Nanogenerator-based self-powered sensors for data collection

• Yicheng Shao,
• Maoliang Shen,
• Yuankai Zhou,
• Xin Cui,
• Lijie Li and
• Yan Zhang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 680–693, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.54

• increases with pressure. The output voltage reaches a saturation value after a certain number of sensor actuations, as shown in Figure 2e. This intelligent neuromorphic sensor that mimics synaptic enhancement and memory can be used as a human skin tactile sensing solution, providing rich data for artificial

• exercise intensity information can be obtained in real time. This is a new solution for big data sensing in sports. The mechanical energy generated by blood flow or body motion also can drive sensors for monitoring various indicators of body fluids. Pan et al. [35] proposed a self-powered blood pressure

A review of defect engineering, ion implantation, and nanofabrication using the helium ion microscope

• Frances I. Allen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 633–664, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.52

Simulation of gas sensing with a triboelectric nanogenerator

• Kaiqin Zhao,
• Hua Gan,
• Huan Li,
• Ziyu Liu and
• Zhiyuan Zhu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 507–516, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.41

• applied for gas sensing without external power supply. In this paper, a two-dimensional model of a TENG was established, and a gas jet a rectangular cross section was added between two triboelectric materials. The TENG could generate distinguishable electrical signals according to the different types of

• gas and the different gas injection areas. This work contributes to the area of self-powered gas sensing. Keywords: gas; sensor; triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG); Introduction With economic development and social progress, there is an increasing demand for wearable [1][2][3][4], medical [5], and

• self-powered gas sensors. In this paper, in order to explore the sensing of different gases by TENGs, a gas jet of rectangular cross section was added to the two-dimensional model of a TENG. The TENG generates electrical signals depending on the type of gas and the cross section of the gas injection

A stretchable triboelectric nanogenerator made of silver-coated glass microspheres for human motion energy harvesting and self-powered sensing applications

• Hui Li,
• Yaju Zhang,
• Yonghui Wu,
• Hui Zhao,
• Weichao Wang,
• Xu He and
• Haiwu Zheng

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 402–412, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.32

• satisfies the needs of reliability for flexible tactile sensors in realizing human–machine interfaces. This work expands the potential application of S-TENGs from wearable electronics and smart sensing systems to real-time robotics control and virtual reality/augmented reality interactions. Keywords: human

• ]. This form of energy conversion can not only provide sustainable power for electronic systems, but also provide reliable solutions for active sensing and human–computer interfaces [14]. A stretchable TENG with double-helix structure was previously designed. It consisted of silver-coated glass

• systems. The distinct advantages of the S-TENG indicate broad application prospects in wearable electronics and smart sensing systems. Results and Discussion Figure 1a is the schematic of the structural design of the S-TENG. The device is composed of three layers, that is, the top layer and the bottom

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

• Materials Research Center and Institute for Macromolecular Chemistry, Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg, 79104 Freiburg, Germany 10.3762/bjnano.12.28 Abstract We report for the first time the combination of WO3 sensing elements with a non-noble metal–carbon composite, namely a nickel metal nanoparticle

• –carbon composite (Ni@rGO). Previous work with WO3 had used either NiO (as part of the WO3 lattice), solely carbon, Pd-surface decorated WO3 (Pd@WO3), or Pd or Pt@carbon@WO3. We demonstrate the gas response for pure WO3, rGO/WO3 and Ni@rGO/WO3 sensing elements towards NO2 and acetone in air as well as

• /WO3 composite and CO gas, a response time (Tres) of 7 min and a recovery time (Trec) of 2 min was determined. Keywords: gas sensing; magnetic measurements; nickel nanoparticles; reduced graphene oxide; tungsten oxide; Introduction Toxic gases as well as volatile organic compounds (VOC) are known air

