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

• ; Introduction Surface coverage by thin films for the improvement of mechanical, optical, and electrochemical properties of solid surfaces is of great technological importance. In this context, corrosion, which is an electrochemical process, is the main concern. In an oxidizing and humid atmosphere

Absorption and photoconductivity spectra of amorphous multilayer structures

• Oxana Iaseniuc and
• Mihail Iovu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1757–1763, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.158

• thin films are of special interest. For thermally deposited amorphous films, the structure of which exhibits a higher level of disorder than that of the bulk glasses, the incorporation of impurity atoms is easier, and in many cases the metal additives could become electrically active. The influence of

• Sn impurities on stationary and transient photoconductivity was demonstrated for amorphous As2Se3Snx thin films [5]. The introduction of Sn in the host material increases the drift mobility and the photosensitivity of the amorphous material. According to 119Sn Mössbauer spectroscopy studies of the

• , respectively. Recently, experimental results of steady-state and transient photocurrents of amorphous GexAsxSe1−2x and (As4S3Se3)1−xSnx thin films were presented [7][8]. It was established that the predominant mechanisms of recombination of the photo-excited carriers in the investigated amorphous materials are

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

• modes including scanning under continuous contact wear and damage the sample and/or alter the surface roughness, the results of point CR measurements on bulk and thin films are presented. Though Young’s moduli of bulk polystyrene and poly(methyl methacrylate) could be determined through the presented

• structure, tip mass, plastic deformations, viscoelastic behavior, adhesion, lateral forces, and damping increases significantly the number of free parameters, so that the practical use of such complex models is very limited. The dependence of γ on the sample is a severe limitation for measurements on thin

• films of very compliant polymers (E < 1 GPa), the mechanical properties of which are determined by the mechanical properties of the polymer at small indentations and by the mechanical properties of the substrate at large indentations. The same limitation holds for measurements on very compliant polymers

Out-of-plane surface patterning by subsurface processing of polymer substrates with focused ion beams

• Serguei Chiriaev,
• Luciana Tavares,
• Vadzim Adashkevich,
• Arkadiusz J. Goszczak and
• Horst-Günter Rubahn

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1693–1703, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.151

• Southern Denmark, Alsion 2, Sønderborg, 6400, Denmark 10.3762/bjnano.11.151 Abstract This work explores a new technique for the out-of-plane patterning of metal thin films prefabricated on the surface of a polymer substrate. This technique is based on an ion-beam-induced material modification in the bulk

• of the polymer. Effects of subsurface and surface processes on the surface morphology have been studied for three polymer materials: poly(methyl methacrylate), polycarbonate, and polydimethylsiloxane, by using focused ion beam irradiation with He+, Ne+, and Ga+. Thin films of a Pt60Pd40 alloy and of

• pristine Au were used to compare the patterning of thin films with different microstructures. We show that the height of Pt60Pd40 thin films deposited onto poly(methyl methacrylate) and polycarbonate substrates can be patterned by He+ ion beams with ultrahigh precision (nanometers) while preserving in

PTCDA adsorption on CaF₂ thin films

• Philipp Rahe

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1615–1622, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.144

• functionality. Here, the molecular properties of 3,4,9,10-perylene tetracarboxylic dianhydride (PTCDA) adsorbed on insulating CaF2 thin films that were grown on Si(111) surfaces are studied. Scanning tunnelling microscopy is used to compare the properties of PTCDA molecules adsorbed on a partly CaF1-covered Si

• of 3,4,9,10-perylene tetracarboxylic dianhydride (PTCDA) on metal [6][7][8][9][10][11][12], semiconductor [13], and insulator surfaces [14][15][16][17][18][19], as well as the deposition on conducting surfaces covered by insulating thin films [20][21][22][23][24] or two-dimensional materials [25]. It

• is also noteworthy that PTCDA on bulk NaCl(001) surfaces shows long-range order with a dewetting transition at a certain coverage [18], while experiments using NaCl thin films on Cu(111) revealed an absence of long-range order with molecules rather bound to step edges [22]. Explanations for this

Oxidation of Au/Ag films by oxygen plasma: phase separation and generation of nanoporosity

• Abdel-Aziz El Mel,
• Said A. Mansour,
• Mujaheed Pasha,
• Atef Zekri,
• Janarthanan Ponraj,
• Akshath Shetty and
• Yousef Haik

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1608–1614, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.143

• Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Texas A & M University-Kingsville, TX 78363, USA 10.3762/bjnano.11.143 Abstract The oxidation of Au/Ag alloy thin films using radio-frequency oxygen plasma was studied in this work. It was demonstrated that there is a phase separation occurring between

