Analysis of catalyst surface wetting: the early stage of epitaxial germanium nanowire growth

• Owen C. Ernst,
• Felix Lange,
• David Uebel,
• Thomas Teubner and
• Torsten Boeck

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1371–1380, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.121

• chalcopyrites [11], or precursors for complex structures, such as nanowires [12]. Silicon, germanium and silicon oxide nanowires, for example, can be formed on different substrates by using metal catalysts in the form of tin, indium or gold nanodroplets [13][14][15]. Such nanometre-sized one-dimensional

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

• research works has been done examining different doping elements. Doped tin oxide thin film have been widely used in the fields of thin film solar cell electrodes, electronic display devices, and gas sensors. Also doped SnO2 been used for energy-saving low-emissivity glass coatings due to low resistivity

• of a non-metal atom replacing an O atom in a SnO2 unit cell (The red spheres are oxygen atoms, the gray spheres are tin atoms, and the light blue sphere is the non-metal atom). Energy band structure, total density of states and partial density of states of SnO2 doped with non-metal atoms: (a) SnO2/B

Transition from freestanding SnO₂ nanowires to laterally aligned nanowires with a simulation-based experimental design

• Jasmin-Clara Bürger,
• Sebastian Gutsch and
• Margit Zacharias

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 843–853, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.69

• laterally aligned nanowires, indicating that the nanowire growth takes place in a transient period of the gas exchange. Keywords: finite element method simulation; laterally aligned nanowires; planar growth; tin oxide; vapor–liquid–solid nanowire growth; Introduction Since the first reports in 1964 by

• result, Choi et al. were able to measure an improved sensitivity for gas sensors made of tin oxide nanowires (SnO2 NWs) in comparison with powder-based SnO2 thin films [9]. For the use of NWs in electronic and sensor devices, freestanding NWs often have to be scratched off of the growth substrate

• ]. The droplets compete for the tin atoms and oxygen molecules [30]. This results in a locally reduced material concentration in the surrounding area of the catalyst-decorated samples. As seen from the simulations of the volumetric flow (Figure 2), an increased volumetric flow will result in a reduced

Adsorption behavior of tin phthalocyanine onto the (110) face of rutile TiO₂

• Lukasz Bodek,
• Mads Engelund,
• Aleksandra Cebrat and
• Bartosz Such

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 821–828, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.67

• , Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Überlandstrasse 129, 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland 10.3762/bjnano.11.67 Abstract The adsorption behavior of tin phthalocyanine (SnPc) molecules on rutile TiO2(110) was studied by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). Low-temperature STM

• measurements of single molecules reveal the coexistence of two conformations of molecules on the TiO2 surface. Density functional theory-based simulations (DFT) indicate that the difference originates from the position of the tin atom protruding from the molecule plane. The irreversible switching of Sn-up

• tunneling microscopy (STM); tin phthalocyanine (SnPc); titanium dioxide (TiO2); Introduction Phthalocyanines (Pcs) are aromatic molecules that can form metal complexes with a variety of elements, which can be used to tune molecular properties, such as position or shape of adsorption bands. Therefore, Pcs

Hexagonal boron nitride: a review of the emerging material platform for single-photon sources and the spin–photon interface

• Stefania Castelletto,
• Faraz A. Inam,
• Shin-ichiro Sato and
• Alberto Boretti

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 740–769, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.61

Structural optical and electrical properties of a transparent conductive ITO/Al–Ag/ITO multilayer contact

• Aliyu Kabiru Isiyaku,
• Ahmad Hadi Ali and
• Nafarizal Nayan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 695–702, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.57

• Science, Kaduna State University, P.M.B 2339, Kaduna State, Nigeria Microelectronic and Nanotechnology Shamsuddin Research Centre (MiNT-SRC), Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, 86400 Parit Raja, Batu Pahat, Johor, Malaysia 10.3762/bjnano.11.57 Abstract Indium tin oxide (ITO) is a widely used material

