ZnO-decorated SiC@C hybrids with strong electromagnetic absorption

• Liqun Duan,
• Zhiqian Yang,
• Yilu Xia,
• Xiaoqing Dai,
• Jian’an Wu and
• Minqian Sun

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 565–573, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.47

• that crystalline ZnO particles adhere to the surface of amorphous carbon, and the ZnO content increases as a function of a dosage of ZnNO3·6H2O. The as-prepared SiC@C-ZnO hybrids exhibit effective electromagnetic absorption, which is related to a synergy effect of different dielectric loss processes

• gradually gets weaker with increasing added amounts of ZnNO3·6H2O. Also, a small peak at 26.5°, which corresponds to the (002) reflection of amorphous carbon, can be found in the SCZ samples, especially when the dosage of ZnNO3·6H2O is low. A carbon phase on the SiC surface was obtained through the removal

• amorphous state (Figure 2e). The carbon shell may have a positive effect on the nucleation of ZnO particles. This is because oxygen-containing functional groups (such as carboxyl and hydroxy groups) and structural defects are generated on the SiC@C surface during the in situ carbonization [24], which both

Molecular nanoarchitectonics: unification of nanotechnology and molecular/materials science

• Katsuhiko Ariga

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 434–453, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.35

• and Gong discuss the organization of gels [103]. Specifically, they outline a unique anisotropic hydrogel consisting of uniaxially aligned lamellar bilayers in an amorphous gel matrix. This gel organization exhibits a beautiful structural color that is sensitive to mechanical and chemical stimuli. The

A novel approach to pulsed laser deposition of platinum catalyst on carbon particles for use in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells

• Bogusław Budner,
• Wojciech Tokarz,
• Sławomir Dyjak,
• Andrzej Czerwiński,
• Bartosz Bartosewicz and
• Bartłomiej Jankiewicz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 190–204, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.19

• these materials are significant, as evidenced mainly by the differences in the width of the peaks and the ratio of D to G peak heights. The Vulcan material is not well-ordered (close to amorphous), as evidenced by the large width of the D and G peaks. In contrast, the spectrum of the C-11 material has

Structural, optical, and bioimaging characterization of carbon quantum dots solvothermally synthesized from o-phenylenediamine

• Zoran M. Marković,
• Milica D. Budimir,
• Martin Danko,
• Dušan D. Milivojević,
• Pavel Kubat,
• Danica Z. Zmejkoski,
• Vladimir B. Pavlović,
• Marija M. Mojsin,
• Milena J. Stevanović and
• Biljana M. Todorović Marković

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 165–174, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.17

• as polymer-like nanoparticles of amorphous carbon with embedded partially sp2-hybridized atomic domains [8]. In this structure, electrons are partially delocalized over the domain area, but a strong coupling of the amorphous host matrix is maintained continuously. CQDs are well known as chemically

Upper critical magnetic field in NbRe and NbReN micrometric strips

• Zahra Makhdoumi Kakhaki,
• Antonio Leo,
• Federico Chianese,
• Loredana Parlato,
• Giovanni Piero Pepe,
• Angela Nigro,
• Carla Cirillo and
• Carmine Attanasio

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 45–51, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.5

• the electrical resistivity [6]. This feature is related to the polycrystalline or amorphous nature of these materials when deposited in a thin-film form [4][7][8]. In addition to the applicative interest, the study of these materials is relevant from a fundamental point of view. NbxRe1−x (NbRe) for

The influence of structure and local structural defects on the magnetic properties of cobalt nanofilms

• Alexander Vakhrushev,
• Aleksey Fedotov,
• Olesya Severyukhina and
• Anatolie Sidorenko

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 23–33, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.3

• crystallization zones are observed in the formed nanofilms. In addition, there are areas of mixed structures, where the amorphous atomic structure most likely prevails. Quantitatively, the structure of nanofilms can be estimated, for example, by calculating the lattice ideality parameter [45]. This parameter is

Electrical and optical enhancement of ITO/Mo bilayer thin films via laser annealing

• Abdelbaki Hacini,
• Ahmad Hadi Ali,
• Nurul Nadia Adnan and
• Nafarizal Nayan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1589–1595, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.133

• samples show a polycrystalline structure crystallized in a cubic structure (JCPDS:71-2194) [28]. However, the sample treated with 240 mJ shows an amorphous structure because of the high energy that diffuses gas atoms from the chamber into the surface [29]. The obtained peaks correspond to ITO. It can be

Induced electric conductivity in organic polymers

• Konstantin Y. Arutyunov,
• Anatoli S. Gurski,
• Vladimir V. Artemov,
• Alexander L. Vasiliev,
• Azat R. Yusupov,
• Danfis D. Karamov and
• Alexei N. Lachinov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1551–1557, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.128

