Metal-free catalysis based on nitrogen-doped carbon nanomaterials: a photoelectron spectroscopy point of view

• Mattia Scardamaglia and
• Carla Bittencourt

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2015–2031, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.191

• unaffected by CO poisoning, in contrast to commercial electrodes. Analyzing the RRDE voltammograms for the ORR in air-saturated 0.1 M KOH, the authors showed that the typical curve of pristine vCNTs has a two-step process with onset potential of about −0.2 V and −0.7 V, corresponding to a two-electron

• rearrangement of the nitrogen species: a decrease of pyrrolic N and a general transformation into graphitic N, consistent with other reports [58]. The electrocatalytic performances were measured by cyclic voltammetry in oxygen-saturated 1 M KOH electrolyte. By correlating XPS and ORR, the samples with the

• techniques, engineering and synthesis of the catalyst are to be optimized to yield an optimum concentration of active sites without inactive components. RRDE voltammograms for oxygen reduction in air-saturated 0.1 M KOH at the Pt–C/GC (curve 1), VA-CCNT/GC (curve 2), and VA-NCNT (curve 3) electrodes

Ultralight super-hydrophobic carbon aerogels based on cellulose nanofibers/poly(vinyl alcohol)/graphene oxide (CNFs/PVA/GO) for highly effective oil–water separation

• Zhaoyang Xu,
• Huan Zhou,
• Sicong Tan,
• Xiangdong Jiang,
• Weibing Wu,
• Jiangtao Shi and
• Peng Chen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 508–519, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.49

• Zhejiang Lishui, China. Graphite powder (40 μm), used as the source for GO, was obtained from Qingdao Henglide Graphite Co., Ltd. Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA, Mw ≈ 95,000 g/mol), glutaraldehyde (GA, crosslinker, 25 wt % in H2O), potassium hydroxide (KOH), Sudan III, acetic acid (CH3COOH), hydrogen peroxide

• previous paper [40]. Briefly, the suspensions were treated with 2 wt % aqueous KOH to remove pectin, hemicelluloses, and residual starch in the bamboo powder. Then, the samples were treated with a solution of NaClO2 and CH3COOH to remove lignin. Finally, the samples were treated with a 1 wt % HCl solution

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

• ]. Electrochemical tests of the obtained materials in 6 M KOH electrolyte evidenced a significant reduction of the interfacial contact resistance of the electrode with the insertion of MWCNTs. Luo et al. have prepared a hierarchical porous carbon–MWCNT hybrid by carbonization of a mixture of phenolic resin and

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

• silicon wafer substrates roughened by treatment with KOH immersed in DI water. The result shows that slip length increases with roughness on a polymer-free surface. A similar result was reported by Guriyanova and co-workers [19]. They studied the slip length of nano-patterned silicon surfaces with varying

Hydrothermal synthesis of ZnO quantum dot/KNb₃O₈ nanosheet photocatalysts for reducing carbon dioxide to methanol

• Xiao Shao,
• Weiyue Xin and
• Xiaohong Yin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2264–2270, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.226

• by reducing CO2 in isopropanol to methanol under UV-light irradiation. Experimental Catalyst synthesis Niobium oxide (Nb2O5, 99.99 wt %) was purchased from Aladdin Industrial Corporation. Potassium hydroxide (KOH, 96 wt %), isopropanol (C3H8O, 99.9 wt %), hydrochloric acid (HCl, 36.5 wt %), zinc

• KNb3O8 nanosheets by a two-step hydrothermal method. Typically, 0.2 g of Nb2O5 powder in 40 mL of aqueous alkaline solution containing 1–4 mol/L KOH were heated to 180 °C for 48 h in a 75 mL sealed Teflon-lined autoclave [21]. After cooling to room temperature naturally, a clear solution was obtained

• hydrothermal process for synthesizing KNb3O8 nanosheets was influenced by several factors. Among them, the concentration of the KOH solution, which is presented by the pH, is the critical factor [23]. Figure 1 shows the powder XRD patterns of the as-synthesized particles with different KOH concentrations. The