• : metal alloys; nanoporous; oxygen plasma; silver; thin films; Introduction Silver corrosion upon exposure to atomic oxygen is a phenomenon that was highly studied in the 1980s. At that time, the main aim was to avoid the degradation of silver interconnects and switches used in satellites navigating in

• Lewis et al. [20]. However, instead of using nanostructures as before, we used Au/Ag alloy thin films deposited by co-sputtering as the model system to study the oxidation process triggered by radio-frequency oxygen plasma (Figure 1). The oxidation and phase separation processes resulted in the

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

• Mingliang Yao Guangzhong Xie Qichen Gong Yuanjie Su State Key Laboratory of Electronic Thin Films and Integrated Devices, School of Optoelectronic Science and Engineering, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC), Chengdu 610054, PR China 10.3762/bjnano.11.141 Abstract Due

• triboelectric nanogenerator (u-TENG) was proposed and fabricated to scavenge the walking energy from areas with a high pedestrian flow. The as-prepared u-TENG is composed of two copper-coated nanostructured poly(tetrafluoroethylene) (PTFE) thin films as the back electrodes and an elastic undulated electrode in

• , nanostructured PTFE thin films coated with copper foils (back electrodes), and an elastic undulated electrode in between. The internal wave-shaped electrode is obtained by depositing copper layers onto both sides of the wave-shaped Kapton film, as displayed in Figure 1a. Due to their huge difference in electron

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

• investigation of the structure and binding of porphyrins on semiconducting and, notably, metal oxide surfaces remains scarce [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. We chose here to investigate two different porphyrins on thin films of cobalt(II) oxide (CoO). Cobalt(II) oxide not only is a semi-conducting oxide

• molecules were carefully outgassed for 2 to 5 h prior to deposition at ±10 K of the evaporation temperature. CoO was prepared on an Ir(100) single crystal surface cleaned by ion sputtering and annealing. The Ir(100)-(1 × 1) surface was prepared according to [31]. We employ thin films of two distinct

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

• regime) and charged and uncharged molecules (Fermi level pinning regime) can be obtained. Furthermore, it was found that charge transfer and temperature strongly influence the orientation, conformation, and wetting behavior (physical coupling) of the 6P layers on the MgO(100) thin films. Keywords

• physical coupling to the substrate induced by the charge transfer. Finally, the charging effect on the thermal dynamics and the stability of the 6P monolayer are considered. Results and Discussion Ambivalent behavior of 6P on regularly prepared MgO(100)/Ag(100) thin films Figure 2 shows STM images of four

• approaches and MgO thickness values ranging from 2 to 8 ML [20]. This suggests that the effective εr for MgO thin films is significantly smaller than the bulk value of 9.9 [35]. Critical and pinning work functions The rather abrupt changes over a narrow work function range observed for both the charge

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

• thickness values of approximately 20 and 17 nm, respectively [38][39]. ALD has been recognized as a key technique used to deposit thin films on structures with complex geometries, allowing for the synthesis of nanostructures without shadowing effects and with a high aspect ratio, such as nanotubes with

Protruding hydrogen atoms as markers for the molecular orientation of a metallocene

• Linda Laflör,
• Michael Reichling and
• Philipp Rahe

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1432–1438, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.127

• determined by considering the B-type epitaxy of the CaF2/CaF1/Si(111) thin films samples, see [22][26] for further details. STM and NC-AFM experiments were conducted at low temperatures (5 and 77 K) in two separate systems. Experiments on bulk crystals were performed using an Omicron LT qPlus gen.III

• instrument (ScientaOmicron GmbH, Taunusstein, Germany), while experiments on thin films used a ScientaOmicron LT qPlus gen.II machine, both operated with a MATRIX controller. W tips attached to tuning fork sensors in qPlus configuration [29] were used in both systems. For the measurements on thin film

One-step synthesis of carbon-supported electrocatalysts

• Sebastian Tigges,
• Nicolas Wöhrl,
• Ivan Radev,
• Ulrich Hagemann,
• Markus Heidelmann,
• Thai Binh Nguyen,
• Stanislav Gorelkov,
• Stephan Schulz and
• Axel Lorke

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1419–1431, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.126

• commercial production of fuel cell catalysts, especially the scarcity of noble metals and the insufficient electrochemical long-term stability. Even though the surface-to-volume ratio can be drastically increased by the use of nanoparticles instead of thin films, the amount of noble metal (usually platinum

Impact of fluorination on interface energetics and growth of pentacene on Ag(111)

• Qi Wang,
• Meng-Ting Chen,
• Antoni Franco-Cañellas,
• Bin Shen,
• Thomas Geiger,
• Holger F. Bettinger,
• Frank Schreiber,
• Ingo Salzmann,
• Alexander Gerlach and
• Steffen Duhm

