Out-of-plane surface patterning by subsurface processing of polymer substrates with focused ion beams

• Serguei Chiriaev,
• Luciana Tavares,
• Vadzim Adashkevich,
• Arkadiusz J. Goszczak and
• Horst-Günter Rubahn

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1693–1703, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.151

• spin coater, in the same manner described in [4]. After the deposition, the samples were annealed at 200 °C for 90 s to remove solvent residuals. The PDMS polymer used was a two-component Dow Sylgard™184 silicone elastomer with a hardness value of 43 in the Durometer Shore scale. After mixing the

Structural and electronic properties of SnO₂ doped with non-metal elements

• Jianyuan Yu,
• Yingeng Wang,
• Yan Huang,
• Xiuwen Wang,
• Jing Guo,
• Jingkai Yang and
• Hongli Zhao

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1321–1328, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.116

• , high transmittance of visible light, good thermal stability, acid–base corrosion resistance, high material hardness, and easiness of preparation processes [5]. Non-metal atoms, such as fluorine (F) and nitrogen (N), were proved to be proper elements for doping. After doping with heteroatoms, the

An advanced structural characterization of templated meso-macroporous carbon monoliths by small- and wide-angle scattering techniques

• Felix M. Badaczewski,
• Marc O. Loeh,
• Torben Pfaff,
• Dirk Wallacher,
• Daniel Clemens and
• Bernd M. Smarsly

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 310–322, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.23

• structures [51][52][53][54]. Key properties of glassy carbon materials, such as thermal conductivity, chemical resistance, hardness, density, and coefficient of thermal expansion are closely related to the carbon microstructure and the porosity. Resin-based carbon materials are known to possess a substantial

Label-free highly sensitive probe detection with novel hierarchical SERS substrates fabricated by nanoindentation and chemical reaction methods

• Jingran Zhang,
• Tianqi Jia,
• Yongda Yan,
• Li Wang,
• Peng Miao,
• Yimin Han,
• Xinming Zhang,
• Guangfeng Shi,
• Yanquan Geng,
• Zhankun Weng,
• Daniel Laipple and
• Zuobin Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2483–2496, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.239

• /nanomachining methods [26][27][28][29][30] have been used to fabricate SERS substrates with two main advantages. First, the wear of the tip is negligible during machining on the metal surface due to the low hardness of the metals used (copper, aluminum). Second, the micro/nanomechanical machining method is

Design of a nanostructured mucoadhesive system containing curcumin for buccal application: from physicochemical to biological aspects

• Sabrina Barbosa de Souza Ferreira,
• Gustavo Braga,
• Évelin Lemos Oliveira,
• Jéssica Bassi da Silva,
• Hélen Cássia Rosseto,
• Lidiane Vizioli de Castro Hoshino,
• Mauro Luciano Baesso,
• Wilker Caetano,
• Craig Murdoch,
• Helen Elizabeth Colley and
• Marcos Luciano Bruschi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2304–2328, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.222

• is also true for saliva, which can also be considered as a natural protection in the organism against impurities exposed to the mucosa and can hinder the retention of such systems and thereby impair the clinical efficacy [65][66][67]. Hardness, compressibility, adhesiveness, elasticity and

• cohesiveness results for the formulations with or without CUR at 25 and 37 °C are given in Figure 8. In addition, the effects of the presence of CUR and the increase in temperature were statistically evaluated for each parameter. Hardness is an indicator of the ability to remove the formulation from the

• packaging material and its subsequent spreadability on the mucous tissue in a uniform layer to avoid any discomfort to the patient. Conversely, compressibility expresses the application of the formulation in the buccal cavity. Low compressibility and hardness values are desirable in order to facilitate the

Ion mobility and material transport on KBr in air as a function of the relative humidity

• Dominik J. Kirpal,
• Korbinian Pürckhauer,
• Alfred J. Weymouth and
• Franz J. Giessibl

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2084–2093, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.203

• small and sharp splinter of a smashed sapphire bulk crystal was used as a tip. Sapphire is a very hard material, it is hydrophobic with a contact angle to water above 80°[20], and it is chemically inert [21]. The high hardness allows us to create large artificial defects in our sample (as described

Comparing a porphyrin- and a coumarin-based dye adsorbed on NiO(001)

• Sara Freund,
• Antoine Hinaut,
• Nathalie Marinakis,
• Edwin C. Constable,
• Ernst Meyer,
• Catherine E. Housecroft and
• Thilo Glatzel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 874–881, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.88

