Progress and innovation of nanostructured sulfur cathodes and metal-free anodes for room-temperature Na–S batteries

• Marina Tabuyo-Martínez,
• Bernd Wicklein and
• Pilar Aranda

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 995–1020, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.75

• resulting RT Na–S battery and the cycle performance. Another drawback is the lower theoretical cell capacity by not discharging until Na2S is formed. One approach to physically confine the catholyte is using membranes. Cengiz et al. [43] reported a RT Na–S battery with a Na2S5 catholyte confined by a Al2O3

• –Nafion membrane. Using this barrier, the capacity retention could be improved to 250 mAh·g−1 after 100 cycles. In spite of the improvement, the capacity value is still low because of the low Na+ diffusivity through the membrane and the insulating nature of Al2O3. Another approach to stable catholytes is

Molecular assemblies on surfaces: towards physical and electronic decoupling of organic molecules

• Sabine Maier and
• Meike Stöhr

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 950–956, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.71

• . Among others, ultrathin dielectric layers of either alkali halides (e.g., NaCl [17]) or metal oxides (e.g., MgO [18], Al2O3 [19], and CuO [20]), or nitrides (CuN [21]) have been shown to be beneficial for successfully reducing or even completely switching off the unwanted interaction between the metal

9.1% efficient zinc oxide/silicon solar cells on a 50 μm thick Si absorber

• Rafal Pietruszka,
• Bartlomiej S. Witkowski,
• Monika Ozga,
• Katarzyna Gwozdz,
• Ewa Placzek-Popko and
• Marek Godlewski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 766–774, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.60

• research groups. This technology was invented in the 1970s by Tuomo Suntola from Finland [4]. Thanks to the unique properties of this technology, materials produced by ALD quickly found a number of applications in PV. For example, ultrathin films of aluminium oxide (Al2O3) are used to passivate silicon

• without separation. This is why the external quantum efficiency drops significantly in the wavelength region of 850–1200 nm. One of the methods of improving the operation of ZnO/Si cells in the infrared range is the “passivated emitter and rear cell” (PERC) technology [21][22]. Thin films of Al2O3 or

Impact of GaAs(100) surface preparation on EQE of AZO/Al₂O₃/p-GaAs photovoltaic structures

• Piotr Caban,
• Rafał Pietruszka,
• Jarosław Kaszewski,
• Monika Ożga,
• Bartłomiej S. Witkowski,
• Krzysztof Kopalko,
• Piotr Kuźmiuk,
• Katarzyna Gwóźdź,
• Ewa Płaczek-Popko,
• Krystyna Lawniczak-Jablonska and
• Marek Godlewski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 578–592, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.48

• the removal of the native oxide layer followed by an adequate surface passivation technique [13] and/or by a proper choice of the dielectric and its deposition method. Regarding the dielectric, the most common ones are aluminum oxide (Al2O3) and hafnium dioxide (HfO2) for which the preferable

• improves optical and electrical properties of gallium arsenide-based devices [31][32][33]. In this work we examine the influence of the surface treatment of GaAs (cleaning, etching, and passivation) on the external quantum efficiency (EQE) results of the AZO/Al2O3/p-GaAs PV structures (in which AZO stands

• preparation of the GaAs surface affect the EQE, a simple photovoltaic structure was developed (Figure 2). As an emitter/window, a transparent and thin AZO layer was applied (d ≈ 50 nm, n ≈ 3.66 × 1019 cm−3). Beneath it and directly on the recently prepared gallium arsenide surface, we deposited Al2O3 as the

Mapping the local dielectric constant of a biological nanostructured system

• Wescley Walison Valeriano,
• Rodrigo Ribeiro Andrade,
• Juan Pablo Vasco,
• Angelo Malachias,
• Bernardo Ruegger Almeida Neves,
• Paulo Sergio Soares Guimarães and
• Wagner Nunes Rodrigues

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 139–150, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.11

• and R = (42.6 ± 0.2) nm; and for the yellow/green region the parameters are f0 = 67.972 kHz, K = 2.18 N/m and R = (35.9 ± 0.2) nm. Similar to the case of Al2O3 (see Experimental section), the substrate region was set to εr = 1 since in this region there is only air between the probe and the gold

