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

• photoelectron spectroscopy was carried out (Figure 5a). The higher C/O ratio of rGO revealed the effective reduction during the thiolation reaction, which was verified more clearly in the high-resolution C 1s core-level spectra shown in Figure 5b and 5c. The typical C 1s core-level spectrum was divided into

Patterning of supported gold monolayers via chemical lift-off lithography

• Liane S. Slaughter,
• Kevin M. Cheung,
• Sami Kaappa,
• Huan H. Cao,
• Qing Yang,
• Thomas D. Young,
• Andrew C. Serino,
• Sami Malola,
• Jana M. Olson,
• Stephan Link,
• Hannu Häkkinen,
• Anne M. Andrews and
• Paul S. Weiss

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2648–2661, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.265

• computationally analyzed the XPS core-level shifts (CLSs) for each Au atom in the lifted-off complexes (Figure S11, Supporting Information File 1). These calculated spectra are signatures of the predicted structures resulting from CLL of SAMs packed on Au with and without defects. When comparing the spectra and

• the structures, we found that the shifts are spread ≈1.5 eV around the bulk reference value, and similar chemical environments of the Au atoms resulted in similar core-level shift energies. These simulations indicate that the CLSs of a Au atom in a Au–alkanethiolate monolayer are sensitive to its

• energy of the system damping to the energy added due to pulling. Core-level shifts were calculated for the Au atoms in the modeled structures that were removed from surfaces in the simulations. The density functional theory with the PBE functional was used again via GPAW to calculate the energies of the

Ta₂N₃ nanocrystals grown in Al₂O₃ thin layers

• Krešimir Salamon,
• Maja Buljan,
• Iva Šarić,
• Mladen Petravić and
• Sigrid Bernstorff

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2162–2170, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.215

• 4p or N 1s core levels. We focus our XPS measurements on the Ta 4f photoemission, which shows a more distinctive structure and larger chemical shifts than the emissions from the Ta 4p and N 1s levels [30][31]. As an example, we show in Figure 5 the Ta 4f core level photoemission spectra taken from

• nm and (b) 12 nm. The curves are vertically shifted for clarity. SIMS profiles of as-grown and annealed MLs for two different nominal thicknesses of the metallic layers: (a) 4 nm for ML4m and ML4m9 and (b) 12 nm for ML12m and ML12m9. Deconvoluted XPS spectra for Ta 4f core level of as-grown (upper

Intercalation of Si between MoS₂ layers

• Rik van Bremen,
• Qirong Yao,
• Soumya Banerjee,
• Deniz Cakir,
• Nuri Oncel and
• Harold J. W. Zandvliet

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1952–1960, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.196

• photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) [31]. It should be pointed out here that this study showed that the S 2p3/2 peak in MoS2 is at around 167.6 eV, which is considerably higher than the pure core-level line of pure S. This high value might be an indication of contamination with O [32] or Ni [33]. Here we revisit

• measurements, the pressure was kept at or below 1 × 10−9 mbar. The angle between the X-ray source, which is aligned along the surface normal, and spectrometer is 54.7°. All XPS core-level spectra were analyzed using Augerscan software, which is equipped with its own curve-fitting program. The core-level peaks

• are fitted using a Gaussian–Lorentzian (GL) function to include the instrumental response function along with the core-level line shape. The secondary-electron background was subtracted using a Shirley function [34]. The energy differences between the 3d and 2p spin–orbit couples were set to 3.13 eV

Coexistence of strongly buckled germanene phases on Al(111)

• Weimin Wang and
• Roger I. G. Uhrberg

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1946–1951, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.195

• energy electron diffraction and core-level photoelectron spectroscopy. Experimental results show that a germanium layer can be formed at a relatively high substrate temperature showing either (3×3) or (√7×√7)R±19.1° reconstructions. First-principles calculations based on density functional theory suggest

• an atomic model consisting of a strongly buckled (2×2) germanene layer, which is stable in two different orientations on Al(111). Simulated STM of both orientations fit nicely with experimental STM images and the Ge 3d core-level data decomposed into four components is consistent with the suggested

• model. Keywords: core-level spectroscopy; DFT; germanene; STM; Introduction The properties of two-dimensional (2D) materials are currently subjected to intense experimental and theoretical studies. The research is focused on many important properties predicted by theory for various conceivable 2D

Methionine-mediated synthesis of magnetic nanoparticles and functionalization with gold quantum dots for theranostic applications

