Nanoporous and nonporous conjugated donor–acceptor polymer semiconductors for photocatalytic hydrogen production

• Zhao-Qi Sheng,
• Yu-Qin Xing,
• Yan Chen,
• Guang Zhang,
• Shi-Yong Liu and
• Long Chen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 607–623, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.50

• are primarily inorganic materials, such as metal oxides and sulfides [5]. Inorganic photocatalysts, however, have some inherent drawbacks. Harsh synthetic conditions, such as high pressure and temperature, are required [5]. Moreover, many reported inorganic photocatalysts contain heavy metal elements

Impact of GaAs(100) surface preparation on EQE of AZO/Al₂O₃/p-GaAs photovoltaic structures

• Piotr Caban,
• Rafał Pietruszka,
• Jarosław Kaszewski,
• Monika Ożga,
• Bartłomiej S. Witkowski,
• Krzysztof Kopalko,
• Piotr Kuźmiuk,
• Katarzyna Gwóźdź,
• Ewa Płaczek-Popko,
• Krystyna Lawniczak-Jablonska and
• Marek Godlewski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 578–592, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.48

• arsenide is a known and intensively studied phenomenon in semiconductor industry [4]. The air exposure of GaAs surface results in an immediate appearance of different oxides of various compositions (e.g., AsO, As2O, As2O3, GaO, Ga2O, Ga2O3, GaAsO3, and GaAsO4) as well as of elemental arsenic [5][6][7]. The

• presence of an amorphous film of native oxides gives rise to midgap surface states in GaAs [8] which results in Fermi-level pinning [9]. Due to a high surface-related recombination velocity, a decrease in the photoluminescence (PL) of the semiconductor is also observed [7]. These phenomena have strong and

• aqueous solutions are used with the addition of an oxidizer – usually hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Such an etchant is able to turn GaAs into oxide and dissolve the created oxides “at the same time”. The popular etchants are H2SO4/H2O2/H2O, NH4OH/H2O2/H2O, and citric acid (CA)-based etchants – CA/H2O2/H2O [17

Influence of electrospray deposition on C₆₀ molecular assemblies

• Antoine Hinaut,
• Sebastian Scherb,
• Sara Freund,
• Zhao Liu,
• Thilo Glatzel and
• Ernst Meyer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 552–558, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.45

• materials, ranging from metal surfaces [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13], over metal oxides [14] and insulating substrates [15] to graphene monolayers on metals [16]. In HV-ESD-based devices, a solution containing the molecules reaches an emitter located in front of the entrance capillary, as shown in Figure

Interface interaction of transition metal phthalocyanines with strontium titanate (100)

• Reimer Karstens,
• Thomas Chassé and
• Heiko Peisert

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 485–496, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.39

• at interfaces; strontium titanate; transition metal phthalocyanines; Introduction Interfaces between organic semiconductors and oxides are of increasing fundamental interest. Such interfaces determine key properties of a broad variety of electronic devices. Common examples are dye-sensitized solar

Solution combustion synthesis of a nanometer-scale Co₃O₄ anode material for Li-ion batteries

• Monika Michalska,
• Huajun Xu,
• Qingmin Shan,
• Shiqiang Zhang,
• Yohan Dall'Agnese,
• Yu Gao,
• Amrita Jain and
• Marcin Krajewski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 424–431, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.34

• potential next-generation anodes. Among them, transition metal oxides (TMOs) have attracted particular attention because their capacities are significantly greater than those of carbonaceous electrode materials. Also, most of the TMOs are relatively inexpensive and easily accessible due to their high

• the formation of composite materials consisting of Co3O4 and different materials, including carbon-based materials, such as graphene [7][8], carbon nanotubes [9], carbon coatings [10], dictyophora indusiata-derived carbon [11], or other transition metal oxides [12]. This approach usually leads to a

Structural and optical characteristics determined by the sputtering deposition conditions of oxide thin films

• Petronela Prepelita,
• Florin Garoi and
• Valentin Craciun

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 354–365, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.29

• others. Among the important applications of these oxides are materials with dielectric properties used in the fabrication of metasurface structures, transparent conductive oxides and buffer layers used in solar cells, and materials used in sensor technology [6][8][17][18][19][20][21]. Materials with

• properties. Transparent oxides are an attractive class of plasmonic materials which are under intense study for their integration into low-loss metamaterial structures and a series of applications in transformation optics, sensors, and imaging. Here we used oxide thin films and studied their optical

Nickel nanoparticle-decorated reduced graphene oxide/WO₃ nanocomposite – a promising candidate for gas sensing

