Soft materials nanoarchitectonics: liquid crystals, polymers, gels, biomaterials, and others

• Katsuhiko Ariga

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 1025–1067, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.77

• . Additionally, they can be employed as precursors to produce CaFe2O4 thin films upon calcination. The resulting transparent solution is coated and subjected to calcination/annealing to form mesoporous thin films. The mesoporous films display excellent performance in the oxygen evolution reaction. It would be

• between benzoquinone and hydroquinone is precisely controlled by pH, in accordance with the Nernst equation. In order to compensate for the charge carriers in the semiconductor, dopant ions must be supplied through the redox reaction. The efficient doping of polymeric organic semiconductor thin films is

• achieved through the synergistic reaction of the proton coupling electron transfer reaction and the insertion of hydrophobic ions. This process has enabled the efficient doping of crystalline organic semiconductor thin films at room temperature. By examining the conditions, it is possible to achieve strong

Time-resolved probing of laser-induced nanostructuring processes in liquids

• Maximilian Spellauge,
• David Redka,
• Mianzhen Mo,
• Changyong Song,
• Heinz Paul Huber and
• Anton Plech

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 968–1002, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.74

Tendency in tip polarity changes in non-contact atomic force microscopy imaging on a fluorite surface

• Bob Kyeyune,
• Philipp Rahe and
• Michael Reichling

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 944–950, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.72

• fast (horizontal) and slow (vertical) scan directions. The surface directions for the bulk crystal exposing the (111) surface can be determined by cleaving the crystal along another surface from the {111} family [31]. For CaF2 thin films grown on Si(111) surfaces, it has been established that the film

Characterization of ion track-etched conical nanopores in thermal and PECVD SiO₂ using small angle X-ray scattering

• Shankar Dutt,
• Rudradeep Chakraborty,
• Christian Notthoff,
• Pablo Mota-Santiago,
• Christina Trautmann and
• Patrick Kluth

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 899–909, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.68

• Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung, Planckstr. 1, 64291 Darmstadt, Germany Technische Universtät Darmstadt, 64289 Darmtadt, Germany 10.3762/bjnano.16.68 Abstract Conical nanopores in amorphous SiO2 thin films fabricated using the ion track etching technique show promising potential for filtration, sensing

• calculations for PECVD SiO2 thin films used values for the density and composition from our previous study [47]. In both layers, the projected ranges when irradiated with 185 and 89 MeV Au ions were ≈20 μm and ≈14 μm, respectively, whereas the projected ranges for thermal and PECVD SiO2 irradiated with 1.6 GeV

• PECVD SiO2 thin films were irradiated with 1.6 GeV Au ions and subsequently etched in 3% HF for 8.5 min and 6 min respectively. The irradiation fluence was 5 × 108 ions/cm2. The fluence was verified by counting nanopores in multiple SEM images, closely matching the expected values. The top-view images

Heat-induced transformation of nickel-coated polycrystalline diamond film studied in situ by XPS and NEXAFS

• Olga V. Sedelnikova,
• Yuliya V. Fedoseeva,
• Dmitriy V. Gorodetskiy,
• Yuri N. Palyanov,
• Elena V. Shlyakhova,
• Eugene A. Maksimovskiy,
• Anna A. Makarova,
• Lyubov G. Bulusheva and
• Aleksandr V. Okotrub

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 887–898, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.67

• °C. An exception is smaller diamond crystallites, whose surfaces partially transform into amorphous sp2-like carbon. The presence of a nickel layer promotes the conversion of the diamond surface into graphitic-like thin films with high concentration of structural defects. Although the morphology of

Insights into the electronic and atomic structures of cerium oxide-based ultrathin films and nanostructures using high-brilliance light sources

• Paola Luches and
• Federico Boscherini

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 860–871, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.65

• applications, examining the application of high-brilliance light sources on model systems such as supported thin films and epitaxial nanostructures. We review selected studies exploiting the high energy resolution and sensitivity of synchrotron radiation-based X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and X-ray

• perspectives offered by the ultrahigh brilliance and ultrashort free-electron laser pulses for dynamic studies of the processes that take place upon photoexcitation are discussed. Keywords: cerium oxide; free-electron lasers; thin films; X-ray absorption spectroscopy; X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy

• ; Introduction Transition metal oxides in the form of thin films or nanostructures find extensive use in sustainable energy technologies [1][2]. They serve as active materials or supports for catalysts for various chemical reactions, essential to energy conversion, sensing, and environmental remediation [3][4