• Arūnas Jagminas,
• Agnė Mikalauskaitė,
• Vitalijus Karabanovas and
• Jūrate Vaičiūnienė

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1734–1741, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.174

• cobalt ferrite NPs was also investigated using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The surface chemical composition of the CoFe2O4@Met–Au NPs is presented in Table 1, whereas the typical core-level spectrum of the deposited gold is presented in Figure 5. As shown, the main Au 4f7/2 photoelectron peak

• is located at a binding energy (BE) value of 83.94 eV, typical of pure metallic Au0 species [31]. The fitting of the Au 4f core-level spectrum is performed further by using two spin–orbit split Au 4f7/2 and Au 4f5/2 components, separated by 3.56 eV. Surprisingly, the Au 4f curve fitting shows an

• calibration, processing and fitting routines were done using Avantage software (5.918) provided by Thermo VG Scientific. Core-level peaks of Fe 2p, Co 2p, Au 4f, C 1s and O 1s were analyzed using a nonlinear Shirley-type background and the calculation of the elemental composition was performed on the basis of

Fluorination of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes: from CF₄ plasma chemistry to surface functionalization

• Claudia Struzzi,
• Mattia Scardamaglia,
• Jean-François Colomer,
• Alberto Verdini,
• Luca Floreano,
• Rony Snyders and
• Carla Bittencourt

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1723–1733, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.173

• range used for the plasma diagnostic. In Figure 3, we report the XPS analysis performed on the samples immediately after the fluorination. The C 1s and F 1s core level spectra are illustrated for the selected set of plasma parameters: power (Figure 3a,b), time (Figure 3d,e) and distance (Figure 3g,h

• , CF–CFn, CF2 and CF3 bond configurations [27][30]. The bars at the top axis of the frames indicate the binding energy of these peaks. The asymmetric line-shape of F 1s core level signal is representative for the two carbon-fluorine bonds. They include a contribution around 686 eV, which corresponds to

• concentrations are evaluated from the F 1s and C 1s core level spectra shown in Figure S4 in Supporting Information File 1. The valence band spectra are reported in Figure 5a for the pristine (black curve) and for the fluorinated vCNT before and after heating (blue and green curves, respectively). In the binding

Effect of the fluorination technique on the surface-fluorination patterning of double-walled carbon nanotubes

• Lyubov G. Bulusheva,
• Yuliya V. Fedoseeva,
• Emmanuel Flahaut,
• Jérémy Rio,
• Christopher P. Ewels,
• Victor O. Koroteev,
• Gregory Van Lier,
• Denis V. Vyalikh and
• Alexander V. Okotrub

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1688–1698, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.169

• [29]. A spectrum arises as a result of core-level electrons being excited into partially filled and empty states, thus providing information about the unoccupied density of states of the X-ray absorbing elements. We consider the F K-edge spectra because they showed a considerable variation of the pre

Charge transfer from and to manganese phthalocyanine: bulk materials and interfaces

• Florian Rückerl,
• Daniel Waas,
• Bernd Büchner,
• Martin Knupfer,
• Dietrich R. T. Zahn,
• Francisc Haidu,
• Torsten Hahn and
• Jens Kortus

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1601–1615, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.160

• in the core-level region, and polarization-dependent studies have often been carried out to study the molecular orientation on substrates. In addition to our experiments we performed calculations within the density functional theory (DFT) framework. We used a recent version of the NRLMOL all-electron

• exact composition of these phases was finally determined by an analysis of the respective C 1s and K 2p core-level excitations. These data are depicted in Figure 3. In this Figure, excitation from the C 1s core level in unoccupied π-derived states start at about 285 eV, those into σ-derived carbon

• structure has its origin in the fact that the phthalocyanine ring consists of carbon atoms with different chemical environments, namely those with nitrogen as neighbors and those without. This is clearly seen in corresponding C 1s core-level photoemission data [74][81][82], in which the binding energy for

Oxidative chemical vapor deposition of polyaniline thin films

• Yuriy Y. Smolin,
• Masoud Soroush and
• Kenneth K. S. Lau

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1266–1276, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.128

• . To investigate the presence of the antimony pentachloride oxidant before and after washing, high resolution Cl2p and Sb3d core level XPS spectra were obtained (Figure S2, Supporting Information File 1). From these spectra, the amount of Cl and Sb in the as-deposited film was 6.9 and 11.59 atom

