Near-field visualization of plasmonic lenses: an overall analysis of characterization errors

• Jing Wang,
• Yongqi Fu,
• Zongwei Xu and
• Fengzhou Fang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2069–2077, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.211

• structures, such as lensing structures based on elliptical slits, is presented and discussed in detail. Experimental The FIB milling and NSOM experiments were performed in a similar manner as described in [23]. To illuminate the lenses uniformly, sample scan is used in the near-field mapping. The aperture

• implantation depth, E is the bombardment energy (30 keV here), ρ is the density of the substrate material, t is the milling time, and V0 is the ion distribution volume originating from the implantation. It can be seen that τ is proportional to implantation depth, ion energy, milling time and material density

Metal hydrides: an innovative and challenging conversion reaction anode for lithium-ion batteries

• Luc Aymard,
• Yassine Oumellal and
• Jean-Pierre Bonnet

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1821–1839, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.186

• technological difficulties is discussed with a focus on conversion reaction limitations in the case of MgH2. The influence of MgH2 particle size, mechanical grinding, hydrogen sorption cycles, grinding with carbon, reactive milling under hydrogen, and metal and catalyst addition to the MgH2/carbon composite on

• follow by the grinding with carbon, reactive milling. III.2 Effect of mechanical grinding on commercial MgH2 Grinding of commercial MgH2 enables a faster hydrogen desorption with a desorption maximum at 372 °C compared to 445 °C for the untreated commercial material (Figure 11a). As expected, discharge

• conductive additive and a coating agent, which prevents the agglomeration of the hydride particles during grinding. A detailed study of the effect of mechanical milling on the physical/chemical and electrochemical properties compared to AB5 alloys is available in [34]. Figure 15 shows the evolution of the

Structural transitions in electron beam deposited Co–carbonyl suspended nanowires at high electrical current densities

• Gian Carlo Gazzadi and
• Stefano Frabboni

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1298–1305, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.134

• for a fine control of the deposition process. The nozzle-to-sample distance during deposition was about 200 μm. The samples are Au-coated (100 nm thickness) silicon nitride membranes (500 nm thick). Pairs of contact pads were patterned on gold by FIB milling, and, at the gap between the pads, a slit

Electron-stimulated purification of platinum nanostructures grown via focused electron beam induced deposition

• Brett B. Lewis,
• Michael G. Stanford,
• Jason D. Fowlkes,
• Kevin Lester,
• Harald Plank and
• Philip D. Rack

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 907–918, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.94

• grown to a thickness of ca. 400 nm and subsequently purified at 25 °C at various times from 1 to 12 min. After curing, the pads were sectioned using gallium focused ion beam milling to reveal the Pt layer thickness as a function of purification time. The SEM micrographs in Figure 2 depict the bright

Nanostructuring of GeTiO amorphous films by pulsed laser irradiation

• Valentin S. Teodorescu,
• Cornel Ghica,
• Adrian V. Maraloiu,
• Mihai Vlaicu,
• Andrei Kuncser,
• Magdalena L. Ciurea,
• Ionel Stavarache,
• Ana M. Lepadatu,
• Nicu D. Scarisoreanu,
• Andreea Andrei,
• Valentin Ion and
• Maria Dinescu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 893–900, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.92

• film sample were glued face to face, followed by mechanical polishing and ion milling in a Gatan PIPS model 691 aparatus. Transmission electron microscopy was performed by using a Jeol ARM 200F electron microscope, performing normal TEM imaging, scanning transmission electron microscopy-high angle

Hollow plasmonic antennas for broadband SERS spectroscopy

• Gabriele C. Messina,
• Mario Malerba,
• Pierfrancesco Zilio,
• Ermanno Miele,
• Michele Dipalo,
• Lorenzo Ferrara and
• Francesco De Angelis

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 492–498, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.50

• (SERS) and are activated by a wide range of excitation wavelengths. The three-dimensional hollow nanoantennas were produced on an optical resist by a secondary electron lithography approach, generated by fast ion-beam milling on the polymer and then covered with silver in order to obtain plasmonic

