Superconducting spin valve effect in Co/Pb/Co heterostructures with insulating interlayers

• Andrey A. Kamashev,
• Nadir N. Garif’yanov,
• Aidar A. Validov,
• Vladislav Kataev,
• Alexander S. Osin,
• Yakov V. Fominov and
• Ilgiz A. Garifullin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 457–464, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.41

• ][10]. The interest in these structures is due to the possibility to observe and exploit the reciprocal influence of superconductivity (S) and ferromagnetism (F) on each other when they are put into a close contact [11][12][13][14][15][16][17]. Moreover, SSV structures appear as promising devices for

• Co1/Pb and Pb/Co2 interfaces following the recipe of [40][42]. We studied the dependence of the magnitude of the SSV effect ΔTc on the Pb layer thickness and found that ΔTc reached 0.2 K for the optimal thickness, surpassing most of the values previously observed for SSVs with perfect metallic contact

• those found before in [30][33][34][48] for structures with elemental metallic ferromagnetic layers but without insulating interlayers. This observation is not trivial as it apparently contradicts the paramount prerequisite of the S/F proximity effect of having a perfect metallic contact between the S

Heat-induced morphological changes in silver nanowires deposited on a patterned silicon substrate

• Elyad Damerchi,
• Sven Oras,
• Edgars Butanovs,
• Allar Liivlaid,
• Mikk Antsov,
• Boris Polyakov,
• Annamarija Trausa,
• Veronika Zadin,
• Andreas Kyritsakis,
• Loïc Vidal,
• Karine Mougin,
• Siim Pikker and
• Sergei Vlassov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 435–446, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.39

• fragmentation of NWs is attributed to the interplay between heat-enhanced diffusion and Rayleigh instability. In this work, we demonstrated that contact with the substrate plays an important role in the fragmentation process and can strongly affect the outcome of the heat treatment. We deposited silver NWs onto

• Au NWs have a pentagonal cross-section, meaning that for NWs deposited on a flat substrate, 1/5 of the NW surface is in contact with the substrate [35]. This aspect should unavoidably have an influence on the total surface energy of NW. Therefore, in addition to parameters such as temperature, time

• , and geometry of NWs, contact with the substrate can potentially have a considerable effect on heat-induced changes in NWs. Understanding the fragmentation behavior of metal NWs under different conditions and on various substrates could improve the degree of control in cost-effective production methods

Insect attachment on waxy plant surfaces: the effect of pad contamination by different waxes

• Elena V. Gorb and
• Stanislav N. Gorb

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 385–395, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.35

• tarsal attachment devices) are able to establish a highly reliable contact and adhere successfully to a great variety of substrates having both smooth and microrough topographies [1][2][3]. However, in cases of waxy plant surfaces, where the plant cuticle is covered by micro/nanoscopic three-dimensional

• of insect adhesive pads by plant wax during the contact (contamination hypothesis), (3) absorption of the insect pad secretion by the wax coverage (fluid absorption hypothesis), (4) hydroplaning induced by dissolution of the wax in the pad fluid (wax dissolution hypothesis), and (5) detached wax

• 0.3 and 1 μm rough surfaces, where the range of asperity dimensions corresponded to that of typical plant wax projections [1][14][15][16][17][18][19]. This great reduction in the adhesion force was explained by the strong decrease of the real contact area between the micro/nanorough surface profile

On the mechanism of piezoresistance in nanocrystalline graphite

• Sandeep Kumar,
• Simone Dehm and
• Ralph Krupke

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 376–384, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.34

• in the structure shown in Figure 1b using e-beam lithography. There were no metal films deposited on NCG, and the electrical contact was made between gold spring contacts and NCG directly. For Raman measurements, S1805 (1:10 dilution with PGMEA) was spin-coated on both sides of the flexible glass

Modulated critical currents of spin-transfer torque-induced resistance changes in NiCu/Cu multilayered nanowires

• Mengqi Fu,
• Roman Hartmann,
• Julian Braun,
• Sergej Andreev,
• Torsten Pietsch and
• Elke Scheer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 360–366, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.32

• steps were necessary to define the contact area and to obtain a small contact array, which complicates the fabrication process [18][19]. Compared with these works, our process does not need any additional etching step to either define the contact area of the nanowire or electrodes for the top contact

Controllable physicochemical properties of WO_x thin films grown under glancing angle

