Recent highlights in nanoscale and mesoscale friction

• Andrea Vanossi,
• Dirk Dietzel,
• Andre Schirmeisen,
• Ernst Meyer,
• Rémy Pawlak,
• Thilo Glatzel,
• Marcin Kisiel,
• Shigeki Kawai and
• Nicola Manini

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1995–2014, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.190

• friction was recently observed for micro- and macroscale systems based on incommensurate sliding between graphene-covered spheres or “nanoscrolls” and substrates [76][77]. Also a decrease of friction shear stress with increasing number of layers has been observed for graphene over Si/SiO2 in vacuum

• phenomenon under load [118]. Simulations [119] agree with experiment that friction depends sensitively on the number or residual confined layers in the interface. At a given number of layers, friction shows a relatively modest increase with load. A systematic investigation of friction as a function of load

Toward the use of CVD-grown MoS₂ nanosheets as field-emission source

• Geetanjali Deokar,
• Nitul S. Rajput,
• Junjie Li,
• Francis Leonard Deepak,
• Wei Ou-Yang,
• Nicolas Reckinger,
• Carla Bittencourt,
• Jean-Francois Colomer and
• Mustapha Jouiad

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1686–1694, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.160

• ][16] and the number of layers [16]. Various methods have been used to synthesize vertically aligned MoS2 NSs: liquid-phase exfoliation [17], hydrothermal synthesis [8] or chemical vapor deposition (CVD) [15][17][18]. CVD is regarded as the most promising method to synthesize high-quality MoS2 with

• of MoS2 polycrystals. A high-resolution (HR) TEM image is shown in Figure 3b. The stacking periodicity (the interlayer distance) is found to be around 0.63 nm. The number of layers in a NS is found in the range of 15–20. One should note that the NS thickness cannot be solely determined by plane-view

A simple extension of the commonly used fitting equation for oscillatory structural forces in case of silica nanoparticle suspensions

• Sebastian Schön and
• Regine von Klitzing

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1095–1107, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.101

• molecules, compared to the bulk. The degree of ordering decreases exponentially with increasing distance from the wall, levelling off to bulk distribution. This region of oscillating density, also called the interfacial region, encompasses only a small number of layers. The thickness of the interfacial

An implementation of spin–orbit coupling for band structure calculations with Gaussian basis sets: Two-dimensional topological crystals of Sb and Bi

• Sahar Pakdel,
• Mahdi Pourfath and
• J. J. Palacios

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1015–1023, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.94

• transitions and give the most faithful representation of the electronic band structure for any number of layers. This includes the presence of helical and topologically protected edge or surface states. For comparison, and as a reliable reference, we make use of the band structures obtained from the well

Graphene composites with dental and biomedical applicability

• Sharali Malik,
• Felicite M. Ruddock,
• Adam H. Dowling,
• Kevin Byrne,
• Wolfgang Schmitt,
• Ivan Khalakhan,
• Yoshihiro Nemoto,
• Hongxuan Guo,
• Lok Kumar Shrestha,
• Katsuhiko Ariga and
• Jonathan P. Hill

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 801–808, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.73

• 08.10.2012). The shape and position of the Raman 2D band (≈2700 cm−1) provides a useful analysis for assessing the quality and number of layers in graphene materials [14][15]. As the FLG material is composed of “flakes” the edges of the flakes give rise to a D band. The shape and position of the 2D band in

The effect of atmospheric doping on pressure-dependent Raman scattering in supported graphene

• Egor A. Kolesov,
• Mikhail S. Tivanov,
• Olga V. Korolik,
• Olesya O. Kapitanova,
• Xiao Fu,
• Hak Dong Cho,
• Tae Won Kang and
• Gennady N Panin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 704–710, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.65

• Raman spectroscopy is a convenient tool for probing atmosphere-induced doping in graphene. Low-pressure behavior of adsorbates present on the graphene surface and concomitant charge carrier properties strongly depend on the substrate material, as well as graphene doping and number of layers. These