• , transparency in the visible spectrum, and high mechanical strength [3][4]. PDP has an amorphous structure with a degree of crystallinity not exceeding 15%. It is characterized by unusually high chemical resistance. The conditions for the selective production of PDP with a molecular weight of more than (50–60

In search of cytotoxic selectivity on cancer cells with biogenically synthesized Ag/AgCl nanoparticles

• Mitzi J. Ramírez-Hernández,
• Mario Valera-Zaragoza,
• Omar Viñas-Bravo,
• Ariana A. Huerta-Heredia,
• Miguel A. Peña-Rico,
• Erick A. Juarez-Arellano,
• David Paniagua-Vega,
• Eduardo Ramírez-Vargas and
• Saúl Sánchez-Valdes

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1505–1519, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.124

• letter number 56540 (Inorganic Crystal Structure Database, ICSD). This pattern corresponds to the crystallographic planes (111), (200), (220), (311), and (222) of the NaCl-type face-centered cubic crystal structure. According to the results, the pineapple peel extract (PPeel extract) is amorphous (i.e

Hydroxyapatite–bioglass nanocomposites: Structural, mechanical, and biological aspects

• Olga Shikimaka,
• Mihaela Bivol,
• Bogdan A. Sava,
• Marius Dumitru,
• Christu Tardei,
• Beatrice G. Sbarcea,
• Daria Grabco,
• Constantin Pyrtsac,
• Daria Topal,
• Andrian Prisacaru,
• Vitalie Cobzac and
• Viorel Nacu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1490–1504, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.123

• high glass solubility will provide an enhanced delivery of these elements, which are important for bone formation [24][27][28][29]. Boron was shown to promote the formation of amorphous calcium phosphate, which is beneficial for normal metabolism and bone tissue repair; besides, the addition of B2O3 to

Enhanced electronic transport properties of Te roll-like nanostructures

• E. R. Viana,
• N. Cifuentes and
• J. C. González

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1284–1291, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.106

• the anisotropy of the Te crystal structure [20][21]. However, a fast Fourier transform (FFT) analysis of different areas of the HRTEM images (see Figure 3a) shows that the nanostructures are polycrystalline, with well-oriented large grains and rotated small grains at the edges. Small amorphous areas

• diffraction of amorphous/nanocrystalline materials [24] were not observed. The EDS point analysis (Figure 3b) shows that nanostructures consist of Te, in agreement with the results of the SAED analysis and the above presented EDS analysis of the sample (Figure 1d). The transfer characteristics of the t-Te NW

Studies of probe tip materials by atomic force microscopy: a review

• Ke Xu and
• Yuzhe Liu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1256–1267, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.104

• . This direction has also developed concerning nanomaterials. Carbon nanotubes are compounded with related materials to produce probes, and the analytical performance of this type of probe is better than that of carbon nanotube probes alone. Nakabayashi et al. [44] proposed using amorphous carbon matrix

• (shell) covered nanotubes to produce reinforced carbon–carbon composite nanotools; combining amorphous carbon with the extreme mechanical properties of CNTs can facilitate the production of nanotools with high aspect ratios. Inappropriate properties such as vibration and flexibility can be controlled

Role of titanium and organic precursors in molecular layer deposition of “titanicone” hybrid materials

• Arbresha Muriqi and
• Michael Nolan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1240–1255, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.103

• were deposited on a Si surface. All four processes yielded amorphous Ti–organic films. A growth rate of 10–11 Å/cycle was achieved for the TiCl4–AP process, which is higher when compared to the growth rates 4.3 Å/cycle, 1.2 Å/cycle and 1.4 Å/cycle for TiCl4–HQ, TiCl4–PDA and TiCl4–ODA processes

• anatase TiO2 surface and rutile TiO2 surface and will not adsorb on the Al2O3 surface. A previous study reports that TiO2 films grow well using TiCl4 and H2O on amorphous Al2O3 [55]. However, in our case, the Al2O3 surface model we use is crystalline. It is well known that in an amorphous surface the

• molecular mobility is significantly higher than in any corresponding crystalline form and there is a lower coordination number for atoms in the surface which gives rise to enhanced chemical reactivity of the amorphous surface. These results show that the choice of the surface can have a major impact on the

Recent advances in green carbon dots (2015–2022): synthesis, metal ion sensing, and biological applications

• Aisha Kanwal,
• Naheed Bibi,
• Sajjad Hyder,
• Arif Muhammad,
• Hao Ren,
• Jiangtao Liu and
• Zhongli Lei