The nanomorphology of cell surfaces of adhered osteoblasts

• Christian Voelkner,
• Mirco Wendt,
• Regina Lange,
• Max Ulbrich,
• Martina Gruening,
• Susanne Staehlke,
• Barbara Nebe,
• Ingo Barke and
• Sylvia Speller

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 242–256, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.20

• current sensing and motion termination results in a larger error signal on hard materials than on soft materials. Thus, the comparison between ion current error images of living and fixed cells can provide insight into the protein content in the ruffle volume, because fixation leads to crosslinking of

Toward graphene textiles in wearable eye tracking systems for human–machine interaction

• Ata Jedari Golparvar and
• Murat Kaya Yapici

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 180–189, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.14

• interaction (HCI/HMI), and personal medical devices; provided that, seamless sensing of eye activity and processing thereof is achieved by a truly wearable, low-cost, and accessible technology. The present study demonstrates an alternative to the bulky and expensive camera-based eye tracking systems and

• technique that is reliable, easy to operate, and can be made cosmetically appealing, EOG-based devices still struggle to penetrate the wearables market, and their full potential has not been realized due to limitations of the sensing electrodes [20][21][22]. The combination of graphene with ordinary

• ” electrodes. Wearable system prototype One of the fundamental obstacles regarding the actual wearability of electronic systems is the lack of robust integration schemes for the interface between soft sensing electrodes and rigid electronic components. We have addressed this issue by following a system-level

Paper-based triboelectric nanogenerators and their applications: a review

• Jing Han,
• Nuo Xu,
• Yuchen Liang,
• Mei Ding,
• Junyi Zhai,
• Qijun Sun and
• Zhong Lin Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 151–171, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.12

• , including self-powered sensing devices, human–machine interaction, electrochemistry, and highly efficient energy harvesting devices. This leads to a simple yet effective way for the next generation of energy devices and paper electronics. Keywords: energy harvesting; interaction; Internet of Things (IoT

• paper, we then highlight the strategies to improve the output performance of P-TENGs. In another section, we give a detailed review on the application of P-TENGs, with two-dimensional patterns and three-dimensional structures, on self-powered sensing devices, human–machine interaction, electrochemistry

• mechanical properties of the origami structures enable diversified and sophisticated compressions and expansions. Previous research works on paper-based origami mainly focused on the seamless integration of sensing and interactive actuation; however, they lacked to address the concerns regarding paper-based

Numerical analysis of vibration modes of a qPlus sensor with a long tip

• Kebei Chen,
• Zhenghui Liu,
• Yuchen Xie,
• Chunyu Zhang,
• Gengzhao Xu,
• Wentao Song and
• Ke Xu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 82–92, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.7

• temperature range [1]. In addition, quartz tuning forks have a high elastic constant, a high quality factor (Q factor), and are self-sensing due to the piezoelectric effect [1]. Therefore, a quartz tuning fork can be used as a force sensor. The central part of the “qPlus sensor” is a quartz tuning fork of

• which one prong is fixed onto a substrate and the other prong with an attached tip serves as a self-sensing cantilever [2]. In 1996, F. J. Giessibl et al. first used the qPlus sensor to measure the morphology of a grating and a CD at room temperature [3]. Since then, this technique has been used

Bulk chemical composition contrast from attractive forces in AFM force spectroscopy

• Dorothee Silbernagl,
• Media Ghasem Zadeh Khorasani,
• Natalia Cano Murillo,
• Anna Maria Elert and
• Heinz Sturm

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 58–71, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.5

• two inorganic materials, glass and boehmite (γ-AlOOH), with up to four (epoxy) and three (boehmite) different sample–tip pairings. We also have a very strong indication that this parameter has a certain sensitivity for subsurface structures (model sample epoxy/PC). Consequently, by sensing into some

Application of contact-resonance AFM methods to polymer samples

• Sebastian Friedrich and
• Brunero Cappella

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1714–1727, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.154

