Ferromagnetic behaviour of ZnO: the role of grain boundaries

• Boris B. Straumal,
• Svetlana G. Protasova,
• Andrei A. Mazilkin,
• Eberhard Goering,
• Gisela Schütz,
• Petr B. Straumal and
• Brigitte Baretzky

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1936–1947, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.185

• and structure of amorphous intercrystallite layers. The morphology and mutual arrangement of amorphous intergranular layers and nanocrystals recalls the structures appearing in case of grain boundary wetting [51][52]. In particular, the approaches developed for the description of so-called GB

Morphology of SiO₂ films as a key factor in alignment of liquid crystals with negative dielectric anisotropy

• Volodymyr Tkachenko,
• Antigone Marino,
• Eva Otón,
• Noureddine Bennis and
• Josè Manuel Otón

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1743–1748, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.167

• of particle incidence. Moreover, two-fold alignment domains can appear with two easy axes symmetrical with respect to that plane [4][8]. Amosova et al. [5] explained switching in LC alignment in terms of the length of the crystallites forming relief of the aligning surface and surface wetting by

• conditions, and LC wetting properties resulting in observed pretilt data spread for different experiments. LC alignment appears due to the competition of two orienting effects. The first is an effect of the columnar SiO2 relief, which tends to align the LC director along the pore axis [27]. The second is the

Scanning probe microscopy studies on the adsorption of selected molecular dyes on titania

• Jakub S. Prauzner-Bechcicki,
• Lukasz Zajac,
• Piotr Olszowski,
• Res Jöhr,
• Antoine Hinaut,
• Thilo Glatzel,
• Bartosz Such,
• Ernst Meyer and
• Marek Szymonski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1642–1653, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.156

• assume that, in adopting these configurations, the interactions mediated by the π-orbitals of the molecule extending in the direction perpendicular to the molecular plane plays a pivotal role. At monolayer coverage, the molecules form a quasi-ordered wetting layer that includes regions comprising

• comprising molecules that are aligned with the given review. The first system comprises FePc molecules deposited on a monolayer of bipyridine (BiPy) used as a buffer layer [48], and the second is composed of CuPc molecules deposited on a wetting layer made of ZnTPP molecules [49]. The study of the FePc/BiPy

• a wetting layer of ZnTPP molecules deposited on TiO2(011) [49]. We have already discussed the results of experiments on both CuPc and ZnTPP molecules deposited onto rutile surfaces [33][43][56]. In the former case, the CuPc molecules formed a wetting layer of flat-lying molecules on which ordered

Surface roughness rather than surface chemistry essentially affects insect adhesion

• Matt W. England,
• Tomoya Sato,
• Makoto Yagihashi,
• Atsushi Hozumi,
• Stanislav N. Gorb and
• Elena V. Gorb

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1471–1479, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.139

• artificially mimic the properties of surfaces found in nature [1][2][3][4] to produce exceptional wetting/dewetting properties, such as superhydrophobicity, superhydrophilicity, and superoleophobicity (more commonly known as superamniphobicity or superomniphobicity), has been a major topic for research over

• the past decade [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. There are countless examples of functional surfaces inspired by plants, such as lotus leaves [5][13] and the pitchers of carnivorous plants [9][14] that can be used to tune the wetting/de-wetting properties of surfaces on various substrates

• . Certain of these natural surfaces can effectively prevent wetting by water, while simultaneously protecting against attachment by insects by taking advantage of the same or very similar surface features [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]. Unfortunately, these natural anti-attachment properties have received

Three-gradient regular solution model for simple liquids wetting complex surface topologies

• Sabine Akerboom,
• Marleen Kamperman and
• Frans A. M. Leermakers

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1377–1396, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.129

• with a complex surface topology to study the shape of a liquid drop in advancing and receding wetting scenarios. More specifically, we study droplets on an inverse opal: spherical cavities in a hexagonal pattern. In line with experimental data, we find that the surface may switch from hydrophilic

• (contact angle on a smooth surface θY < 90°) to hydrophobic (effective advancing contact angle θ > 90°). Both the Wenzel wetting state, that is cavities under the liquid are filled, as well as the Cassie–Baxter wetting state, that is air entrapment in the cavities under the liquid, were observed using our