Synchrotron X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy study of sodium adsorption on vertically arranged MoS₂ layers coated with pyrolytic carbon

• Alexander V. Okotrub,
• Anastasiya D. Fedorenko,
• Anna A. Makarova,
• Veronica S. Sulyaeva,
• Yuliya V. Fedoseeva and
• Lyubov G. Bulusheva

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 847–859, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.64

• determination of the surface composition of the films. At 830 eV, the probing depth is about 3 nm, which corresponds to almost the entire volume of the thin films under study. The S/Mo ratio in the MoS2 film is 6 on the surface and 3.1 in the bulk (Figure 4a,b). Excess sulfur in the MoS2 film is associated with

• sodium during the charge–discharge of SIBs. Conclusion Synchrotron XPS tool is invoked to study sodium adsorption/desorption in thin films of graphitic PyC, vertically aligned MoS2 layers, and PyC-MoS2. The MoS2 film with a thickness of about 4 nm was synthesized by sulfurization of a molybdenum layer

Facile one-step radio frequency magnetron sputtering of Ni/NiO on stainless steel for an efficient electrode for hydrogen evolution reaction

• Ha Huu Do,
• Khac Binh Nguyen,
• Phuong N. Nguyen and
• Hoai Phuong Pham

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 837–846, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.63

• synthesizing electrode materials in recent years because they offer a cleaner pathway than solution-based synthetic processes [20][21][22]. Among vacuum deposition methods, magnetron sputtering has been widely applied in industrial applications for fabricating thin films because of its advantages, such as good

• with a thickness of 1 mm was used as a substrate for catalyst growth. Fabrication of the Ni/NiO/SS samples Grade 304 SS was cut into pieces of 60 mm × 25 mm, washed with soap, and then sonicated in a mixture of acetone and ethanol to remove the impurities left on the SS template. After that, thin films

• distribution in materials were studied using EDX. The Raman spectra were studied using a LabRAM-HR Evolution Raman microscope with a laser wavelength of 532 nm. The composition of the thin films was investigated using XPS on a Thermo Scientific K-Alpha XPS system. Electrochemical measurements The HER catalytic

Supramolecular hydration structure of graphene-based hydrogels: density functional theory, green chemistry and interface application

• Hon Nhien Le,
• Duy Khanh Nguyen,
• Minh Triet Dang,
• Huyen Trinh Nguyen,
• Thi Bang Tam Dao,
• Trung Do Nguyen,
• Chi Nhan Ha Thuc and
• Van Hieu Le

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 806–822, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.61

• compression at 190 °C. As a result, thin and transparent PLA films were made with the average thickness of 0.2 mm. In the next stage, the GO-SG-ZH nanocomposite in hydrogel form (≈95% water) was used as an aqueous paint for brush coating on PLA thin films. After brush coating, the coated films were left to

• air dry for 3 h and were mildly dried using a hair dryer. The obtained coated films were denoted as GO-SG-ZH/PLA. Besides, the as-synthesized SG hydrogel (≈95% water) was also suitable for direct brush coating on PLA films. A similar procedure of brush coating was applied to produce PLA thin films

• of GO-SG-ZH hydrogel. (a) A blank polylactide film (PLA). (b) A polylactide film coated with nanosilica (SG/PLA). (c) A polylactide film coated with graphene oxide–nanosilica–zinc hydroxide (GO-SG-ZH/PLA). (d) Light transmittance spectroscopy of thin films of PLA, SG/PLA, and GO-SG-ZH/PLA. (a, b, c

Morphology and properties of pyrite nanoparticles obtained by pulsed laser ablation in liquid and thin films for photodetection

• Akshana Parameswaran Sreekala,
• Bindu Krishnan,
• Rene Fabian Cienfuegos Pelaes,
• David Avellaneda Avellaneda,
• Josué Amílcar Aguilar-Martínez and
• Sadasivan Shaji

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 785–805, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.60

• nanocolloids. The structural, morphological and electrical characterizations of the films are also presented. By sulfurization of the films, phase-pure pyrite thin films are obtained. The photodetection range was up to 785 nm photocurrent in the order of 10−6 to 10−4 A for different annealing conditions and a