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

• morphology of nanoparticles [22] (herein evaluated by solar cell performance). Particle size distribution The size of the nanoparticles has an impact on the overall number of layers of particles in an OPV device active layer (as 100 nm thick active layer has been found to be optimal), i.e., smaller particles

Sensing behavior of flower-shaped MoS₂ nanoflakes: case study with methanol and xylene

• Maryam Barzegar,
• Masoud Berahman and
• Azam Iraji zad

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 608–615, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.57

• a large surface-to-volume ratio, high process compatibility and flexibility, make them good candidates for sensing applications [8][14][15]. One of the most explored materials in this group is MoS2, which is a semiconductor with a variable band gap based on the number of layers [14][15]. Numerous

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

• mechanical strain [124][125], their electrical breakdown and mass loss caused by field evaporation [126]. Graphene: For fabricating NEM switches, monolayer [24][25][26][27] as well as few-layer [28][29][30][31] graphene materials are used. The mechanical properties are decisive for selecting the number of

• layers of the graphene structure [26]. Few-layer graphene is more favourable for reversible switching due to higher stiffness than single-layer graphene, but it requires larger jump-in voltages as a consequence. Graphene NEM switches are fabricated using dry or polymer-assisted transfer techniques of

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

• using the Fe/Mo catalyst (Table 1). The reason is likely due to the different average number of layers in these porous carbons. High-resolution TEM images demonstrate a larger thickness of the former sample as compared to the latter one (Figure S2 in Supporting Information File 1). Despite low values of

Molecular dynamics simulations of nanoindentation and scratch in Cu grain boundaries

• Shih-Wei Liang,
• Ren-Zheng Qiu and
• Te-Hua Fang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2283–2295, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.228

• and the grain boundary. Figure 8 shows the normal forces as a function of time for the transverse grain boundary containing a varying number of layers upon an indentation of 2 nm. The largest value (≈51.45 nN) appeared in the structure containing 3 layers since the partial pressure from the indenter

Modelling focused electron beam induced deposition beyond Langmuir adsorption

• Dédalo Sanz-Hernández and
• Amalio Fernández-Pacheco

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2151–2161, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.214

• reached solving the Langmuir model (Equation 8) for the same conditions, where a coverage of θ ≈ 0.5 is obtained (Figure 2d). For the case of strong physisorption (Figure 2a), characterized by a small ν2 value, the equilibrium state consists of a saturated first monolayer and a large number of layers on

Fully scalable one-pot method for the production of phosphonic graphene derivatives

• Kamila Żelechowska,
• Marta Prześniak-Welenc,
• Marcin Łapiński,
• Izabela Kondratowicz and
• Tadeusz Miruszewski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1094–1103, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.111

• cm−1. A small shift of the 2D peak, together with a decrease of its intensity can also be observed. According to the literature the frequency shift of G and 2D is connected with changes in the number of stacking layers in GO and rGO. It was proved that if the number of layers decreases, the G band

CVD transfer-free graphene for sensing applications

• Chiara Schiattarella,
• Sten Vollebregt,
• Tiziana Polichetti,
• Brigida Alfano,
• Ettore Massera,
• Maria Lucia Miglietta,
• Girolamo Di Francia and
• Pasqualina Maria Sarro

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1015–1022, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.102

• structurally characterized in a previous work [24], from which it emerged that the average number of layers was about 20. The material showed to be free from metal impurities after Mo removal and not damaged by the lift-off process. The quality of the graphene film has been monitored via Raman spectroscopy

Nanostructured carbon materials decorated with organophosphorus moieties: synthesis and application

• Giacomo Biagiotti,
• Vittoria Langè,
• Cristina Ligi,
• Stefano Caporali,
• Maurizio Muniz-Miranda,
• Anna Flis,
• K. Michał Pietrusiewicz,
• Giacomo Ghini,
• Alberto Brandi and
• Stefano Cicchi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 485–493, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.52

• graphene, is broadened confirming the high number of layers of the GPs. Upon functionalization The GPs-Nit-PO 9 spectrum showed the same bands with no significant differences respect to 5. TEM images of functionalized CNM are shown in Figure 4. No significant difference can be found in the morphology of

