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

Sulfur nanocomposites with insecticidal effect for the control of Bactericera cockerelli

• Lany S. Araujo-Yépez,
• Juan O. Tigrero-Salas,
• Vicente A. Delgado-Rodríguez,
• Vladimir A. Aguirre-Yela and
• Josué N. Villota-Méndez

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 1106–1115, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.91

• to improve the insecticidal efficacy because the higher surface area and specificity provide stronger contact of the active substance with the insects [45]. The working mechanism of the nanocomposites may be the effective penetration through pores and microfibrils of the insects’ cuticle [45] and the

Dual-heterodyne Kelvin probe force microscopy

• Benjamin Grévin,
• Fatima Husainy,
• Dmitry Aldakov and
• Cyril Aumaître

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 1068–1084, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.88

• ; intermodulation; KPFM; nc-AFM; surface photovoltage; time-resolved measurements; Introduction Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) is a well-known variant of AFM that allows probing at the nanoscale the electrostatic landscape on the surface of a sample by measuring the so-called contact potential difference

• due to the enhanced quality factors under vacuum, which severely limits the frequency window available to increase the amplitude of the intermodulation products (for a more detailed discussion, see [14]). In this work, we propose to approach the measurement of intermodulation products with non-contact

• is necessary because the first mode is used by the main AFM controller for topographic control (in frequency modulation mode in the case of non-contact AFM under UHV). In other words, it is the AFM controller which generates the source signal at ω0 + Δω0 which “excites” the mechanical oscillation of

Spatial mapping of photovoltage and light-induced displacement of on-chip coupled piezo/photodiodes by Kelvin probe force microscopy under modulated illumination

• Zeinab Eftekhari,
• Nasim Rezaei,
• Hidde Stokkel,
• Jian-Yao Zheng,
• Andrea Cerreta,
• Ilka Hermes,
• Minh Nguyen,
• Guus Rijnders and
• Rebecca Saive

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 1059–1067, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.87

• ]. However, the working principle of these techniques is based on optical interferometry mapping which can be challenging for light-sensitive devices. Furthermore, it can be advantageous to employ a method that also allows for mechanical contact and manipulation. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) [11][12][13][14

• ] is a powerful and versatile technique to study fundamental and functional characteristics of materials and devices at the nanoscale, with application in physics, materials science, engineering, and biology. It can operate in either static (contact mode) or dynamic (tapping and noncontact mode) modes

• be used to measure contact potential difference (CPD) between the tip and the sample [18][19][20]. In particular, time-dependent KPFM [21][22][23] allows us to determine temporal changes of CPD and understand the dynamic behavior of functional devices at the nanoscale. Kelvin probe force microscopy

Recognition mechanisms of hemoglobin particles by monocytes – CD163 may just be one

• Jonathan-Gabriel Nimz,
• Pichayut Rerkshanandana,
• Chiraphat Kloypan,
• Ulrich Kalus,
• Saranya Chaiwaree,
• Axel Pruß,
• Radostina Georgieva,
• Yu Xiong and
• Hans Bäumler

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 1028–1040, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.85

• 3 µm were phagocytosed to a higher extent than both smaller and larger particles in this experiment. According to the authors, this is based on the number of possible contact points with the cells, depending on the morphology of the cell surface. In addition, the particle charge (i.e

A visible-light photodetector based on heterojunctions between CuO nanoparticles and ZnO nanorods

• Doan Nhat Giang,
• Nhat Minh Nguyen,
• Duc Anh Ngo,
• Thanh Trang Tran,
• Le Thai Duy,
• Cong Khanh Tran,
• Thi Thanh Van Tran,
• Phan Phuong Ha La and
• Vinh Quang Dang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 1018–1027, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.84

• relations under reverse and bias voltages, indicating a good ohmic contact between semiconductor materials and Ag electrodes [42]. It is worth noting that the current rise corresponds to the light intensity increase. The highest photocurrent reached 18 μA under a light illumination of 1.28 mW·cm−2. The low

Exploring internal structures and properties of terpolymer fibers via real-space characterizations

• Michael R. Roenbeck and
• Kenneth E. Strawhecker

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 1004–1017, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.83

• expect that these features resulted from the way this particular fiber split open after FIB notching. Likewise, the lone drop in stiffness makes sense, as the AFM probe experiences a local reduction in tip–substrate contact area. However, similar topography and stiffness jumps forming a compliant band

• another. This compliance likely stems from a local reduction in contact area, as sudden changes in height up to tens of nanometers can occur at these interfaces (Figure 7a). Nevertheless, these are “real” ET values; in other words, these local gaps in the fiber would affect ET of the full fiber