Energy-level alignment at interfaces between manganese phthalocyanine and C₆₀

• Daniel Waas,
• Florian Rückerl,
• Martin Knupfer and
• Bernd Büchner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 927–932, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.94

• the interfaces, which is disadvantageous for applications in organic solar cells. Experimental We have carried out valence-band and core-level photoelectron spectroscopy studies of MnPc/C60 interfaces at room temperature. The preparation and the analysis chamber had a base pressure of about 3·10−10

• mbar. For the measurements an X-ray tube XR-50-M with a monochromator Focus-500, a gas-discharge lamp UVS-300 and a hemispherical electron-energy analyzer PHOIBOS-150 (SPECS) were used. The energy scales were calibrated with the Au 4f7/2 core level emission feature of the substrate at 84.0 eV binding

• investigations a pre-cleaned Au(100) crystal, controlled by core-level PES spectra, was used as a substrate, on which the MnPc/C60 heterojunctions were prepared. The fullerene and manganese phthalocyanine films were grown step by step at room temperature via evaporation of the two materials from home-built

Gas sensing properties of MWCNT layers electrochemically decorated with Au and Pd nanoparticles

• Elena Dilonardo,
• Michele Penza,
• Marco Alvisi,
• Riccardo Rossi,
• Gennaro Cassano,
• Cinzia Di Franco,
• Francesco Palmisano,
• Luisa Torsi and
• Nicola Cioffi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 592–603, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.64

• detection in environmental monitoring. TEM images of electrochemically synthesized core–shell A) Au NPs and B) Pd NPs. Schematic view of the two-pole chemiresistor based on a MWCNT network functionalized with metal NPs. XPS core level spectrum of A) Au 4f and B) Pd 3d on functionalized MWCNTs. SEM images of

Impact of air exposure and annealing on the chemical and electronic properties of the surface of SnO₂ nanolayers deposited by rheotaxial growth and vacuum oxidation

• Monika Kwoka and
• Maciej Krzywiecki

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 514–521, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.55

• set to 80 eV for the survey spectra and 10 eV for recording the individual core-level spectra. The binding energy (BE) scale of recorded spectra was calibrated to the Au 4f7/2 (84.0 eV [18]) peak. XPS data were analyzed by curve fitting using the CASA® XPS software. The estimated uncertainty in

• samples. This effect was found to be fully reversible during UHV annealing. The last effect is of significant importance for application of SnO2 nanolayers in resistive sensors and the prediction of their recovery behavior. XPS survey spectra with the main core-level lines of RGVO SnO2 nanolayers

Study of the surface properties of ZnO nanocolumns used for thin-film solar cells

• Neda Neykova,
• Jiri Stuchlik,
• Karel Hruska,
• Ales Poruba,
• Zdenek Remes and
• Ognen Pop-Georgievski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 446–451, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.48

• −7 Pa. The data acquisition and processing were performed using the Thermo Avantage software. All samples were analyzed using a microfocused, monochromated Al Kα X-ray radiation (400 µm spot size) with a pass energy of 150 eV for survey and 50 eV for high-resolution core level spectra. The X-ray

• influence of the optical scattering, which is important in the case of ZnO nanocolumns for which the transmittance spectra are significantly deteriorated by optical scattering. Cross-sectional (a) and top (b) view of densely packed ZnO NCs grown at 90 °C for 180 min (scale bar: 500 nm). High-resolution core

• -level Zn 2p and O 1s XPS spectra of pristine (A) ZnO NCs and ZnO NCs after 25 min treatment in (B) H- and (C) O-plasmas. Measured spectra are presented with black lines, while their corresponding fitted envelopes are presented in red. The individual contributions of different functional groups present

Nitrogen-doped twisted graphene grown on copper by atmospheric pressure CVD from a decane precursor

• Ivan V. Komissarov,
• Nikolai G. Kovalchuk,
• Vladimir A. Labunov,
• Ksenia V. Girel,
• Olga V. Korolik,
• Mikhail S. Tivanov,
• Algirdas Lazauskas,
• Mindaugas Andrulevičius,
• Tomas Tamulevičius,
• Viktoras Grigaliūnas,
• Šarunas Meškinis,
• Sigitas Tamulevičius and
• Serghej L. Prischepa

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 145–158, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.15