In-situ monitoring by Raman spectroscopy of the thermal doping of graphene and MoS₂ in O₂-controlled atmosphere

• Aurora Piazza,
• Filippo Giannazzo,
• Gianpiero Buscarino,
• Gabriele Fisichella,
• Antonino La Magna,
• Fabrizio Roccaforte,
• Marco Cannas,
• Franco Mario Gelardi and
• Simonpietro Agnello

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 418–424, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.44

• of the flakes are thinner, suggesting the presence of a smaller number of layers. By carrying out Raman measurements ex situ (Figure 7), we found that the edges of the flakes have a different spectrum. In particular, the bands attributed to MoO3 at the spectral positions 158, 285 and 820 cm−1 are now

Nitrogen-doped twisted graphene grown on copper by atmospheric pressure CVD from a decane precursor

• Ivan V. Komissarov,
• Nikolai G. Kovalchuk,
• Vladimir A. Labunov,
• Ksenia V. Girel,
• Olga V. Korolik,
• Mikhail S. Tivanov,
• Algirdas Lazauskas,
• Mindaugas Andrulevičius,
• Tomas Tamulevičius,
• Viktoras Grigaliūnas,
• Šarunas Meškinis,
• Sigitas Tamulevičius and
• Serghej L. Prischepa

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 145–158, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.15

• charge carrier mobility [1], it has huge functional ability in many applications, especially in high frequency electronics. The increase in the number of layers with conventional Bernal stacking strongly affects the electronic properties of graphene. Contrary to monolayer graphene, in Bernal-stacked

• graphene multilayers, electron backscattering is allowed [2]. However, when the layers of graphene are not strongly electronically coupled, this scenario is not always realized. Indeed, for turbostratic graphite, where Bernal stacking is destroyed, even for a very large number of layers, the unique

• are formed due to the overlap of the Dirac cones in the k-space. The controlled injection of defects, which cause strain, is an extra degree of freedom in addition to the number of layers. This may account for the unique properties of TG. In particular, it was shown that the strained TG bilayer could

Photothermal effect of gold nanostar patterns inkjet-printed on coated paper substrates with different permeability

• Mykola Borzenkov,
• Anni Määttänen,
• Petri Ihalainen,
• Maddalena Collini,
• Elisa Cabrini,
• Giacomo Dacarro,
• Piersandro Pallavicini and
• Giuseppe Chirico

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1480–1485, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.140

• , drops/mm2) and number of layers. The dependence of the photothermal response of the printed GNS patterns on the laser intensities and printed amounts of ink is also reported. Results and Discussion The stable inks were formulated by adding 1,2-ethanediol (20 vol %) and 2-propanol (10 vol %) to the

• inkjet-printed with varying drop density and number of layers onto the substrates. Detailed information about the synthesis, characterization, and PEGylation of the GNS, the preparation of the paper substrates and the characterization of their porosity, and the inkjet printing process is provided in

• with different coatings and permeability. All these printed patterns showed a pronounced local photothermal effect (ΔT > 30 °C) under NIR irradiation at low laser intensities (Iexc < 0.8 W/cm2). Apart from the printing parameters (drop density and number of layers), the porosity of the coated paper

Characterisation of thin films of graphene–surfactant composites produced through a novel semi-automated method

• Nik J. Walch,
• Alexei Nabok,
• Frank Davis and
• Séamus P. J. Higson

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 209–219, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.19

• reduced number of layers. The D and D’ bands are caused by disorder in the graphene flakes. The D’ band is present when there are surface defects, such as charging or other impurities adsorbed onto the surface. The D band is caused by edge defects such as a “zig-zag” or “chair” shape on the edge. Edge

• number of layers [18]. However the intensity is also dependant on the excitation laser frequency and so cannot be solely relied upon. Further details on the electrochemistry and usage of graphene produced by this method are detailed in another paper [6]. Deposition of thin films of graphene–surfactant

Fabrication and characterization of novel multilayered structures by stereocomplexion of poly(D-lactic acid)/poly(L-lactic acid) and self-assembly of polyelectrolytes