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1361–1370, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.120

• ]. Fluorination is a viable way to change the ionization energies (IEs) of organic semiconductor thin films [4][5][6], which are an important parameter for energy level alignment [7][8]. Moreover, at organic–metal interfaces, fluorination is believed to decrease the coupling strength between the substrate and the

• ][30][31][32][33][34][35]. PEN and PFP have almost identical optical gaps in thin films (1.85 eV and 1.75 eV, respectively) [36][37], and the experimental gas phase IEs (measured by UPS) are 6.59 eV [38] and 7.50 eV [39], respectively. This trend of the IEs is also found for thin films comprised of PEN

• or PFP with a flat-lying (long and short molecular axes parallel to the substrate) orientation, which have IEs (in monolayers on graphite) of 5.65 eV and 6.20 eV, respectively [25][26]. The decrease in the IE is due to solid state polarization, which is a general phenomenon for molecular thin films

Controlling the proximity effect in a Co/Nb multilayer: the properties of electronic transport

• Sergey Bakurskiy,
• Mikhail Kupriyanov,
• Nikolay V. Klenov,
• Igor Soloviev,
• Andrey Schegolev,
• Roman Morari,
• Yury Khaydukov and
• Anatoli S. Sidorenko

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1336–1345, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.118

• the conditions at which switching from the parallel to the antiparallel alignment of the neighboring F-layers leads to a significant change of the superconducting order parameter in superconductive thin films. We experimentally study the transport properties of a lithographically patterned Nb/Co

Structural and electronic properties of SnO₂ doped with non-metal elements

• Jianyuan Yu,
• Yingeng Wang,
• Yan Huang,
• Xiuwen Wang,
• Jing Guo,
• Jingkai Yang and
• Hongli Zhao

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1321–1328, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.116

• (substituting O) can effectively increase the carrier concentration and improve the conductivity. Majumder successfully prepared SnO2:F thin films using spray pyrolysis with SnF2 as the precursor. By adjusting the concentration of the precursor solution, doped SnO2 films with different properties were obtained

• performance of SnO2 is not yet clear. In recent years, many researchers used first-principles calculations to scrutinize the doping of SnO2 with non-metal elements such as F [11][12] and S [13]. The results show that the optical and electrical properties of SnO2 thin films can be changed by doping with

Cryogenic low-noise amplifiers for measurements with superconducting detectors

• Ilya L. Novikov,
• Boris I. Ivanov,
• Dmitri V. Ponomarev and
• Aleksey G. Vostretsov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1316–1320, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.115

• Josephson junctions and superconducting thin films. Experimental studies of such sensors require the design of low-noise cryogenic readout electronics with a direct coupling to the sample. For example, investigations of noise sources in low-temperature tunnel Josephson junctions are still ongoing for high

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

Revealing the local crystallinity of single silicon core–shell nanowires using tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy

• Marius van den Berg,
• Ardeshir Moeinian,
• Arne Kobald,
• Yu-Ting Chen,
• Anke Horneber,
• Steffen Strehle,
• Alfred J. Meixner and
• Dai Zhang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1147–1156, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.99

• results, which supports the idea that TERS can be used as a micro/nano-structure characterization technique. Experimental Core–shell SiNWs were synthesized in two steps. At first, SiNWs were grown by utilizing the VLS growth mechanism [13] using dewetted Pt thin films as the growth catalyst [29] at a

Photothermally active nanoparticles as a promising tool for eliminating bacteria and biofilms

• Mykola Borzenkov,
• Piersandro Pallavicini,
• Angelo Taglietti,
• Laura D’Alfonso,
• Maddalena Collini and
• Giuseppe Chirico

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1134–1146, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.98

• as the FDA-approved Prussian blue nanoparticles, should be explored more systematically. Secondly, given the imposed restrictions on the use of colloidal nanoparticles due to long-term stability and reusability issues, alternative approaches such as nanocomposite materials (e.g., gels, thin films

Microwave-induced electric discharges on metal particles for the synthesis of inorganic nanomaterials under solvent-free conditions

• Vijay Tripathi,
• Harit Kumar,
• Anubhav Agarwal and
• Leela S. Panchakarla

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1019–1025, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.86

• discussion [9][11]. Bulk metals generally reflect microwaves, whereas fine metal powders or thin films can couple with microwaves (the penetration depth of microwaves in metals is 1–2 µm). This will quickly increase the temperature through conduction mechanisms, which enables the sintering of metals by using

Gas-sensing features of nanostructured tellurium thin films

• Dumitru Tsiulyanu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1010–1018, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.85

