Synthesis and applications of carbon nanomaterials for energy generation and storage

• Marco Notarianni,
• Jinzhang Liu,
• Kristy Vernon and
• Nunzio Motta

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 149–196, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.17

Charge injection and transport properties of an organic light-emitting diode

• Peter Juhasz,
• Juraj Nevrela,
• Michal Micjan,
• Miroslav Novota,
• Jan Uhrik,
• Lubica Stuchlikova,
• Jan Jakabovic,
• Ladislav Harmatha and
• Martin Weis

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 47–52, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.5

• investigated by steady-state current–voltage technique and impedance spectroscopy at various temperatures to obtain activation energies of charge injection and transport processes. Good agreement of activation energies obtained by steady-state and frequency-domain was used to analyze their contributions to the

• steady-state current–voltage characteristics recorded at various temperatures have been used to evaluate the activation energy of electric conductivity. Obtained results are compared with energy band diagram to identify major energy barriers limiting the current. Experimental The study of the charge

• density and carrier mobility, it reflects the impact of charge traps on the carrier transport as well as that of energy barriers on the carrier injection. Figure 5b depicts the voltage dependence of the activation energies estimated from the steady-state current–voltage and impedance spectroscopy

Effects of electronic coupling and electrostatic potential on charge transport in carbon-based molecular electronic junctions

• Richard L. McCreery

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 32–46, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.4

• thermally stable MJs (−260 to +350 °C), which operate for billions of continuous current–voltage cycles over a period of several months, and have a shelf life of at least seven years in air. The sp2 carbon substrate and aromatic molecular layer introduce a special property into carbon-based MJs, in that

Chemiresistive/SERS dual sensor based on densely packed gold nanoparticles

• Sanda Boca,
• Cosmin Leordean,
• Simion Astilean and
• Cosmin Farcau

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2498–2503, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.259

• features during CSA. Finally, the SEM image in Figure 2d indicates that the gold nanoparticles in the strips are assembled with a high density packing. This is due to the good stability of the colloid during assembly, achieved by capping NPs with FA. The current–voltage (I–V) behavior of the assembled

• chemiresistor surface before and after exposure to MBA. Supporting Information Supporting Information provides optical extinction and DLS characterization of the gold colloid, current–voltage characteristics of the gold nanoparticle strips, and SERS of MBA on AuFoN substrate. Supporting Information File 136

Probing the local environment of a single OPE3 molecule using inelastic tunneling electron spectroscopy

• Riccardo Frisenda,
• Mickael L. Perrin and
• Herre S. J. van der Zant

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2477–2484, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.257

• electrodes when describing inelastic contributions to transport through single-molecule junctions. Keywords: current–voltage characteristics; DFT calculations; mechanically controllable break junction (MCBJ); molecule–electrode interaction; vibrational modes; Introduction Vibrational degrees of freedom in

• the formation of an electron–hole pair [22]. This inelastic contribution of the current leads to a kink in the current–voltage characteristic (IV) at the vibrational energy, as shown in Figure 1b. However, as the ratio between the elastic and inelastic currents is large, the vibrational excitations

High electronic couplings of single mesitylene molecular junctions

• Yuki Komoto,
• Shintaro Fujii,
• Tomoaki Nishino and
• Manabu Kiguchi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2431–2437, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.251

• transport properties of single mesitylene (1,3,5-trimethylbenzene) molecular junctions. The electronic conductance and the current–voltage characteristics of mesitylene molecules wired into Au electrodes were measured by a scanning tunnelling microscopy-based break-junction method at room temperature in a

• liquid environment. We found the molecular junctions exhibited two distinct conductance states with high conductance values of ca. 10−1G0 and of more than 10−3G0 (G0 = 2e2/h) in the electronic conductance measurements. We further performed a statistical analysis of the current–voltage characteristics of

• the molecular junctions in the two states. Within a single channel resonant tunnelling model, we obtained electronic couplings in the molecular junctions by fitting the current–voltage characteristics to the single channel model. The origin of the high conductance was attributed to experimentally

Evidence for non-conservative current-induced forces in the breaking of Au and Pt atomic chains

• Carlos Sabater,
• Carlos Untiedt and
• Jan M. van Ruitenbeek

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2338–2344, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.241

• the help of a current–voltage convertor. The conductance drops in steps as a result of atomic rearrangements taking place in the breaking process, and finally falls to a value below 1.2G0, which we take as the starting point of the building of an atomic chain. When continuing to increase the

• . The middle panel illustrates the formation of an atomic chain after stretching the wire electrodes. The black lines represent the wires that connect the atomic sized structure to the bias voltage and to a current–voltage converter for recording the current. The small current–voltage diagram on the

Negative differential electrical resistance of a rotational organic nanomotor

• Hatef Sadeghi,
• Sara Sangtarash,
• Qusiy Al-Galiby,
• Rachel Sparks,
• Steven Bailey and
• Colin J. Lambert

