Helium ion microscope – secondary ion mass spectrometry for geological materials

• Matthew R. Ball,
• Richard J. M. Taylor,
• Joshua F. Einsle,
• Fouzia Khanom,
• Christelle Guillermier and
• Richard J. Harrison

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1504–1515, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.133

• extended to the heavier noble gas neon [2] and may be applicable for even heavier noble gases such as argon. Whilst the HIM was shown to achieve exceptional imaging resolution using secondary electrons generated by the primary ion beam [3][4][5][6], it lacked microanalytical capabilities. There were

One-step synthesis of carbon-supported electrocatalysts

• Sebastian Tigges,
• Nicolas Wöhrl,
• Ivan Radev,
• Ulrich Hagemann,
• Markus Heidelmann,
• Thai Binh Nguyen,
• Stanislav Gorelkov,
• Stephan Schulz and
• Axel Lorke

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1419–1431, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.126

• illustrated in Figure 1. For details on the experimental procedures, see the Experimental section. A typical CNW sheet of a sample processed at 8 Pa chamber pressure, 60 sccm argon carrier gas flow rate, and 350 °C substrate temperature is shown in a bright-field transmission electron microscope (TEM

• to <5 × 10−6 mbar before the deposition process. The precursor was evaporated at a constant temperature of 128 °C, and argon flow was used to carry the precursor into the reaction zone of the plasma. The precursor flow rate was determined as constant at approimately 0.1 ± 0.01 sccm, which was found

• ionic species from the plasma onto the substrate. The chamber pressure, argon carrier gas flow rate, substrate temperature, and gas composition were adjusted, as stated in the Results and Discussion section. The plasma properties were monitored in situ by optical emission spectroscopy (see Supporting

Controlling the proximity effect in a Co/Nb multilayer: the properties of electronic transport

• Sergey Bakurskiy,
• Mikhail Kupriyanov,
• Nikolay V. Klenov,
• Igor Soloviev,
• Andrey Schegolev,
• Roman Morari,
• Yury Khaydukov and
• Anatoli S. Sidorenko

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1336–1345, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.118

• transport measurements was etched under pure argon atmosphere (Ar+ milling) in a CRYO RIE Alba Nova machine (Stockholm University). The patterned design allowed for a four-point type measurement of six segments of the sample in one cooling cycle (Figure 4). The pair of contacts was applied for setting the

Effect of localized helium ion irradiation on the performance of synthetic monolayer MoS₂ field-effect transistors

• Jakub Jadwiszczak,
• Pierce Maguire,
• Conor P. Cullen,
• Georg S. Duesberg and
• Hongzhou Zhang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1329–1335, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.117

• the deposited metal–semiconductor contact interface. Recent work has shown that irradiation-induced heating of the electrode area can reverse majority carrier polarity in MoTe2 [31], while pre-treatment with a broad-beam argon ion source can decrease the contact resistance of Ni-MoS2 two-fold [32]. In

Role of redox-active axial ligands of metal porphyrins adsorbed at solid–liquid interfaces in a liquid-STM setup

• Thomas Habets,
• Sylvia Speller and
• Johannes A. A. W. Elemans

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1264–1271, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.110

• ] were synthesized according to literature procedures. Synthesis of MnTUPOAc A solution of the free ligand TUP [7] (50 mg, 0.054 mmol) and Mn(OAc)2·4H2O (52 mg, 0.21 mmol) in argon-purged DMF (5 mL) was stirred and heated at reflux under argon for 3 h. After cooling, the solvent was evaporated and the

• Au(111)–n-tetradecane interface; the light blue spots are the native MnTUPCl molecules, the red spots their respective Mn=O complexes; left image: in argon atmosphere, a few Mn=O species are present; right image: in oxygen atmosphere, more Mn=O species have been formed. The color bar on the right

Magnetic-field-assisted synthesis of anisotropic iron oxide particles: Effect of pH

• Andrey V. Shibaev,
• Petr V. Shvets,
• Darya E. Kessel,
• Roman A. Kamyshinsky,
• Anton S. Orekhov,
• Sergey S. Abramchuk,
• Alexei R. Khokhlov and
• Olga E. Philippova

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1230–1241, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.107