• . reported the synthesis of single-phase FeS2 thin films using a combination of electrochemical and hydrothermal techniques. The electrodeposition was performed in a nonaqueous electrolytic bath consisting of diethylene glycol [24]. Among the deposition techniques, electrophoretic deposition (EPD) is a cost

• ][27][28]. In previous reports on pyrite thin films produced by EPD, Duan et al. deposited pyrite powder created using the sol–gel hydrothermal technique onto ITO substrates [29]. There are no other reports on the deposition of pyrite films using electrophoretic deposition. Spin coating is another thin

High-temperature epitaxial growth of tantalum nitride thin films on MgO: structural evolution and potential for SQUID applications

• Michelle Cedillo Rosillo,
• Oscar Contreras López,
• Jesús Antonio Díaz,
• Agustín Conde Gallardo and
• Harvi A. Castillo Cuero

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 690–699, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.53

• Física, Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional (CINVESTAV-IPN), Apdo. Postal 14-740, México D.F. 07360, México 10.3762/bjnano.16.53 Abstract The growth of superconducting tantalum nitride (TaN) thin films on magnesium oxide (MgO) substrates has been studied

• superconducting films. Keywords: epitaxial growth; SQUID; structural evolution; superconductivity; TaN thin films; Introduction Superconductivity is a quantum mechanical phenomenon characterized by the complete absence of electrical resistance in certain materials when cooled below a critical superconducting

• nitride system TaNx can be an insulator, semiconductor, or superconductor and also can exhibit a variety of crystallographic phases [8][9]. For example, Nie and collaborators mentioned that Ta2N thin films presented a high-temperature coefficient of resistance, and resistors using this material as a

Retrieval of B1 phase from high-pressure B2 phase for CdO nanoparticles by electronic excitations in Cd_xZn_1−xO composite thin films

• Arkaprava Das,
• Marcin Zając and
• Carla Bittencourt

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 551–560, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.43

• Abstract This study investigates the recovery of the B1 phase from the high-pressure B2 phase, at atmospheric pressure, in cadmium oxide (CdO) nanoparticles incorporated within sol–gel synthesized CdxZn1−xO (x = 0.40) composite thin films. The recovery process is investigated using electronic excitations

• ; Introduction Zinc oxide (ZnO)-based thin films are of significant interest due to their wide bandgap value (3.37 eV at room temperature), transparent electrical conduction, and large excitonic binding energy (60 meV) [1]. In contrast, cadmium oxide (CdO) exhibits a lower bandgap of 2.2 eV, along with high

• electron mobility (>100 cm2/V/s) and high electrical conductivity (>1014 S/cm), demonstrating its potential for optoelectronic applications [2][3][4]. The incorporation of cadmium into ZnO effectively reduces the bandgap, rendering the thin films suitable for applications in the visible region of the

N₂⁺-implantation-induced tailoring of structural, morphological, optical, and electrical characteristics of sputtered molybdenum thin films

• Usha Rani,
• Kafi Devi,
• Divya Gupta and
• Sanjeev Aggarwal

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 495–509, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.38

• Usha Rani Kafi Devi Divya Gupta Sanjeev Aggarwal Ion Beam Centre, Department of Physics, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra-136119, India 10.3762/bjnano.16.38 Abstract Molybdenum (Mo) thin films have extensive applications in energy storage devices and photovoltaic solar cells because of their

• remarkable thermal stability, high melting point, and chemical inertness. In the present study, Mo thin films of different thicknesses (150, 200, 250, and 300 nm) have been deposited on Si(100) substrates via radio frequency sputtering in an argon atmosphere at room temperature. Some of these films have been

• implanted with 1 × 1017 N2+·cm−2 at 30 keV using a current density of 4 µA·cm−2. Surface morphology and structural, optical, and electrical properties of the as-deposited and implanted Mo thin films have been systematically investigated. The crystallinity of Mo thin films is enhanced with increasing

Impact of adsorbate–substrate interaction on nanostructured thin films growth during low-pressure condensation

• Alina V. Dvornichenko,
• Vasyl O. Kharchenko and
• Dmitrii O. Kharchenko

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 473–483, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.36

• elastic adsorbate–substrate interactions in processes of nanostructuring of thin films during low-pressure condensation in the framework of theoretical approaches and numerical simulations. It will be shown that an increase in the elastic interaction strength induces first-order transitions and pattern