• contact) were approximately 1–2 nm. Some images were enhanced by approximately doubling both the setpoint and free air amplitudes while maintaining the amplitude ratio close to 50%. Typical map sizes and resolutions ranged from 500 nm × 500 nm (512 × 512 pixels, ca. 1 nm/pixel) to 20 × 20 μm (2048 × 2048

Fragmentation of metal(II) bis(acetylacetonate) complexes induced by slow electrons

• Janina Kopyra and
• Hassan Abdoul-Carime

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 980–987, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.81

• lenses and plates at oven temperature to prevent powder condensation, which otherwise may lead to undesirable changes in contact potentials during the measurements. The present experiments were carried out at temperatures typically 10–20 K below the temperatures for which the decomposition of the

Isolation of cubic Si₃P₄ in the form of nanocrystals

• Polina K. Nikiforova,
• Sergei S. Bubenov,
• Vadim B. Platonov,
• Andrey S. Kumskov,
• Nikolay N. Kononov,
• Tatyana A. Kuznetsova and
• Sergey G. Dorofeev

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 971–979, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.80

• sonication in an ultrasonic bath SW3H (Sono Swiss). Once the films were drop cast on aluminum mirrors, the IR spectra were recorded. The synthesized Si3P4 NPs were reactive and emanated phosphine upon contact with moisture. Once the ampoules were opened in an inert atmosphere, particles were allowed to

• the case of alcoholysis passivation, degassed 1-dodecanol was introduced to the Si3P4 product powder without air contact. Si3P4 NPs samples were examined on a diffractometer DRON-4-07 (Cu Kα radiation) in the form of films on a polished quartz substrate; phase analysis was performed using the program

Silver-based SERS substrates fabricated using a 3D printed microfluidic device

• Phommachith Sonexai,
• Minh Van Nguyen,
• Bui The Huy and
• Yong-Ill Lee

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 793–803, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.65

• the Ag particles become smaller when the size of the particles increases, resulting in a stronger hot spot effect. However, when the particle size exceeds a critical threshold, the Ag particles come into contact with each other, causing the hot spots to dissipate. Based on these findings, we selected

Carboxylic acids and light interact to affect nanoceria stability and dissolution in acidic aqueous environments

• Matthew L. Hancock,
• Eric A. Grulke and
• Robert A. Yokel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 762–780, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.63

• exposed to tartronic and dihydroxymalonic acid. However, a color change from yellow to reddish-brown was observed for the nanoceria in contact with ascorbic acid, as previously observed [53]. Nanoceria agglomerates completely dissolved in ascorbic acid within 1000 h. Ascorbic acid dissolution-accompanied

In situ magnesiothermic reduction synthesis of a Ge@C composite for high-performance lithium-ion batterie anodes

• Ha Tran Huu,
• Ngoc Phi Nguyen,
• Vuong Hoang Ngo,
• Huy Hoang Luc,
• Minh Kha Le,
• Minh Thu Nguyen,
• My Loan Phung Le,
• Hye Rim Kim,
• In Young Kim,
• Sung Jin Kim,
• Van Man Tran and
• Vien Vo

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 751–761, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.62

• performance of the electrode (432.3 mAh·g−1 at a specific current of 5000 mA·g−1) are attributed to the enhancement in distribution and chemical contact between Ge nanoparticles and the biomass-based carbon matrix. A comparison with other synthesis routes has been conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of

• contact formation during in situ synthesis. Keywords: Ge anode; in situ synthesis; lithium-ion batteries; magnesiothermic reduction; Introduction The significantly increasing energy consumption leads to the exhaustion of fossil fuel sources such as coal, oil, and natural gas. Additionally, there are

• GeO2 and biomass-derived carbon as precursor. A series of experiments using other methods to combine Ge and biomass carbon was also conducted for comparison. The in situ synthesized electrode exhibits superior electrochemical performance in lithium storage. This is attributed to a better contact

Cross-sectional Kelvin probe force microscopy on III–V epitaxial multilayer stacks: challenges and perspectives

• Mattia da Lisca,
• José Alvarez,
• James P. Connolly,
• Nicolas Vaissiere,
• Karim Mekhazni,
• Jean Decobert and
• Jean-Paul Kleider

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 725–737, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.59

• of the atomic force microscope (AFM) for the evaluation of the surface potential with nanometric resolution. KPFM is a valuable investigative approach for the study of work functions via the measurement of the contact potential difference VCPD, that is, the difference between the electrostatic

• 600 °C. Note that the GaInAsP:Zn layer is an intermediate layer with a doping concentration of 6 × 1018 cm−3 with the purpose to smooth the InP:Zn/GaInAs:Zn transition bandgap and to reduce contact resistances. Finally, a GaInAs:Zn contact layer was made at a lower temperature of 580 °C in order to

