbacks such as low drug solubility, uncontrolled

Preparation and morphology-dependent wettability of porous alumina membranes

• Dmitry L. Shimanovich,
• Alla I. Vorobjova,
• Daria I. Tishkevich,
• Alex V. Trukhanov,
• Maxim V. Zdorovets and
• Artem L. Kozlovskiy

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1423–1436, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.135

• University, Mira 19, Yekaterinburg 620002, Russia 10.3762/bjnano.9.135 Abstract This article presents the preparation and study of the wetting properties of porous alumina membranes (PAMs) with a thickness of 25 to 75 μm and with a different pore sizes. The fabrication process features, scanning electron

• microscopy and atomic force microscopy characterization results are presented. The comparative analysis of PAM surfaces (outer and inner) and the effect of morphology of these surfaces on the wetting properties are discussed. Both alumina surfaces show significant morphology-dependent wettability

• of the pores as well as the physical and chemical properties of the surface and walls of the PAM pores is a very urgent task. No less important is the process of wetting the membrane with the depositing material (or its solution), depending on the variation of the template synthesis [27][28

Theoretical study of strain-dependent optical absorption in a doped self-assembled InAs/InGaAs/GaAs/AlGaAs quantum dot

• Tarek A. Ameen,
• Hesameddin Ilatikhameneh,
• Archana Tankasala,
• Yuling Hsueh,
• James Charles,
• Jim Fonseca,
• Michael Povolotskyi,
• Jun Oh Kim,
• Sanjay Krishna,
• Monica S. Allen,
• Jeffery W. Allen,
• Rajib Rahman and
• Gerhard Klimeck

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1075–1084, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.99

• nm. The wetting layer is two monolayers. The measured system has been doped with sheet doping of two electrons per dot. The strain controlling layer is made of In0.15Ga0.85As and is sandwiched between two layers of GaAs each with a thickness of 1 nm. Next, there are two layers of Al0.22Ga0.78As, each

• with a base diameter of 20 nm and a height of 5 nm, with a wetting layer of two monolayers. The strain control layer of In0.15Ga0.85As is sandwiched between two 1 nm layers of GaAs, and two 2 nm layers of Al0.22Ga0.78As. The rest of the structure is made of Al0.07Ga0.93As. The atomistic grid of the

Review on nanoparticles and nanostructured materials: history, sources, toxicity and regulations

• Jaison Jeevanandam,
• Ahmed Barhoum,
• Yen S. Chan,
• Alain Dufresne and
• Michael K. Danquah

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1050–1074, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.98

• their weightless wing material [220][221][222]. Insect wing surfaces demonstrate a rough and highly ordered structure comprised of micro- and nanoscale properties to minimize their mass and protect them against wetting and pollutants. A methodical terminology to explain the structural properties of

Single-crystalline FeCo nanoparticle-filled carbon nanotubes: synthesis, structural characterization and magnetic properties

• Rasha Ghunaim,
• Maik Scholz,
• Christine Damm,
• Bernd Rellinghaus,
• Rüdiger Klingeler,
• Bernd Büchner,
• Michael Mertig and
• Silke Hampel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1024–1034, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.95

• about 1–1.2, whereas 24% had aspect ratios larger than 1.2, but did not exceed 1.5. Hence, the morphology became more homogenous after further heat treatment. We attribute the homogeneity in the morphology of the annealed samples to the non-wetting behavior of the Fe–Co alloy nanoparticles and carbon

Bioinspired self-healing materials: lessons from nature

• Joseph C. Cremaldi and
• Bharat Bhushan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 907–935, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.85

• functionality to their surfaces to accomplish complex tasks without the need for movement. These replenishable surface layers consist of combinations of hierarchical morphology and/or chemistry to create different wetting behaviors and are referred to as functional coatings. In the well-known case of the lotus

Nanoscale mapping of dielectric properties based on surface adhesion force measurements

• Ying Wang,
• Yue Shen,
• Xingya Wang,
• Zhiwei Shen,
• Bin Li,
• Jun Hu and
• Yi Zhang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 900–906, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.84

• achieved with high lateral resolution by combining the advantages of the electrowetting (EW) effect [33] and an AFM imaging mode, PeakForce Quantitative Nano-Mechanics (PF-QNM) [34]. Electrowetting is a phenomenon in which the wetting properties of a dielectric surface are modified using an external

• both of the wetting and dielectric properties of the sample. Based on this principle, a quantitative analysis on the dielectric constant of macroscopic film has been realized by measuring the surface–water contact angle and adhesion force between the dielectric layer and a biased AFM tip [38]. Recently