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

• ][20]. The heat leads to the decomposition of KBH4 and generates KH/BH3 with strong reduction capacity (Equation 3) [21][22][23]. The KH/BH3 reacts with the residual B2O3 and TiO2, then forms B*, Ti*, K2O, H2O and H2 (Equation 4–7). The B* combines with Ti* to produce TiB2 crystals (Equation 8). KOH is

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

• equivalent weight 24 (LEUNA-Harze GmbH); graphite intercalated compound (GIC) of 30–50 mesh, 3.1% sulfur (3772, Anthracite Industries, Inc. a subsidiary of Asbury Carbons); surface-active agents (SAAs) for SG treatment used in this study: polyether polyol (MW = 4000, hydroxyl number: 28 mg KOH/g, (Grade 4200

Carbon nano-onions as fluorescent on/off modulated nanoprobes for diagnostics

• Stefania Lettieri,
• Marta d’Amora,
• Adalberto Camisasca,
• Alberto Diaspro and
• Silvia Giordani

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1878–1888, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.188

• )carbodiimide (EDC) as the coupling agent at room temperature for 20 h (Scheme 2) to obtain fluo-CNOs. BODIPY Compound 1 was synthetized from 3,5-dimethylphenol following a published procedure [25]. 3,5-dimethylphenol (46.5 g, 0.38 mol) and KOH (39 g, 0.70 mol) were dissolved in water (150 mL). CHCl3 (60 mL

Metal oxide nanostructures: preparation, characterization and functional applications as chemical sensors

• Dario Zappa,
• Angela Bertuna,
• Elisabetta Comini,
• Navpreet Kaur,
• Nicola Poli,
• Veronica Sberveglieri and
• Giorgio Sberveglieri

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1205–1217, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.122

• preparation of niobium oxide nanostructures using a hydrothermal technique, during the first experiments we had adhesion problems of the metal layer to the substrates. We changed the thickness of the film, working temperature, KOH molarity and time in order to find out the best conditions to synthetize

• from the use of KOH during the hydrothermal treatment (Figure 8). The niobium(V) oxide peaks in Figure 8 (marked by dashed lines) match the ones reported in literature [9][10]. The peak at 999 cm−1 corresponds to longitudinal optical mode (LO) of Nb–O stretching associated to NbO6 octahedra. The

• obtained samples were placed in a Teflon beaker with a 0.01 M KOH solution and they were placed in a high-pressure reactor. All the system was heated at 175 °C for 6 h and it was cooled down naturally. After this treatment, a white compound was present on the samples surface and an acid treatment was

Synthesis of graphene–transition metal oxide hybrid nanoparticles and their application in various fields

• Arpita Jana,
• Elke Scheer and
• Sebastian Polarz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 688–714, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.74

Silicon microgrooves for contact guidance of human aortic endothelial cells

• Sara Fernández-Castillejo,
• Pilar Formentín,
• Úrsula Catalán,
• Josep Pallarès,
• Lluís F. Marsal and
• Rosa Solà

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 675–681, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.72

• samples were treated in KOH (0.1 M) for 3 min and HNO3 (0.1 M) for 10 min to increase the density of surface hydroxy groups [39]. For collagen treatment of the substrates, the surface was chemically modified following the APTES–GTA–collagen sequence. In brief, oxidized samples were hydroxylated and

Template-controlled piezoactivity of ZnO thin films grown via a bioinspired approach

• Nina J. Blumenstein,
• Fabian Streb,
• Stefan Walheim,
• Thomas Schimmel,
• Zaklina Burghard and
• Joachim Bill

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 296–303, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.32

• –30,000 g mol−1) in Milli-Q water with a concentration of 1 mg mL−1 were prepared. The pH of the PLL solution was adjusted to 9 with 0.3 m KOH. The sequence of the layer-by-layer deposition was (PLL + PLGA)5 + PLL + PSS. The substrates were dipped into the polyelectrolyte solutions for 20 min, followed by

Organoclay hybrid materials as precursors of porous ZnO/silica-clay heterostructures for photocatalytic applications

• Marwa Akkari,
• Pilar Aranda,
• Abdessalem Ben Haj Amara and
• Eduardo Ruiz-Hitzky

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1971–1982, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.188

