Thermoelectric current in topological insulator nanowires with impurities

• Sigurdur I. Erlingsson,
• Jens H. Bardarson and
• Andrei Manolescu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1156–1161, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.107

• properties is not always straightforward [3]. Even though few experimental studies exist on thermoelectric properties in topological insulator nanowires (TIN), many studies have reported magnetoresistance oscillations, both in longitudinal and transversal fields for TINs [4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. In its

• experimental reach. Also, since the transport is over long systems, it is much simpler to maintain a large temperature difference of tens of kelvins, compared to the case of quantum dots. In this paper we extend our previous work on thermoelectric currents in TIN [11], by including the effects of impurities

Effect of annealing treatments on CeO₂ grown on TiN and Si substrates by atomic layer deposition

• Silvia Vangelista,
• Rossella Piagge,
• Satu Ek and
• Alessio Lamperti

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 890–899, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.83

• this work, we investigate the effect of thermal treatment on CeO2 films fabricated by using atomic layer deposition (ALD) on titanium nitride (TiN) or on silicon (Si) substrates. In particular, we report on the structural, chemical and morphological properties of 25 nm thick ceria oxide with particular

• crystallization. When ceria is deposited on TiN, the temperature has to be limited to 600 °C due to the thermal instability of the underlying TiN substrate with a broadening of the interface, while there are no changes detected inside the CeO2 films. As-deposited CeO2 films show a cubic fluorite polycrystalline

• intriguing and could be considered as a valuable approach for fine-tuning the properties of ceria. Extending the results of our recent study on as-deposited CeO2 films on Si and on TiN substrates [8], this work aims to show the structural and chemical properties of CeO2 films deposited on the same substrates

Mechanistic insights into plasmonic photocatalysts in utilizing visible light

• Kah Hon Leong,
• Azrina Abd Aziz,
• Lan Ching Sim,
• Pichiah Saravanan,
• Min Jang and
• Detlef Bahnemann

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 628–648, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.59

• spatial charge separation of photoinduced carriers by creating an alternate permutation of band edges at the interface [146]. Some researchers found that both titanium nitride (TiN) and zirconium nitride (ZrN) displayed similar optical properties as Au and can replace Au NPs for vis–NIR light absorption

Design of polar self-assembling lactic acid derivatives possessing submicrometre helical pitch

• Alexej Bubnov,
• Cyril Vacek,
• Michał Czerwiński,
• Terezia Vojtylová,
• Wiktor Piecek and
• Věra Hamplová

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 333–341, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.33

• filled into glass cells (Military University of Technology, cell gap of 12 μm, homogeneous alignment) with indium tin oxide transparent electrodes and polyimide layers rubbed unidirectional, which ensured a planar geometry supporting an induction of bookshelf-like smectic structures. The alignment was

Review: Electrostatically actuated nanobeam-based nanoelectromechanical switches – materials solutions and operational conditions

• Liga Jasulaneca,
• Jelena Kosmaca,
• Raimonds Meija,
• Jana Andzane and
• Donats Erts

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 271–300, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.29

• different operation states can be used, as it was shown for a 2T TiN NEM switch [48] (Figure 3). The off state is established when the switching element is separated from the contact electrode (Figure 3, state A), and two successive on states with different pull-in voltages (Figure 3, states B and C) can be

• singular switching events [23]. Ceramics Titanium and tungsten nitride ceramics: Titanium nitride (TiN) has a low electrical resistivity that is comparable to some metals, high stiffness (Young’s modulus of 427–590 GPa) and high hardness, high melting temperature (2930 °C), high corrosion resistance [140

• ], and low surface energy [141] – all beneficial properties for NEM switch applications. TiN is also one of the materials used in almost all standard surface and bulk micromachining, thus available from routine CMOS production, and it can be integrated in existing devices. Meanwhile TiN exhibits strong

Electrical properties of a liquid crystal dispersed in an electrospun cellulose acetate network

• Doina Manaila Maximean,
• Octavian Danila,
• Pedro L. Almeida and
• Constantin Paul Ganea

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 155–163, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.18

