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

• consists of mechanical exfoliation, which imposes severe mechanical, uncontrolled defects in the sample. The most common and preferable is the wet-chemical etching of the catalyst (substrate). Usually a poly(methylmethacrylate) (PMMA) scaffold is applied to coat the graphene surface and support it during

• the catalyst consumption, followed by underside contaminant cleaning, then placement on the destination substrate. However, the PMMA removal from the graphene after the film transfer (which involves high-temperature Ar/H2 forming gas annealing [18], O2-based annealing [19], and in situ annealing [20

Graphene–polymer coating for the realization of strain sensors

• Carmela Bonavolontà,
• Carla Aramo,
• Massimo Valentino,
• Giampiero Pepe,
• Sergio De Nicola,
• Gianfranco Carotenuto,
• Angela Longo,
• Mariano Palomba,
• Simone Boccardi and
• Carosena Meola

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 21–27, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.3

• poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA). The good adhesion to the PMMA surface, combined with the shear stress, allows a uniform and continuous spreading of the graphite nanocrystals, resulting in a very uniform graphene multilayer coating on the substrate surface. The fabrication process is simple and yields

• thin coatings characterized by high optical transparency and large electrical piezoresitivity. Such properties envisage potential applications of this polymer-supported coating for use in strain sensing. The electrical and mechanical properties of these PMMA/graphene coatings were characterized by

• polymer were also recently reported [3]. In this work we describe a simple and direct fabrication process based on a new micrographite colloidal suspension to produce thin coatings with large electrical piezoresitivity. When applied to a slat of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), the adhesion to the PMMA

Numerical investigation of depth profiling capabilities of helium and neon ions in ion microscopy

• Patrick Philipp,
• Lukasz Rzeznik and
• Tom Wirtz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1749–1760, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.168

• conductivity of polymers [1]. A reduction of the band gap along with increasing photo- and electrical conductivity is observed for C+ implantation into poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), which is related to the formation of carbon clusters with a polyaromatic structure [2]. Potential applications include

• chemical species present in the different layers, the influence of atomic mass on atomic mixing and the sputtering processes can be studied for different primary ion species. For this reason, layers of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), PS or PMMA have been embedded into PE layers. Compared to molecular

• ., ion fluences used in experiments. A detailed description of the different samples is given in Table 1. Figure 1 shows the composition and structure for samples #1 to #3. The three samples have 10 nm thick PTFE, PS or PMMA layers separated by 10 nm or 20 nm PE layers. The bulk material is also PE. For

Influence of ambient humidity on the attachment ability of ladybird beetles (Coccinella septempunctata)

• Lars Heepe,
• Jonas O. Wolff and
• Stanislav N. Gorb

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1322–1329, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.123

• atmosphere Traction force experiments were performed in a polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) chamber (30 × 14 × 14 cm) in which relative humidity could be manipulated by the controlled mixture of dry and wetted air (Figure 2, for details see [14]). For this experiment, three levels of relative humidity (RH) were

Reasons and remedies for the agglomeration of multilayered graphene and carbon nanotubes in polymers

• Rasheed Atif and
• Fawad Inam

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1174–1196, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.109

• in a poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) matrix [136]. They observed an increase in yield strength and draw ratio of the composite fiber. The yield strength was doubled and the draw ratio was increased from 40 to 300 in 5 wt % SWNT–PMMA system [35]. Kumar et al. also used fiber spinning to align SWNTs

Manufacturing and investigation of physical properties of polyacrylonitrile nanofibre composites with SiO₂, TiO₂ and Bi₂O₃ nanoparticles

• Tomasz Tański,
• Wiktor Matysiak and
• Barbara Hajduk

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1141–1155, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.106

• prior modification of the particle surface) significantly improves the mechanical properties and thermal strength of the resulting composite relative to the pure polymer. In addition, polymer composites (based on, inter alia, poly(ether ether ketone) (PEEK), poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), poly(lactic

Experimental and simulation-based investigation of He, Ne and Ar irradiation of polymers for ion microscopy