• Ilka Simon,
• Alexandr Savitsky,
• Rolf Mülhaupt,
• Vladimir Pankov and
• Christoph Janiak

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 343–353, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.28

• gas sensitivity of semiconductor oxide compositions with graphene. The reasons for the increase in the response and decrease in the operating temperature of metal oxides combined with non-oxidized graphene are synergetic effects between graphene and metal oxides as a result of chemical bonds between

• composite create a hierarchical nanostructure and facilitate the diffusion of NO2 molecules, increasing the contacts and enhancing the chemisorption of the gas. rGO has large specific area and more active sites. Gas sensors of n-type semiconductors based on oxides exhibit resistance changes induced by

TiO_x/Pt₃Ti(111) surface-directed formation of electronically responsive supramolecular assemblies of tungsten oxide clusters

• Marco Moors,
• Yun An,
• Agnieszka Kuc and
• Kirill Yu. Monakhov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 203–212, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.16

• result of thermal evaporation of WO3 powder on the complex TiOx/Pt3Ti(111) surfaces under ultra-high vacuum conditions. The physisorbed tritungsten nano-oxides were found as isolated single units located on the metallic attraction points or as supramolecular self-assemblies with a W3O9-capped hexagonal

• rectangular symmetry of titanium oxides. Therefore, the TiO layer is forced to adopt the hexagonal symmetry of the substrate. Note that the formation of the oxide z’- and w’-TiOx phases is not only limited to the growth on the Pt3Ti(111) surface shown herein. Sedona et al. [24][25][26] demonstrated, in many

A review on the green and sustainable synthesis of silver nanoparticles and one-dimensional silver nanostructures

• Sina Kaabipour and
• Shohreh Hemmati

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 102–136, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.9

• sol–gel method is one of the most common techniques to synthesize AgNPs. The sol–gel process is considered to be a multifaceted approach for the synthesis of nanoparticles in various forms – especially complex compounds – such as metal-complex oxides, inorganic nanocomposites, and chalcogenides [144

ZnO and MXenes as electrode materials for supercapacitor devices

• Ameen Uddin Ammar,
• Ipek Deniz Yildirim,
• Feray Bakan and
• Emre Erdem

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 49–57, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.4

• , recently developed metal oxides, specifically nanostructured ZnO, and MXenes with their defect structures, size effects, as well as optical and electronic properties have been presented as electrode material in supercapacitor devices. The discussion of MXenes along with ZnO, although different in chemistry

• oxides are more complicated than those of carbon materials because there are many peaks for each mode. The most prominent peak in Raman spectra of ZnO is E2(high) for ZnO crystals. Once the size of the ZnO crystallites is below 50 nm, broadening, softening, and a significant shift is observed for this

• capacity and high energy density so that in the near future supercapacitors might work together with batteries as an integrated energy storage system. Metal oxides, MXenes, and perovskites are the most promising electrode materials for this end. However, the specific capacitance values of those electrodes

Atomic layer deposited films of Al₂O₃ on fluorine-doped tin oxide electrodes: stability and barrier properties

• Hana Krýsová,
• Michael Neumann-Spallart,
• Hana Tarábková,
• Pavel Janda,
• Ladislav Kavan and
• Josef Krýsa

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 24–34, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.2

• , disintegration of metallic structural elements into oxides is a process that leads to ultimate loss of these structural elements if they are not properly protected. Turning iron and steel into rust is quantitatively the largest loss factor for structures, vehicles, and machinery worldwide. In some cases, oxides

• better the blocking. This approach has been used previously [18][19][20] for testing semiconducting nonporous blocking layers of oxides (TiO2 or SnO2) deposited onto FTO. In this way, direct electron transfer between the redox couple in the electrolyte solution and the conducting substrate (i.e., FTO

Free and partially encapsulated manganese ferrite nanoparticles in multiwall carbon nanotubes

• Saja Al-Khabouri,
• Salim Al-Harthi,
• Toru Maekawa,
• Mohamed E. Elzain,
• Ashraf Al-Hinai,
• Ahmed D. Al-Rawas,
• Abbsher M. Gismelseed,
• Ali A. Yousif and
• Myo Tay Zar Myint

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1891–1904, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.170

• values was estimated to be equal to ±0.1 eV. Due to the charging effect of the oxides, electron flooding was carried out for charge compensation. A helium lamp with 21.2 eV (He I) excitation energy was used for ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopy (UPS, Omicron Nanotechnology). A −5 V sample bias was

Unravelling the interfacial interaction in mesoporous SiO₂@nickel phyllosilicate/TiO₂ core–shell nanostructures for photocatalytic activity