• found. Therefore, the full 3D-structure of the inverse opal, rather than a simple parameter such as the wetting state or θkink, determines the final observed contact angle. Keywords: inverse opal; regular solution model; self-consistent field theory; surface topology; wetting; Introduction Wetting of

Fast diffusion of silver in TiO₂ nanotube arrays

• Wanggang Zhang,
• Yiming Liu,
• Diaoyu Zhou,
• Hui Wang,
• Wei Liang and
• Fuqian Yang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1129–1140, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.105

• the curvature effect on the distribution or wetting of Ag on the surface of the TiO2 nanotubes. According to the Gibbs–Thomson relation [35][36], the equilibrium concentration of solute atoms on a curved surface is determined by the surface energy and the mean curvature. Thus, the equilibrium

Cantilever bending based on humidity-actuated mesoporous silica/silicon bilayers

• Christian Ganser,
• Gerhard Fritz-Popovski,
• Roland Morak,
• Parvin Sharifi,
• Benedetta Marmiroli,
• Barbara Sartori,
• Heinz Amenitsch,
• Thomas Griesser,
• Christian Teichert and
• Oskar Paris

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 637–644, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.56

• ) and on nanostructural parameters of the film (mean curvature and volume fraction). The only material-dependent properties entering are the Young’s modulus of the substrate and the change of the surface energy of the pore wall material with wetting, which for the silica–water interface is well known

• of surface energy Δγ of silica upon full wetting with water. Acknowledgements Financial support from the Federal Government of Styria in the Framework of the Human Technology Interface: Sensors for Medical Applications (HTI:SMApp) initiative under contract A3-22.M-5/2012-32 is gratefully

First-principles study of the structure of water layers on flat and stepped Pb electrodes

• Xiaohang Lin,
• Ferdinand Evers and
• Axel Groß

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 533–543, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.47

• -structuring of water [44][45]. Furthermore, PBE does not yield the correct wetting behavior of water on metals [32]. Taking into account dispersion effects in the water–water and water–metal interactions remedies these deficiencies [32][33][46][47]. Still it has been found that the relative stability

Nanostructured surfaces by supramolecular self-assembly of linear oligosilsesquioxanes with biocompatible side groups

• Maria Nowacka,
• Anna Kowalewska and
• Tomasz Makowski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2377–2387, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.244

• wt % solutions in THF; P2: 0.045 wt % solution in MeOH; immersion time ti = 5 s. Surface free energy of LPSQ-COOH/X coated on native mica determined by wetting angle measurements. ATR-FTIR spectra (1900–1150 cm−1 region) of TG, NAC and CA before (dotted lines) and after their adsorption on muscovite

• and P4 adsorbed on mica-NAC, as determined by wetting angle measurements. Synthesis of LPSQ-COOH/X. Functionalization of native mica by adsorption of N-acetylcysteine (NAC), citric acid (CA) and thioglycolic acid (TG). Composition of the prepared LPSQ-COOH/X. Supporting Information The supporting

Self-organization of gold nanoparticles on silanated surfaces

• Htet H. Kyaw,
• Salim H. Al-Harthi,
• Azzouz Sellai and
• Joydeep Dutta

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2345–2353, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.242

• . To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report and intensive analysis of self-organisation of AuNPs depending on different orientations of self-assembled APTES molecules on glass substrates. This was studied by observing coverage of AuNPs on glass substrate, difference in surface wetting and

• important role to change the surface wetting properties of the glass substrates leading to strong or weak bonding between APTES and metal nanoparticles like Au or Ag [25][26]. Wetting behavior of APTES-functionalized glass substrates Water contact angle (WCA) measurements were performed to study the surface

• wetting behavior of APTES-functionalized glass substrates. The corresponding WCAs are shown in Figure 3. Four different types of surface wetting properties were observed on the same APTES-functionalized substrate surfaces: hydrophilic surface with WCA of ca. 41° (Figure 3, type IV) was obtained due to the

Nanostructured superhydrophobic films synthesized by electrodeposition of fluorinated polyindoles

• Gabriela Ramos Chagas,
• Thierry Darmanin and
• Frédéric Guittard

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2078–2087, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.212