• main core level peaks for carbon, nitrogen, silicon and oxygen are indicated. It is important to note that due to the small thickness of the samples, the contribution from the substrate in the form of strong silicon and oxygen signals was detected. The presence of the nitrogen 1s core level in the XPS

• survey spectrum could be caused either by adsorption or/and incorporation of nitrogen into graphene with the formation of C–N bonds. These bonds affect the shape and position of the carbon 1s response. Figure 9a and Figure 9b present the C1s core level for samples A and B, correspondingly. The

• ) of the C1s core level, centered at 284.63 eV and 284.65 eV for samples A and B, respectively, is slightly up-shifted compare to the dominant one, and could be attributed to the existence of sp3C bonds [39][40]. Finally, the third peak, indicated by a green line, with the characteristic energy of

Fundamental properties of high-quality carbon nanofoam: from low to high density

• Natalie Frese,
• Shelby Taylor Mitchell,
• Christof Neumann,
• Amanda Bowers,
• Armin Gölzhäuser and
• Klaus Sattler

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 2065–2073, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.197

• surface sensitive due to the small inelastic mean free path of the photoelectrons. With XPS, bond information can also be obtained since the core level energies are affected by the chemical environment of the atoms. For example, for carbon atoms, bonds such as C–C, C=C, C–O, and C=O can be distinguished

Effect of Anderson localization on light emission from gold nanoparticle aggregates

• Mohamed H. Abdellatif,
• Marco Salerno,
• Gaser N. Abdelrasoul,
• Ioannis Liakos,
• Alice Scarpellini,
• Sergio Marras and
• Alberto Diaspro

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 2013–2022, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.192

• difference for the 4f7/2 core level of 0.06 eV, and for the core level 4f5/2 of 0.14 eV. These differences are attributed to the different coordination number induced by the geometrical factors of the aggregates [17], i.e., their likely different aggregation density. The geometrical factors determine the

• decay, allowing for the detection of the different lifetimes. The shift in the binding energy of Au for the core level 4f7/2 and 4f5/2 from the bulk value of the AuNP aggregates was measured by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) performed using an electron spectrometer (Lab2, Specs, Berlin, Germany

Surface roughness rather than surface chemistry essentially affects insect adhesion

• Matt W. England,
• Tomoya Sato,
• Makoto Yagihashi,
• Atsushi Hozumi,
• Stanislav N. Gorb and
• Elena V. Gorb

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1471–1479, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.139

• operated at 50 W and 15 kV with the pass energy of the analyzer at 29.35 eV. The pressure in the analysis chamber was around 6 × 10−9 Pa during all measurements. Core-level signals were obtained at a photoelectron takeoff angle of 15° (surface-sensitive mode) with respect to the sample surface. The binding

• energy (BE) scales were referenced to 284.6 eV, as determined by the locations of the peak maxima of the C 1s spectra of a hydrocarbon (CHx). Surface compositions were determined by the corresponding core-level spectral area ratios, calculated using the relative sensitivity factor method. The relative

Microwave synthesis of high-quality and uniform 4 nm ZnFe₂O₄ nanocrystals for application in energy storage and nanomagnetics

• Christian Suchomski,
• Ben Breitung,
• Ralf Witte,
• Michael Knapp,
• Sondes Bauer,
• Tilo Baumbach,
• Christian Reitz and
• Torsten Brezesinski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1350–1360, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.126

• photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Mössbauer spectroscopy. Figure 3a–c presents detailed XPS spectra of the Fe 2p, O 1s and C 1s core level regions. The Fe 2p spectrum shows a single doublet with strong satellite peaks around 8 eV higher in binding energy than the main peaks. This result is characteristic of

Case studies on the formation of chalcogenide self-assembled monolayers on surfaces and dissociative processes

• Yongfeng Tong,
• Tingming Jiang,
• Azzedine Bendounan,
• Makri Nimbegondi Kotresh Harish,
• Angelo Giglia,
• Stefan Kubsky,
• Fausto Sirotti,
• Luca Pasquali,
• Srinivasan Sampath and
• Vladimir A. Esaulov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 263–277, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.24

• species. It should be noted that in many cases the conclusions of the above mentioned investigations of dissociation processes in thiol self-assembly rely on the knowledge of the characteristic S 2p core level binding energies (CLBEs) for atomic S adsorption and the thiolate sulfur. These are usually

3D solid supported inter-polyelectrolyte complexes obtained by the alternate deposition of poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) and poly(sodium 4-styrenesulfonate)