• surfaces, mandatory for reliable SPM studies, are difficult to prepare because of the hardness of the material and its high reactivity [12][13][14][15][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34]. Figure 2a shows a topographic image measured by nc-AFM of the bare NiO(001) surface that was prepared by in situ

Development of an anti-pollution coating process technology for the application of an on-site PV module

• Sejin Jung,
• Wonseok Choi,
• Jung Hyun Kim and
• Jang Myoun Ko

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 332–336, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.32

• angle, anti-pollution characteristics, adhesion and hardness of the functional coating films after using different annealing treatment times and methods were measured, and it was confirmed that these characteristics varied depending on the annealing treatment times and methods. Through this, it was

• natural water will significantly improve the economic efficiency of the maintenance of solar power generation systems [7]. Although a self-cleaning coating technique using a photocatalyst has been developed, the durability is poor due to low adhesion and hardness. Also, production is very difficult, an

• using different periods of time. For the fabricated specimens, the contact angle, anti-pollution characteristics, hardness, and adhesion were measured. The process conditions were optimized by analyzing the measurement results. Experimental The coating solution that was used to improve the anti

Friction reduction through biologically inspired scale-like laser surface textures

• Johannes Schneider,
• Vergil Djamiykov and
• Christian Greiner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2561–2572, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.238

• additionally be explained by the minimal influence of (micro) hydrodynamic effects at low sliding speeds. Together with the high hardness and Young’s modulus of Al2O3 and 100Cr6, this probably results in a small true contact area and therefore large effective contact pressures. These effects manifest

• the reason why laser surface texturing has replaced other surface texturing techniques over the last decades [10][15], with notable exceptions such as end milling [59]. Another aspect beckoning future research is the hardness of the scale-like structures created by laser texturing. In biological

• systems, such as snake skin, it was revealed by nanoindentation that the outer scale layer has a higher hardness compared to the inner ones [60][61]. One could speculate that through the rapid cooling of the molten bearing steel during laser texturing, making up the scale-like morphology, a higher

Evidence of friction reduction in laterally graded materials

• Roberto Guarino,
• Gianluca Costagliola,
• Federico Bosia and
• Nicola Maria Pugno

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2443–2456, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.229

• , display setae with a graded stiffness that optimises the adhesive performance on rough surfaces [1]. Hardness and stiffness gradients are of fundamental importance in the biomechanics of contacts, since they allow increased resistance against wear, impact, penetration and crack propagation [2][3][4][5][6

Synthesis of hafnium nanoparticles and hafnium nanoparticle films by gas condensation and energetic deposition

• Irini Michelakaki,
• Nikos Boukos,
• Dimitrios A. Dragatogiannis,
• Spyros Stathopoulos,
• Costas A. Charitidis and
• Dimitris Tsoukalas

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1868–1880, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.179

• . Nanomechanical properties and porosity of Hf NTFs Hardness (H) and elastic modulus (E) of the nanocrystalline porous Hf NTFs were determined by nanoidentation measurements. (The load–displacement curves of Hf NTFs are presented in Supporting Information File 1, Section 3.) For comparison, the hardness and

• elastic modulus of a radio-frequency (RF)-sputtered 120 nm thick Hf film, was measured with the same technique as the NTFs. When Vs = 0 kV, elastic modulus and hardness are E = 33.6 GPa and H = 0.45 GPa, respectively. With increasing substrate voltage the mechanical properties are improved. For Vs = 2 kV

• , elastic modulus and hardness increase to E = 40.4 GPa and H = 2 GPa, respectively. For Vs = 4.5 kV, further increments to E = 65.8 GPa and H = 9.1 GPa are observed. These values tend to approach the mechanical properties of the RF-sputtered Hf film, which are E = 94.5 GPa and H = 12 GPa. The results are

Light extraction efficiency enhancement of flip-chip blue light-emitting diodes by anodic aluminum oxide

• Yi-Ru Huang,
• Yao-Ching Chiu,
• Kuan-Chieh Huang,
• Shao-Ying Ting,
• Po-Jui Chiang,
• Chih-Ming Lai,
• Chun-Ping Jen,
• Snow H. Tseng and
• Hsiang-Chen Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1602–1612, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.152

• of LEDs is difficult. Ryu et al. prepared a scattering layer composed of fine inorganic particles. They then sprayed a planarization layer composed of acrylic acid resin or polyimide resin on the scattering layer and obtained a LED surface with high flatness and hardness; these properties enhanced