• dissolving 1 M FeCl3 and 0.5 M FeSO4 in 0.1 M HCl under magnetic stirring. In order to prevent the oxidation of Fe2+ ions, the solution was degassed by purging with argon for 5 min. For the synthesis, the reverse co-precipitation method was used in a similar manner as previously described [30]: 2 mL of the

• iron ion solution were quickly added to a 5 mL of the NaOH solution of an appropriate concentration under stirring, upon a static magnetic field of 0.4 T and constant purging of argon. The magnetic field was applied during the whole synthesis procedure. The intensity of the magnetic field (0.4 T) was

Gas sorption porosimetry for the evaluation of hard carbons as anodes for Li- and Na-ion batteries

• Yuko Matsukawa,
• Fabian Linsenmann,
• Maximilian A. Plass,
• George Hasegawa,
• Katsuro Hayashi and
• Tim-Patrick Fellinger

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1217–1229, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.106

• precursor overnight at 70 °C under vacuum, it was carbonized in a tube furnace with argon flow at a rate of higher than 0.5 L min−1 at 1000 °C for 1, 5, or 10 h. The carbons produced by this hydrothermal method (HT carbons) will be called HTx, where x is an integer. The synthesis conditions (temperature of

• hydrothermal treatment and carbonization time under argon flow) are listed in Table 2. Preparation of carbons from resorcinol-formaldehyde gels Porous carbon monoliths were obtained by carbonization of resorcinol–formaldehyde (RF) gels obtained via a sol–gel process as previously reported [28][29]. In short

• carbonized at 1000 or 1600 °C for 2 h in a stream of argon gas (1 L min−1). The carbon samples derived from RF gels (RF carbons) were labeled with the carbonization temperature, namely RF-1000 and RF-1600. Characterization Powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements and Raman spectroscopy were employed to

Straightforward synthesis of gold nanoparticles by adding water to an engineered small dendrimer

• Sébastien Gottis,
• Régis Laurent,
• Vincent Collière and
• Anne-Marie Caminade

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1110–1118, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.95

• was used as purchased from Sigma-Aldrich (St. Louis, MO, USA). AuCl(tht) was synthesized according to a published procedure [69]. Compound 1 was synthesized as previously reported [37]. All reactions were carried out under an argon atmosphere using the standard Schlenk techniques. All the solvents

• used for the NMR assignments is depicted in Figure 5. Synthesis and characterization of dendrimer complex 2 107 mg (9.79 × 10−2 mmol) of 1 and 73.31 mg (0.229 mmol; 2.3 equiv) of AuCl(tht) (in dry CH2Cl2) were solubilized in a 10 mL round-bottom flask under argon atmosphere at room temperature. The

• under an argon atmosphere. The solvent was then evaporated and the crude product was washed twice with 25 mL of CHCl3. 1.548 g (quantitative yield) of 3 were obtained as a white powder. 31P {1H} NMR (121 MHz, D2O) 21.3 (d, 2JPP = 29 Hz, P=N), 50.6 (d, 2JPP = 29 Hz, P=S); 1H NMR (300 MHz, DMSO-d6) 1.28

A few-layer graphene/chlorin e6 hybrid nanomaterial and its application in photodynamic therapy against Candida albicans

• Selene Acosta,
• Carlos Moreno-Aguilar,
• Dania Hernández-Sánchez,
• Beatriz Morales-Cruzado,
• Erick Sarmiento-Gomez,
• Carla Bittencourt,
• Luis Octavio Sánchez-Vargas and
• Mildred Quintana

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1054–1061, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.90

• measurements, dual beam charge neutralization composed of an electron gun (≈1 eV) and an argon ion gun (≤10 eV) was used. The XPS spectra were deconvoluted using commercially available software (CASA-XPS). TEM images were obtained using a JEOL JEM-2100 instrument with a voltage acceleration of 200 kV. The

Gas-sensing features of nanostructured tellurium thin films

• Dumitru Tsiulyanu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1010–1018, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.85

• . Subsequent studies showed that it was possible to increase the concentration range sensitivity to more than 300 ppm NO2 by growing single-crystalline microtubes. In order to do that, Te metal was evaporated onto quartz substrates under an inert argon gas at ambient pressure [7]. Later, it was also found that