• Eduardo Guzmán,
• Armando Maestro,
• Sara Llamas,
• Jesús Álvarez-Rodríguez,
• Francisco Ortega,
• Ángel Maroto-Valiente and
• Ramón G. Rubio

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 197–208, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.18

• depth equal to the cosine of the angle between the surface normal and the analysis direction. Data analysis of core level XPS spectra was conducted with Casa-XPS software, Relative sensitivity factors (RSF) employed: C 1s (1); Cl 2p (1.48); N 1s (1.77); Na 1s (7.99); O 1s (2.85); and S 2p (1.25

Plasma fluorination of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes: functionalization and thermal stability

• Claudia Struzzi,
• Mattia Scardamaglia,
• Axel Hemberg,
• Luca Petaccia,
• Jean-François Colomer,
• Rony Snyders and
• Carla Bittencourt

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2263–2271, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.232

• carbon lattice when the sample is thermally heated, as verified by the disappearance of this low binding energy component. In Figure 1b,c we report the experimental data (black dots) related to F 1s and O 1s core level regions together with the fitting components used. The overall asymmetric lineshapes

• °C, we observed that the intensity of the components in the C 1s spectrum related to multiple fluorinated carbon decreased, where a similar effect was observed in the F 1s core level spectrum for the component at 688.7 eV. This occurs concurrent with the desorption of adsorbed fluorine represented by

• at %, [O] = 2 at %) as a reference. Upon heating, the fluorine-containing species desorb (red symbols), explaining the decrease in the F 1s core level intensity. At 540 °C, the fluorine concentration decreases to 0.5 at %, indicating that almost all fluorine atoms desorb from the carbon nanotube

Core-level spectra and molecular deformation in adsorption: V-shaped pentacene on Al(001)

• Anu Baby,
• He Lin,
• Gian Paolo Brivio,
• Luca Floreano and
• Guido Fratesi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2242–2251, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.230

• (also compare with Table 2 below). This point is relevant in explaining the NEXAFS features in the following. XPS To understand the XPS features we connect the calculated core level shifts (CLS) to the screening charge of the system. The CLS are computed as the difference between the total energy of the

• system in the presence of a full core hole on the different non-equivalent C atoms and its weighted average taking into account their multiplicity. In Figure 4 we plot the core level C 1s photoemission spectra (XPS) obtained by experiment, and by simulations for free undistorted pentacene and pentacene

• and increases that of C1 in agreement with a reduction in the difference between their core level binding energies thereby determining a narrower spectrum for B site adsorption as seen in Figure 4c and compensating the effects of electron transfer. NEXAFS We wish now to relate the simulated NEXAFS

Statistics of work and orthogonality catastrophe in discrete level systems: an application to fullerene molecules and ultra-cold trapped Fermi gases

• Antonello Sindona,
• Michele Pisarra,
• Mario Gravina,
• Cristian Vacacela Gomez,
• Pierfrancesco Riccardi,
• Giovanni Falcone and
• Francesco Plastina

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 755–766, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.78

• initial unperturbed one, as the number of particles approaches the thermodynamic limit. This orthogonality catastrophe predicted by Anderson [5] was first witnessed by the anomalous response of conduction electrons to core level ionization through X-ray absorption, and the subsequent emission of a core

• electron from simple metals [6][7]. The corresponding kinetic energy spectrum was observed to have an asymmetric peak at the binding energy of the core level with a power-law singularity, which has then become known as the Fermi edge singularity [7]. Similar patterns were afterwards identified in a large

• number of core-ionized systems [8][9], including organic molecules [10] and carbon-based nanomaterials [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19], where an additional signature of the Anderson orthogonality catastrophe are the secondary peaks, or shake-up satellites, in the core level spectra. Despite the

Self-assembled anchor layers/polysaccharide coatings on titanium surfaces: a study of functionalization and stability

• Ognen Pop-Georgievski,
• Dana Kubies,
• Josef Zemek,
• Neda Neykova,
• Roman Demianchuk,
• Eliška Mázl Chánová,
• Miroslav Šlouf,
• Milan Houska and
• František Rypáček

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 617–631, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.63

• performed on a Quanta 200 FEG (FEI, Czech Republic) microscope. All micrographs presented are secondary electron images taken under high vacuum using an accelerating voltage of 30 kV. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS): The core-level photoelectron spectra were recorded using an angle-resolved