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2332–2337, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.240

• pendant moiety anchored to an organic backbone between two C60 fullerenes, which in turn are connected to gold electrodes. Ab initio density functional calculations are used to demonstrate that an electric field induces rotation of the pendant group, leading to a nonlinear current–voltage relation. The

• aim is to demonstrate that this coupling between a controlled geometry and electrical properties can lead to desirable nonlinear current–voltage relations and negative differential resistance (NDR). As a specific example that demonstrates the general principle, we analyse the molecular-scale NEM shown

• in Figure 1 whose conformation can be manipulated using an external electric field and whose conformational changes feedback to produce a nonlinear current–voltage relation. This novel NEM consists of a pendant rotor attached by a single carbon bond to an aromatic backbone. The rotor is designed to

Thermoelectricity in molecular junctions with harmonic and anharmonic modes

• Bijay Kumar Agarwalla,
• Jian-Hua Jiang and
• Dvira Segal

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2129–2139, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.218

• Figure 6 we simulate the current–voltage characteristics and the resulting efficiency of the D–A junction beyond linear response, by directly applying Equation 13. As discussed in previous investigations [6][7][8], the molecular junction may break down far from equilibrium due to the development of

• resulting efficiency. We further examined current–voltage behavior and the heat-to-work conversion efficiency far-from-equilibrium. We found that G and Σ (more generally, the charge and energy currents) are sensitive to the properties of the mode, while S and ZT are insensitive to whether we work with a

• plot of linear response efficiencies as a function of hybridization Γ and electronic energies (or gate voltage) ε0. (a) Maximum efficiency. (b) Efficiency at maximum power. Parameters are ω0 = 0.02 eV and T = 300 K. Transport beyond linear response. (a) current voltage characteristics for the harmonic

Conductance through single biphenyl molecules: symmetric and asymmetric coupling to electrodes

• Karthiga Kanthasamy and
• Herbert Pfnür

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1690–1697, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.171

• substrates, and the XPS signal (XPS = X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy) was measured in a UHV chamber after adsorption of molecules in the solvent for 24 h. The current–voltage curves were measured with a Keithley 2401 sourcemeter, controlled by a LAB view program. We carried out two types of measurements

Materials for sustainable energy production, storage, and conversion

• Maximilian Fichtner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1601–1602, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.163

• present recent results from the respective working groups. In the field of energy harvesting and photovoltaics, Benedikt Iffland and Christian Jooss [1] report on current–voltage characteristics of manganite–titanite perovskite junctions. State-of-the art and recent progress in energy conversion from

Electrical properties and mechanical stability of anchoring groups for single-molecule electronics

• Riccardo Frisenda,
• Simge Tarkuç,
• Elena Galán,
• Mickael L. Perrin,
• Rienk Eelkema,
• Ferdinand C. Grozema and
• Herre S. J. van der Zant

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1558–1567, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.159

• combined characterization of the electrical and mechanical properties determined by the anchoring groups. From conductance histograms we find that thiol anchored molecules provide the highest conductance; a single-level model fit to current–voltage characteristics suggests that SAc groups exhibit a higher

• theory combined with non-equlibrium Green’s function calculations help in elucidating the experimental findings. Keywords: anchoring groups; coherent transport; current–voltage; molecular electronics; single molecule; Introduction Molecular-scale electronics is a field that in recent years experienced

• , in order to explore how the nature of the molecule–electrode contact influences the conductance measurements. The electrical properties were studied by measuring the conductance and current–voltage characteristics as a function of electrode distance. A statistical analysis of the I–Vs with a fit to a

Current–voltage characteristics of manganite–titanite perovskite junctions

• Benedikt Ifland,
• Patrick Peretzki,
• Birte Kressdorf,
• Philipp Saring,
• Andreas Kelling,
• Michael Seibt and
• Christian Jooss

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1467–1484, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.152

• Goettingen, Germany 10.3762/bjnano.6.152 Abstract After a general introduction into the Shockley theory of current voltage (J–V) characteristics of inorganic and organic semiconductor junctions of different bandwidth, we apply the Shockley theory-based, one diode model to a new type of perovskite junctions

• electron–polaron hole–polaron pair generation and separation at the interface. Keywords: current–voltage characteristics; perovskites; photovoltaics; polarons; Introduction At present, photovoltaic devices are mainly based on high purity elemental or compound inorganic semiconducting materials with large

• range, which consequently reduces a typical device thickness [2]. For perovskite oxides, no direct measurement of the diffusion length has been reported so far. From the experimental viewpoint, one of the main tools to study photovoltaic devices is the temperature-dependent analysis of current–voltage

Electron and heat transport in porphyrin-based single-molecule transistors with electro-burnt graphene electrodes

• Hatef Sadeghi,
• Sara Sangtarash and
• Colin J. Lambert

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1413–1420, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.146

• configurations at the electrodes. This can lead to rectification in the current–voltage characteristic of the junction. Keywords: electro-burnt graphene electrodes; nanoelectronics; porphyrin; single-molecule transistor; Introduction Transistors are the fundamental building blocks of modern electronic devices

• junction and tuning the Fermi energy, this can be further enhanced. Although the electrodes and molecule are symmetric, the junction itself can be asymmetric, due to different binding configurations at the electrodes. This can lead to slight rectification in the current–voltage characteristic of the

Can molecular projected density of states (PDOS) be systematically used in electronic conductance analysis?