• wettability for any probe liquid, however, the highest normalized charge (100 mC·cm−2) presented the best results for wettability and roughness in almost all polyindoles. In order to explain the effects of the surface structures on the wetting properties, it is first necessary to prepare smooth substrates

• C6F13 fluorinated chains have also the highest oleophobicity even if the oil contact angles are relatively low. Indeed, two equations (the Wenzel and the Cassie–Baxter equation) [36][37] depending on θY are very often used to explain the effect of the surface roughness on the wetting properties. In the

• were obtained for C4F9 and C6F13 showing several differences mainly with the substituent position, affecting the surface morphology and the wetting properties. The best results were obtained with PIndole-6-F6 for which a superhydrophobic state with a self-cleaning condition and highly oleophobic

Two-phase equilibrium states in individual Cu–Ni nanoparticles: size, depletion and hysteresis effects

• Aram S. Shirinyan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1811–1820, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.185

• beginning (say, for solid Cu–Ni nanoparticle shown further there exists the wetting condition when the liquid layer covers the solid core or creates the liquid cap at the surface already at low temperatures). Let us call it the transition criterion. If one plots that composition X0 at T–X diagram then it

The Kirkendall effect and nanoscience: hollow nanospheres and nanotubes

• Abdel-Aziz El Mel,
• Ryusuke Nakamura and
• Carla Bittencourt

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1348–1361, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.139

• that the nanodroplet tends to split into multiple tiny dewetting metal bismuth nanodroplets. The droplets then migrate and aggregate on the curved inner surface of the oxide shell before the bismuth wets the surface again (between 410.4 and 413.6 s). They attributed this reversible wetting transition

• to the interplay between the surface tension of the metal bismuth present in a liquid phase and the curved inner surface of the oxide shell. It is also believed that the wetting behavior of bismuth on the inner surface of the oxide shell can be influenced by other parameters such as the vapor

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

• molecular junctions in laboratories, such as electromigration methods, mechanical strain and scanning tunneling microscopy to open small gaps between gold leads that can host (with a small but non-negligible probability) single molecules from a wetting solution [1][2][3]. The complete characterization of

Pt- and Pd-decorated MWCNTs for vapour and gas detection at room temperature

• Hamdi Baccar,
• Atef Thamri,
• Pierrick Clément,
• Eduard Llobet and
• Adnane Abdelghani

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 919–927, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.95

• temperature ensures the complete evaporation of the solvent in which carbon nanotubes are dispersed upon reaching the heated substrate. A lower temperature would result in solvent wetting of the substrate during the deposition, and a higher temperature would result in the solvent being totally evaporated

Capillary and van der Waals interactions on CaF₂ crystals from amplitude modulation AFM force reconstruction profiles under ambient conditions

• Annalisa Calò,
• Oriol Vidal Robles,
• Sergio Santos and
• Albert Verdaguer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 809–819, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.84

• interactions; CaF2 wetting; force reconstruction; Introduction The study of the forces and energies released when a nanometric tip and a surface are progressively brought into contact has driven much of the recent investigation in atomic force microscopy (AFM) and has allowed for the mapping of materials

Applications of three-dimensional carbon nanotube networks

• Manuela Scarselli,
• Paola Castrucci,
• Francesco De Nicola,
• Ilaria Cacciotti,
• Francesca Nanni,
• Emanuela Gatto,
• Mariano Venanzi and
• Maurizio De Crescenzi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 792–798, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.82

• exerts on the liquid. The water drop can be viewed as sitting on a composite surface consisting of solid and air. Therefore, one can describe the wetting properties of the sponge surface in the super-hydrophobic regime using the Cassie-Baxter equation [20]: where and are the fractions of solid and air

Fundamental edge broadening effects during focused electron beam induced nanosynthesis

• Roland Schmied,
• Jason D. Fowlkes,
• Robert Winkler,
• Phillip D. Rack and
• Harald Plank

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 462–471, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.47

• latter experiments have been carried out at voltages between −12 and +12 V depending on the individual purpose. All AFM-based experiments have been performed in a glove box under inert nitrogen atmosphere, which reduces the H2O wetting layer on the surface, particularly beneficial for high-resolution KFM

In situ scanning tunneling microscopy study of Ca-modified rutile TiO₂(110) in bulk water