• multicomponent substrates leads to the formation of a stationary surface morphology with an elevated number of adsorbate islands of smaller size, compared to one-component substrates. This study provides a deep insight into the peculiarities of nanostructured thin films’ growth in low-pressure systems with

• different adsorbate–substrate bonding. Keywords: adsorbate–substrate interaction; adsorptive systems; numerical simulations; pattern formation; Introduction Innovative nanostructured thin films are widely exploited in ground-breaking developments regarding transistors [1][2], energy harvesting [3][4

Tailoring of physical properties of RF-sputtered ZnTe films: role of substrate temperature

• Kafi Devi,
• Usha Rani,
• Arun Kumar,
• Divya Gupta and
• Sanjeev Aggarwal

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 333–348, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.25

• out using EDS, and the obtained spectra are shown in Figure 4a1–e1. The existence of zinc and tellurium peaks indicates the formation of ZnTe thin films. The silicon and oxygen peaks are from the quartz substrate. The atomic percentages of Zn and Te are listed in Table 4. The film deposited at room

• thin films with varying thickness [35]. However, the changes we observed for direct bandgaps (1.47–3.11 eV) and indirect bandgaps (0.98–2.63 eV) are more significant. The existence of both direct and indirect bandgaps in a material has implications regarding the efficiency of solar cells. The

Correction: AFM-IR investigation of thin PECVD SiO_x films on a polypropylene substrate in the surface-sensitive mode

• Hendrik Müller,
• Hartmut Stadler,
• Teresa de los Arcos,
• Adrian Keller and
• Guido Grundmeier

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 252–253, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.19

• /bjnano.16.19 Keywords: AFM-IR; polypropylene; surface-sensitive mode; silicon oxide; thin films; XPS; The authors regret that the acknowledgement in the publication is unfortunately not complete. The following sentence in the Funding section is missing: This work was supported by the German Research

Recent advances in photothermal nanomaterials for ophthalmic applications

• Jiayuan Zhuang,
• Linhui Jia,
• Chenghao Li,
• Rui Yang,
• Jiapeng Wang,
• Wen-an Wang,
• Heng Zhou and
• Xiangxia Luo

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 195–215, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.16

• damage to surrounding tissues due to inadequate control over the heat distribution [100][101][102][103][104][105]. Innovations in this field have led to the development of transparent polylactic acid (PLA) thin films with embedded iron oxide nanoclusters prepared via spin coating [51]. The efficient

Advanced atomic force microscopy techniques V

• Philipp Rahe,
• Ilko Bald,
• Nadine Hauptmann,
• Regina Hoffmann-Vogel,
• Harry Mönig and
• Michael Reichling

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 54–56, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.6

• al. present the application of AFM-based infrared nanospectroscopy to coated polymer surfaces [11]. The authors prepare thin films of SiOx on polypropylene surfaces by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PE-CVD), which is commonly done to improve gas barrier properties of polypropylene. They

Orientation-dependent photonic bandgaps in gold-dust weevil scales and their titania bioreplicates

• Norma Salvadores Farran,
• Limin Wang,
• Primoz Pirih and
• Bodo D. Wilts

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 1–10, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.1

• templating process employed here, the 3D geometry did not significantly increase the porosity of titania. Our estimate for the effective refractive index of titania in the 3D lattice is in the range reported for pure titania thin films (1.95–2.55 [38], 1.72–2.03 [39]), hybrid silica/titania thin films (1.95

• the effective refractive index of titania thin films produced by sol–gel synthesis varies because of porosity, depending on the specific process, chemicals, and reaction conditions [41]. A higher annealing temperature seems to have a large influence on reducing the porosity of thin films, while

Heterogeneous reactions in a HFCVD reactor: simulation using a 2D model

• Xochitl Aleyda Morán Martínez,
• José Alberto Luna López,
• Zaira Jocelyn Hernández Simón,
• Gabriel Omar Mendoza Conde,
• José Álvaro David Hernández de Luz and
• Godofredo García Salgado

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1627–1638, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.128

• form atomic hydrogen, which reacts with the eleven solid quartz sources. A cloud or plasma is formed and finally reaches the substrate for the formation of the thin films. Finally, zone three is the exit of the gases that were not deposited in the film. The entire process is carried out under

• condition. The simulations give us a broad overview on the probable reaction mechanisms during the deposition of thin films in the HFCVD reactor. This allows us to get an estimate of the types of species that will be deposited for the growth of thin films, which depend strongly on the parameters and