• in the preparation of the CTA-clay derivatives. Ultra-pure deionized water (18.2 MΩ·cm) was produced in an Elga Maxima Ultra-Pure Water system). Methanol and 2-propanol (Fluka, p.a.) were used as solvents or reactants. Zinc(II) acetate dihydrate (CH3COO)2Zn·2H2O and KOH were purchased from Merck

In situ formation of reduced graphene oxide structures in ceria by combined sol–gel and solvothermal processing

• Jingxia Yang,
• Johannes Ofner,
• Bernhard Lendl and
• Ulrich Schubert

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1815–1821, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.174

• . The mixture was stirred for 30 min, ultrasonically treated for at least 2 h and then deposited onto glass sheets (20 × 30 cm2), which had been cleaned with 10% KOH, isopropanol and acetone and dried at 100 °C. The deposited films were exposed to ambient humidity at room temperature for 24 h (for

Effect of tetramethylammonium hydroxide/isopropyl alcohol wet etching on geometry and surface roughness of silicon nanowires fabricated by AFM lithography

• Siti Noorhaniah Yusoh and
• Khatijah Aisha Yaacob

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1461–1470, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.138

• uniformly in the vertical direction only. Anisotropic wet etching is mostly used to fabricate simple microstructures and nanostructures on a single crystal SOI wafer [8]. Tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) [9][10][11], potassium hydroxide (KOH) [12], sodium hydroxide (NaOH) [13], ethylenediamine

• potassium hydroxide solution that has become a popular anisotropic etchant because of its good etching performance and lack of toxicity. However, KOH is not CMOS compatible because of the mobile K+ ion contamination [16]. By contrast, TMAH has attracted the interest of researchers because of its simple

• in wet etching was obtained by adding isopropyl alcohol (IPA) to a KOH- or TMAH-based solution to enhance the smoothness of the silicon surface [10][12][16][18][19]. Based on these studies, it was claimed that IPA is an effective admixture for the improvement of surface smoothness. Recently, there

In situ characterization of hydrogen absorption in nanoporous palladium produced by dealloying

• Eva-Maria Steyskal,
• Christopher Wiednig,
• Norbert Enzinger and
• Roland Würschum

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1197–1201, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.110

• dealloying were performed in a 1 M solution of KOH, a highly porous carbon fabric contacted by a Pd wire served as counter electrode. The property variations of np-Pd upon electrochemical charging were calculated with respect to the sample resistance R0 and thickness L0 in the electrochemical double layer

Time-dependent growth of crystalline Au⁰-nanoparticles in cyanobacteria as self-reproducing bioreactors: 2. Anabaena cylindrica

• Liz M. Rösken,
• Felix Cappel,
• Susanne Körsten,
• Christian B. Fischer,
• Andreas Schönleber,
• Sander van Smaalen,
• Stefan Geimer,
• Christian Beresko,
• Georg Ankerhold and
• Stefan Wehner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 312–327, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.30

• color and therefore living organisms with high vitality. The pH value was kept constant in all experiments by adding an appropriate volume of KOH after every drop of the HAuCl4 solution added. The last image (Figure 1g) was taken from a culture, which was intentionally exposed to HCl, demonstrating that

Synthesis and applications of carbon nanomaterials for energy generation and storage

• Marco Notarianni,
• Jinzhang Liu,
• Kristy Vernon and
• Nunzio Motta

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 149–196, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.17

Single-molecule mechanics of protein-labelled DNA handles

• Vivek S. Jadhav,
• Dorothea Brüggemann,
• Florian Wruck and
• Martin Hegner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 138–148, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.16

• from Sigma-Aldrich (Dublin, Ireland). All aqueous solutions were prepared using nanopure water from a Millipore Milli-Q system, additionally filtered with 0.22 µm pore size filters. We used TICO buffer (20 mM HEPES-KOH, pH 7.5, 6 mM magnesium acetate, 30 mM ammonium acetate, 4 mM 2-mercaptoethanol) to

• HEPES, pH 7.5) and in DTT buffer (40 mM HEPES-KOH, pH 7.5, 60 mM NH4Cl, 10 mM magnesium acetate, 1 mM DTT and 3.6 mM 2-mercaptoethanol) (adapted from [12]). Optical force measurements Measurements of the DNA mechanics were performed with a previously described counter-propagating dual-beam OT setup [13