• Lukasz Rzeznik,
• Yves Fleming,
• Tom Wirtz and
• Patrick Philipp

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1113–1128, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.104

• ], which allows for higher fluences than MD simulations. Results and Discussions AFM measurements of irradiated areas An example of the changing topography with respect to primary Ne+ fluence is shown in Figure 1 for PMMA. No significant roughness with amplitudes higher than 1 nm is developing, in contrast

• induced by the implantation of rare gas atoms. The latter has been observed among other for gallium nitride [28], silicon [29], iron [30] or steel [31], and tungsten [32] under helium irradiation. The evolution of roughness for Ne+ irradiation of PMMA can be better seen in Figure 2a where the value of RMS

• roughness does not exceed 0.4 nm. The same is true for He+ irradiation where the RMS roughness stays below 0.55 nm (Figure 2a). The same experiments were carried out for PS. For He+, Ne+ and Ar+ bombardment, no major increase of the RMS is observed (Figure 2b), similar to the results obtained on PMMA. This

Role of solvents in the electronic transport properties of single-molecule junctions

• Katharina Luka-Guth,
• Sebastian Hambsch,
• Andreas Bloch,
• Philipp Ehrenreich,
• Bernd Michael Briechle,
• Filip Kilibarda,
• Torsten Sendler,
• Dmytro Sysoiev,
• Thomas Huhn,
• Artur Erbe and
• Elke Scheer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1055–1067, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.99

• generator (Raith Elphy Quantum), a double layer of electron-beam resists (MMA-MAA/PMMA) is deposited by spin-coating on the wafer to a thickness of about 600 nm (MMA-MAA) and about 100 nm (PMMA) and baked on a hot plate (130 °C for 5 min). After electron beam writing and developing in MIBK:IPA (1:3) and

NO gas sensing at room temperature using single titanium oxide nanodot sensors created by atomic force microscopy nanolithography

• Li-Yang Hong and
• Heh-Nan Lin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1044–1051, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.97

• nanolithography [30][32] procedure is shown in Figure 1. A 40 nm thick poly(methylmethacrylate) (PMMA) film was spin-coated on a Si substrate that had a thick oxide layer. By using an AFM (Smena, NT-MDT, Russia), a straight nanogroove was generated in the PMMA film. A Ti film was deposited by electron-beam

• fabrication of a single titanium oxide ND gas sensor. (a) PMMA spin-coated and AFM nanomachining, (b) Ti deposition, (c) PMMA lift-off, (d) photoresist spin-coated, (e) exposure and development, (f) Au deposition, (g) photoresist lift-off, and (h) AFM nano-oxidation. (Adapted from [32]). (a,b) AFM topographic

Large-scale fabrication of achiral plasmonic metamaterials with giant chiroptical response

• Morten Slyngborg,
• Yao-Chung Tsao and
• Peter Fojan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 914–925, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.83

• molds (Figure 2b). The negative molds were then cast in PMMA polymer substrates (Figure 2c). The honeycomb pattern in the PMMA substrates served as the starting structure of the glancing angle deposition of Au films. By varying the deposition angle (50, 60 and 70°), three different samples have been

• sputter-coated on the surface of the negative imprints. A monolayer of trichloro(1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorooctyl)silane (25 vol % in toluene) was applied to the Al films by gas phase deposition for 1 h in a vacuum desiccator. These samples served as new molds for the second imprint in PMMA. The parameters of

• honeycomb structure is cast in a TOPAS polymer substrate. After de-molding a thin Al and anti-stick layer is applied to produce a negative mold. This negative mold is then cast in PMMA to produce the original honeycomb structure. This structure is used for initiation of glancing angle deposition of a 30 nm

Optical absorption signature of a self-assembled dye monolayer on graphene

• Tessnim Sghaier,
• Sylvain Le Liepvre,
• Céline Fiorini,
• Ludovic Douillard and
• Fabrice Charra

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 862–868, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.78

• transferred onto transparent PET and fused silica samples were purchased from Megan-Technologies (Poland) and Graphenea (Spain), respectively. Both have been transferred from their copper CVD substrate using the standard PMMA technique [42]. The CVD graphene is polycrystalline, with typically 1 µm sized 2D