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

• data in Figure 7 demonstrate a robust enhancement in the hardness of the magnetic nanoparticles of the annealed Fe50Co50@CNT samples compared to the bulk material. Coercive field (Hc) measurements for the Fe50Co50 nanoparticles prepared by the first and second filling approaches at 300 K yield were Hc

• design different MNPs with different coercivities depending on the route of filling and heat treatment process. In other words, the as-prepared samples prepared by the first route have the highest hardness (Hc ≈ 1324 ± 4 Oe) compared to the as-prepared samples prepared by the second route (Hc ≈ 488 ± 18

• mandatory for pure phase, highly crystalline Fe50Co50@CNT materials. The magnetic properties of the magnetic nanoparticles show preservation of the saturation magnetization at the nanoscale, whereas the hardness of the Fe50Co50@CNT sample is enhanced due to the size reduction, which could make them

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

• fabrication in addition to such benefits as high stiffness (Young’s modulus 447 GPa), hardness (5 GPa), and high melting point (2333 °C [116]). Ru-based NEM relays with small gap widths have shown an even smaller coupling area than that of Cu-based devices, with a pull-in voltage of 5 V [18], together with

• singular switching events [23]. Ceramics Titanium and tungsten nitride ceramics: Titanium nitride (TiN) has a low electrical resistivity that is comparable to some metals, high stiffness (Young’s modulus of 427–590 GPa) and high hardness, high melting temperature (2930 °C), high corrosion resistance [140

Anchoring of a dye precursor on NiO(001) studied by non-contact atomic force microscopy

• Sara Freund,
• Antoine Hinaut,
• Nathalie Marinakis,
• Edwin C. Constable,
• Ernst Meyer,
• Catherine E. Housecroft and
• Thilo Glatzel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 242–249, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.26

• lie between 3.5 and 4.3 eV [25][26][27][28][29], and given that scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) can only be performed on thin NiO films grown on metals [30][31], non-contact atomic force microscopy (nc-AFM) in ultra-high vacuum is the technique of choice. Due to its hardness and high reactivity

The rational design of a Au(I) precursor for focused electron beam induced deposition

• Ali Marashdeh,
• Thiadrik Tiesma,
• Niels J. C. van Velzen,
• Sjoerd Harder,
• Remco W. A. Havenith,
• Jeff T. M. De Hosson and
• Willem F. van Dorp

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2753–2765, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.274

• distance. The complexes ClAuPMe3 and ClAuPF3 (shown in Figure 4) show aurophilic interactions over a similar distance [68][69]. It was claimed that hardness/softness of ligands could have an effect on aurophilicity [70], but this was later rejected by Schmidbaur and co-workers [68]. The complex ClAuCO

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

• the normal load and the sliding distance and the inverse of the hardness of the material [11]. Exploring wear at the nanoscale becomes more and more mandatory with the development of the nanotechnology and its applications [12]. In addition, emerging numerical simulations of nanowear mechanisms are

Synthesis of [{AgO₂CCH₂OMe(PPh₃)}_n] and theoretical study of its use in focused electron beam induced deposition

• Jelena Tamuliene,
• Julian Noll,
• Peter Frenzel,
• Tobias Rüffer,
• Alexander Jakob,
• Bernhard Walfort and
• Heinrich Lang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2615–2624, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.262

• electronegativity, chemical hardness and chemical softness were calculated as follows: where I and A are the ionization potential and the electron affinity, respectively. The ionization potential and affinity were determined as difference of energies of ionized and neutral [AgO2CCH2OMe(PPh3)]. Processes, where

• hardness and softness of monomeric 2 are equal to 3.35 eV and 0.15 eV, respectively. For comparison, silver(I) complex [Ag(hfac)(PMe3)] (hfac = (1,1,1,5,5,5-hexafluoropentanedionate), which was successfully used as CVD precursor for the deposition of silver, possesses values of 3.65 eV and 0.13 eV [18

• ]. Values of the hardness >3 eV and softness <0.1 eV indicate high chemical stability and hence 2 can be considered as such, indicating reliability of the approach applied. This nicely corresponds with the experimentally observed properties of 2 (see above). The electronic structure of monomeric 2 is

Fabrication of gold-coated PDMS surfaces with arrayed triangular micro/nanopyramids for use as SERS substrates

• Jingran Zhang,
• Yongda Yan,
• Peng Miao and
• Jianxiong Cai

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2271–2282, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.227

• mechanical properties such as hardness, elastic modulus and friction coefficient. The fabrication of micro/nanostructures using the nanoindenter method can be also achieved. The shortcomings of this technique include low machining speed, small machining area and high cost, and thus the nanoindentation method