• × 10−3 Ω−1). These highly conductive and transparent ITO films with Al–Ag interlayer can be a promising contact for low-resistance optoelectronics devices. Keywords: annealing; DC sputtering; figure of merit; indium tin oxide (ITO); multilayer structure; RF sputtering; Introduction Transparent

• conducting oxides (TCO) thin films have been receiving much attention regarding their use as contacts in several optoelectronic devices such as LEDs [1], solar cells [2] and flat panel displays [3]. Indium tin oxide (ITO) is the most commonly used TCO for industrial and laboratory applications due to its

Implementation of data-cube pump–probe KPFM on organic solar cells

• Benjamin Grévin,
• Olivier Bardagot and
• Renaud Demadrille

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 323–337, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.24

• levels of holes and electrons upon illumination, symbolized by dotted lines. (b) Organic BHJ solar cell and experimental configuration. The sample is illuminated in backside geometry. The transparent anode, the hole collecting electrode made of indium tin oxide coated with PEDOT:PSS, is grounded. The

Semitransparent Sb₂S₃ thin film solar cells by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis for use in solar windows

• Jako S. Eensalu,
• Atanas Katerski,
• Erki Kärber,
• Lothar Weinhardt,
• Monika Blum,
• Clemens Heske,
• Wanli Yang,
• Ilona Oja Acik and
• Malle Krunks

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2396–2409, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.230

• chemical methods [20]. Until now, semitransparency aspects of Sb2S3 solar cells have only been studied by Zimmermann et al., who reported a PCE of 4.25% for a tin-doped indium oxide (ITO)/TiO2/Sb2S3/poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) (P3HT)/Ag solar cell with a 50–70 nm thick Sb2S3 absorber and a

Polyvinylpyrrolidone as additive for perovskite solar cells with water and isopropanol as solvents

• Chen Du,
• Shuo Wang,
• Xu Miao,
• Wenhai Sun,
• Yu Zhu,
• Chengyan Wang and
• Ruixin Ma

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2374–2382, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.228

• cell (iPSC), Pengcheng Zhou et al. managed to achieve a signifanct boost in efficiency [30]. The photovoltaic properties of inverted polymer solar cells using a PVP-modified indium tin oxide (ITO) layer as the electron-collecting electrode were reported on by J. W. Shim and co-workers [31]. In this

Nontoxic pyrite iron sulfide nanocrystals as second electron acceptor in PTB7:PC₇₁BM-based organic photovoltaic cells

• Olivia Amargós-Reyes,
• José-Luis Maldonado,
• Omar Martínez-Alvarez,
• María-Elena Nicho,
• José Santos-Cruz,
• Juan Nicasio-Collazo,
• Irving Caballero-Quintana and
• Concepción Arenas-Arrocena

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2238–2250, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.216

• and synthesis of FeS2 nanocrystals All chemicals were used as received without further purification. For FeS2 synthesis, iron(II) chloride, octadecylamine and diphenyl ether were acquired from Sigma-Aldrich. For OPV fabrication, indium tin oxide (ITO) covered glass substrates (10 Ω/sq, ≈165 nm

• :PC71BM:FeS2/PFN/Field’s metal (FM) fabrication The OPV devices were fabricated as follows (Figure 1a): Indium tin oxide (ITO) covered glass substrates were cut (≈1.8 cm × 1.8 cm) and ultrasonically cleaned sequentially for about 20 min in a detergent solution, distilled water and ethanol and dried in an oven

Mannosylated brush copolymers based on poly(ethylene glycol) and poly(ε-caprolactone) as multivalent lectin-binding nanomaterials

• Stefania Ordanini,
• Wanda Celentano,
• Anna Bernardi and
• Francesco Cellesi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2192–2206, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.212

• examined. Results and Discussion Synthesis of the PCL-based macromonomer Propargyl-poly(ε-caprolactone)-methacrylate (Pg-PCL-MA) was prepared in two steps starting from ε-caprolactone, through a bulk ROP initiated by propargyl alcohol and catalyzed by tin(II) 2-ethylhexanoate [25] (Scheme 1, step a