Ion-induced surface reactions and deposition from Pt(CO)₂Cl₂ and Pt(CO)₂Br₂

• Mohammed K. Abdel-Rahman,
• Patrick M. Eckhert,
• Atul Chaudhary,
• Johnathon M. Johnson,
• Jo-Chi Yu,
• Lisa McElwee-White and
• D. Howard Fairbrother

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1427–1439, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.115

• transformations of precursor thin films. In this approach, the precursor is adsorbed onto a cooled substrate to form 1–2 nm thin films. The effects of ion beam exposure on the thin films are characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy to identify changes in the films’ composition and chemical environment

• , and mass spectrometry to identify the volatile species produced by ion beam irradiation. Insights from these studies have been used to rationalize the composition of thin films formed by ion-induced deposition of Pt(CO)2Cl2 in the presence of Ar+ irradiation under steady-state deposition conditions

• in the inset. The photoelectron spectra in Figure 2 display the C 1s, Cl 2p, and Pt 4f transitions of ≈2 nm thin films of Pt(CO)2Cl2 adsorbed at 230 K as a function of increasing ion dose (bottom to top). On the left-hand side the effect of Ar+ irradiation is shown, while on the right-hand side the

Investigation of Hf/Ti bilayers for the development of transition-edge sensor microcalorimeters

• Victoria Y. Safonova,
• Anna V. Gordeeva,
• Anton V. Blagodatkin,
• Dmitry A. Pimanov,
• Anton A. Yablokov and
• Andrey L. Pankratov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1353–1361, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.108

• Academy of Sciences, Akademicheskaya Street, 7, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, 603950, Russia 10.3762/bjnano.15.108 Abstract The superconducting properties of 85 nm thick hafnium thin films with a 5 nm thick titanium layer on top have been investigated for three different geometries, that is, a film covering

• different geometries were investigated in a continuation of [10], in which thin films of both pure hafnium and hafnium in combination with normal metals were considered. It is expected that an additional processing operation (lithography and lift-off process) to form the bridges may degrade their properties

New design of operational MEMS bridges for measurements of properties of FEBID-based nanostructures

• Bartosz Pruchnik,
• Krzysztof Kwoka,
• Ewelina Gacka,
• Dominik Badura,
• Piotr Kunicki,
• Andrzej Sierakowski,
• Paweł Janus,
• Tomasz Piasecki and
• Teodor Gotszalk

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1273–1282, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.103

• stresses in thin films by deflecting a cantilever of defined size from a uniform membrane. We see a need for such experiments for future improvement of our proposed RoI spacing tuning method. The proposed approach allowed us to evaluate the leakage currents separately from the nanodevice properties. It was

The role of a tantalum interlayer in enhancing the properties of Fe₃O₄ thin films

• Hai Dang Ngo,
• Vo Doan Thanh Truong,
• Van Qui Le,
• Hoai Phuong Pham and
• Thi Kim Hang Pham

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1253–1259, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.101

• promising applications. High-quality Fe3O4 thin films are a must to achieve the goals. In this report, Fe3O4 films on different substrates (SiO2/Si(100), MgO(100), and MgO/Ta/SiO2/Si(100)) were fabricated at room temperature with radio-frequency (RF) sputtering and annealed at 450 °C for 2 h. The

• . More importantly, changes in grain size and structure due to the effect of the MgO/Ta buffering layers have a strong impact on saturation magnetization and coercivity of Fe3O4 thin films compared to cases of no or just a single buffering layer. Keywords: buffer layer; Fe3O4; magnetite; RF magnetron

• K [1], as well as its high spin polarization with only one spin at the Fermi level, even at room temperature [2][3][4][5][6]. Fe3O4 thin films are an issue of interest and have extensive applications in Li-ion batteries, spin Seebeck devices, supercapacitors, spin Hall magnetoresistance, and the

A low-kiloelectronvolt focused ion beam strategy for processing low-thermal-conductance materials with nanoampere currents

• Annalena Wolff,
• Nico Klingner,
• William Thompson,
• Yinghong Zhou,
• Jinying Lin and
• Yin Xiao

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1197–1207, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.97

• different ion species, which are becoming more popular now, especially the lighter ion species where the assumption of a flat disc may not hold. Allen et al. showed that He ions can be beneficial when working with thin films [28] as they mostly transmit through the sample. The ion beam-induced heat for