• Bridget K. Mutuma,
• Xiluva Mathebula,
• Isaac Nongwe,
• Bonakele P. Mtolo,
• Boitumelo J. Matsoso,
• Rudolph Erasmus,
• Zikhona Tetana and
• Neil J. Coville

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1834–1846, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.165

• metal oxides, such as ZrO2 [16] and SiO2 [17], influence the morphology and surface features of the resulting binary metal oxide semiconductors. Moreover, these binary metal oxide semiconductors act as charge-transfer catalysts and significantly reduce the electron–hole recombination [18][19]. Another

• separation between the Ni 2p3/2 primary line and the satellite of less than 6 eV, which is smaller than that of nickel oxides [60][61]. The data for the mSiO2@NiPS/TiO2 suggest a decrease in binding energies (Ni 2p1/2 at 872.6 eV and Ni 2p3/2 at 853 eV), possibly indicative of an interaction with TiO2 and

Self-standing heterostructured NiC_x-NiFe-NC/biochar as a highly efficient cathode for lithium–oxygen batteries

• Shengyu Jing,
• Xu Gong,
• Shan Ji,
• Linhui Jia,
• Bruno G. Pollet,
• Sheng Yan and
• Huagen Liang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1809–1821, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.163

• fairly high ORR and OER activities. Significant progress has been made in the development of alternative ORR and OER catalysts, such as transition metal oxides [16][17][18], heteroatom-doped carbons [19][20], and transition metal nitrides and carbides [21][22][23]. Due to their surface physicochemical

Mapping of integrated PIN diodes with a 3D architecture by scanning microwave impedance microscopy and dynamic spectroscopy

• Rosine Coq Germanicus,
• Peter De Wolf,
• Florent Lallemand,
• Catherine Bunel,
• Serge Bardy,
• Hugues Murray and
• Ulrike Lüders

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1764–1775, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.159

• monolithic silicon integrated PIN diode with a 3D architecture. The studied device includes FEOL regions (doped semiconductors and oxides) and “back end of line” (BEOL) regions (metallic and dielectric layers). After the presentation of the results, the capabilities of the sMIM mode are discussed in detail

• , an electrical back contact is created between the microscope chuck and the sample. Results and Discussion The vertical PIN structure Figure 2 shows the surface topography of the cross section of the PIN diode. The different materials used (silicon substrate, epitaxial layers, oxides, and alloy metals

• oxides with a good reproducibility and stability during the scan. The thickness of the different layers in the diode structure (determined for VDC = 0 V and VAC = 1.0 V) can be extracted from the sMIM-C profile. The p+ (anode) layer has a thickness of approx. 780 nm, whereas the lightly doped n-type

Selective detection of complex gas mixtures using point contacts: concept, method and tools

• Alexander P. Pospelov,
• Victor I. Belan,
• Dmytro O. Harbuz,
• Volodymyr L. Vakula,
• Lyudmila V. Kamarchuk,
• Yuliya V. Volkova and
• Gennadii V. Kamarchuk

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1631–1643, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.146

• breath contains oxidizing agents (e.g., nitrogen oxides, carbon oxide, and sulfur oxides), reducing agents (e.g., hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, mercaptans, and organic molecules), and other chemically active components that can participate in various chemical transformations. It is known, for example, that

Cu₂O nanoparticles for the degradation of methyl parathion

• Juan Rizo,
• David Díaz,
• Benito Reyes-Trejo and
• M. Josefina Arellano-Jiménez

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1546–1555, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.137

• with size of 16 nm have a stronger basicity because they generate a higher concentration of 4-NPh−. In other words, the chemical basicity of Cu2O increases with decreasing NPs size. This last result is best explained with Pearson’s concept of basicity [45][46], low oxidation number metal oxides are

• alkaline in aqueous medium. Thus, Cu2O is a basic metal oxide. Similarly, as the NP size decreases the surface-to-volume ratio increases. A higher surface area implies a higher amount of hydroxy groups [47][48] and, hence, a higher basicity. MP degradation can be further extended to different metal oxides

Adsorption and self-assembly of porphyrins on ultrathin CoO films on Ir(100)

• Feifei Xiang,
• Tobias Schmitt,
• Marco Raschmann and
• M. Alexander Schneider

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1516–1524, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.134

• islands on the 2BL film. The findings demonstrate the guiding effect of the cobalt oxide films of different thickness and the effect of functional surface anchoring. Keywords: adsorption energy; molecular rotors; porphyrins; self-assembly; transition metal oxides; Introduction Due to their variability