• Tonatiuh Rangel,
• Gian-Marco Rignanese and
• Valerio Olevano

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1247–1259, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.128

• such junctions (including the measurement of their current–voltage characteristics) is, however, still difficult to achieve. In order to obtain a reliable single-molecule zero-bias conductance, it was suggested to resort to a statistically significant sample of tens of thousands of measurements [4

Nano-contact microscopy of supracrystals

• Adam Sweetman,
• Nicolas Goubet,
• Ioannis Lekkas,
• Marie Paule Pileni and
• Philip Moriarty

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1229–1236, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.126

• Middleton and Wingreen in the early 1990s [6], a number of groups [7][8][9][10][11] have shown that the current–voltage (I(V)) characteristics of nanocrystal superlattices follow a power law dependence above a voltage threshold (which is related to the Coulomb gap for the system). The power law exponent

Electrical characterization of single molecule and Langmuir–Blodgett monomolecular films of a pyridine-terminated oligo(phenylene-ethynylene) derivative

• Henrry M. Osorio,
• Santiago Martín,
• María Carmen López,
• Santiago Marqués-González,
• Simon J. Higgins,
• Richard J. Nichols,
• Paul J. Low and
• Pilar Cea

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1145–1157, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.116

• , since these dlnI/ds values are different from those within the film. Using these “touch-to-contact” set-point parameters (I0 = 2.5 nA and Ut = 0.6 V), over 300 current–voltage (I–V) curves were recorded from different substrates and at different substrate locations and averaged to ensure the

Observation of a photoinduced, resonant tunneling effect in a carbon nanotube–silicon heterojunction

• Carla Aramo,
• Antonio Ambrosio,
• Michelangelo Ambrosio,
• Maurizio Boscardin,
• Paola Castrucci,
• Michele Crivellari,
• Marco Cilmo,
• Maurizio De Crescenzi,
• Francesco De Nicola,
• Emanuele Fiandrini,
• Valentina Grossi,
• Pasqualino Maddalena,
• Maurizio Passacantando,
• Sandro Santucci,
• Manuela Scarselli and
• Antonio Valentini

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 704–710, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.71

• low, intrinsic dark current and noise. Keywords: heterojunction; multiwall carbon nanotubes; NDR; photodetector; tunneling; Introduction Negative differential resistance (NDR), where the current decreases as a function of voltage, has been observed in the current–voltage curves of several types of

• exhibits a current–voltage characteristic showing a marked tunneling-like shape with a NDR in the region between 1.5 and 2.2 V of excitation light. In fact, in this region, the observed current decreases and varies with the incident photon wavelength. The effect of the incident radiation is so strong it

• smaller threshold value obtained in this case. Both of these results lead to improved performance of the current device. Moreover, for these devices, we observed for the first time a non-zero current in the reverse voltage region below the 2.4 eV junction threshold under light. The shape of the current

Chains of carbon atoms: A vision or a new nanomaterial?

• Florian Banhart

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 559–569, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.58

• the electron beam in the microscope; therefore electron irradiation might have played a certain role during the formation of chains. Once the chains were created, current-voltage characteristics were taken. The conductivity of the chains was much lower than predicted from theoretical work. By applying

• carbon structures, on the other hand, can be quite different, depending on a local sp2 or sp3 character at the junction. In the case of local sp3 bonding, the π-electron density would be low at the contact and make the electron transfer difficult. The measured current–voltage characteristics show, for

• most chains, an S-type behaviour (Figure 4). This is characteristic of the existence of a bandgap. In view of the preferred configuration of polyyne and possible strain, the current–voltage curves are qualitatively understandable. A conductance measurement on a related system has been carried out by

Electrical properties of single CdTe nanowires

• Elena Matei,
• Camelia Florica,
• Andreea Costas,
• María Eugenia Toimil-Molares and
• Ionut Enculescu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 444–450, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.45

• precursor gas. Further electrical measurements revealed a slightly nonlinear current–voltage characteristic. When a voltage was applied to the silicon substrate, this gate potential influenced the current through the nanowire. For ZnO it was previously reported [17][19] that a thin layer of polymer covering