• -poly(ε-caprolactone) (Pg-PCL). Pg-PCL was synthesized as reported in a previous work [25]. Briefly, ε-caprolactone (20 g, 0.175 mol, 5 equiv) was added in a round flask and heated up to 130 °C. A second yellowish solution containing propargyl alcohol (2.04 mL, 0.035 mol, 1 equiv) and tin(II) 2

Materials nanoarchitectonics at two-dimensional liquid interfaces

• Katsuhiko Ariga,
• Michio Matsumoto,
• Taizo Mori and
• Lok Kumar Shrestha

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1559–1587, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.153

• confirmed by steady-state optical spectroscopy. Photovoltaic cells with one-dimensional C60 nanorods as active layer sandwiched by an indium tin oxide anode and an aluminium cathode exhibited enhanced photovoltaic capabilities. It also led to a significant enhancement of photogenerated charge carriers as

Rapid thermal annealing for high-quality ITO thin films deposited by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering

• Petronela Prepelita,
• Ionel Stavarache,
• Doina Craciun,
• Florin Garoi,
• Catalin Negrila,
• Beatrice Gabriela Sbarcea and
• Valentin Craciun

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1511–1522, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.149

• , P.O. Box MG-7, Magurele 077125, Ilfov, Romania ICPE-CA, Splaiul Unirii 313, Sector 3, 74204, Bucharest, Romania Dentix MILLENNIUM SRL, Sabareni-Ilfov, Romania 10.3762/bjnano.10.149 Abstract In this work, rapid thermal annealing (RTA) was applied to indium tin oxide (ITO) films in ambient atmosphere

• treatment on the ITO chemical composition. Using a Tauc plot, values of the optical band gap ranging from 3.17 to 3.67 eV were estimated. These values depend on the heat treatment and the thickness of the sample. Highly conductive indium tin oxide thin films (ρ = 7.4 × 10−5 Ω cm) were obtained after RTA

• treatment in an open atmosphere. Such films could be used to manufacture transparent contact electrodes for solar cells. Keywords: conductive transparent electrodes; indium tin oxide (ITO) films; optical properties; radio-frequency magnetron sputtering (rfMS); rapid thermal annealing (RTA); Introduction

Kelvin probe force microscopy of the nanoscale electrical surface potential barrier of metal/semiconductor interfaces in ambient atmosphere

• Petr Knotek,
• Tomáš Plecháček,
• Jan Smolík,
• Petr Kutálek,
• Filip Dvořák,
• Milan Vlček,
• Jiří Navrátil and
• Čestmír Drašar

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1401–1411, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.138

• ) were used for measuring the metal layer thickness by the scratch method and phase contrast [30][32], while conductive NSG01/TiN tips (150 kHz, 5.1 N/m) were used for Kelvin probe force measurements and contact CSG-10/Pt tips (22 kHz, 0.11 N/m) for recording I–V characteristics [33][34] for 10 replicas

• the contrast even changed for the lower lift height (see Figure 10.2 in [41]). The atypical conductive TiN coating of the tip (instead of Pt, Au Pt/Ir or Pt/Cr tips [33][41][42][43]) was used because of the higher mechanical stability of the tips and in order to eliminate diffusion and other chemical

• conductive AFM tip has to be coated with a mechanically hard and non-reacting layer as TiN. Typical Au or Pt coatings need to be avoided because the coating might diffuse into the material forced by the electric field during the interaction. iii) The I–V characteristics can be affected by oxidation and

Gas sensing properties of individual SnO₂ nanowires and SnO₂ sol–gel nanocomposites

• Alexey V. Shaposhnik,
• Dmitry A. Shaposhnik,
• Sergey Yu. Turishchev,
• Olga A. Chuvenkova,
• Stanislav V. Ryabtsev,
• Alexey A. Vasiliev,
• Xavier Vilanova,
• Francisco Hernandez-Ramirez and
• Joan R. Morante

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1380–1390, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.136

• selectivity to target gases. The aim of this work is the comparison of gas sensing properties of tin dioxide in the form of individual nanowires and nanopowders obtained by sol–gel synthesis. This comparison is necessary because the traditional synthesis procedures of small particle, metal oxide materials