• energy. It is also conceivable to vary the angle of the ion milling, leading to the formation of tilted antennas. Moreover, the possibility of covering the polymer template with different materials expands the range of novel applications for such structures. In this paper, we exploit this fabrication

• proposed method is fast with respect to other approaches regarding the fabrication of the plasmonic nanostructures [24][25] including those based on FIB milling. In fact, it has been calculated that fabrication on the order of 100k structures per hour with fine spatial control and geometrical accuracy [23

Synthesis of boron nitride nanotubes and their applications

• Saban Kalay,
• Zehra Yilmaz,
• Ozlem Sen,
• Melis Emanet,
• Emine Kazanc and
• Mustafa Çulha

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 84–102, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.9

• ][29], ball milling [30][31][32][33][34][35], laser ablation [36][37][38], and low temperature methods [39][40][41] were reported. The CVD and ball milling methods are currently the two most widely used methods for the synthesis of BNNTs. In this review, the most important BNNT synthesis methods are

• zigzag structure (Figure 2e) [59]. Under the similar experimental conditions with high catalyst content, the formation of thick BNNTs was reported [43]. Ball milling method Ball milling is commonly used in many studies to obtain a high yield of BNNTs [30]. The main objective of the ball milling method is

• to increase the surface area to bring the catalyst, boron and nitrogen precursors into contact as much as possible [32]. Although the impurities originating from the steel surface may interfere with the reaction, the synthesis of high-yield BNNTs was claimed [31]. The ball milling method allows

Bright photoluminescence from ordered arrays of SiGe nanowires grown on Si(111)

• D. J. Lockwood,
• N. L. Rowell,
• A. Benkouider,
• A. Ronda,
• L. Favre and
• I. Berbezier

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2498–2504, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.259

• -thin (5 nm thick) SiO2 thermal oxide (UTO) that was obtained by rapid thermal oxidation (RTO) in a clean vacuum. In the second step (Figure 1b), 2D arrays of small windows (with diameters in the range 50–200 nm) were opened in the UTO by FIB milling using a Tescan LYRA1 XMH dual-beam FIB workstation

• having an Orsay Physics mass filtered ion column operated at 30 keV. A liquid metal alloy ion source (LMAIS) of Au4Si ([Si] = 19%, [Au] = 81%) heated at 450 °C was used for the milling step; a Au2+ or Si+ ion beam was selected independently by a Wien filter. The patterns in the Si/SiO2 substrate were

• milled with the Au2+ ion beam at an incident angle of ≈10° from the normal: Regarding the choice of incident angle, we have shown in another study [29] that the sputtering rate is larger when working at 10° from the normal. The FIB milling process should be performed with a low current dose to minimize

Liquid-phase exfoliated graphene: functionalization, characterization, and applications

• Mildred Quintana,
• Jesús Iván Tapia and
• Maurizio Prato

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2328–2338, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.242

• ball milling process [16]. The melamine-coated graphene layers are easily dispersed in polar solvents. Later, following a similar methodology, the stabilization of a high concentration of graphene sheets in different solvents was achieved by using diverse aminotriazine molecules [17]. The methodologies

PVP-coated, negatively charged silver nanoparticles: A multi-center study of their physicochemical characteristics, cell culture and in vivo experiments

• Sebastian Ahlberg,
• Alexandra Antonopulos,
• Jörg Diendorf,
• Ralf Dringen,
• Matthias Epple,
• Rebekka Flöck,
• Wolfgang Goedecke,
• Christina Graf,
• Nadine Haberl,
• Jens Helmlinger,
• Fabian Herzog,
• Frederike Heuer,
• Stephanie Hirn,
• Christian Johannes,
• Stefanie Kittler,
• Manfred Köller,
• Katrin Korn,
• Wolfgang G. Kreyling,
• Fritz Krombach,
• Jürgen Lademann,
• Kateryna Loza,
• Eva M. Luther,
• Marcelina Malissek,
• Martina C. Meinke,
• Daniel Nordmeyer,
• Anne Pailliart,
• Jörg Raabe,
• Fiorenza Rancan,
• Barbara Rothen-Rutishauser,
• Eckart Rühl,
• Carsten Schleh,
• Andreas Seibel,
• Christina Sengstock,
• Lennart Treuel,
• Annika Vogt,
• Katrin Weber and
• Reinhard Zellner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1944–1965, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.205