• Rupam Mandal,
• Aparajita Mandal,
• Alapan Dutta,
• Rengasamy Sivakumar,
• Sanjeev Kumar Srivastava and
• Tapobrata Som

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 350–359, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.31

• valuable information on the work function of a variety of films’ surfaces. Mathematically, the sample work function (ϕsample) can be expressed as: where the contact potential difference between the sample and the tip is denoted by VCPD and the ϕtip is the work function of the tip [44]. Figure 4a–d presents

• range of tunability in structural, optical, and electrical properties of NS-WOx thin films through controlling microstructure and film thickness. This will be useful for optoelectronic applications in photovoltaics where such films are used as a carrier-selective contact. AFM height images of (a–d) as

Ultrasensitive and ultrastretchable metal crack strain sensor based on helical polydimethylsiloxane

• Shangbi Chen,
• Dewen Liu,
• Weiwei Chen,
• Huajiang Chen,
• Jiawei Li and
• Jinfang Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 270–278, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.25

• , upon release, cracks form randomly, as depicted in Figure 1a. During the tensile loading process, as shown in Figure 1b, two neighboring gold strips lose contact, resulting in the gradual generation of gaps accompanied by a few isolated microcracks. With further stretching, an increase is observed in

Design, fabrication, and characterization of kinetic-inductive force sensors for scanning probe applications

• August K. Roos,
• Ermes Scarano,
• Elisabet K. Arvidsson,
• Erik Holmgren and
• David B. Haviland

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 242–255, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.23

• niobium and titanium targets [33] in an ATC2200 from AJA International Inc., with a deposition rate of roughly 3 nm/min. (b) Pads and markers. A lift-off process defines the gold contact pads and alignment marks. We spin a 400 nm thick photoresist (maN1407), bake on a hotplate at 100 °C for 60 s and

• , ensuring an ohmic contact with the ground plane of the chip. (c) An SEM image of a deposited tip, showing a radius of curvature smaller than 10 nm. Mechanical resonant frequency ωm of a long cantilever as a function of the radial distance D from the center of the wafer (illustrated as an inset). The

Quantitative wear evaluation of tips based on sharp structures

• Ke Xu and
• Houwen Leng

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 230–241, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.22

• surface topography [7]. A sharper needle tip leads to more accurate measurements [8]. During the scanning process, tip and sample come into mutual contact, causing wear on the tip [9]. Tip wear or damage in practical applications can have severe consequences, including reduced image quality and erroneous

• perpendicularly above the sample matrix. When the tip apex touched the sample, the difference between the tip and sample matrices was calculated to determine the position of the tip apex. The position of the tip apex was then recorded, and the tip apex was moved horizontally to contact the next pixel of the

• TipCheck sample is extremely sharp, which could cause damage to the tip. Therefore, the needle insertion speed was often reduced, and the initial scanning range was set to 0 µm to prevent damage. The scanning speed should not be too fast, usually 0.5 Hz. As the sample made contact with the surface, the

Multiscale modelling of biomolecular corona formation on metallic surfaces

• Parinaz Mosaddeghi Amini,
• Ian Rouse,
• Julia Subbotina and
• Vladimir Lobaskin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 215–229, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.21

• of the NP, which is influenced by its physicochemical composition, (ii) the interface between the solid NP and the surrounding liquid environment, where notable changes occur upon interaction, and (iii) the contact zone between the solid–liquid interface and biological substrates (Figure 2) [22]. In

• exhibiting the most dramatic changes in binding energy as a function of size. This strong size dependence in binding energy for AS2C can be attributed to its rod-like 3D structure and the rigidity assumption in our model. As the size of the NP increases, AS2C can make more extensive contact with the surface

• . This increased contact area leads to enhanced binding affinity, resulting in the observed stronger binding across the size range. This is not the case for other proteins on the list as they are more compact and, therefore, reach the maximum number of contacts at relatively small NP sizes. Regarding the

Graphene removal by water-assisted focused electron-beam-induced etching – unveiling the dose and dwell time impact on the etch profile and topographical changes in SiO₂ substrates

• Aleksandra Szkudlarek,
• Jan M. Michalik,
• Inés Serrano-Esparza,
• Zdeněk Nováček,
• Veronika Novotná,
• Piotr Ozga,
• Czesław Kapusta and
• José María De Teresa

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 190–198, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.18

• presence of water on the SiO2 substrate, we performed in situ experiments with an AFM microscope (LitesScopeTM) installed inside the SEM chamber, which allows measuring the profiles directly after electron beam exposure without contact with ambient air. The lines were directly patterned on the SiO2