• Dumitru Tsiulyanu CIMAN Research Centre of Department of Physics, Technical University, bul. Dacia 41, MD-2060 Chisinau, Moldova 10.3762/bjnano.11.85 Abstract Nanocrystalline and amorphous nanostructured tellurium (Te) thin films were grown and their gas-sensing properties were investigated at

• were interpreted in terms of an increase in disorder (amorphization), leading to an increase in the surface chemical activity of chalcogenides, as well as an increase in the active surface area due to substrate porosity. Keywords: gas-sensing properties; NO2; tellurium thin films; nanocrystalline

• development of thin films in chemical-sensing applications, especially for toxic gas sensing. Szaro [4] pioneered the studies regarding the effects of oxygen and nitrogen, diluted in either dry or wet air, on the electrical properties of Te films. The results showed an increase in the hole concentration

Band tail state related photoluminescence and photoresponse of ZnMgO solid solution nanostructured films

• Vadim Morari,
• Aida Pantazi,
• Nicolai Curmei,
• Vitalie Postolache,
• Emil V. Rusu,
• Marius Enachescu,
• Ion M. Tiginyanu and
• Veaceslav V. Ursaki

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 899–910, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.75

• Politehnica of Bucharest, 060042-Bucharest, Romania Institute of Applied Physics, Chisinau MD-2028, Republic of Moldova National Center for Materials Study and Testing, Technical University of Moldova, Chisinau MD-2004, Republic of Moldova 10.3762/bjnano.11.75 Abstract A series of Zn1−xMgxO thin films with

• of the alloy composition. Thin films were also prepared by aerosol spray pyrolysis deposition using the same sol–gel precursors for the purpose of comparison. The prepared films were tested for photodetector applications. Keywords: aerosol spray pyrolysis deposition; energy band tails; photodetector

• ; photoluminescence; photosensitivity; spin coating; thin films; ZnMgO semiconductor alloy; Introduction The ZnMgO solid solution system is of interest due to the possibility to tailor many important physical properties by varying their composition. This alloy system covers a wide ultraviolet (UV) spectral range

Transition from freestanding SnO₂ nanowires to laterally aligned nanowires with a simulation-based experimental design

• Jasmin-Clara Bürger,
• Sebastian Gutsch and
• Margit Zacharias

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 843–853, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.69

• result, Choi et al. were able to measure an improved sensitivity for gas sensors made of tin oxide nanowires (SnO2 NWs) in comparison with powder-based SnO2 thin films [9]. For the use of NWs in electronic and sensor devices, freestanding NWs often have to be scratched off of the growth substrate

• substrates were prepared by two different preparation methods for the catalyst seeds, which are required for the VLS process. As a catalyst material, gold was chosen. First, a-plane sapphire substrates with structured gold thin films (thickness 5 nm) by metal evaporation, and second, a-plane sapphire

• driving force). Similar to dendrite formation in electrodeposition, the growth of freestanding NWs is promoted for high material gradients with distance from the substrate surface [36]. This can be observed for dewetted Au thin films and high incoming material rates. Experiments were performed to

Templating effect of single-layer graphene supported by an insulating substrate on the molecular orientation of lead phthalocyanine

• K. Priya Madhuri,
• Abhay A. Sagade,
• Pralay K. Santra and
• Neena S. John

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 814–820, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.66

• crystalline nonplanar MPcs are monoclinic and triclinic forms [5]. In thin films of MPcs, the molecules may attain face-on or edge-on orientations with respect to the substrate plane while forming the above crystal phases. The monoclinic fractions are known to have strong absorption in the visible range while

Epitaxial growth and superconducting properties of thin-film PdFe/VN and VN/PdFe bilayers on MgO(001) substrates

• Wael M. Mohammed,
• Igor V. Yanilkin,
• Amir I. Gumarov,
• Airat G. Kiiamov,
• Roman V. Yusupov and
• Lenar R. Tagirov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 807–813, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.65

• structure. We propose epitaxial single-crystalline thin films of VN and heteroepitaxial Pd1−xFex/VN and VN/Pd1−xFex (x ≤ 0.08) structures grown on MgO(001) as the materials of a choice for the improvement of superconducting magnetic random access memory characteristics. Keywords: epitaxial growth

• VN/Pd0.92Fe0.08 (the first component in a stack being directly deposited to MgO) have been obtained with the identical properties of the VN layer in each sample. Crystallinity and epitaxial growth The crystallinity and the epitaxial growth of the thin films were examined in situ by using LEED (SPECS

• heterostructure are shown in Figure 2. The θ–2θ scans clearly indicate the single-crystalline structure of the VN and Pd0.96Fe0.04 thin films and of the Pd0.96Fe0.04/VN heterostructures. The (002) reflex of the MgO substrate, the (002) reflex of the VN film (30 nm), and the (002) reflex of the Pd0.96Fe0.04 (20 nm