• reveal any formation of silver agglomerates (Figure 6A). In order to prove that the silver agglomerates are located inside the cells, focused ion beam milling (FIB) was applied which permits the view on cross sections of various materials by a beam of high-energy gallium ions [77][78]. After culturing

A reproducible number-based sizing method for pigment-grade titanium dioxide

• Ralf Theissmann,
• Manfred Kluwig and
• Thomas Koch

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1815–1822, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.192

• purified by distillation and then transformed into solid TiO2 in a combustion process. After both processes, the resulting powders are de-agglomerated by standard milling procedures and then subjected to a finishing process, which is generally followed by a final de-agglomeration step. In the ideal case

• quartering" method is repeatedly used to divide the sample in half until a quantity of 2 g is left. The 2 g of pigment are thoroughly mixed with 4 g hot-mounting resin and 22.5 g ZrO2 milling beads. Mixing is done for 4 min at a moderate frequency of 20 Hz, using a Retsch Mixer Mill MM400. The milling beads

Donor–acceptor graphene-based hybrid materials facilitating photo-induced electron-transfer reactions

• Anastasios Stergiou,
• Georgia Pagona and
• Nikos Tagmatarchis

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1580–1589, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.170

• surfaces [5][6], liquid exfoliation via sonication [7][8], dissolution in superacids such as chlorosulfonic acid [9] and ball milling [10]. However, a major drawback of graphene, likewise of carbon nanotubes, stems from its insolubility in all solvents, which impedes the chemical manipulation toward

Nanoforging – Innovation in three-dimensional processing and shaping of nanoscaled structures

• Andreas Landefeld and
• Joachim Rösler

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1066–1070, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.118

• . The technique used, called nanoforging, is very similar to the macroscopic forging process. Results: With spring actuated tools produced by focused ion beam milling, controlled forging is demonstrated. With only three steps, a conical bar stock is transformed to a flat- and semicircular bent bar stock

• as complex shapes can be more readily achieved. Single crystalline silicon, processed by focused ion beam milling, is used for durable spring actuated forging tools. Furthermore, high strength metals can be processed and high deformation degrees of the bar stock can be realized without heating. This

• axis [13]. The forging tools were machined by focused ion beam milling at the corner of a single crystalline Si-substrate. Varying tools in different positions were produced to allow several forging steps after each other (Figure 1). All of these tools are based on a spring principle similar to so

Scale effects of nanomechanical properties and deformation behavior of Au nanoparticle and thin film using depth sensing nanoindentation

• Dave Maharaj and
• Bharat Bhushan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 822–836, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.94

• operating pressure of about 0.001 Pa, substrate temperature of 100 °C at a rate of approximately 0.4 nm/s. To observe the grains within the Au film and nanoparticles, focused ion beam (FIB) milling and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were employed. Cross-sections of samples were cut out by FIB

• milling (Nova NanoLab 600, FEI, Hillsboro, OR) by using a Ga+ ion beam accelerated at a voltage of 30 kV with currents ranging from 0.03 to 28 nA. A Pt coating was deposited on both sets of samples to protect the surfaces during milling. The cross-sections were then lifted out by using a micro manipulator

Extracellular biosynthesis of gadolinium oxide (Gd₂O₃) nanoparticles, their biodistribution and bioconjugation with the chemically modified anticancer drug taxol

• Shadab Ali Khan,
• Sanjay Gambhir and
• Absar Ahmad

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 249–257, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.27

• chemical and physical protocols are limited, and its synthesis is seldom encountered in literature. The most common methods are the thermal decomposition of precursor salts, mechanochemical processing, milling and calcinations [9][10][11]. Unfortunately, these methods give agglomerated particles, occur at