• standard one present in the Asylum Cypher ES SPM. Al2O3 reference sample We made reference samples of a material with a well-known relative permittivity. Applying our method to this reference sample, we validated the technique presented in this paper. Our reference samples were photolithographically

• defined disks of Al2O3 films with a radius of 5 µm deposited by ALD on Au/Cr (60 nm/20 nm)-coated silicon wafer pieces. The topographic image of an Al2O3 disk measured with AFM is shown in Figure 9a. The sample thickness was (21.0 ± 0.2) nm, relative to the gold surface. In the EFM mode, the microscope

Atomic layer deposited films of Al₂O₃ on fluorine-doped tin oxide electrodes: stability and barrier properties

• Hana Krýsová,
• Michael Neumann-Spallart,
• Hana Tarábková,
• Pavel Janda,
• Ladislav Kavan and
• Josef Krýsa

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 24–34, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.2

• , Technická 5, 166 28 Prague 6, Czech Republic 10.3762/bjnano.12.2 Abstract Al2O3 layers were deposited onto electrodes by atomic layer deposition. Solubility and electron-transport blocking were tested. Films deposited onto fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO, F:SnO2/glass) substrates blocked electron transfer to

• found up to 24 h and even after 168 h of exposure the changes in the blocking behaviour were still minimal. This behaviour was also observed for protection against direct reduction of FTO. Keywords: Al2O3; atomic layer deposition (ALD); barrier properties; corrosion; electrochemistry; FTO

• semiconducting electrodes, such as ZnO. Aluminium oxide is another promising candidate for this task. It is amphoteric but insoluble in aqueous media at a neutral pH value [8][9]. ALD oxide layers, including Al2O3, were used as barrier coatings on copper to protect against corrosion in 0.1 M NaCl [10]. As

Proximity effect in [Nb(1.5 nm)/Fe(x)]₁₀/Nb(50 nm) superconductor/ferromagnet heterostructures

• Yury Khaydukov,
• Sabine Pütter,
• Laura Guasco,
• Roman Morari,
• Gideok Kim,
• Thomas Keller,
• Anatolie Sidorenko and
• Bernhard Keimer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1254–1263, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.109

• the Al2O3(1−102) substrate. Samples grown at this condition possess a high residual resistivity ratio of 15–20. By using neutron reflectometry we show that Fe/Nb superlattices with x < 4 nm form a depth-modulated FeNb alloy with concentration of iron varying between 60% and 90%. This alloy has weak

• techniques Samples of the nominal structure Pt(3 nm)/[Nb(1.5 nm)/Fe(x)]10/Nb(50 nm) were prepared on Al2O3() substrates using a DCA M600 MBE system with a base pressure of 10−10 mbar. Before deposition, the substrates were cleaned from organic contaminations with ethanol and isopropanol ex situ and heated at

• ) ± ρm(z), where ρ0 and ρm are the nuclear and magnetic SLDs. The latter is proportional to the magnetization of a layer. Thus in addition to the chemical we can study magnetic depth profiles using PNR. Results Structural study Growth analysis with RHEED The RHEED pattern of the Al2O3() substrate (Figure

Gas-sensing features of nanostructured tellurium thin films

• Dumitru Tsiulyanu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1010–1018, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.85

• present work is related to investigations of the interaction between nanostructured Te films and toxic gases. According to the literature, such investigations firstly have been provided utilizing the nanocrystalline Te films grown onto Pyrex glass, alumina (Al2O3), oxidized silicon or sapphire substrates

• nanostructured (porous) Al2O3 substrates. In both cases, the polycrystalline Te (purity 99.999%) was evaporated under 10−4 Pa vacuum conditions. The evaporation was carried out using VUP-5 equipment (SUMI, Ukraine) from a tantalum boat, keeping the same distance (20 cm) between the evaporation boat and substrate

• was performed via measuring the final thickness of the grown film versus the time of deposition at given temperature of the evaporator. Under these conditions, the amorphous Te films were grown on either continuous (Pyrex glass) or porous (Al2O3) nanostructured substrates. Then, rectangular 70 mm2