• similar behavior for CdTe, as would be expected for objects with similar geometries. In Figure 5 current–voltage characteristics are presented for a nanowire contacted by this approach before and after poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) passivation. A difference of almost an order of magnitude between the

• representation for band gap determination of CdTe deposited at −500 mV. (a) The system of electrodes produced by lithography for contacting the nanowire; (b) an image of an individual nanowire contacted by FIBIM to the larger lithographically prepared electrodes. (a) Current–voltage characteristics for a CdTe

Low-cost plasmonic solar cells prepared by chemical spray pyrolysis

• Erki Kärber,
• Atanas Katerski,
• Ilona Oja Acik,
• Valdek Mikli,
• Arvo Mere,
• Ilmo Sildos and
• Malle Krunks

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2398–2402, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.249

• planar ZnO were prepared entirely by chemical spray pyrolysis. Au nanoparticles (Au-NPs) were formed via thermal decomposition of a gold(III) chloride trihydrate (HAuCl4·3H2O) precursor by spraying 2 mmol/L of the aqueous precursor solution onto a substrate held at 260 °C. Current–voltage scans and

• pneumatically sprayed through air onto a substrate with a surface temperature of 260 °C. The solution volume was varied from 2.5 to 10 mL and the solution feeding rate was 1 mL/min. Current–voltage scans of the solar cells were used to obtain the principal characteristics of the solar cells: voltage at open

• sample. Open-circuit voltage (VOC), short-circuit current (JSC), fill factor (FF) and light to electricity conversion efficiency (η) of ITO/ZnO/In2S3/CuInS2/Au-NP solar cell, evaluated from current–voltage measurements. The volume of the precursor solution for Au-NP was 2.5 mL. The EQE of the cell is

Characterization of 10,12-pentacosadiynoic acid Langmuir–Blodgett monolayers and their use in metal–insulator–metal tunnel devices

• Saumya Sharma,
• Mohamad Khawaja,
• Manoj K. Ram,
• D. Yogi Goswami and
• Elias Stefanakos

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2240–2247, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.233

• , horizontal deposition) techniques were used to deposit the PDA film on various substrates (glass, quartz, silicon, and nickel-coated film on glass). The electrochemical, electrical and optical properties of the LB and LS PDA films were studied using cyclic voltammetry, current–voltage characteristics (I–V

• precise control of the thickness of the insulating monolayers proved critical for electron tunneling to take place in the MIM structure. The current–voltage characteristics of the MIM diode revealed tunneling behavior in the fabricated Ni–PDA LB film–Ni structures. Keywords: Langmuir–Blodgett monolayer

• sputtered onto the PDA layers with the aid of a shadow mask. To avoid physical damage to the PDA layers, the RF power during sputtering was kept at only 30 W to sustain enough plasma to allow sputtering of Ni atoms. Current–voltage characteristics of the Ni–PDA–Ni assembly were measured using a

Low cost, p-ZnO/n-Si, rectifying, nano heterojunction diode: Fabrication and electrical characterization

• Vinay Kabra,
• Lubna Aamir and
• M. M. Malik

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2216–2221, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.230

• an n-Si substrate using a dip coating technique. The device was then characterized by current–voltage (I–V) and capacitance–voltage (C–V) measurements. The effect of UV illumination on the I–V characteristics was also explored and indicated the formation of a highly rectifying, nano heterojunction

• other electronic circuitry. Keywords: capacitance–voltage measurements; current–voltage measurement; solution-processed rectifying p-ZnO/n-Si heterojunction diode; UV illumination; Introduction The fabrication of homo- and hetero-junction diodes based on nanomaterials is an emerging field that could

• using solution-processed p-ZnO nanoparticles. The current–voltage (I–V) and capacitance–voltage (C–V) characteristics of heterojunctions were analyzed, resulting in rectification ratios of 101 and 232 (at 3 V) and cut-in voltages of 1.5 V and 0.9 V under dark and UV illumination, respectively

Electrical contacts to individual SWCNTs: A review

• Wei Liu,
• Christofer Hierold and
• Miroslav Haluska

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2202–2215, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.229

• ) measurement was developed to extract the Schottky barrier height for silicon planar devices [31], it requires a more sophisticated setup for CNFETs due to the small capacitance in the metal–SWCNT contact area [32]. Current–voltage (I–V) measurements performed at different temperatures (also called the thermal

Sequence-dependent electrical response of ssDNA-decorated carbon nanotube, field-effect transistors to dopamine

• Hari Krishna Salila Vijayalal Mohan,
• Jianing An and
• Lianxi Zheng

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2113–2121, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.220

• sequence combinations, which interact differently with CNTs as well as DA, and consequently, this influences the FET response. The transistor electrical parameters such as conductance, transconductance, threshold voltage and hysteresis gap extracted from the current–voltage characteristics are indicators