Fabrication of carbon nanomembranes by helium ion beam lithography

• Xianghui Zhang,
• Henning Vieker,
• André Beyer and
• Armin Gölzhäuser

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 188–194, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.20

• approaches have been used to exploit the capabilities of HIM, such as ion milling [21], scanning helium ion beam lithography (SHIBL) [22], and helium ion beam induced deposition (HIBID) [20]. Here we used 4'-nitro-1,1'-biphenyl-4-thiol (NBPT) as a molecular precursor to form SAMs on a Au substrate and

Dye-doped spheres with plasmonic semi-shells: Lasing modes and scattering at realistic gain levels

• Nikita Arnold,
• Boyang Ding,
• Calin Hrelescu and
• Thomas A. Klar

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 974–987, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.110

• dielectric spheres [7], via the attachment of seed particles to dielectric spheres that are partially embedded in a polymer matrix and a subsequent electroless plating [8], or via opening holes in originally closed shells via e-beam sputtering [9] or ion beam milling [10]. The semi-shells show a rich

Synthesis and electrochemical performance of Li₂Co_1−xM_xPO₄F (M = Fe, Mn) cathode materials

• Nellie R. Khasanova,
• Oleg A. Drozhzhin,
• Stanislav S. Fedotov,
• Darya A. Storozhilova,
• Rodion V. Panin and
• Evgeny V. Antipov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 860–867, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.97

• mixture of LiCoPO4/C with 1.05 equiv of LiF was annealed at 670 °C for 1 h under Ar-flow and subsequently quenched to room temperature. The XRD pattern confirmed the formation of Li2CoPO4F, though a small amount of WC (about 1%, from the ball-milling media) was also detected (Figure 3). The refined unit

• of the olivine phase were observed, though a small amount of WC (about 1%, from the ball-milling media) was detected in the XRD pattern. Further attempts to increase the Mn content in Li2Co1−xMnxPO4F (x = 0.2, 0.3) by varying the annealing temperature and the heating duration ended up with multiphase

• initial reagents were mixed by planetary ball-milling, pelletized and then annealed in a tubular furnace (under steady Ar flow) at 380 °C for 10 h and at 600 °C for 15 h with intermediate regrinding. The Fe-substituted olivine precursors, LiCo1−xFexPO4, were obtained from stoichiometric mixtures of Li2CO3

Synthesis of boron nitride nanotubes from unprocessed colemanite

• Saban Kalay,
• Zehra Yilmaz and
• Mustafa Çulha

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 843–851, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.95

• BNNTs are more toxic than CNTs [13]. The first BNNTs were synthesized by Chopra et al. with the arc-discharge method [14]. Later, the use of chemical vapor deposition (CVD), laser ablation, ball milling, a template-assisted process, and displacement reactions were reported for the synthesis [15][16][17

• without ball milling technique [19][20]. For instance, Yu et al. first milled amorphous boron with NH3, then completed the synthesis by using the CVD method at 1200 °C for 8 hours without the utilization of a catalyst. Zhong et al. obtained BNNTs by using ammonium boron powders and ferrocene with the CVD

Influence of particle size and fluorination ratio of CF_x precursor compounds on the electrochemical performance of C–FeF₂ nanocomposites for reversible lithium storage

• Ben Breitung,
• M. Anji Reddy,
• Venkata Sai Kiran Chakravadhanula,
• Michael Engel,
• Christian Kübel,
• Annie K. Powell,
• Horst Hahn and
• Maximilian Fichtner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 705–713, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.80

• electrochemical behavior of the conversion cathode material. The particle size of the CFx precursor particles was varied by ball milling as well as by choosing different C/F ratios. The investigations led to optimized C–FeF2 conversion cathode materials that showed specific capacities of 436 mAh/g at 40 °C after

• initial cycling, have been synthesized by high energy ball milling graphite and iron fluoride [17][18][19]. However, the major drawback of current conversion materials systems is their low cyclic stability during an extended number of cycles. Considerable efforts have been made to understand and optimize