Ta₂N₃ nanocrystals grown in Al₂O₃ thin layers

• Krešimir Salamon,
• Maja Buljan,
• Iva Šarić,
• Mladen Petravić and
• Sigrid Bernstorff

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2162–2170, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.215

• longer wavelengths, high temperature durability, chemical stability, corrosion resistance, low cost or mechanical hardness, there is an increasing interest in various alternative materials that could optimize the device performance for specific plasmonic applications [8][9][10]. One promising group of

In situ controlled rapid growth of novel high activity TiB₂/(TiB₂–TiN) hierarchical/heterostructured nanocomposites

• Jilin Wang,
• Hejie Liao,
• Yuchun Ji,
• Fei Long,
• Yunle Gu,
• Zhengguang Zou,
• Weimin Wang and
• Zhengyi Fu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2116–2125, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.211

• and carbides have attracted great attention for advanced engineering applications due to their exceptional hardness, thermal and chemical stability at high temperatures [1][2][3]. For example, titanium diboride (TiB2) processes high hardness and a high melting point, good chemical and metallurgical

• stability, as well as excellent electrical and thermal conductivity [4][5][6]. On the other hand, titanium nitride (TiN) has some attractive properties, such as high hardness, low electrical resistivity, excellent wear and corrosion resistance [1][2][7]. Therefore, it is expected that these unique

Nanotribological behavior of deep cryogenically treated martensitic stainless steel

• Germán Prieto,
• Konstantinos D. Bakoglidis,
• Walter R. Tuckart and
• Esteban Broitman

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1760–1768, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.177

• cryogenic treatments increased both hardness and elastic limit of a low-carbon martensitic stainless steel, while its tribological performance was enhanced marginally. Keywords: carbide refinement; cryogenic treatments; friction; nanoindentation; nanoscratch; wear-resistance improvement; Introduction AISI

• . According to [26], hardness (H) is defined as: where P is the maximum normal load and A is the contact area between the tip and the specimen. The contact area can be related to the contact stiffness by using Sneddon’s law [27]: Nanoindentation tests were performed using a Berkovich diamond tip, with an apex

• of calculated hardness and elastic modulus from their real values. The formation of pile-ups during nanoindentation of steels has been studied by several researchers [29][30][31]. Our approach was to compare the conventional O&P method with the one proposed by Joslin and Oliver (J&O) [32]. The J&O

Two-dimensional carbon-based nanocomposites for photocatalytic energy generation and environmental remediation applications

• Suneel Kumar,
• Ashish Kumar,
• Ashish Bahuguna,
• Vipul Sharma and
• Venkata Krishnan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1571–1600, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.159

• -heptazine and g-o-triazine, which exhibit the band gaps of 5.49, 4.85, 4.30, 4.13, 2.97, 2.88 and 0.93 eV, respectively [62]. Among these seven phases, the β-C3N4 crystalline phase possess similar hardness as compared to that of diamond, and the pseudocubic-C3N4 and g-h-triazine-C3N4 possess direct band gap

Assembly of metallic nanoparticle arrays on glass via nanoimprinting and thin-film dewetting

• Sun-Kyu Lee,
• Sori Hwang,
• Yoon-Kee Kim and
• Yong-Jun Oh

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1049–1055, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.106

• examine the effect of the annealing temperatures on the mechanical stability of the structure, nanoindentation measurements were conducted for the resists on glass annealed at ≈400–600 °C. Figure 4a,b shows the changes in the composite hardness and elastic modulus of the thin resist–glass substrate as a

• sharply increase the contact area (A) at the beginning of indentation and decrease the modulus [33]. Nonetheless, both the modulus and the hardness of all annealed resists, with the exception of the modulus behavior at extremely small indentation depths, increased as the indentation depth increased. This

• hardness increased with increasing annealing temperature, reaching the maximum at 550 °C. The composite hardness and modulus of the resist–glass system annealed at 550 °C were 5.6 and 58 GPa, respectively, at the indentation depth of tf/2. Considering the properties of the Pyrex glass substrate, which has

Treatment of fly ash from power plants using thermal plasma

• Sulaiman Al-Mayman,
• Ibrahim AlShunaifi,
• Abdullah Albeladi,
• Imed Ghiloufi and
• Saud Binjuwair

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1043–1048, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.105

• slag. The produced slag is amorphous and glassy. The hardness and the density of the slag are 5 GPa and 1.69 g/cm3, respectively. In order to evaluate the release of heavy metals under harsh environmental conditions, a prolonged leaching test (14 days) was used to investigate the leaching