Nanocarrier systems loaded with IR780, iron oxide nanoparticles and chlorambucil for cancer theragnostics

• Phuong-Thao Dang-Luong,
• Hong-Phuc Nguyen,
• Loc Le-Tuan,
• Xuan-Thang Cao,
• Vy Tran-Anh and
• Hieu Vu Quang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 180–189, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.17

• -life. When NPs are administered, they come into contact with blood cells and plasma proteins, which may cause adsorption or opsonization by serum proteins [35]. However, these proteins will have a reduced probability of interacting with our negatively charged nanoparticles, as most proteins are

Modification of graphene oxide and its effect on properties of natural rubber/graphene oxide nanocomposites

• Nghiem Thi Thuong,
• Le Dinh Quang,
• Vu Quoc Cuong,
• Cao Hong Ha,
• Nguyen Ba Lam and
• Seiichi Kawahara

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 168–179, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.16

• characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, contact angle, thermal gravimetric analysis, and scanning electron microscopy. The XRD results showed the appearance of an amorphous region of silica particles at a diffraction angle of 22°. The formation of silica was

• conditions to determine the ideal condition to modify GO for grafting onto NR. The GO-VTES products were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), contact angle, 29Si NMR, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and morphology analysis. The GO-VTES was expected to improve the mechanical properties

• CP-MAS probe. The number of scans was 1000. Contact angles of the samples were measured by taking a photo of a drop of distilled water on the sample surface by a CCD camera. The determination of the contact angle was monitored by the SCA20 software using the Data-physic OCA20 system. Thermal

Enhanced feedback performance in off-resonance AFM modes through pulse train sampling

• Mustafa Kangül,
• Navid Asmari,
• Santiago H. Andany,
• Marcos Penedo and
• Georg E. Fantner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 134–143, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.13

• been introduced [2][3]. Although these methods are gentler than contact mode, interpreting and controlling the vertical force exerted on the sample is not straightforward. To achieve a better tip–sample force control, Rosa-Zeiser et al. [4] presented an off-resonance dynamic mode called pulsed force

• mode, where force-versus-distance curves are acquired periodically. The maximum cantilever deflection during one period, corresponding to the maximum exerted force, is sampled and fed into a feedback controller. The tip–sample contact duration is limited and easily tunable compared to the constant

• . describe an improvement upon jumping mode, where, instead of performing a force curve, they turn on the feedback to bring the cantilever into contact with the sample to minimize the tip–sample forces [7]. In this approach, however, no mechanical properties are extracted from the force curve. In addition

Berberine-loaded polylactic acid nanofiber scaffold as a drug delivery system: The relationship between chemical characteristics, drug-release behavior, and antibacterial efficiency

• Le Thi Le,
• Hue Thi Nguyen,
• Liem Thanh Nguyen,
• Huy Quang Tran and
• Thuy Thi Thu Nguyen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 71–82, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.7

• resulted in prolonged drug release due to the delayed penetration of water into the polymer scaffolds. The change in the water contact angle of PLA nanofiber scaffolds loaded with BBR powder and BBR NPs is presented in Table 1. The PLA nanofiber scaffold possessed typical hydrophobic property with a water

• contact angle value of 130.1 ± 1.3°. This value was slightly decreased to 126.3 ± 1.6° when the BBR powder was added to the nanofibers. Meanwhile, the water contact angle value of the BBR NPs/PLA nanofiber scaffold was reduced by 23° relative to that of the PLA nanofiber scaffold, attributing to the

• polymer. The poor compatibility of hydrophilic BBR NPs and hydrophobic PLA resulted in a higher concentration of BBR located on the surface of nanofibers and lower water contact angle value of the scaffold compared to that of the scaffold prepared by the blend of hydrophobic BBR powder and hydrophobic PLA

Measurements of dichroic bow-tie antenna arrays with integrated cold-electron bolometers using YBCO oscillators

• Leonid S. Revin,
• Dmitry A. Pimanov,
• Alexander V. Chiginev,
• Anton V. Blagodatkin,
• Viktor O. Zbrozhek,
• Andrey V. Samartsev,
• Anastasia N. Orlova,
• Dmitry V. Masterov,
• Alexey E. Parafin,
• Victoria Yu. Safonova,
• Anna V. Gordeeva,
• Andrey L. Pankratov,
• Leonid S. Kuzmin,
• Anatolie S. Sidorenko,
• Silvia Masi and
• Paolo de Bernardis