Direct formation of gold nanorods on surfaces using polymer-immobilised gold seeds

• Majid K. Abyaneh,
• Pietro Parisse and
• Loredana Casalis

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 809–816, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.72

• , we present the formation of gold nanorods (GNRs) on novel gold–poly(methyl methacrylate) (Au–PMMA) nanocomposite substrates with unprecedented growth control through the polymer molecular weight (Mw) and gold-salt-to-polymer weight ratio. For the first time, GNRs have been produced by seed-mediated

• direct growth on surfaces that were pre-coated with polymer-immobilised gold seeds. A Au–PMMA nanocomposite formed by UV photoreduction has been used as the gold seed. The influence of polymer Mw and gold concentration on the formation of GNRs has been investigated and discussed. The polymer

• nanocomposite formed with a lower Mw PMMA and 20 wt % gold salt provides a suitable medium for growing well-dispersed GNRs. In this sample, the average dimension of produced GNRs is 200 nm in length with aspect ratios up to 10 and a distribution of GNRs to nanoparticles of nearly 22%. Suitable characterization

Thermo-voltage measurements of atomic contacts at low temperature

• Ayelet Ofarim,
• Bastian Kopp,
• Thomas Möller,
• León Martin,
• Johannes Boneberg,
• Paul Leiderer and
• Elke Scheer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 767–775, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.68

• length. A drawback of using this (thermally and) electronically insulating substrate was the necessity to overcome the charge-caused deterioration of the electron-beam during the lithography process. To do so, substrates were covered by a thin 10 nm Al film on top of the standard photoresist (MAA/PMMA

Highly compact refractive index sensor based on stripe waveguides for lab-on-a-chip sensing applications

• Chamanei Perera,
• Kristy Vernon,
• Elliot Cheng,
• Juna Sathian,
• Esa Jaatinen and
• Timothy Davis

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 751–757, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.66

• . First, the RI sensor designs and alignment marks were patterned on a 300 nm bilayer PMMA resist (950 k A4 / 495 k A4 PMMA resist from Microchem GmbH) using electron beam lithography (JEOL-7800 FE-SEM with Raith Quantum Elphy) with a beam current of ≈75 pA and 20 kV acceleration voltage under optimal

• dose of 280 μC/cm2. The patterned PMMA bilayer was then developed for 30 seconds in MIBK/IPA 1:3 solution. 30 nm Ag was evaporated on the developed sample using the PVD 75 e-beam evaporator under a slow rate of 0.1 angstrom per second. A scanning electron microscope image was obtained (Figure 3) which

• shows the successfully survived sensor designs after lift-off in acetone bath. Second, a 300 nm bilayer PMMA resist was spincoated on top of the structures to pattern the sample window on top of the sample arm. Then, the sample windows were patterned in the second EBL step. Finally, the patterned

Fabrication and properties of luminescence polymer composites with erbium/ytterbium oxides and gold nanoparticles

• Julia A. Burunkova,
• Ihor Yu. Denisiuk,
• Dmitri I. Zhuk,
• Lajos Daroczi,
• Attila Csik,
• István Csarnovics and
• Sándor Kokenyesi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 630–636, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.55

• ]. Planar waveguide amplifiers on the basis of Er-containing nanocomposites are actively investigated as well (see for example [2], where a PMMA-based, Yb2O3/Er2O3-containing polymer nanocomposite waveguide optical amplifier was demonstrated). This material ensures the functioning of the amplifier with an

Correlative infrared nanospectroscopic and nanomechanical imaging of block copolymer microdomains

• Benjamin Pollard and
• Markus B. Raschke

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 605–612, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.53

• correlative analysis of chemical composition, spectral IR line shape, modulus, adhesion, deformation, and dissipation acquired for a thin film of a nanophase separated block copolymer (PS-b-PMMA) reveal complex structural variations, in particular at domain interfaces, not resolved in any individual signal