Band tail state related photoluminescence and photoresponse of ZnMgO solid solution nanostructured films

• Vadim Morari,
• Aida Pantazi,
• Nicolai Curmei,
• Vitalie Postolache,
• Emil V. Rusu,
• Marius Enachescu,
• Ion M. Tiginyanu and
• Veaceslav V. Ursaki

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 899–910, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.75

• possibility for easy doping and preparation of homogeneous films with good electrical and optical properties. The films are prepared on various substrates such as ZnO [6], MgO [17], Si [2][3][4][23], CaF2 [12], Al2O3 [18], sapphire [7][10][11][13][14][15][16][19][31][32], glass and quartz [1][20][21][23][24

• is faster in devices based on spray pyrolysis films [29]. Solar-blind UV photodetectors with the highest responsivity to date were demonstrated on sapphire substrates by introducing ZnO or Al2O3 buffer layers [11][16]. With respect to photodetectors with p–n junctions, some photodetectors have been

Influence of the epitaxial composition on N-face GaN KOH etch kinetics determined by ICP-OES

• Markus Tautz,
• Maren T. Kuchenbrod,
• Joachim Hertkorn,
• Robert Weinberger,
• Martin Welzel,
• Arno Pfitzner and
• David Díaz Díaz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 41–50, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.4

• and Al2O3 leads to a high dislocation density, if no strategy for defect reduction is applied. This spans the entire epitaxial layer. The most common strategy to bridge the structural mismatch is the application of AlN and GaN nucleation layers in between the sapphire substrate and bulk GaN [5][6

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

• ). Fabrication and sensing test of gas sensors The hollow spheres of pure ZnFe2O4 or ZnFe2O4/rGO powder were mixed with deionized water to obtain a paste, which was then manually uniformly coated onto an Al2O3 ceramic plate (C-MAC Micro Technology Company, Belgium) equipped with heating electrodes (Pt) and gold

Pulsed laser synthesis of highly active Ag–Rh and Ag–Pt antenna–reactor-type plasmonic catalysts

• Kenneth A. Kane and
• Massimo F. Bertino

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1958–1963, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.192

• dissipation, the experiments concluded that charge carriers produced in the Pt shell via LSPR excitation from the Ag nanocube core could be utilized for surface chemistry. Similarly, Zhang et al. coined the term “antenna–reactor” photocatalysis by fabricating Al, surrounded by a thin layer of Al2O3, as a

• plasmonic metal (antenna) and Pd NPs as catalyst (reactor), where Al2O3 prevented the contact between Ag and Pd [19]. After observing an enhanced reduction of acetylene and dissociation of H2 via photocatalysis, it was concluded that a plasmonic antenna can focus light onto the catalytic reactor and induce

Nanoarchitectonics meets cell surface engineering: shape recognition of human cells by halloysite-doped silica cell imprints

• Elvira Rozhina,
• Ilnur Ishmukhametov,
• Svetlana Batasheva,
• Farida Akhatova and
• Rawil Fakhrullin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1818–1825, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.176

• of various functional composite materials [26]. The anisotropic shape (hollow tubules having lengths from 300 nm to 1–2 µm, 50–70 nm diameter, and 20 nm lumen) and surface chemistry (outer surface of SiO2, inner surface of Al2O3) make these nanotubes ideal carriers for novel catalysts, polymer

Synthesis of nickel/gallium nanoalloys using a dual-source approach in 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazole ionic liquids

• Ilka Simon,
• Julius Hornung,
• Juri Barthel,
• Jörg Thomas,
• Maik Finze,
• Roland A. Fischer and
• Christoph Janiak

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1754–1767, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.171

• methanol were found for Ni5Ga3 and NiGa [37]. At 165 °C Ni5Ga3 (δ) yielded 100% selectivity towards methanol [38]. Above 220 °C Ni5Ga3 is even more active than a conventional Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 catalyst with less CO formation in the reverse water-gas shift reaction (rWGS). In Ni5Ga3 the Ga-rich step sites