• misleading VCPD value [14]. Kelvin probe force microscopy The following KPFM experimental procedures closely follow those described in [12]. KPFM evaluates the contact potential difference (VCPD) between the surface of metallic and semiconductive samples and a conductive AFM tip, which at equilibrium can be

Suspension feeding in Copepoda (Crustacea) – a numerical model of setae acting in concert

• Alexander E. Filippov,
• Wencke Krings and
• Stanislav N. Gorb

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 603–615, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.50

• mouth opening. By altering the parameters, it was unraveled that the system performs best when the long and short setae have different mechanical properties and different degrees of adhesion since the long setae generate the feeding current and the short ones establish the contact with the particle

• . The second mechanism involves structures manipulating the water flow (e.g., setae and tentacles) that redirect the food particles and lead them to specialized structures that contact and capture them. A good example for the latter mechanism are the filtering setae of crustaceans (for in-depth reviews

• to establish contact with the particles by inertial impaction and capture and transport them to the mouth opening [14][15][16][17][18]. These interactions (i.e., making contact with and handling of or manipulating particles) were previously documented in detail through observation under a binocular

Thermal transport in kinked nanowires through simulation

• Alexander N. Robillard,
• Graham W. Gibson and
• Ralf Meyer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 586–602, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.49

• wider cross section at the knee. In the extreme cases towards 90° kink angle, the straight portions of the wire nearly contact each other and the result is a rather short, nearly straight wire with a large wire attached perpendicularly at the middle. As such, results for values above 65° of kink should

• along the surface in low specularity systems seems reasonable, as the possibility of random reflection on contact with the surface would naturally lead to a reduction of flux in the direction of initial flow after reflection. Specular reflections result in less overall change of direction of the flux

SERS performance of GaN/Ag substrates fabricated by Ag coating of GaN platforms

• Magdalena A. Zając,
• Bogusław Budner,
• Malwina Liszewska,
• Bartosz Bartosewicz,
• Łukasz Gutowski,
• Jan L. Weyher and
• Bartłomiej J. Jankiewicz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 552–564, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.46

• atomic force microscope (AFM) (NT-MDT, Moscow, Russia) in non-contact mode using the approach described previously [37]. The silver layers were removed randomly on the sample to form a sharp edge for measurement of height (layer thickness). AFM measurements were carried out in three different areas on

Carbon nanotube-cellulose ink for rapid solvent identification

• Tiago Amarante,
• Thiago H. R. Cunha,
• Claudio Laudares,
• Ana P. M. Barboza,
• Ana Carolina dos Santos,
• Cíntia L. Pereira,
• Vinicius Ornelas,
• Bernardo R. A. Neves,
• André S. Ferlauto and
• Rodrigo G. Lacerda

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 535–543, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.44

• contact mode. AC160TS silicon cantilevers from Olympus with a typical spring constant of k ≈ 46 N/m, a nominal radius of curvature of r ≈ 7 nm, and a resonant frequency of ω0 ≈ 300 kHz were employed. Heat flow and weight changes of selected solvents were determined by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA

• . Further details can be found in Supporting Information File 1. Electronic tongue mechanism Figure 4a shows the behavior of a liquid as a function of the time as it gets in contact with the transducer. Initially, the composite is dry, at a constant temperature, and traversed by a constant current (red part

• produced by the impinging liquid drops over the heated surface of the transducer. The temperature change and the heat flow produced by the liquid as it gets in contact with the heated surface were estimated by dripping a liquid (of about 6.5 µL) into an empty crucible kept at 55 °C inside a

Nanoarchitectonics to entrap living cells in silica-based systems: encapsulations with yolk–shell and sepiolite nanomaterials

• Celia Martín-Morales,
• Jorge Fernández-Méndez,
• Pilar Aranda and
• Eduardo Ruiz-Hitzky

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 522–534, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.43

• sol–gel methods, as well as pre-synthesised yolk–shell bionanohybrids have been studied subsequently. Optical microscopy and SEM confirm that the silica shell microstructures provide a reduced contact between cells. The inorganic matrix increases the survival of the cells and maintains their

• bioactivity. Thus, the encapsulation efficiency is improved compared to the approach using a direct contact of cells in a silica matrix. Encapsulated yeast produced ethanol over a period of several days, pointing out the useful biocatalytic potential of the approach and suggesting further optimization of the

• the stress imposed by the direct contact with the silica matrix. Cells in interaction with, but not strongly confined by, the matrix quickly start to divide and to proliferate in pseudofilamentous structures [42] that tend to colonize the free space present in the highly porous regions of the silica