• properties between and within polymer microdomains. Methods We study a high molecular weight block copolymer of polystyrene-block-poly(methyl methacrylate) (PS-b-PMMA), with a relative chain length of 270.0-b-289.0 Mn × 103 (P4443-SMMA, Polymer Source), spin-coated from a 1% w/v solution in toluene onto

• native-oxide silicon substrates (2 kRPM). The film thickness is ~60 nm, as measured with AFM. The PMMA in this sample is mostly syndiotactic. Long chain lengths result in nonequilibrium, irregularly shaped, microdomain structures with incomplete microphase separation and large interfacial mixing regions

Free vibration of functionally graded carbon-nanotube-reinforced composite plates with cutout

• Mostafa Mirzaei and
• Yaser Kiani

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 511–523, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.45

• and is used in the rest of this work. For instance, an SCFS plate indicates a plate which is simply supported at x = −0.5a and y = +0.5b, clamped at y = −0.5b, and free at x = +0.5b. In the numerical results of the present research, isotropic poly(methyl methacrylate), referred to as PMMA, is selected

• as the polymeric matrix. The mechanical properties of the PMMA are Em = 2.5 GPa, νm = 0.34 and ρm = 1150 kg/m3. Reinforcement of the matrix is chosen as (10,10)-armchair SWCNT. For this kind of reinforcement, which is orthotropic, the material properties are given as = 5.6466 TPa, = 7.0800 TPa, G12

Hydration of magnesia cubes: a helium ion microscopy study

• Ruth Schwaiger,
• Johannes Schneider,
• Gilles R. Bourret and
• Oliver Diwald

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 302–309, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.28

• [17]. However, shrinkage of PMMA after helium ion imaging at 30 kV was reported [18], showing that also helium ions may damage soft materials by radiolysis just like low-energy (below 1 keV) electron beams. Thus, without additional damage to soft materials, HIM facilitates high resolution imaging

Linear and nonlinear optical properties of hybrid metallic–dielectric plasmonic nanoantennas

• Mario Hentschel,
• Bernd Metzger,
• Bastian Knabe,
• Karsten Buse and
• Harald Giessen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 111–120, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.13

• lithography in poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) resist on a fused silica substrate (suprasil, Heraeus), followed by evaporation of a chromium adhesion and a gold layer, and a subsequent lift-off procedure. The sample is again coated afterward with PMMA. Using the alignment marks, openings are created in the

• are highly hydrophobic, as is the PMMA layer. However, the particles seem to be strongly attracted to the bare glass surface. Therefore, they agglomerate on the exposed glass surface. Additionally, there is a strong attraction between the LiNbO3 nanocrystals such that clusters of particles form and

• grow with every additional dipping step. As a final step the PMMA layer is removed in acetone. During this step the sample is rested upside down on additional pieces of glass in order to prevent the nanocrystals on top of the PMMA layer from migrating onto the substrate. The small inset in Figure 2a

Fabrication and characterization of novel multilayered structures by stereocomplexion of poly(D-lactic acid)/poly(L-lactic acid) and self-assembly of polyelectrolytes

• Elena Dellacasa,
• Li Zhao,
• Gesheng Yang,
• Laura Pastorino and
• Gleb B. Sukhorukov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 81–90, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.10

• well as other biocompatible polymers such as poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) [39][40][41], poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) [42] and poly-ε-caprolactone (PCL) [43][44], is extremely interesting for the fabrication of innovative multilayer structures to be used in drug delivery applications. In

Nanoscale rippling on polymer surfaces induced by AFM manipulation

• Mario D’Acunto,
• Franco Dinelli and
• Pasqualantonio Pingue

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2278–2289, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.234

• wide spectrum of polymers has been investigated including polystyrene (PS) [13][20], poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) [25], poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) [23], poly(vinyl acetate) (PVAc) [26] and poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) [23]. Recently, we have reviewed wear occurring on polymeric surfaces and

• the tip [22][36] inducing in this way the formation of a rippled structure along the circumference of a scanned circle (Figure 2). While scanning a PMMA surface with a minimum feedback, the authors have been able to record instantaneous variations in the cantilever vertical displacement. They have