• in a similar fashion as PDLCs (polymer-dispersed liquid crystals), produced from cellulose acetate (CA) electrospun fibers deposited onto indium tin oxide coated glass and a nematic liquid crystal (E7), were studied. CA and the CA/liquid crystal composite were characterized by multiple investigation

• deposited on indium tin oxide (ITO)-coated glass, and two such fiber-coated glass plates form a sandwich type cell, where the nematic liquid crystal (NLC) is filled in by capillarity [21][22][28]. A schematic representation of the electrospun cellulose network with the dispersed liquid crystal as well as

Atomic layer deposition and properties of ZrO₂/Fe₂O₃ thin films

• Kristjan Kalam,
• Helina Seemen,
• Peeter Ritslaid,
• Mihkel Rähn,
• Aile Tamm,
• Kaupo Kukli,
• Aarne Kasikov,
• Joosep Link,
• Raivo Stern,
• Salvador Dueñas,
• Helena Castán and
• Héctor García

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 119–128, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.14

• terms of the chemical composition. Altogether, 220–235 ALD cycles were deposited to obtain each thin film. The films were grown on various substrates: Si(100) and highly doped conductive Si substrates covered by a 10 nm TiN film grown by chemical vapor deposition. Before deposition, the Si(100) was

• deposited on TiN substrates were supplied with platinum electrodes, with an area of 0.204 mm2, that were electron-beam-evaporated on top of the films. In addition, for investigating deposition uniformity in terms of conformal growth, stacked three-dimensional structures of silicon substrates with an aspect

• the tetragonal/cubic phase in Fe-doped ZrO2 has been confirmed by de Souza et al. [33] for samples fabricated by freeze-drying process and Kuryliszyn-Kudelska et al. [34] for samples prepared via wet chemistry. For the samples grown on TiN substrates, films with a higher Fe2O3 concentration did not

Nematic topological defects positionally controlled by geometry and external fields

• Pavlo Kurioz,
• Marko Kralj,
• Bryce S. Murray,
• Charles Rosenblatt and
• Samo Kralj

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 109–118, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.13

• ], we introduce the reduced temperature where T** is the nematic superheating temperature. In this scaling the bulk phase transition temperature TIN corresponds to and the bulk degree of uniaxial ordering minimizing Equation 5 can be expressed as The materials properties of the LC are reflected in

• purposes we express the latter two distances at T = T**. To estimate their values we choose materials properties of a typical nematic LC, 4-cyano-4'-pentylbiphenyl (5CB), for which [5] A0 ≈ 0.3·100 J/(K·m3), B ≈ 4.8·106 J/m3, C ≈ 1.6·107 J/m3, L ≈ 10−11 J/m, Δε ≈ 5, TIN ≈ 318 K, TIN − T* ≈ 1.1 K, T** − TIN

• ≈ 0.18. For temperatures close below TIN it follows ξb ≈ 20 nm, ξE(E ≈ 106 V/m) ≈ 1 μm, de(w ≈ 10−4 J/m2) ≈ 1 μm. We obtained nematic structures for the given boundary conditions by minimizing the total free energy of the system. The resulting Euler–Lagrange equilibrium equations for the variational

Study of the vertically aligned in-plane switching liquid crystal mode in microscale periodic electric fields

• Artur R. Geivandov,
• Mikhail I. Barnik,
• Irina V. Kasyanova and
• Serguei P. Palto

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 11–19, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.2

• = 3, 6 and 10 μm, respectively. The electrodes were made either of transparent indium tin oxide (ITO) or opaque chromium coating prepared by vacuum sputtering. The LC cells were filled with Merck E7 and ZLI 1957/5 LC mixtures with positive dielectric anisotropy. E7 is almost twice as viscous as ZLI

• transparent indium tin oxide (ITO) or opaque chromium coating prepared by vacuum sputtering. Using the electrodes substrate and another glass substrate without electrode we assembled a number of LC cells with varying thickness d from 2 to 4 μm. The LC alignment was made using a chromolane alignment layer spin

Electro-optical characteristics of a liquid crystal cell with graphene electrodes