• the 100 nm film is smaller than on the 25 nm thick film. This is due to the shielding effect of the thicker polymer film, preventing the tip from “sensing” the substrate and making the sample less stiff [31]. Yet, after ca. 80 s, a larger amount of polymer surrounds the tip and the contact area

Seebeck coefficient of silicon nanowire forests doped by thermal diffusion

• Shaimaa Elyamny,
• Elisabetta Dimaggio and
• Giovanni Pennelli

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1707–1713, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.153

• fabricate large numbers of nanowires with high aspect ratio, perpendicular to a silicon substrate, that is, so-called silicon nanowire (SiNW) forests. The process is very suitable for the large-scale fabrication of nanostructured devices useful for several applications, such as sensing, photovoltaics

Cardiomyocyte uptake mechanism of a hydroxyapatite nanoparticle mediated gene delivery system

• Hiroaki Komuro,
• Masahiro Yamazoe,
• Kosuke Nozaki,
• Akiko Nagai and
• Tetsuo Sasano

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1685–1692, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.150

• the presence than in the absence of HAp (Figure 5). Extracellular calcium ions are proposed to act as a stimulant for triggering macropinocytosis in macrophages and neurons [25][36]. The extracellular calcium-sensing receptor (CaSR) is expressed in cardiomyocytes as well as in various other cells [37

Piezoelectric sensor based on graphene-doped PVDF nanofibers for sign language translation

• Shuai Yang,
• Xiaojing Cui,
• Rui Guo,
• Zhiyi Zhang,
• Shengbo Sang and
• Hulin Zhang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1655–1662, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.148

• correlation between temperature and signal can be used to avoid burns. The integrated sensing system based on multiple PESs can accurately recognize the action of each finger in real time, which can be effectively applied in sign language translation. PES-based motion-tracking applications have been

• interactions between humans and machines, the indispensability of external power sources greatly narrow their application scopes [27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35]. Piezoelectric sensors generate self-responsive electrical signals based on external mechanical forces. As a self-powered sensing system

• , piezoelectric sensors show potential in wearable sensing applications [19][36][37][38][39][40][41]. However, traditional piezoelectric sensor devices such as piezoelectric ceramics have disadvantages in detecting bending, and their detection stability and measurement range need to be improved [18][42][43][44

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

• unique properties of Yanson point contacts used as the sensing elements. The quantum properties of Yanson point contacts enable the solution of some of the problems that could not be solved using conventional sensors measuring conductance. In the present paper, we demonstrate this by showing the

• point contacts [4], used as the sensing elements. Spectral studies clearly demonstrate the fundamental difference between Yanson point contacts and traditional electrical contacts. The latter normally behave as bulk conductors of electric current without spectral properties. In contrast, Yanson point

• ][5]. The density of the primary nanostructured sensing elements in the sensor matrix was between 5 × 104 and 6 × 104 Yanson point contacts per square millimeter of the observable surface. The mesoscopic point-contact sensor matrix has a small integrated source of energy, which is manufactured with a

A self-powered, flexible ultra-thin Si/ZnO nanowire photodetector as full-spectrum optical sensor and pyroelectric nanogenerator

• Liang Chen,
• Jianqi Dong,
• Miao He and
• Xingfu Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1623–1630, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.145

• light from ultraviolet to near-infrared have attracted widespread attention in recent years for a variety of applications in industry and technology, such as optical sensing/communication, environmental monitoring, biomedicine, and the “internet of things” [1][2][3][4]. Especially full-spectrum PDs

• full-spectrum optical sensing or optical communication. Powering external circuits as a PENG In structure design of the device, ultra-thin (45 μm) p-Si is prepared by isotropic chemical etching to fabricate flexible electronic devices and enhance the performance of the PDs. The structure diagram of a

• that the p-Si/n-ZnO NWs heterojunction device not only can realize self-powered full-spectrum (UV–visible–NIR) optical sensing but can also serve as a power source (PENG) transforming thermal energy into electrical energy to power other loads. Conclusion We have fabricated a high-performance self