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

• (vinylpyrrolidone) (SPVP) particles were obtained using a vertical electrospinning system. Subsequently, coated electrosprayed SPVP particles were obtained through the ALD process of Al2O3 (SPVP_Al2O3) and TiO2 (SPVP_Al2O3_TiO2) layers. Prior to the deposition of titanium dioxide, a very thin deposition of Al2O3

• treatment at 600 °C did not generate enough pressure to break the nanosphere wall because of the double protection offered by the internal layer with Al2O3 and external layer with TiO2. TEM analysis also revealed that the total thickness obtained was approximately 16.8 nm after both ALD processes were

• performed (Figure 3c). Energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis was performed to determine the elemental composition of CSTiO2 and to confirm the presence of both Al2O3 and TiO2 layers. The EDX mapping results are shown in Figure 4a, where red, green and yellow colors correspond to oxygen, aluminum and

High-temperature resistive gas sensors based on ZnO/SiC nanocomposites

• Vadim B. Platonov,
• Marina N. Rumyantseva,
• Alexander S. Frolov,
• Alexey D. Yapryntsev and
• Alexander M. Gaskov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1537–1547, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.151

• syringe with a metal needle (G21) with an internal diameter of 510 μm. The electrospinning was carried out at the conditions of 3 mL/h solution feed rate, with 150 mm distance and 6 kV voltage between the needle and metal collector. The formed fibrous tissue was collected in an alundum Al2O3 crucible and

Multicomponent bionanocomposites based on clay nanoarchitectures for electrochemical devices

• Giulia Lo Dico,
• Bernd Wicklein,
• Lorenzo Lisuzzo,
• Giuseppe Lazzara,
• Pilar Aranda and
• Eduardo Ruiz-Hitzky

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1303–1315, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.129

• immobilized in mesopores of Al2O3 membranes (10–30 mM) [63], sol–gel-derived composite films (14 mM) [64], and similar devices based on graphene and carbon nanotubes (4–15 mM) [65][66]. The low Km value is indicative of an excellent performance attributed to strong substrate binding and high enzymatic

Alloyed Pt₃M (M = Co, Ni) nanoparticles supported on S- and N-doped carbon nanotubes for the oxygen reduction reaction

• Stéphane Louisia,
• Yohann R. J. Thomas,
• Pierre Lecante,
• Marie Heitzmann,
• M. Rosa Axet,
• Pierre-André Jacques and
• Philippe Serp

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1251–1269, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.125

• at 650 °C on a Fe/Al2O3 catalyst in a vertical oven to produce CNTs and N-CNTs. First, the catalyst was reduced under argon/hydrogen (Ar/H2 (1.5/1): 375 mL·min−1) during 30 min at 650 °C. Undoped structures (called CNTs) were prepared from ethylene/H2 (375 mL·min−1 (1.5/1)) mixtures, N-doped

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

• tunneling microscope (Modified Createc LT-STM) equipped with a vector magnetic field of 1 T. As described in [21], the Au(111) single crystal was cleaned by repeated cycles of Ne+ ion bombardment followed by thermal annealing at 800 K. The MnPc molecules were evaporated from an Al2O3 crucible heated by

Luminescence of Tb₃Al₅O₁₂ phosphors co-doped with Ce³⁺/Gd³⁺ for white light-emitting diodes

• Yu-Guo Yang,
• Lei Wei,
• Jian-Hua Xu,
• Hua-Jian Yu,
• Yan-Yan Hu,
• Hua-Di Zhang,
• Xu-Ping Wang,
• Bing Liu,
• Cong Zhang and
• Qing-Gang Li

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1237–1242, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.123

• are driven under different currents. Experimental A series of Tb2.96−xCe0.04GdxAl5O12 (x = 0, 0.05, 0.10, 0.15, 0.20, and 0.25) phosphors were synthesized through solid-state reactions in a reduction atmosphere (5% H2/95% N2). Al2O3 (99.9%), Tb4O7 (99.9%), CeO2 (99.99%) and Gd2O3 (99.95%) were used as

Revisiting semicontinuous silver films as surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy substrates