• Nune H. Hakobyan,
• Hakob L. Margaryan,
• Valeri K. Abrahamyan,
• Vladimir M. Aroutiounian,
• Arpi S. Dilanchian Gharghani,
• Amalya B. Kostanyan,
• Timothy D. Wilkinson and
• Nelson Tabirian

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2802–2806, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.279

• Centre of Molecular Materials for Photonics and Electronics, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, 9 J. J. Thomson Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 0FA, UK BEAM Co., 1300 Lee Road, Orlando, FL, 32810, USA 10.3762/bjnano.8.279 Abstract In liquid crystal devices (LCDs) the indium tin oxide (ITO) films

• conductive layer, which is often a thin film of metal (e.g., Au, Ag) or indium tin oxide (ITO). However, the use of these coatings often complicates the technology because of the need for antireflection coatings, or they disturb the optical homogeneity and chemical stability [1][2][3]. Hence a number of

• cell with graphene electrodes (b), and with ITO electrodes (c). The transmission spectra of graphene and indium tin oxide sections of the hybrid liquid crystal cell. Schematic of the liquid crystal characterization experiment. Light intensity vs peak-to-peak (pp) voltage applied, passing through the

Impact of titanium dioxide nanoparticles on purification and contamination of nematic liquid crystals

• Dmitrii Pavlovich Shcherbinin and
• Elena A. Konshina

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2766–2770, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.275

• substrates covered by indium-tin oxide (ITO) electrodes and rubbed polyimide layers were used for measurements. The thickness of the LC cells was set by spacers and controlled by measurements of empty cell capacitance. The thickness of the cells was 15 ± 1 μm. We used commercial nematic LC (ZhK1282, NIOPIK

Enhanced photoelectrochemical water splitting performance using morphology-controlled BiVO₄ with W doping

• Xin Zhao and
• Zhong Chen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2640–2647, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.264

• diffraction was used to characterize the crystal structure of the obtained films. Figure 2 shows that all peaks agree well with the ones of BiVO4 (PDF#14-0688). No peaks belonging to other phases were present except the ones from the fluorine-doped tin oxide (SnO2) substrate. This demonstrates BiVO4 thin

PTFE-based microreactor system for the continuous synthesis of full-visible-spectrum emitting cesium lead halide perovskite nanocrystals

• Chengxi Zhang,
• Weiling Luan,
• Yuhang Yin and
• Fuqian Yang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2521–2529, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.252

• (XRD) measurements were performed on a Rigaku D/max2550 (Rigaku, USA) device operating with Cu Kα (λ = 0.154056 nm), and the QDs were spin-coated on fluorine-doped tin oxide glass. (a) Color luminescence under ultraviolet light and (b) photoluminescence of CsPbX3 quantum dot solutions. High-resolution

Alternating current magnetic susceptibility of a ferronematic

• Natália Tomašovičová,
• Jozef Kováč,
• Veronika Gdovinová,
• Nándor Éber,
• Tibor Tóth-Katona,
• Jan Jadżyn and
• Peter Kopčanský

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2515–2520, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.251

• ; then the measurement was carried out while cooling with a rate of 1 °C/min. Results and Discussion The temperature TIN of the phase transition from isotropic (I) to nematic (N) was determined by capacitance measurements presented in Figure 2. TIN of neat 6CB is 302 K, while doping with the MNPs shifted

• the phase transition temperature to a lower value of TIN ≈ 300 K. This shift in TIN is slightly larger than that obtained at the lower dopant concentration of = 10−4 [27]). Figure 3 shows the magnetization curves of neat 6CB and of the two 6CB-based ferronematics ( = 10−4 and = 2 × 10−4), measured

• sudden reduction of up to about 10%. Passing the same temperature range in heating, typically, does not affect χ′. It changes monotonically without any jump. The temperature range where the jump in χ′ occurs on cooling corresponds to the temperature of the isotropic-to-nematic phase transition TIN, cf

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

• alternative plasmonic materials includes the transition-metal nitrides such as TiN, ZrN, TaN or HfN [11][12][13]. Their advantages are compatibility with the silicon CMOS technology and physical properties suitable for harsh environments (high melting point, chemical stability) [14]. In addition, most of