Walking energy harvesting and self-powered tracking system based on triboelectric nanogenerators

• Mingliang Yao,
• Guangzhong Xie,
• Qichen Gong and
• Yuanjie Su

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1590–1595, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.141

• ][23], rotation [24][25][26][27], sound wave [28], air flow [29][30][31], water wave, and rain drops [32][33][34]. Furthermore, since they are able to convert mechanical motion into electrical energy, TENGs have been widely used to successfully construct reliable self-powered sensing systems with an

• , including men, women and children. In addition, integrated with six sensing channels along a public aisle, a self-powered location-tracking system was constructed for pedestrian volume counting and passenger tracing. This work paves the way for the application of triboelectric sensors in intelligent cities

Optically and electrically driven nanoantennas

• Monika Fleischer,
• Dai Zhang and
• Alfred J. Meixner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1542–1545, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.136

• , Germany 10.3762/bjnano.11.136 Keywords: active plasmonics; electrically driven nanoantenna; gap antenna; nanoantenna; nanofabrication; nanospectroscopy; nano-photonics; optical antenna; second harmonic generation; sensing; scanning tip; surface-enhanced infrared absorption (SEIRA); surface-enhanced Raman

• or TERS) [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15], as well as for (bio-)sensing applications [16][17][18]. The integration of nanoantennas can lead to enhanced functionality for optoelectronic devices, nano-light sources, light amplification, or hybrid systems in combination with nanoemitters or two

• ultrahigh sensitivity sensing the central feature for tightly confining and enhancing the optical near-field is a narrow gap between two metallic nanoparticles or tips. Creating such gaps to obtain a controlled distribution of hotspots, for example, on a chip, is no trivial task. This has been pursued using

Self-assembly and spectroscopic fingerprints of photoactive pyrenyl tectons on hBN/Cu(111)

• Domenik M. Zimmermann,
• Knud Seufert,
• Luka Ðorđević,
• Tobias Hoh,
• Sushobhan Joshi,
• Tomas Marangoni,
• Davide Bonifazi and
• Willi Auwärter

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1470–1483, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.130

• ; Introduction Atomic-level control of molecular materials at interfaces is crucial to fully exploit the materials’ potential in electronic, optoelectronic, spintronic, and sensing applications [1][2]. Specifically, the effects of adsorption, conformation, and supramolecular organization on the resulting

• anchor for noncovalent functionalization, e.g., to develop graphene platforms to be used in sensing applications [65][66][67] and to employ hBN monolayers for capturing aromatic organic pollutants [68]. On bulk insulators, it was, for instance, demonstrated how the optical properties of an adsorbed

Wafer-level integration of self-aligned high aspect ratio silicon 3D structures using the MACE method with Au, Pd, Pt, Cu, and Ir

• Mathias Franz,
• Romy Junghans,
• Paul Schmitt,
• Adriana Szeghalmi and
• Stefan E. Schulz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1439–1449, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.128

• metal–insulator–semiconductor or metal–insulator–metal capacitors with a high effective area on a small footprint. The high surface area of a silicon nanowire array can be used to fabricate ion-sensitive field-effect transistors (ISFETs) with a high signal-to-noise ratio. An ISFET is a pH sensing

• platform and can be adapted to detect biomolecules [9]. Silicon nanowires are used as template for cancer sensors. The nanowires are implemented as gate in integrated sensing FETs [10][11]. A wide range of chemical sensors and biosensors benefit from porous silicon structures [12]. All these presented

Triboelectric nanogenerator based on Teflon/vitamin B1 powder for self-powered humidity sensing

• Liangyi Zhang,
• Huan Li,
• Yiyuan Xie,
• Jing Guo and
• Zhiyuan Zhu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1394–1401, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.123