• Malwina Liszewska,
• Bogusław Budner,
• Małgorzata Norek,
• Bartłomiej J. Jankiewicz and
• Piotr Nyga

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1048–1055, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.105

• -structured surfaces made of glass [25][26], GaN [27][28][29], Si [30], TiO2 [31], Al2O3 [32], Ti [33], polymers [34], or planar surfaces coated with nano/microspheres resulting in metal film on nanospheres MFON [35][36], and Au nanocrescents on a monolayer of polystyrene nanospheres [37]. Additionally

Rapid, ultraviolet-induced, reversibly switchable wettability of superhydrophobic/superhydrophilic surfaces

• Yunlu Pan,
• Wenting Kong,
• Bharat Bhushan and
• Xuezeng Zhao

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 866–873, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.87

• than 165° to almost 0°. To further investigate the wettability transition, trimethoxy(alkyl)silane and Al2O3 nanoparticles (which are not photocatalytic) were mixed and spray-coated onto the glass substrates as the control samples. Then the unrecoverable change of trimethoxy(alkyl)silane under UV

• of experiments were carried out. Surfaces were coated with TiO2 nanoparticles and non-photosensitive Al2O3 nanoparticles as the control groups, respectively. The nanoparticles were modified with a short carbon chain trimethoxy(alkyl)silane, 1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorooctyl(trimethoxy)silane (PFOS), in

• nanoparticles were modified in ethanol solutions of PFOS, and the suspensions were sprayed on glass substrates to make the TiO2–PFOS samples. With the same method, Al2O3–PFOS samples were prepared as control groups. As shown in Figure 1, both TiO2–PFOS and Al2O3–PFOS coated surfaces exhibited excellent

Periodic Co/Nb pseudo spin valve for cryogenic memory

• Nikolay Klenov,
• Yury Khaydukov,
• Sergey Bakurskiy,
• Roman Morari,
• Igor Soloviev,
• Vladimir Boian,
• Thomas Keller,
• Mikhail Kupriyanov,
• Anatoli Sidorenko and
• Bernhard Keimer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 833–839, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.83

• sapphire (Al2O3) substrate. Before the deposition the substrates were etched by an argon ion beam inside the chamber. The targets Nb(99.99%) and Co(99.99%) were presputtered to remove metallic oxides and contamination absorbed on the surfaces. Additionally, immediately before deposition of the next layer

Direct observation of the CVD growth of monolayer MoS₂ using in situ optical spectroscopy

• Claudia Beatriz López-Posadas,
• Yaxu Wei,
• Wanfu Shen,
• Daniel Kahr,
• Michael Hohage and
• Lidong Sun

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 557–564, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.57

• time study of the CVD growth of monolayer MoS2 on Al2O3(0001) surface. In this case, the normalized difference between the transmittance through the bare substrate and the transmittance after a given deposition time are resolved. By monitoring using DTS during growth, the evolution of the optical

• Figure 3b. For the growth reported in this paper, double-side-polished c-plane sapphire (Al2O3(0001)) was selected as the substrate. During deposition, the substrates were inclined with their surface normal 45 degrees off the axis of the quartz tube of the furnace (see Figure 3a). At both ends of the

Choosing a substrate for the ion irradiation of two-dimensional materials

• Egor A. Kolesov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 531–539, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.54

• defect formation mechanisms. The estimations include Monte Carlo simulations for He, Ar, Xe, C, N and Si ions, performed in the incident ion energy range from 100 eV to 250 MeV. Cu, SiO2, SiC and Al2O3 substrates were analyzed. The considered substrate-related defect formation mechanisms are sputtering

• taking the substrate effects into account. The analysis was performed for the most common ions used for monolayer irradiation: He, Ar, Xe, C, N and Si; the chosen substrates include Cu, SiO2, SiC and Al2O3. Copper is a widely available metal and is traditionally used as a substrate in 2D material science

• . For the uniformity of the study, a classical semiconducting material SiC was added as another commonly used substrate. Al2O3 is also an insulator that is becoming a more interesting material to support monolayers given that is has a small effect on their properties; besides, comparing it to SiO2 is