• these materials are non-stoichiometric materials (metal or N vacancies) the properties of which can be tuned by using different preparation parameters [15][16]. Along with the choice of material, the LSPR efficiency very much depends on the NP morphology [2][4][17]. For example, TiN nanoparticles can

• . Besides this, the main purpose of this work is to demonstrate a generic preparation route for obtaining well-defined and organized metallic nitride NPs. The results presented here can be used for the production of other promising plasmonic nitrides such as TiN or ZrN. In addition, isolated bixbyite-Ta2N3

In situ controlled rapid growth of novel high activity TiB₂/(TiB₂–TiN) hierarchical/heterostructured nanocomposites

• Jilin Wang,
• Hejie Liao,
• Yuchun Ji,
• Fei Long,
• Yunle Gu,
• Zhengguang Zou,
• Weimin Wang and
• Zhengyi Fu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2116–2125, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.211

• -temperature synthesis (RC-SHS) method was developed for the in situ controlled synthesis of novel, high activity TiB2/(TiB2–TiN) hierarchical/heterostructured nanocomposites using TiO2, Mg, B2O3, KBH4 and NH4NO3 as raw materials. The as-synthesized samples were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD

• ), scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDX), transition electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution TEM (HRTEM) and selected-area electron diffraction (SAED). The obtained TiB2/TiN hierarchical/heterostructured nanocomposites demonstrated an average particle size of 100

• and TiN, respectively. Additionally, a thermogravimetric and differential scanning calorimetry analyzer (TG-DSC) comparison analysis indicated that the as-synthesized samples presented better chemical activity than that of commercial TiB2 powders. Finally, the possible chemical reactions as well as

High-stress study of bioinspired multifunctional PEDOT:PSS/nanoclay nanocomposites using AFM, SEM and numerical simulation

• Alfredo J. Diaz,
• Hanaul Noh,
• Tobias Meier and
• Santiago D. Solares

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2069–2082, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.207

• . The core/shell nanoplatelet dispersions were mixed with DI-H2O in 1:2, 1:4, 1:8 and 1:16 dilutions and casted. This reduces the amount of core/shell nanoplatelets per casting and results in thinner films. Three different substrates were used: silicon wafers (thickness measurements), indium tin oxide

Growth and characterization of textured well-faceted ZnO on planar Si(100), planar Si(111), and textured Si(100) substrates for solar cell applications

• Chin-Yi Tsai,
• Jyong-Di Lai,
• Shih-Wei Feng,
• Chien-Jung Huang,
• Chien-Hsun Chen,
• Fann-Wei Yang,
• Hsiang-Chen Wang and
• Li-Wei Tu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1939–1945, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.194

• presented in this work have the potential to be a cost-effective alternative material for the substitution of the indium tin oxide (ITO) thin layer in heterojunction with intrinsic thin layer (HIT) solar cells [18]. Nevertheless, the optimization of the LPCVD growth conditions and parameters to increase the

Application of visible-light photosensitization to form alkyl-radical-derived thin films on gold

• Rashanique D. Quarels,
• Xianglin Zhai,
• Neepa Kuruppu,
• Jenny K. Hedlund,
• Ashley A. Ellsworth,
• Amy V. Walker,
• Jayne C. Garno and
• Justin R. Ragains

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1863–1877, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.187

• ][24][25][26][27][28]. Carbon-centered radicals have proven to be versatile grafting species that can covalently bond to a number of surfaces including precious, coinage and industrial metals [1][2][3][4][5][6], hydrogen-terminated silicon [7][8], and indium tin oxide [9][10]. The resulting aryl- and

Three-in-one approach towards efficient organic dye-sensitized solar cells: aggregation suppression, panchromatic absorption and resonance energy transfer

• Jayita Patwari,
• Samim Sardar,
• Bo Liu,
• Peter Lemmens and
• Samir Kumar Pal

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1705–1713, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.171