• galvanic displacement of sacrificial cobalt nanowires were employed [15]. Lastly, to grow one-dimensional nanostructures, either template-free electrodeposition of Te, from an ionic liquid binary mixture [16], or thermal evaporation in a furnace under argon gas flow [17] were strategies utilized. The

• sensing parameters did not differ much from the similar parameters obtained earlier for microcrystalline Te films. Further investigations have been extended to Te nanotubes grown on quartz or Si(111) substrates through a catalyst-free growing process in a furnace filled with argon [21]. Another study used

A 3D-polyphenylalanine network inside porous alumina: Synthesis and characterization of an inorganic–organic composite membrane

• Jonathan Stott and
• Jörg J. Schneider

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 938–951, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.78

• gas atmosphere followed by three washing steps with fresh toluene followed by drying under argon and under vacuum. Crosslinking of the grafted silanes was performed at 120 °C under vacuum for two hours. Amino-prefunctionalized ALOX-membranes were stored under inert gas atmosphere until use. NH2-ALOX

• connected with a washing bottle filled with 1 M NaOH solution of water. 50 mL of anhydrous THF and the suspension was warmed up to 50 °C. Under a stream of argon, 3 g (10.1 mmol) of triphosgene was added and the suspension was stirred for 20 min. The suspension starts to clear up and portions of 100 mg of

• bath at each wash step. The functionalized ALOX-membranes were dried under argon atmosphere and vacuum and stored under argon atmosphere until use. Polyphenylalanine-ALOX-membrane (100 vol % DCM): NIR (DRIFT), ν: 8757 w, 6580 bm, 5956 s, 5730 m, 5241 w, 4942 w, 4847 m, 4667 m, 4610 m, 4575 m, 4364 m

Transition from freestanding SnO₂ nanowires to laterally aligned nanowires with a simulation-based experimental design

• Jasmin-Clara Bürger,
• Sebastian Gutsch and
• Margit Zacharias

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 843–853, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.69

• temperature, the inflow was changed to a gas mixture of 5% oxygen in argon, which initiates the NW growth. Although often no inflow of oxygen is reported in literature, oxygen as a process gas has to be provided and – as we showed previously – it cannot originate from the precursor powder [19]. The oxygen of

Epitaxial growth and superconducting properties of thin-film PdFe/VN and VN/PdFe bilayers on MgO(001) substrates

• Wael M. Mohammed,
• Igor V. Yanilkin,
• Amir I. Gumarov,
• Airat G. Kiiamov,
• Roman V. Yusupov and
• Lenar R. Tagirov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 807–813, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.65

• × 10−10 mbar (BESTEC, Germany). During this process, the substrate had a temperature of 500 °C. A mixture of high-purity (99.9999%) argon (Ar) from a gas chromatography purification system and high-purity (99.9999%) nitrogen (N2) at a composition of Ar/N2 = 60:40 was used as plasma gas for the reactive

Hexagonal boron nitride: a review of the emerging material platform for single-photon sources and the spin–photon interface

• Stefania Castelletto,
• Faraz A. Inam,
• Shin-ichiro Sato and
• Alberto Boretti

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 740–769, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.61

• with 10 keV gallium ions at a dose of 10−14 C/µm2 with subsequent annealing with argon at 1 Torr and 750 °C for 30 min. The lifetime, brightness, and PL stability of this SPE are similar to those in 2D h-BN, however with a wavelength variation smaller by a factor of five as compared to the SPEs in 2D h

Soybean-derived blue photoluminescent carbon dots

• Shanshan Wang,
• Wei Sun,
• Dong-sheng Yang and
• Fuqian Yang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 606–619, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.48

• methods; such studies would provide insight into the CD formation and PL mechanisms [31][32]. Using fluorescent N-doped CDs, which were made from grinding soybean via a pyrolysis process at 200 °C for 3 h under argon atmosphere, Xu et al. [31] observed blue emission with maximum emission of 3.17% quantum

• one used for the electrochemical study and the other uses multiple processes including annealing in argon. Note that filtration is needed to obtain carbon nanoparticles from the carbonized soybean residual. Experimental Hydrothermal carbonization Following the approach in Wang et al. [33], we