• -emitting diodes (LEDs) integrated in the TVB-TENG system. The TVB-TENG proposed in this study illustrates a cost-effective method for portable power supply and sensing devices. Keywords: humidity sensor; self-powered system; triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs); triboelectrification; vitamin B1

• ; Introduction Recently, there has been unprecedented advancement in the internet of things (IoT) technology, which includes environmental monitoring and intelligent community applications. Particularly, humidity sensing has been investigated in environmental monitoring, and in other sectors, such as agriculture

• for humidity sensing is hindered by the high costs involved in their complex production and the high facility costs for particular manufacturing process. Thus, intensive research is required for the design of TENGs based on commercially available, cost-effective and feasible materials. Furthermore

An atomic force microscope integrated with a helium ion microscope for correlative nanoscale characterization

• Santiago H. Andany,
• Gregor Hlawacek,
• Stefan Hummel,
• Charlène Brillard,
• Mustafa Kangül and
• Georg E. Fantner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1272–1279, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.111

• integration. Keywords: atomic force microscopy (AFM); combined setup; correlative microscopy; helium ion microscopy (HIM); self-sensing cantilevers; Introduction Shortly after the invention of the atomic force microscope (AFM) in 1986 [1], efforts were made towards combining this scanning probe microscopy

• correlative imaging on electrically insulating samples. In this first attempt, the readout of cantilever deflection was achieved using the electron beam itself. Shortly after, better performing combined setups were described utilizing more conventional self-sensing [5] and optical [6] techniques for the

• seamlessly between the pole piece and the sample. The assembly is made from grade-5 titanium (Ti-6Al-4V) and the three axes of motion are actuated by stack-piezo actuators, offering an achievable scan range of 30 × 30 × 12 µm. The reported AFM uses a self-sensing readout for measuring cantilever deflection

Ultrasensitive detection of cadmium ions using a microcantilever-based piezoresistive sensor for groundwater

• Dinesh Rotake,
• Anand Darji and
• Nitin Kale

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1242–1253, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.108

• disadvantages during operation in water when the refractive index of water changes [30][31]. Many authors have proposed electrode-based approaches for the selective sensing of Cd(II) [32], but the limits of detection were always in the micromolar to nanomolar ranges. Some of the authors used fluorescent [5][33

• it also requires a lab instrument for measurement. We have previously investigated SAMs of homocysteine (HCys) and pyridinedicarboxylic acid (PDCA) for the selective sensing of Hg(II) ions using a portable piezoresistive platform [39][40]. Experimental results confirmed that proposed setup is capable

• of sensing in the picomolar range. In this paper, we have used the previously designed portable piezoresistive platform for the selective capture Cd(II) in the picomolar range. Preliminary results show that the fabricated device has an excellent response within 20–23 minutes with 0.56 ng/mL (2.78 pM

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

• on the environment. Many nanoparticles showed great potential and proved their utility in biology and medicine. There are multiple types of nanoparticles routinely used in biology and related sciences for sensing, targeting or imaging, including quantum dots for fluorescence applications and electron

• been extensively examined regarding biocompatibility, targeted or intended cytotoxicity (ferroptosis), local hyperthermia treatments, photothermal or photodynamic therapy, and MRI. Also, there are increasingly more studies reporting on combinations with in vivo fluorescence imaging, sensing and

Highly sensitive detection of estradiol by a SERS sensor based on TiO₂ covered with gold nanoparticles

• Andrea Brognara,
• Ili F. Mohamad Ali Nasri,
• Beatrice R. Bricchi,
• Andrea Li Bassi,
• Caroline Gauchotte-Lindsay,
• Matteo Ghidelli and
• Nathalie Lidgi-Guigui

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1026–1035, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.87

• (SERS); TiO2 nanostructures; Introduction Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) as a sensing tool requires the optimization of a surface and its functionalization. The surface should provide a good enhancement over a large range of wavelengths, to detect molecules with various fingerprints, while it