• seem to be approaching their limit. Because of this, there is increasing interest in the fabrication of functional materials based on nanowires, i.e., quasi-one-dimensional objects. In this work, nanocrystalline tin dioxide samples with different morphology were synthesized. The gas-transport method

• ; gas transport method; nanowires; quasi-one-dimensional materials; sol–gel synthesis; tin dioxide; X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES); X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS); Introduction Semiconductor sensor functionality relies on heterogeneous catalytic chemical processes, which makes the

Electroluminescence and current–voltage measurements of single-(In,Ga)N/GaN-nanowire light-emitting diodes in a nanowire ensemble

• David van Treeck,
• Johannes Ledig,
• Gregor Scholz,
• Jonas Lähnemann,
• Mattia Musolino,
• Abbes Tahraoui,
• Oliver Brandt,
• Andreas Waag,
• Henning Riechert and
• Lutz Geelhaar

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1177–1187, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.117

• solution of hydrogen silsesquioxane (HSQ). Subsequently, the upper 70 nm of the p-type segments of the NWs were uncovered by dry etching with CHF3 and a 120 nm thick indium tin oxide (ITO) layer was sputtered onto the NW tips. Finally, Ti/Au bonding pads and an Al/Au n-type contact were deposited on the

Concurrent nanoscale surface etching and SnO₂ loading of carbon fibers for vanadium ion redox enhancement

• Jun Maruyama,
• Shohei Maruyama,
• Tomoko Fukuhara,
• Toru Nagaoka and
• Kei Hanafusa

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 985–992, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.99

• , we attempted to obtain an additional enhancement effect of metal-oxide nanoparticles without the need for further processing steps. A coating with carbonaceous thin films was obtained coating by sublimation, deposition, and pyrolysis of tin(II) phthalocyanine (SnPc) on a carbon fiber surface in a

• coated with CSnPc is similar to that without the coating. After the thermal oxidation of TGP-CSnPc at 550 °C, tin-oxide nanoparticles were generated on the surface. In addition, there are many shallow elongated dents along the fiber axis, which were generated by the fine surface etching. Although a clear

• TGP-CSnPc-650Air, which is in agreement with the FESEM image. Surface species The presence of tin oxide on the thermally oxidized surface of the CSnPc-coated carbon fibers was confirmed by XPS. It should be noted here that the Sn content was below the detection limit for the elemental mapping by

Electronic properties of several two dimensional halides from ab initio calculations

• Mohamed Barhoumi,
• Ali Abboud,
• Lamjed Debbichi,
• Moncef Said,
• Torbjörn Björkman,
• Dario Rocca and
• Sébastien Lebègue

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 823–832, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.82

• with density functional theory (DFT) [27] were conducted to study the physical and chemical properties of bulk BiOX compounds as a complement to experiments [28]. In 2006, Zhang et al. [17] calculated the electronic structure of bulk BiOCl with the tight-binding linear muffin-tin orbital (TB-LMTO) code

Review of time-resolved non-contact electrostatic force microscopy techniques with applications to ionic transport measurements

• Aaron Mascaro,
• Yoichi Miyahara,
• Tyler Enright,
• Omur E. Dagdeviren and
• Peter Grütter

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 617–633, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.62

Temperature-dependent Raman spectroscopy and sensor applications of PtSe₂ nanosheets synthesized by wet chemistry

• Mahendra S. Pawar and
• Dattatray J. Late

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 467–474, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.46

• device fabrication and testing Sensor devices were fabricated on a tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) substrate with a channel length of ≈300 µm and width ≈5 mm. The PtSe2 nanosheet powder was dispersed in N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) solvent and then drop casted between the channels. The devices were further

Geometrical optimisation of core–shell nanowire arrays for enhanced absorption in thin crystalline silicon heterojunction solar cells

• Robin Vismara,
• Olindo Isabella,
• Andrea Ingenito,
• Fai Tong Si and
• Miro Zeman

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 322–331, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.31

• , a 100 nm thick transparent tin-doped indium oxide (In2O3:Sn, ITO) was deposited at low power and low temperature, using radio-frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering. The cell area was defined as 5 mm × 5 mm, using a mask during ITO deposition. The reported equivalent thickness values of thin films on