Effect of microtrichia on the interlocking mechanism in the Asian ladybeetle, Harmonia axyridis (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae)

• Jiyu Sun,
• Chao Liu,
• Bharat Bhushan,
• Wei Wu and
• Jin Tong

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 812–823, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.75

• hindwings of the H. axyridis was established, and its underlying mechanism is discussed. Keywords: anti-wetting; folding process; interlocking mechanism; micro air vehicles; microtrichia; Introduction Insect wings have many properties, such as lightness, thinness, high flexibility and high load capacity

• folding process of H. axyridis hindwings was established. Finally, the anti-wetting function of the hindwings was investigated. Materials and Methods Beetles Twelve Asian ladybeetles, H. axyridis, collected from Changchun, Jilin Province, China (Figure 1) were captured for use in this study. This species

• angular orientation was measured for approximately 20–30 microtrichia in each position, and the mean values were used. Contact angle of the hindwings To further understand the hydrophobic function of H. axyridis hindwings, a standard-type contact angle meter was used to quantify their anti-wetting

Optimisation of purification techniques for the preparation of large-volume aqueous solar nanoparticle inks for organic photovoltaics

• Furqan Almyahi,
• Thomas R. Andersen,
• Nathan A. Cooling,
• Natalie P. Holmes,
• Matthew J. Griffith,
• Krishna Feron,
• Xiaojing Zhou,
• Warwick J. Belcher and
• Paul C. Dastoor

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 649–659, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.60

• at a dilution factor of 7.8 × 104, while crossflow purified inks did not reach a maximum efficiency until a dilution factor of 6.1 × 109. This difference was ascribed to the different wetting properties of the prepared inks and was further corroborated by surface tension measurements of the ASNP inks

• aqueous solar nanoparticle (ASNP) inks affects several aspects of the fabrication of nanoparticle (NP)-OPV devices; including the packing density of the photoactive particles in the nanoparticle films and thus the formation of cracks or de-wetting areas [11][12][13]. Previous studies have reported

• crossflow Millipore filtration system [13][17]. However, the fabrication of NP-OPVs using slot-die coating of these purified inks on a roll-to-roll setup required the addition of an fluorosurfactant (FSO) to improve the wetting of the NP ink onto the substrate [17], indicating that the SDS content had not

Kinetics of solvent supported tubule formation of Lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) wax on highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) investigated by atomic force microscopy

• Sujit Kumar Dora,
• Kerstin Koch,
• Wilhelm Barthlott and
• Klaus Wandelt

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 468–481, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.45

• superhydrophobicity of the wax coated surface. The time and temperature related formation of wax tubules has also been used to develop first artificial Lotus leaves for various wetting studies [24]. However, there are still a number of other factors that can affect tubule growth on HOPG. For example, the

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

• . Winding onto a rotating mandrel. Step 3. Fixing with a matrix spray. Schematic of the layer-by-layer deposition process. Step 1. Wetting a paper tape with water/poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA). Step 2. Introducing the assembled CNT layer in the reactor. Step 3. Winding up after drying. Reproduced with

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

• of Warsaw, Department of Chemistry, Pasteura 1 str., 02-093 Warsaw, Poland 10.3762/bjnano.9.9 Abstract We investigated the crystallinity and optical parameters of silver layers of 10–35 nm thickness as a function 2–10 nm thick Ge wetting films deposited on SiO2 substrates. X-ray reflectometry (XRR

• 10 nm Ag layer on a sapphire substrate at room temperature with a 1 nm germanium wetting film [18]. Recently, it was observed that the germanium atoms, which form the nucleation film, efficiently segregate [21] through the silver structure towards the surface [22][23], which results in additional

• (AFM) scans show that the grain size indeed decreases when the Ag layer is deposited on a Ge wetting film (Figure 2b) with respect to the non wetted film (Figure 2a), which is in consistency with the previous findings [4][19][20][22][24]. Table 1 shows the AFM- and XRR-derived surface roughness root

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

• monolayer. On the contrary, the most intense spots on their LEED diagram were the substrate spots. From that, they concluded to an imperfect wetting of the 10 ML film. Coming back to the present results, our LEED diagram obtained after growth at T = 505 K shows results quite different from the 473 K ones

• that the αd(1) coefficient is set to an arbitrary high value to ensure the continuous wetting of the substrate by the silicene layer. For T = 473 K, a good fit is obtained if one now assumes a conversion of monolayer to Si islands having a height of 2 layers and covered with Si and Ag atoms forming the

One-step chemical vapor deposition synthesis and supercapacitor performance of nitrogen-doped porous carbon–carbon nanotube hybrids