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 26–36, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.3

• a few micrometers and the effect of direct electron cooling, which can improve sensitivity in typical closed-loop cycle 3He cryostats for space applications. We study a novel concept of cold-electron bolometers with two SIN tunnel junctions and one SN contact. The amplitude–frequency characteristics

• contact pads, DC lines, and antennas is made. The second electronic lithography step is used for the exposition of the bolometric layer. During photolithography, the first exposure was carried out with two photoresists. This is because the DC linewidth was 3 µm, and the use of a single photoresist would

• developed on the samples to preserve the design imprint from getting damaged. In our laboratory of NNSTU, the samples were developed, and a bolometric layer, consisting of two SIN tunnel junctions and one SN contact, was fabricated using self-aligned shadow evaporation. The sample design (210/240 GHz dual

Nanotechnological approaches in the treatment of schistosomiasis: an overview

• Lucas Carvalho,
• Michelle Sarcinelli and
• Beatriz Patrício

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 13–25, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.2

• contact the authors and ask for a copy. The available articles were read entirely, and those unrelated to the theme were excluded. For exclusion, the criteria used were: (1) particle size over 999 nm; (2) articles that approach only prophylactic nanoformulations. After that, a search in the references of

TEM sample preparation of lithographically patterned permalloy nanostructures on silicon nitride membranes

• Joshua Williams,
• Michael I. Faley,
• Joseph Vimal Vas,
• Peng-Han Lu and
• Rafal E. Dunin-Borkowski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1–12, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.1

• establish a good thermal contact during metal deposition to prevent the resist mask from melting as the substrate temperature is above the glass transition temperature of the resist. Ion beam etching The IBE process (Figure 6) is as follows: The first step is to deposit Py on the substrate; then a negative

Fluorescent bioinspired albumin/polydopamine nanoparticles and their interactions with Escherichia coli cells

• Eloïse Equy,
• Jordana Hirtzel,
• Sophie Hellé,
• Béatrice Heurtault,
• Eric Mathieu,
• Morgane Rabineau,
• Vincent Ball and
• Lydie Ploux

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 1208–1224, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.100

• between DA and BSA, which contains the KE diad and allows for the control of the NP formation [13]. During the synthesis, DA is added into the BSA solution, thus avoiding that the proteins come into contact with already formed PDA. Bergtold et al. proposed that the size control is exerted by the specific

• inversely related to NP size [36]. The accumulation of pristine and fluorescent BSA/PDA NPs was evaluated by standard and high-resolution fluorescence confocal microscopy after 24 h of contact of NPs with E. coli cells. Obviously, bacteria without NPs and bacteria with pristine BSA/PDA NPs were not detected

• phospholipids. This facilitates the intimate contact between RhBITC-BSA/PDA NPs and the bacterial membrane and, possibly, the subsequent penetration of the NPs. The localization of the fluorescence emission related to bacterial cells was determined on the basis of micrographs extracted from 3D-stack images

Determination of the radii of coated and uncoated silicon AFM sharp tips using a height calibration standard grating and a nonlinear regression function

• Perawat Boonpuek and
• Jonathan R. Felts

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 1200–1207, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.99

• -coated, Cr/Au-coated, and uncoated Si tips were used to scan a calibration standard grating in AFM contact mode with sub-nanonewton load to obtain the curved scan profile of the edge corner of the grating structure. The data points of the curved profile of each tip were fitted with a nonlinear regression

• nanostructured materials, for example, graphene, carbon nanotubes, nanoscale semiconductors, biomaterials, and molecules. Mechanical properties such as surface stiffness, adhesion, friction, electrostatics, and electrowetting can be measured [1][2][3][4]. In contact mode scanning, the contact area between the

• AFM tip and the sample, which depends on the tip radius, defines how accurately the AFM tip determines those properties and the shape of fabricated micro- and nanostructures. The contact radius of the tip is a key variable for calculating the stiffness and Young’s modulus of the material by fitting

Spatial variations of conductivity of self-assembled monolayers of dodecanethiol on Au/mica and Au/Si substrates

• Julian Skolaut,
• Jędrzej Tepper,
• Federica Galli,
• Wulf Wulfhekel and
• Jan M. van Ruitenbeek

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 1169–1177, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.97

• substrate and the mercury electrode yields the conductivity of the SAM, averaged over the contact area of the mercury droplet. In such studies, one of the crucial problems was mercury filling out defects in the SAMs, which leads to short circuits and unreliable currents running through the microcontact