• filtration was dried at 60 °C in a vacuum oven for 24 h, and the final product was named as HTC-CDs. High-temperature annealing The high-temperature annealing was performed in a horizontal tube furnace under the flow of argon gas. A quartz boat loaded with HTC-processed carbon particles was placed in the

Comparison of fresh and aged lithium iron phosphate cathodes using a tailored electrochemical strain microscopy technique

• Matthias Simolka,
• Hanno Kaess and
• Kaspar Andreas Friedrich

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 583–596, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.46

• location. Additionally, since in a dry argon atmosphere no water meniscus is available to serve as electrolyte, side reactions are avoided. Further information of the non-Vegard expansion related influences is given in the supporting information in [34]. It is possible that the ESM signal is not solely

• total discharge capacity of 2000 Ah, it had a remaining discharge capacity at 1C of 2.156 Ah, which represents a capacity loss of 17% with respect to its original value. The discharge curves are shown in Supporting Information File 1, Figure S1. The cells were disassembled inside a glovebox under argon

• (MBraun, O2 and H2O < 2 ppm) and washed with dimethylcarbonate (DMC, Sigma-Aldrich). Cross-section cuts were obtained with an unfocused argon beam cross-section polisher (Jeol, 19520-CCP). The transfer of samples was done inside a transfer vessel to avoid any contact with air. ESM measurements ESM

Identification of physicochemical properties that modulate nanoparticle aggregation in blood

• Ludovica Soddu,
• Duong N. Trinh,
• Eimear Dunne,
• Dermot Kenny,
• Giorgia Bernardini,
• Ida Kokalari,
• Arianna Marucco,
• Marco P. Monopoli and
• Ivana Fenoglio

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 550–567, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.44

• at room temperature. In the case of SNPs, the samples were sputter-coated with a thick gold film (≈17 nm) under argon atmosphere to improve secondary electron emission during SEM imaging. The NPs morphology was observed at an acceleration voltage of 20 kV. Dynamic light scattering (DLS) The mean

Evolution of Ag nanostructures created from thin films: UV–vis absorption and its theoretical predictions

• Robert Kozioł,
• Marcin Łapiński,
• Paweł Syty,
• Damian Koszelow,
• Wojciech Sadowski,
• Józef E. Sienkiewicz and
• Barbara Kościelska

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 494–507, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.40

• thickness) were deposited using a table-top dc magnetron sputtering coater (EM SCD 500, Leica) in pure Ar plasma (argon, Air Products 99.999%). The Ag target was of 99.99% purity, the rate of layer deposition was about 0.4 nm·s−1, and the incident power was in the range of 30–40 W. The layer thickness was

• measured in situ using a quartz crystal microbalance. To form nanostructures, the as-prepared films were put into a hot furnace and annealed in argon atmosphere at different temperatures for different periods of time. The surface morphology of the samples was analyzed using a FEI Quanta FEG 250 SEM

Nanoparticles based on the zwitterionic pillar[5]arene and Ag⁺: synthesis, self-assembly and cytotoxicity in the human lung cancer cell line A549

• Dmitriy N. Shurpik,
• Denis A. Sevastyanov,
• Pavel V. Zelenikhin,
• Pavel L. Padnya,
• Vladimir G. Evtugyn,
• Yuriy N. Osin and
• Ivan I. Stoikov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 421–431, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.33

• of compounds 3 and 4 Pillar[5]arene 2 (0.3g, 0.16 mmol) was dissolved in 15 mL of anhydrous DMF. Then 1,3-propanesultone or 1,4-butanesultone (4.7 mmol) was added to the reaction mixture. The reaction mixture was stirred at a temperature of 100 °C under argon atmosphere for 48 h. The reaction mixture

Formation of nanoripples on ZnO flat substrates and nanorods by gas cluster ion bombardment

• Xiaomei Zeng,
• Vasiliy Pelenovich,
• Bin Xing,
• Rakhim Rakhimov,
• Wenbin Zuo,
• Alexander Tolstogouzov,
• Chuansheng Liu,
• Dejun Fu and
• Xiangheng Xiao

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 383–390, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.29

• and ion fluence are qualitatively the same as those of the flat targets. The obtained result can be compared with a study by Ghoniem et al. on the sputtering of Re and W nanorods with low-energy argon ions in which the authors have found the formation of rather weak ripple structures on the stem side