Site-specific growth of oriented ZnO nanocrystal arrays

• Rekha Bai,
• Dinesh K. Pandya,
• Sujeet Chaudhary,
• Veer Dhaka,
• Vladislav Khayrudinov,
• Jori Lemettinen,
• Christoffer Kauppinen and
• Harri Lipsanen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 274–280, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.26

• University, Tietotie 3, 02150 Espoo, Finland 10.3762/bjnano.10.26 Abstract We report on the growth of ZnO nanocrystals having a hexagonal, prismatic shape, sized 700 nm × 600 nm, on bare indium tin oxide (ITO) substrates. The growth is induced by a low ion flux and involves a low-temperature

• patterned substrates and a cost-effective growth technique. In particular, we demonstrate the growth of hexagonal faceted self-assembled twin ZnO NCs on bare indium tin oxide (ITO) substrate via a facile low temperature electrodeposition technique that has the potential of yielding good crystal quality with

• grow ZnO nanocrystals on both bare and on an array of pores patterned on the polymer-coated indium-doped tin oxide (ITO) conducting substrates. The patterning process for the polymer, poly(Disperse Red 1 acrylate), involves laser interference lithography and oxygen plasma etching and has been reported

Raman study of flash-lamp annealed aqueous Cu₂ZnSnS₄ nanocrystals

• Yevhenii Havryliuk,
• Oleksandr Selyshchev,
• Mykhailo Valakh,
• Alexandra Raevskaya,
• Oleksandr Stroyuk,
• Constance Schmidt,
• Volodymyr Dzhagan and
• Dietrich R. T. Zahn

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 222–227, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.20

• dependence of the formation on the film thickness are also investigated. Importantly, no inert atmosphere for the FLA treatment of the NCs is required, which makes this technology even more suitable for mass production, in particular for printed thin films on flexible substrates. Keywords: copper zinc tin

• structural defects and secondary phases of binary and ternary compounds of the constituent elements, such as copper and tin sulfides [8][9][10][11][12][13]. Therefore, the issue of preserving and improving the quality of the ink NC material during application-relevant film formation processes is of paramount

Uniform Sb₂S₃ optical coatings by chemical spray method

• Jako S. Eensalu,
• Atanas Katerski,
• Erki Kärber,
• Ilona Oja Acik,
• Arvo Mere and
• Malle Krunks

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 198–210, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.18

• 170 °C for 5 minutes. Such Sb2S3 optical coatings are very attractive for future application as low-cost absorber layers in solar cells. Experimental Materials Commercial 1.1 mm thick soda-lime glass coated with 150 nm 25 Ω∙sq−1 tin doped indium oxide (ITO) from ZSW was used as a substrate. The

Nanoporous water oxidation electrodes with a low loading of laser-deposited Ru/C exhibit enhanced corrosion stability

• Sandra Haschke,
• Dmitrii Pankin,
• Vladimir Mikhailovskii,
• Maïssa K. S. Barr,
• Adriana Both-Engel,
• Alina Manshina and
• Julien Bachmann

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 157–167, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.15

• , microscope cover glasses provided with approx. 700 nm of heat-treated indium tin oxide (ITO, which serves as the electrical contact in subsequent electrochemical measurements) are placed for laser-induced coating on a microcuvette filled with the precursor solution. An unfocused He-Cd laser beam irradiates

• cover glasses (borosilicate glass, 18 × 18 mm2, 0.13–0.16 mm thickness) were purchased from Marienfeld-Superior. Aluminum plates (99.99%) for the anodization procedure were supplied by Smart-Membranes. The indium tin oxide sputter target (99.99%) was purchased from AEM. Preparation of planar samples For

• planar electrodes microscope cover glasses were ultrasonically cleaned with ethanol and water, then dried in a flow of nitrogen. In a next step, the slides were sputter-coated with approx. 700 nm of indium tin oxide (ITO) in radio frequency (RF) mode in a reactor from Torr International Inc. The