• carbon enwraps the formed FeF2 nanocrystallites and provides an electrical contact between the insulating FeF2 particles and the collector. The overall reaction follows Equation 1: It was also shown that ball milling of CFx as pretreatment significantly influences the electrochemical performance of the C

AFM as an analysis tool for high-capacity sulfur cathodes for Li–S batteries

• Renate Hiesgen,
• Seniz Sörgel,
• Rémi Costa,
• Linus Carlé,
• Ines Galm,
• Natalia Cañas,
• Brigitta Pascucci and
• K. Andreas Friedrich

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 611–624, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.68

• morphology. Therefore an additional milling step with a pearl mill to gain a finer dispersion of the superior SC-PVDF cathode material was introduced, and performance increased significantly as shown in Figure 10. The optimized battery has an initial discharge capacity of 1030 mAh·g−1 and after 43 cycles

• which was LiOH, which had formed from the reaction of Li2S/Li2S2 in humid air. Based on the principle advantage of the SC-PVDF preparation technique with an advantageous stability of the electronic network but too large sulfur particles, an additional milling step to get a finer dispersion was

k-space imaging of the eigenmodes of sharp gold tapers for scanning near-field optical microscopy

• Martin Esmann,
• Simon F. Becker,
• Bernard B. da Cunha,
• Jens H. Brauer,
• Ralf Vogelgesang,
• Petra Groß and
• Christoph Lienau

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 603–610, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.67

• experimental setup. Tapers as shown in Figure 1 are produced from single-crystalline gold wire by an electrochemical AC-etching technique followed by focused ion beam milling of a grating coupler [11]. Typical cone opening angles are between 20 and 30° and apex radii are well below 30 nm. These tips have a

• ion beam milling of the grating couplers. Field enhancement at the taper apex was much more pronounced for the tip shown in panel a). Propagation constants kz of the three lowest eigenmodes of an infinitely long gold wire as a function of wire radius R. Displayed are the real (solid blue lines) and

Deformation-induced grain growth and twinning in nanocrystalline palladium thin films

• Aaron Kobler,
• Jochen Lohmiller,
• Jonathan Schäfer,
• Michael Kerber,
• Anna Castrup,
• Ankush Kashiwar,
• Patric A. Gruber,
• Karsten Albe,
• Horst Hahn and
• Christian Kübel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 554–566, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.64

• -mortem TEM analysis were prepared either by focused ion beam (FIB) using a FEI Strata 400S DualBeam at 5 kV and 8 pA beam current for final polishing (sample ncPd 1) or by mechanical dimpling and Argon ion milling from the polyimide side at 2.5 kV in a PIPS (Gatan) (sample ncPd 2). FIB prepared samples

Plasticity of nanocrystalline alloys with chemical order: on the strength and ductility of nanocrystalline Ni–Fe

• Jonathan Schäfer and
• Karsten Albe

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 542–553, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.63

• state was found after rolling at liquid nitrogen temperature to obtain a nanometer grain size [6]. In nanostructured Ni3Al processed by ball milling [7] or high pressure torsion [8], on the contrary, a complete loss of order is observed during preparation. Grain refinement by severe plastic deformation

Grating-assisted coupling to nanophotonic circuits in microcrystalline diamond thin films

• Patrik Rath,
• Svetlana Khasminskaya,
• Christoph Nebel,
• Christoph Wild and
• Wolfram H.P. Pernice

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 300–305, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.33

• waveguide fabricated this way is shown in Figure 1b. Focussed ion beam (FIB) milling is used to cut through a waveguide cross-section, which is the reason for the line features at the edge of the waveguide. The FIB image reveals that the sidewalls resulting from the etching are near vertical, illustrating

• 15 nm rms is determined. (b) Cross-sectional SEM image of a nanophotonic waveguide cut by focussed-ion-beam milling. The diamond, e-beam resist, and buried oxide layers are marked in a false-colour overlay. (a) SEM image of a fabricated focussing grating coupler. Light propagating through the