• (SQ2) and 60 μm thick Surlyn were bought from Solaronix. Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), acetonitrile and ethanol (≥99%) were purchased from Merck, and Ultrapure water was obtained from Millipore System, (18.2 MΩ·cm). The conducting glass substrate with fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) was purchased from

Oxidative stabilization of polyacrylonitrile nanofibers and carbon nanofibers containing graphene oxide (GO): a spectroscopic and electrochemical study

• İlknur Gergin,
• Ezgi Ismar and
• A. Sezai Sarac

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1616–1628, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.161

• ). Carbonized nanofibers were used as free standing electrodes whereas oxidized nanofibers were deposited on fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) glass to use as working electrodes. EIS analysis were investigated in 0.1 M NaClO4/ACN electrolyte in a frequency range of 10 mHz to 100 kHz at open circuit potential with

A review of demodulation techniques for amplitude-modulation atomic force microscopy

• Michael G. Ruppert,
• David M. Harcombe,
• Michael R. P. Ragazzon,
• S. O. Reza Moheimani and
• Andrew J. Fleming

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1407–1426, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.142

• -limited white noise process can be described by a constant power spectral density within the bandwidth, i.e. [67], where fwn is the white noise bandwidth in Hz and A is the power spectral density in V2/Hz. The RMS noise value σ can be obtained by calculating the total integrated noise (TIN) of the output

• cut-off frequency low-pass filter (Stanford Research SR560 Low Noise Preamplifier). The acquisition front end of a micro system analyzer (Polytec MSA-050-3D) is used to capture the time-domain data sampled at fs = 2.56 MHz for T = 13.11 s. The TIN is obtained by integrating the noise density estimate

• demodulator, the results are shown in Figure 16. It can be seen that the lock-in amplifier follows the trend of the reference filtered white noise process for low tracking bandwidths but exhibits an exponentially growing TIN when the tracking bandwidth approaches the carrier frequency. This fact is due to the

Synthesis of [Fe(L_eq)(L_ax)]_n coordination polymer nanoparticles using blockcopolymer micelles

• Christoph Göbel,
• Ottokar Klimm,
• Florian Puchtler,
• Sabine Rosenfeldt,
• Stephan Förster and
• Birgit Weber

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1318–1327, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.133

• (National Institutes of Health, USA). Elemental analysis: Carbon, nitrogen and hydrogen content was measured using a Vario EL III with acetanilide as standard. The samples were placed in tin boats and measured at least twice. The average of the measurements was used. Infrared spectroscopy measurements

Metal oxide nanostructures: preparation, characterization and functional applications as chemical sensors

• Dario Zappa,
• Angela Bertuna,
• Elisabetta Comini,
• Navpreet Kaur,
• Nicola Poli,
• Veronica Sberveglieri and
• Giorgio Sberveglieri

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1205–1217, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.122

• diameters of these nanowires were found to lie in the range of 20 to 60 nm. The same holds for tin oxide nanowires, even if in this case nanowires are distributed more uniformly on the substrates. ZnO nanowires exhibit a smaller average diameter (20–50 nm), but they are also shorter and form a very dense

• higher than 10 ppm. At lower concentrations, tin-oxide-based devices exhibit a higher response, according to the preliminary calibration curve estimated from the measurement by power-law fitting. If the devices are used for the evaluation of air quality in closed spaces [25], it may be necessary to

• detect concentrations of carbon monoxide lower than 10 ppm. Therefore tin-oxide-based devices are ideal candidates. On the contrary, NiO performs much better than other oxides for NO2 detection, especially at low concentrations (below 10 ppm). European Union (EU) Air quality Standards require the average

Structural properties and thermal stability of cobalt- and chromium-doped α-MnO₂ nanorods

• Romana Cerc Korošec,
• Polona Umek,
• Alexandre Gloter,
• Jana Padežnik Gomilšek and
• Peter Bukovec

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1032–1042, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.104

• cryptomelane samples exhibit a higher thermal stability than undoped ones. For instance, doping with tin and cobalt shifted the reduction of α-MnO2 to Mn2O3 from 500–550 °C (undoped sample) to 850–900 °C [19][20]. This was ascribed to the incorporation of dopant ions into tunnels stabilizing the structure [19