• Elena Dellacasa,
• Li Zhao,
• Gesheng Yang,
• Laura Pastorino and
• Gleb B. Sukhorukov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 81–90, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.10

• research on the behavior of the growth of conventional polyelectrolyte multilayers, where the underlying precursor was shown to have some influence [47]. Another phenomenon that was observed is that an odd number of PLA layers is always thicker than an even number of layers. This is due to the “dotted

Fabrication of hybrid graphene oxide/polyelectrolyte capsules by means of layer-by-layer assembly on erythrocyte cell templates

• Joseba Irigoyen,
• Nikolaos Politakos,
• Eleftheria Diamanti,
• Elena Rojas,
• Marco Marradi,
• Raquel Ledezma,
• Layza Arizmendi,
• J. Alberto Rodríguez,
• Ronald F. Ziolo and
• Sergio E. Moya

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2310–2318, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.237

• images also proves the formation of a complete and continuous coating of the capsule surface with GO with only three layers of GO being assembled, which, interestingly, is not obtained for the same number of layers on a planar surface. The use of a layer of PAH or three polyelectrolyte layers between the

Kelvin probe force microscopy for local characterisation of active nanoelectronic devices

• Tino Wagner,
• Hannes Beyer,
• Patrick Reissner,
• Philipp Mensch,
• Heike Riel,
• Bernd Gotsmann and
• Andreas Stemmer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2193–2206, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.225

• on the number of layers. KFM has found widespread use in both vacuum and ambient environments. Most commercial instruments for operation in air include a scan mode based on amplitude modulation KFM (AM-KFM). In this mode, the feedback loop nullifies the cantilever oscillation that is excited by a

Enhanced model for determining the number of graphene layers and their distribution from X-ray diffraction data

• Beti Andonovic,
• Abdulakim Ademi,
• Anita Grozdanov,
• Perica Paunović and
• Aleksandar T. Dimitrov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2113–2122, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.216

• increase of the accuracy of the results, as it may be used with graphene XRD curves which are highly asymmetrical. The resulting jth layer region occupancies and jth layer coverages, for each j ≥ 1, allow for the calculation of the average number of layers of the graphene samples. The calculations are

• compared to the results obtained by other methods and are in accordance with them. Having obtained the number of layers, together with the determined mean crystallite size La for the studied samples, provides a better overall picture with regard to their size and thickness. The nomenclature of the samples

• calculations of XRD intensities of the theoretical curves: where F is a structure factor, N is the maximum number of layers, |f(θ)| is an atomic scattering factor which varies from 6.00 to 6.15 eV/atom with incident radiation ranging from 2 to 433 keV, kaj = (4πdj sin θ)/λ, where dj is the lattice spacing

Nitrogen-doped graphene films from chemical vapor deposition of pyridine: influence of process parameters on the electrical and optical properties

• Andrea Capasso,
• Theodoros Dikonimos,
• Francesca Sarto,
• Alessio Tamburrano,
• Giovanni De Bellis,
• Maria Sabrina Sarto,
• Giuliana Faggio,
• Angela Malara,
• Giacomo Messina and
• Nicola Lisi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2028–2038, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.206

• consistent with the analysis of the Raman I2D/IG ratios. These values can be used to estimate the number of layers of the graphene films: 1–2 at 930 °C, 3–4 at 1000 °C, and 6 at 1070 °C. In Table 1, the optical transmittance of the films is reported. The optical transmittance inversely scales with the CVD

• space (equal to 377 Ω) [54], and t is the thickness. The value of t at each temperature was set taking in consideration the maximum number of layers as estimated by AFM and the optical transmittance of the film. This is a conservative approach, as the graphene films can occasionally appear thicker when

Imaging of carbon nanomembranes with helium ion microscopy

• André Beyer,
• Henning Vieker,
• Robin Klett,
• Hanno Meyer zu Theenhausen,
• Polina Angelova and
• Armin Gölzhäuser

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1712–1720, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.175

• hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), an insulating material that shares similarities with graphene, were imaged in a comparative study [23]. Therein, it is shown that HIM is more sensitive and consistent than SEM for characterizing the number of layers and the morphology of 2D materials. It was also shown that