• Giulia Serrano,
• Beatrice Bonanni,
• Tomasz Kosmala,
• Marco Di Giovannantonio,
• Ulrike Diebold,
• Klaus Wandelt and
• Claudio Goletti

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 438–443, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.44

• understanding of the system, leading to the optimization of many related applications. As an example, it was recently demonstrated that a low surface calcium coverage may increase the wetting energy and therefore the surface hydrophilicity of TiO2 surfaces [17]. This has very interesting implications for the

Exploiting the hierarchical morphology of single-walled and multi-walled carbon nanotube films for highly hydrophobic coatings

• Francesco De Nicola,
• Paola Castrucci,
• Manuela Scarselli,
• Francesca Nanni,
• Ilaria Cacciotti and
• Maurizio De Crescenzi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 353–360, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.34

• Istituto di Struttura della Materia, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (ISM-CNR), Via del Fosso del Cavaliere 100, 00100 Roma, Italy 10.3762/bjnano.6.34 Abstract Self-assembled hierarchical solid surfaces are very interesting for wetting phenomena, as observed in a variety of natural and artificial

• (contact angles of up to 137°) than bare SWCNT (110°) and MWCNT (97°) coatings, thereby confirming the enhancement produced by the surface hierarchical morphology. Keywords: hierarchical structures; hydrophobic surfaces; multi-walled carbon nanotube; single-walled carbon nanotube; wetting transitions

• of water [9]. In particular, hierarchical surface morphologies are a recent concept introduced to explain the wetting properties of surfaces such as plant leaves [2][3], bird feathers [10], and insect legs [11]. These surfaces are made of a hierarchical micro- and nanomorphology which improves their

Mechanical properties of MDCK II cells exposed to gold nanorods

• Anna Pietuch,
• Bastian Rouven Brückner,
• David Schneider,
• Marco Tarantola,
• Christina Rosman,
• Carsten Sönnichsen and
• Andreas Janshoff

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 223–231, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.21

• to shapes that can best be described as capped spheres with initial contact (wetting) angles around 0 = 60°. Quartz Crystal Microbalance Quartz crystal microbalance in dissipation mode (D-QCM) measurements were carried out as described before [14]. In brief, changes in resonance frequency and

Boosting the local anodic oxidation of silicon through carbon nanofiber atomic force microscopy probes

• Gemma Rius,
• Matteo Lorenzoni,
• Soichiro Matsui,
• Masaki Tanemura and
• Francesc Perez-Murano

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 215–222, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.20

• positively biased [9]. Typical anodic currents are of the order of nanoamperes [10] and their efficiency depends on various conditions, which concern the tip, (e.g., conductance and shape) the tip–sample interplay, (e.g., distance and wetting), and other factors such as sample surface texture or wetting. All

Kelvin probe force microscopy in liquid using electrochemical force microscopy

• Liam Collins,
• Stephen Jesse,
• Jason I. Kilpatrick,
• Alexander Tselev,
• M. Baris Okatan,
• Sergei V. Kalinin and
• Brian J. Rodriguez

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 201–214, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.19

• properties at the solid–liquid interface. Keywords: diffuse charge dynamics; double layer charging; electrochemical force microscopy; electrochemistry; Kelvin probe force microscopy; Introduction Many important physical, chemical and biological processes including wetting, adsorption, electronic transfer

Size-dependent density of zirconia nanoparticles

• Agnieszka Opalinska,
• Iwona Malka,
• Wojciech Dzwolak,
• Tadeusz Chudoba,
• Adam Presz and
• Witold Lojkowski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 27–35, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.4

• films depends on the number of surface –OH groups. Moreover, the –OH groups on the nanomaterial surface can influence the surface reactivity and wetting [26]. Since hydroxy groups greatly affect the properties of zirconia nanoparticles, detecting their surface concentration and optimizing the synthesis

Exploring plasmonic coupling in hole-cap arrays

• Thomas M. Schmidt,
• Maj Frederiksen,
• Vladimir Bochenkov and
• Duncan S. Sutherland

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1–10, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.1

• heating the particles to temperatures close to and above the glass transition of polystyrene to allow reshaping of the colloid giving increased wetting of the silica surface and thereby reducing the vertical distance between the caps and holes. Any coupling between caps and hole arrays should be strongly