• -current areas. The higher currents found in the valleys likely result from varying surface-normal load forces. They are smaller if the probe contacts the surface on a flat area and larger if the contact is on a slope in the topography. As the load force only controls the force component normal to the

Hierarchically patterned polyurethane microgrooves featuring nanopillars or nanoholes for neurite elongation and alignment

• Lester Uy Vinzons,
• Guo-Chung Dong and
• Shu-Ping Lin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 1157–1168, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.96

• nanopillars had appeared, the PDMS mold was discarded and a new mold was prepared using the SU-8 master. In contrast, we did not observe shallow PU nanoholes on our samples, which was probably due to the more open surface of the PDMS mold nanopillars, resulting in a lesser degree of contact among

• hydrophilic, O2 plasma-treated substrates [21]. We measured the water contact angle (CA) on the PU samples (Figure 1I) and found that all of the as-fabricated samples were hydrophobic (CA > 90°), with the nanostructured substrates being more so. Since the CA for flat PU indicates a hydrophobic surface, the

• . ratio 1:0.7) at 5000 rpm and soft-baked at 95 °C for 160 s. An array of polystyrene nanospheres (1.1 µm) embedded in PDMS was placed in conformal contact with the SU-8, and then exposure was performed at a dose of 35–42 mJ·cm−2 (Figure 1A(i)). (Older PS-NS/PDMS films seem to require slightly higher UV

Elasticity, an often-overseen parameter in the development of nanoscale drug delivery systems

• Agnes-Valencia Weiss and
• Marc Schneider

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 1149–1156, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.95

• . However, more complete approaches can be applied [24], which consider the situation of a given system. An example is the Johnson–Kendall–Roberts (JKR) theory, including surface forces, the influence on the adhesion, deformation, and contact behavior between the nanoparticle and the AFM probe suitable for

• soft and deformable objects [25]. Dealing with hard materials might require to apply the Derjaguin–Muller–Toporov (DMT) theory [26]. Garcia gives a comprehensive overview about different models and contact theories for mechanical measurements of soft materials using AFM [27]. Further options are the

• loss modulus E'' have been obtained by performing oscillatory measurements in contact with the sample. If maps are created and the recorded data is evaluated via batch processing, these moduli can be displayed as images and correlated with height images. The best option to determine mechanical

A multi-resistance wide-range calibration sample for conductive probe atomic force microscopy measurements

• François Piquemal,
• Khaled Kaja,
• Pascal Chrétien,
• José Morán-Meza,
• Frédéric Houzé,
• Christian Ulysse and
• Abdelmounaim Harouri

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 1141–1148, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.94

• electrical quantities (i.e., current and resistance) at the nanoscale. In C-AFM, a micro-machined conductive probe with a sharp nanometer-sized tip acts as a top electrode brought into contact with the surface of a sample while applying a potential difference relative to a back electrode. The small currents

• flowing through the system are measured using a current amplifier, typically ranging from 100 fA to 10 µA for most commercially available microscopes [2][3]. By sweeping the potential difference while the tip is fixed in contact with the sample, current versus voltage (I–V) curves are acquired. I–V curves

• are essentially used to extract resistance values or to characterize the electric behavior of components and devices [4]. Alternatively, current variation maps are acquired at a given applied voltage by scanning the AFM tip in contact mode across a defined sample surface area [5]. Owing to its

A bifunctional superconducting cell as flux qubit and neuron

• Dmitrii S. Pashin,
• Pavel V. Pikunov,
• Marina V. Bastrakova,
• Andrey E. Schegolev,
• Nikolay V. Klenov and
• Igor I. Soloviev

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 1116–1126, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.92

• obtained confirm the possibility of practical use of a single-contact inductively shunted interferometer in a quantum mode in adjustment circuits for q-processors. Keywords: adiabatic logic cell; flux qubit; Josephson junctio; quantum neuron; quantum parametron; superconducting quantum computers

• in the “payload” on the chip may be more important. Apparently, the simplest superconducting circuit with a nonlinear flux-to-flux transformation in the classical regime is a single-contact interferometer, as depicted in the left part of Figure 1. However, the typical form of the function f for such

• utilising the findings to develop components of neuromorphic co-processors that collaborate with quantum computing systems. We will refer to the corresponding cell (a single-contact interferometer shunted by an inductance as depicted in Figure 1) further in the text as the “parametron”. Model of the