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1068–1107, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.93

• the recombination of trapped excitons causes the redshifted emission. Liu et al. reported the synthesis of highly photoluminescent CDs, which were then further separated into yellow emitting crystalline graphene quantum dots and green emitting amorphous carbon nanodots using a silica gel column. Even

Influence of water contamination on the sputtering of silicon with low-energy argon ions investigated by molecular dynamics simulations

• Grégoire R. N. Defoort-Levkov,
• Alan Bahm and
• Patrick Philipp

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 986–1003, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.86

• profiling SIMS to resolve thin films in multilayered samples [14]. Another example is TEM sample preparation, where the achievement of the highest lateral resolutions in the subsequent TEM analysis requires lamellae thicknesses between 10 and 20 nm, but goes along with a typical amorphous layer of 2 to 4 nm

• formed during the sample preparation by FIB milling [15][16][17]. Such an amorphous layer represents a substantial part of the thickness of the sample and information coming from this part does not correspond to the initial sample structure. Minimizing the thickness of this amorphous layer during FIB

• milling is essential because most samples analysed in high-precision instruments are prepared using this method. This can be best achieved using low-beam energies, ideally in the sub-keV range [18], since low-energy ion beams (under 500 eV) produce a thinner amorphous layer due to their lower penetration

Design of a biomimetic, small-scale artificial leaf surface for the study of environmental interactions

• Miriam Anna Huth,
• Axel Huth,
• Lukas Schreiber and
• Kerstin Koch

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 944–957, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.83

• . However, after deposition of the lowest wax mass, almost no plates were formed, indicating that the polar and amorphous substrate prevents the formation of a platelet structure. In contrast, higher wax masses lead to a growth of the platelets on the wax deposited below. It was clearly visible that the

Bioselectivity of silk protein-based materials and their bio-inspired applications

• Hendrik Bargel,
• Vanessa T. Trossmann,
• Christoph Sommer and
• Thomas Scheibel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 902–921, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.81

• several times), and adaptation to specific functions, the amino acid sequence and protein structure varies considerably, resulting in a versatile class of proteins [112]. Silks are known as semicrystalline materials since they consist of ordered, crystalline structures embedded in an amorphous matrix. The

• a silk fibre, the unordered amorphous regions with less hydrogen bond density induce flexibility [109]. Besides considerable variations in arthropods, the silk of silkworms and related moths, and that of orb-weaving spiders share some features. Their silk proteins are often of high molecular weight

Temperature and chemical effects on the interfacial energy between a Ga–In–Sn eutectic liquid alloy and nanoscopic asperities

• Yujin Han,
• Pierre-Marie Thebault,
• Corentin Audes,
• Xuelin Wang,
• Haiwoong Park,
• Jian-Zhong Jiang and
• Arnaud Caron

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 817–827, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.72

• the respective stabilities of the oxides at the tip and at the liquid surface, respectively. Their stability can be discussed based on their respective melting points and enthalpies of fusion ΔHfus and formation at T = 298.15 K, For amorphous SiO2, the following values were reported: = 1726 K

Nanoarchitectonics of the cathode to improve the reversibility of Li–O₂ batteries

• Hien Thi Thu Pham,
• Jonghyeok Yun,
• So Yeun Kim,
• Sang A Han,
• Jung Ho Kim,
• Jong-Won Lee and
• Min-Sik Park

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 689–698, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.61

• crystallinity of ZnxCoy–C particles can be enhanced by decreasing the Zn/Co ratio during synthesis [35]. Unlike Zn4Co1–C particles (Figure 3a), which have a typical amorphous carbon structure, both Zn1Co1–C (Figure 3b) and Zn1Co4–C (Figure 3c) particles contain some short-range graphitic carbon structures with

• decomposition of amorphous carbon in the ZnxCoy–C particles. In this respect, the Zn1Co4–C/CNT composite was the most thermally stable because of its relatively higher fraction of robust graphitic carbon structure. Figure 6a–c shows the galvanostatic discharge profiles of the LOBs assembled with ZnxCoy–C/CNT

• electrocatalytic effects. In the Zn4Co1–C/CNT cathode with a large specific surface area, the formation of amorphous Li2O2 film could be favored rather than that of toroid-like Li2O2. Compared with toroid-like Li2O2, amorphous Li2O2 film has better ionic conductivity; therefore, it is able to effectively reduce

Influence of thickness and morphology of MoS₂ on the performance of counter electrodes in dye-sensitized solar cells

• Lam Thuy Thi Mai,
• Hai Viet Le,
• Ngan Kim Thi Nguyen,
• Van La Tran Pham,
• Thu Anh Thi Nguyen,
• Nguyen Thanh Le Huynh and
• Hoang Thai Nguyen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 528–537, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.44