• Egor V. Lobiak,
• Lyubov G. Bulusheva,
• Ekaterina O. Fedorovskaya,
• Yury V. Shubin,
• Pavel E. Plyusnin,
• Pierre Lonchambon,
• Boris V. Senkovskiy,
• Zinfer R. Ismagilov,
• Emmanuel Flahaut and
• Alexander V. Okotrub

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2669–2679, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.267

• catalyzed the growth of the MWCNTs with different diameters and morphologies (see, for example, Figure 2d), depending on the nature of the catalytic nanoparticles and possible different wetting behavior toward MgO. According to the statistical analysis of the TEM images, the average outer diameter of the

Interface conditions of roughness-induced superoleophilic and superoleophobic surfaces immersed in hexadecane and ethylene glycol

• Yifan Li,
• Yunlu Pan and
• Xuezeng Zhao

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2504–2514, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.250

• 0 nm as the roughness of a partially wetting surface increases at the nano-scale. Zhu and Granick [17] studied boundary slip on chemically modified octadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS) and octadecyltriethoxysilane (OTE) samples with varying degrees of roughness immersed in DI water and tetradecane by

• of roughness by using AFM. Results show that the slip length enhanced with larger RMS roughness, as the increasing roughness could magnify the intrinsic wetting properties of surface. In addition, the published studies based on LB simulation and molecular dynamics (MD) also show that roughness could

Surfactant-induced enhancement of droplet adhesion in superhydrophobic soybean (Glycine max L.) leaves

• Oliver Hagedorn,
• Ingo Fleute-Schlachter,
• Hans Georg Mainx,
• Viktoria Zeisler-Diehl and
• Kerstin Koch

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2345–2356, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.234

• reduction of the epicuticular wax structures and a change from Cassie–Baxter wetting to an intermediate wetting regime with an increase of droplet adhesion. Keywords: droplet adhesion; epicuticular wax; Glycine max L; superhydrophobic; surfactants; Introduction The cuticle, as the outermost layer of

• applied liquid also depends on the wetting mode. In the Wenzel mode [26] an applied water droplet penetrates into cavities formed by the surface structures, increasing the contact area, and resulting in high hysteresis of the applied liquid. In Cassie–Baxter mode [27] air remains in the surface cavities

• changes. A rapid and distinct increase in the TA was only found after treatment with SBO 10 and XP ED 28-13. Both surfactants increased the TA within 10 s of contact time for SBO 10 from a TA of 20° to a TA of 50°, and for ED 28-13 the TA increased from 16° to 30°. Structural and wetting changes caused by

Identifying the nature of surface chemical modification for directed self-assembly of block copolymers

• Laura Evangelio,
• Federico Gramazio,
• Matteo Lorenzoni,
• Michaela Gorgoi,
• Francisco Miguel Espinosa,
• Ricardo García,
• Francesc Pérez-Murano and
• Jordi Fraxedas

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1972–1981, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.198

• conclude that the unmodified brush layer is not uniformly covered by the relatively thick PMMA film as a result of the lower affinity between both materials (inefficient wetting). However, in the case of the sample exposed to oxygen plasma, the modified character of the brush layer triggers a higher

• affinity to PMMA (more efficient although non complete wetting). This is further confirmed when the C 1s HAXPES spectra are taken at different photon energies, as shown in Figure 5c,d, where the spectra have been acquired at 2700 and 3000 eV, respectively. Increasing photon energy implies increasing

Enhancement of mechanical and electrical properties of continuous-fiber-reinforced epoxy composites with stacked graphene

• Naum Naveh,
• Olga Shepelev and
• Samuel Kenig

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1909–1918, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.191

• wetting ability of the modified nanoparticles. The hydrophilic/hydrophobic nature of the SAA dictates the surface energy balance. More hydrophilic SAAs promoted localization of the SG at the Kevlar/epoxy interface, and morphology seems to be driven by thermodynamics, rather than the kinetic effect of

• -100 and MEMO provides improved wetting of the Kevlar fabric with the matrix compound. Kevlar filaments are covered with adhered particles of SAA/SG, while laminates prepared with the same neat epoxy or unmodified epoxy/SG exhibit bare surfaces of the fabric. Triton X-100 and MEMO have lower

• viscosities than Triton X-15 and Polyol 4200, this supports their contribution to better wetting. For compositions in which epoxy resin was modified by hydrophobic Triton X-15 or GLYMO the fiber coverage is less pronounced. Some uncovered sections of Kevlar filaments can be observed in Figure 1e,f. This is in