Controlling the electronic and physical coupling on dielectric thin films

• Philipp Hurdax,
• Michael Hollerer,
• Larissa Egger,
• Georg Koller,
• Xiaosheng Yang,
• Anja Haags,
• Serguei Soubatch,
• Frank Stefan Tautz,
• Mathias Richter,
• Alexander Gottwald,
• Peter Puschnig,
• Martin Sterrer and
• Michael G. Ramsey

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1492–1503, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.132

• islands (Figure 2b, Figure 2c), with their long axes aligned parallel to each other and parallel to the substrate surface. This is typical for 6P on atomically clean and ordered substrates obtained from bulk oxides to metal substrates [21][22][23][24][25]. In the submonolayer coverage regime (Figure 2a

Antimicrobial metal-based nanoparticles: a review on their synthesis, types and antimicrobial action

• Matías Guerrero Correa,
• Fernanda B. Martínez,
• Cristian Patiño Vidal,
• Camilo Streitt,
• Juan Escrig and
• Carol Lopez de Dicastillo

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1450–1469, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.129

• nanomaterials which have also presented relevant antimicrobial properties against several pathogenic microorganisms. Zinc oxide, titanium dioxide, copper oxide, and nickel oxide are the most typical metal-oxide NPs with potential antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral activities [127][128]. These oxides have

Growth of a self-assembled monolayer decoupled from the substrate: nucleation on-command using buffer layers

• Robby Reynaerts,
• Kunal S. Mali and
• Steven De Feyter

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1291–1302, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.113

• ], NaCl [40], CuN [41] and oxides [32][42] have been used. Typically, the ultrathin films of these wide band gap materials act as insulating layers while still allowing electron tunneling through them. Chemisorbed iodine layers have been used as passivating layers on metals such as Au for achieving

Structure and electrochemical performance of electrospun-ordered porous carbon/graphene composite nanofibers

• Yi Wang,
• Yanhua Song,
• Chengwei Ye and
• Lan Xu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1280–1290, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.112

• nanofibers) or metal oxides (manganese oxide, nickel oxide, RuO2, Co3O4, etc.). Carbon is the primary material used to manufacture EDLC electrodes since it has a high specific surface area, which can easily form a double layer to store more electrical energy [6][7][8][9][10]. Since there is still room for

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

• synthesis and investigation of anisotropic magnetic nanomaterials has received much attention in the last years [1][2][3]. Among different magnetic nanomaterials, iron oxides and hydroxides are of particular interest because of their high magnetization capability, availability, low toxicity and

• reference sample (20–50 nm). It is well known that distinguishing between magnetite (Fe3O4) and maghemite (γ-Fe2O3) only using the diffraction technique is not straightforward. However, these samples can be easily distinguished by Raman scattering, since Fe3O4, γ-Fe2O3 and other iron oxides and hydroxides

• synthesized through this route. It should be noted that, due to the wide peaks in the Raman spectrum and to the presence of additional smaller peaks, there might be other iron oxides in the sample [50], although magnetite is prevalent. This is confirmed by energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectrum taken from the

Hybridization vs decoupling: influence of an h-BN interlayer on the physical properties of a lander-type molecule on Ni(111)

• Maximilian Schaal,
• Takumi Aihara,
• Marco Gruenewald,
• Felix Otto,
• Jari Domke,
• Roman Forker,
• Hiroyuki Yoshida and
• Torsten Fritz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1168–1177, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.101

• through different ways such as the usage of wide-band-gap insulator thin films (e.g., oxides, alkali halides) [3][4], a molecular spacer layer [5][6], or sp2-hybridized two-dimensional interlayers (e.g., graphene and hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN)) [7][8]. The advantageous properties of an h-BN monolayer

Applications of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles in drug and therapeutic delivery, and biotechnological advancements

• Maria Suciu,
• Corina M. Ionescu,
• Alexandra Ciorita,
• Septimiu C. Tripon,
• Dragos Nica,
• Hani Al-Salami and
• Lucian Barbu-Tudoran

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1092–1109, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.94

• of iron oxides in the form of magnetite (Fe3O4) or maghemite (Fe2O3) and are easy to produce through a few well-documented synthesis methods yielding different forms and structures (e.g., round, cubic, hexagonal, clusters, core–shell with gold, silica, polymers, or surfactants). A lot of research is

• types of nanoparticles used for MRI, but iron oxide is believed to be less harmful than other nanoparticles, such as lanthanides, which cannot be used on patients with kidney disorders [18], or manganese, which is neurotoxic [19]. Furthermore, excess iron oxides accumulate in liver and spleen as iron

• characteristics, properties, and effects were observed in numerous studies made with SPIONs on animal and human cells in vitro and in vivo, and are concluded at the end of the review. However, these observations are often contradictory. Iron oxide compounds and geometric shapes Iron oxides can be found as