• MoS2/FTO. The resulting DSSCs showed a PCE of 7.16%, similar to that of a Pt/FTO CE (7.48%). The MoS2 film was amorphous and contained agglomerated clusters of nanoparticles [22]. Recently, Gurulakshmi et al. reported on DSSCs using a flexible CE fabricated by electrodeposition of a MoS2 thin film onto

• Raman spectrum of the MoS2 thin film deposited from solution 5.0 are presented in Figure 4. The XRD pattern of the MoS2/FTO samples shows only the peaks of the FTO substrate because the MoS2 thin film is amorphous or too thin (Figure 4a) [22][23][24]. Thus, the electrodeposited thin film was further

Investigation of electron-induced cross-linking of self-assembled monolayers by scanning tunneling microscopy

• Patrick Stohmann,
• Sascha Koch,
• Yang Yang,
• Christopher David Kaiser,
• Julian Ehrens,
• Jürgen Schnack,
• Niklas Biere,
• Dario Anselmetti,
• Armin Gölzhäuser and
• Xianghui Zhang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 462–471, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.39

• black) with sizes smaller than 10 nm. These slightly affected domains seem to be “embedded” in a rather amorphous matrix, which appears darker compared to the ordered domains and cannot be molecularly resolved by STM. At a dose of 10 mC/cm2, we observed the occurrence of subnanometer-sized voids within

• . Dark spots appeared in the initial stage of cross-linking. The cross-linked regions speedily grow and form an amorphous carbon matrix with reduced structural order. The fully cross-linked monolayer is characterized by the formation of subnanometer-sized voids preferably in regions of lower structural

• constraints. (a) At low doses, cross-linked molecules appear as dark spots in the STM image. (b) At intermediate doses, the cross-linked branches spread in random directions and the size of pristine domains continues to decrease. (c) At high doses, the SAM is transformed into an amorphous network of carbon

Tubular glassy carbon microneedles with fullerene-like tips for biomedical applications

• Sharali Malik and
• George E. Kostakis

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 455–461, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.38

• graphitic rather than amorphous carbon [19]. XRD of glassy carbon tubules, including the calculation of the interlayer spacing. Interlayer spacing data characteristic for selected carbon materials. Acknowledgements It is a pleasure to thank Arthur Bötcher for running the flow reactor experiments and for

A non-enzymatic electrochemical hydrogen peroxide sensor based on copper oxide nanostructures

• Irena Mihailova,
• Vjaceslavs Gerbreders,
• Marina Krasovska,
• Eriks Sledevskis,
• Valdis Mizers,
• Andrejs Bulanovs and
• Andrejs Ogurcovs

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 424–436, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.35

• amorphous background indicates a high degree of crystallinity of the obtained samples. The X-ray diffraction pattern shows a large number of crystallographic planes corresponding to the CuO (tenorite) lattice; however, the dominant orientation corresponds to the direction perpendicular to the (002) and (111

Electrostatic pull-in application in flexible devices: A review

• Teng Cai,
• Yuming Fang,
• Yingli Fang,
• Ruozhou Li,
• Ying Yu and
• Mingyang Huang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 390–403, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.32

• collapse, the preparation technology is complex. Li et al. [30] prepared cantilever GR-NEM switches with two or three terminals using amorphous silicon as sacrificial layer. Sun et al. [6] prepared a three-terminal switch using PMMA polymer as the sacrifice layer. The graphene beam area was 2.5 µm × 0.5 µm

Investigation of a memory effect in a Au/(Ti–Cu)Ox-gradient thin film/TiAlV structure

• Damian Wojcieszak,
• Jarosław Domaradzki,
• Michał Mazur,
• Tomasz Kotwica and
• Danuta Kaczmarek

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 265–273, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.21

• requirements of the different characterization methods, thin gradient layers were deposited on silicon (Si), amorphous silica (SiO2) and conductive metallic substrates (Ti6Al4V). The resulting thickness of the prepared thin films was about 610 nm as measured using a Talysurf optical profiler (Tylor Hobson CCI

• testifying the predominantly amorphous nature of the deposited thin films. The microstructure of the (Ti–Cu)Ox films was further analyzed with the aid of a TECNAI G2 FEG Super-Twin (200 kV) transmission electron microscope equipped with EDS attachment. The local chemical composition of the cross section was

• three areas: (1) a polycrystalline area located from the surface to the near center of the structure, (2) an amorphous area located from the center to the near-substrate region, and (3) a void-rich area located from the near-substrate to the substrate region. In the middle of the structure there is a