• one to several hundreds of nanometers can be reproduced on the surface of polycarbonate (PC), poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), and polystyrene (PS) films. Authors have clearly shown that the ripple formation varies with T and polymer type (Figure 8a). The dependence on T has been characterized and

Mapping bound plasmon propagation on a nanoscale stripe waveguide using quantum dots: influence of spacer layer thickness

• Chamanei S. Perera,
• Alison M. Funston,
• Han-Hao Cheng and
• Kristy C. Vernon

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2046–2051, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.208

• beneficial in studying light matter interaction in nanoscale devices and all-optical circuitry. Theory COMSOL Multiphysics was used to run simulations on silver stripe waveguides supported on an indium tin oxide (ITO)-coated glass substrate with poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) cladding. The width of the

• , 750 nm wide with grating using electron beam lithography (EBL). Bilayer PMMA (950k A4 and 495k A4 PMMA from Microchem GmbH) was patterned using EBL and then developed for 30 seconds in MIBK:IPA developer solution. A silver film with 30 nm thickness was evaporated onto the resist using PVD 75 electron

• beam evaporator under 0.1 Å/s. Lift-off of the resist was achieved in an acetone bath. Stripes with length 20 µm were fabricated (Figure 2). When using bilayer PMMA in EBL, the substrate must be relatively conductive. We used ITO-coated glass substrate as a conductive substrate. The presence of the ITO

Temperature-dependent breakdown of hydrogen peroxide-treated ZnO and TiO₂ nanoparticle agglomerates

• Sinan Sabuncu and
• Mustafa Çulha

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1897–1903, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.193

• common ways of increasing the NP dispersion in aqueous media. Polymers such as polystyrene, poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), and poly(acrylic acid) are also widely used to obtain dispersed NPs in aqueous environments [7][8][9]. Although the use of surfactants can provide better dispersion, they

Template-controlled mineralization: Determining film granularity and structure by surface functionality patterns

• Nina J. Blumenstein,
• Jonathan Berson,
• Stefan Walheim,
• Petia Atanasova,
• Johannes Baier,
• Joachim Bill and
• Thomas Schimmel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1763–1768, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.180

• a templating substrate – properties which, in turn, are key properties for nanodevices. Experimental Template preparation by polymer-blend lithography Polymer solution: Polystyrene (PS, Mw = 96 kg/mol, PDI 1.04) and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA, Mw = 9.59 kg/mol, PDI 1.05) were purchased from

• Polymer Standards Service GmbH and dissolved directly in methyl ethyl ketone (MEK, Aldrich). The mass ratio between PS and PMMA was 3:7 and the total concentration of the two polymers was 15 mg/mL. Thin polymer-blend films were spin-coated at 1500 revolutions per minute (rpm) onto silicon substrates that

• the spin-coating chamber (approximately 1 L volume) at a flow rate of approximately 40 standard cubic centimeters per minute (40 sccm). Fabrication of SAM templates After spin coating, the polymer films were treated with acetic acid where PMMA was selectively dissolved. The silicon samples were rinsed

Polymer blend lithography for metal films: large-area patterning with over 1 billion holes/inch²

• Cheng Huang,
• Alexander Förste,
• Stefan Walheim and
• Thomas Schimmel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1205–1211, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.123

• polystyrene (PS) and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), dissolved in methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) is used. This system forms a purely lateral structure on the substrate at controlled humidity, which means that PS droplets are formed in a PMMA matrix, whereby both phases have direct contact both to the substrate

• and to the air interface. Therefore, a subsequent selective dissolution of either the PS or PMMA component leaves behind a nanostructured film which can be used as a lithographic mask. We use this lithographic mask for the fabrication of metal patterns by thermal evaporation of the metal, followed by

• plasmonic resonance; metal islands; metal nanostructures; metal polymer blend lithography (metal PBL); nano-patterned template; nanoscale discs; optical transmission; perforated metal film; polymer phase separation; poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA); polystyrene (PS); self-assembly; spin-coating; surface