Metal hydrides: an innovative and challenging conversion reaction anode for lithium-ion batteries

• Luc Aymard,
• Yassine Oumellal and
• Jean-Pierre Bonnet

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1821–1839, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.186

• -ray diffraction pattern obtained at the end of the discharge shows the presence of both Mg0.65Sc0.35H0.8 and Mg0.65S0.35H1.5 cubic phases in agreement with the results obtained in KOH electrolyte and reported by Notten et al. [28]. Such desirable electrochemical behavior is also obtained with the

• -coating through chemical or physical methods. For electrochemical reactions carried out in thin films in KOH electrolyte with non-conductive hydrides such as MgH2, or Mg2NiH4, the presence of a small amount of non-hydrogenated compound (few percent), as Mg or Mg2Ni, in the starting material is sufficient

Nanomechanical humidity detection through porous alumina cantilevers

• Olga Boytsova,
• Alexey Klimenko,
• Vasiliy Lebedev,
• Alexey Lukashin and
• Andrey Eliseev

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1332–1337, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.137

• mJ of UV radiation [13]). Then unmasked AAO was etched away with 0.5% KOH for 10 min. The mask was removed after drying the samples at 160 °C for 10 min with acetone. Finally the remaining aluminium was dissolved in 0.5 M CuCl2 acidic solution (5 vol % HCl). The size of the obtained microcantilevers

Electrical characterization of single molecule and Langmuir–Blodgett monomolecular films of a pyridine-terminated oligo(phenylene-ethynylene) derivative

• Henrry M. Osorio,
• Santiago Martín,
• María Carmen López,
• Santiago Marqués-González,
• Simon J. Higgins,
• Richard J. Nichols,
• Paul J. Low and
• Pilar Cea

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1145–1157, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.116

• precipitate that was collected by filtration, washed thoroughly with Et2O and dried in air. The solids were redissolved in CH2Cl2 (25 mL) and extracted with aqueous KOH (0.1 M, 1 × 25 mL), water (1 × 25 mL) and brine (1 × 25 mL). The organic phase was collected, dried over MgSO4 and taken to dryness. The pure

Simple approach for the fabrication of PEDOT-coated Si nanowires

• Mingxuan Zhu,
• Marielle Eyraud,
• Judikael Le Rouzo,
• Nadia Ait Ahmed,
• Florence Boulc’h,
• Claude Alfonso,
• Philippe Knauth and
• François Flory

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 640–650, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.65

• concentration of the AgNO3 solution influences the morphology. However, for this study, only those SiNWs that exhibit good optical performance (low reflection at the surface, i.e., a light trapping effect) which were suitable for PEDOT deposition (using a KOH solution after the EMACE process) were addressed

• + SiF62− Step 3: 3Ag + NO3− + 4H+ → 3Ag+ + NO + 2H2O A tapering process was used to increase the EDOT diffusion by increasing the space between wires. The etched SiNWs were immersed into a KOH aqueous solution containing isopropyl alcohol (IPA) (31.2 g KOH + 25 mL IPA in 100 mL deionized water) for 10, 30

In situ scanning tunneling microscopy study of Ca-modified rutile TiO₂(110) in bulk water

• Giulia Serrano,
• Beatrice Bonanni,
• Tomasz Kosmala,
• Marco Di Giovannantonio,
• Ulrike Diebold,
• Klaus Wandelt and
• Claudio Goletti

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 438–443, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.44

• in a compact “BEETLE”-type setup [20]. The STM housing was filled with Argon gas in order to ensure an inert atmosphere. Tungsten tips were used for the STM measurements. The tips were prepared by chemical etching (2 M KOH solution) and then coated with hot glue to minimize the faradaic current

Rapid degradation of zinc oxide nanoparticles by phosphate ions

• Rudolf Herrmann,
• F. Javier García-García and
• Armin Reller

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2007–2015, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.209

• stored as dispersions in ethanol. ζ-potential in water: −48.3 mV; labelled: −56.3 mV. DLS: 400 nm, unlabelled; 401 nm, labelled. Preparation of ZnO-NP under basic conditions [29] (sample 2) To a solution of KOH (390 mg) in 50 mL of ethanol prepared at 60 °C under nitrogen were added 660 mg (3.0 mmol