Poly(1-vinylimidazole) polyplexes as novel therapeutic gene carriers for lung cancer therapy

• Gayathri Kandasamy,
• Elena N. Danilovtseva,
• Vadim V. Annenkov and
• Uma Maheswari Krishnan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 354–369, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.26

• was obtained via the polymerization of a 30% ethanolic solution of 1-vinylimidazole in the presence of 2% (by monomer mass) of 2,2-azobis(isobutyronitrile) in argon atmosphere at 60 °C by Prof. Annenkov’s group and the polymer fraction with a molecular weight of 35,000 Da was used for the study

Implementation of data-cube pump–probe KPFM on organic solar cells

• Benjamin Grévin,
• Olivier Bardagot and
• Renaud Demadrille

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 323–337, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.24

• rpm for 1 s (≈30 nm) and annealed at 120 °C for 10 min under ambient conditions. The substrate was then transferred into an argon-filled glovebox for spin-coating of an active layer of the PTB7:PC71BM solution (1:1.5 weight ratio, 25 mg∙mL−1 total concentration) in anhydrous chlorobenzene. The blend

An advanced structural characterization of templated meso-macroporous carbon monoliths by small- and wide-angle scattering techniques

• Felix M. Badaczewski,
• Marc O. Loeh,
• Torben Pfaff,
• Dirk Wallacher,
• Daniel Clemens and
• Bernd M. Smarsly

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 310–322, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.23

• adsorbates such as nitrogen, argon, krypton or carbon monoxide. We chose p-xylene as an adsorbate for vapour sorption to address the sorption at room temperature. To obtain a detailed view of the nanopore space, which exhibits micro-, meso- and macropores, but with an upper limit of ca. 100 nm, small-angle

• -quantitatively way. The obtained values of the argon BET surface (Figure 3C) and the overall SANS S/V surface (Table 1) give insights into the accessibility of the pore network upon adsorption. Figure 5A shows the proportion of the surface obtained by argon physisorption in comparison to the overall surface

• carbonate [60], propylene carbonate [61] and ionic liquids [1] in contrast to argon. Furthermore, the adsorption of xylene isomers is an important step for synthesizing polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) [62]. Moreover, Ar physisorption measurements are conducted at 87 K

Simple synthesis of nanosheets of rGO and nitrogenated rGO

• Pallellappa Chithaiah,
• Madhan Mohan Raju,
• Giridhar U. Kulkarni and
• C. N. R. Rao

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 68–75, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.7

• oxide (H-rGO) was obtained as follows. 0.5 g of the rGO sample was taken in a ceramic boat and placed in a tube furnace. The sample was heated at 700 °C for 1 h in a continuous flow of H2/Ar gas (5% hydrogen gas with Argon). After the reaction, the temperature was allowed to cool down to room

Synthesis of amorphous and graphitized porous nitrogen-doped carbon spheres as oxygen reduction reaction catalysts

• Maximilian Wassner,
• Markus Eckardt,
• Andreas Reyer,
• Thomas Diemant,
• Michael S. Elsaesser,
• R. Jürgen Behm and
• Nicola Hüsing

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1–15, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.1

• Emsure, 37%), argon (Air Liquide, 99.99%), and ammonia (Air Liquide, 99.9%). Synthesis of (graphitized) N-doped carbon spheres The synthesis of the nitrided carbon spheres (NCS) was analogous to the procedure in our previous publications [27][34]. Carbon spheres were synthesized by hydrothermal treatment

• under argon atmosphere in a tube furnace (V = 12 L) for 4 h (heating rate 5 °C·min−1) at different temperatures, between 550 and 1000 °C with steps of 150 °C, followed by N-doping in an ammonia atmosphere (3 NL·h−1), holding the individual carbonization temperature of each sample for 1 h. Cooling to

• room temperature was performed in an argon flow. Synthesis of graphitized N-doped carbon spheres (g-NCS): As-synthesized carbon spheres were pre-carbonized in argon atmosphere for 1 h (heating rate 5 °C·min−1) at 550 °C. A solution of 5.05 g iron(III) nitrate in 50 mL aqua dest. was added to 2.5 g pre