Chains of carbon atoms: A vision or a new nanomaterial?

• Florian Banhart

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 559–569, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.58

• the electron beam in the microscope; therefore electron irradiation might have played a certain role during the formation of chains. Once the chains were created, current-voltage characteristics were taken. The conductivity of the chains was much lower than predicted from theoretical work. By applying

• carbon structures, on the other hand, can be quite different, depending on a local sp2 or sp3 character at the junction. In the case of local sp3 bonding, the π-electron density would be low at the contact and make the electron transfer difficult. The measured current–voltage characteristics show, for

• most chains, an S-type behaviour (Figure 4). This is characteristic of the existence of a bandgap. In view of the preferred configuration of polyyne and possible strain, the current–voltage curves are qualitatively understandable. A conductance measurement on a related system has been carried out by

Electrical properties of single CdTe nanowires

• Elena Matei,
• Camelia Florica,
• Andreea Costas,
• María Eugenia Toimil-Molares and
• Ionut Enculescu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 444–450, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.45

• precursor gas. Further electrical measurements revealed a slightly nonlinear current–voltage characteristic. When a voltage was applied to the silicon substrate, this gate potential influenced the current through the nanowire. For ZnO it was previously reported [17][19] that a thin layer of polymer covering

• similar behavior for CdTe, as would be expected for objects with similar geometries. In Figure 5 current–voltage characteristics are presented for a nanowire contacted by this approach before and after poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) passivation. A difference of almost an order of magnitude between the

• representation for band gap determination of CdTe deposited at −500 mV. (a) The system of electrodes produced by lithography for contacting the nanowire; (b) an image of an individual nanowire contacted by FIBIM to the larger lithographically prepared electrodes. (a) Current–voltage characteristics for a CdTe

Low-cost plasmonic solar cells prepared by chemical spray pyrolysis

• Erki Kärber,
• Atanas Katerski,
• Ilona Oja Acik,
• Valdek Mikli,
• Arvo Mere,
• Ilmo Sildos and
• Malle Krunks

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2398–2402, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.249

• planar ZnO were prepared entirely by chemical spray pyrolysis. Au nanoparticles (Au-NPs) were formed via thermal decomposition of a gold(III) chloride trihydrate (HAuCl4·3H2O) precursor by spraying 2 mmol/L of the aqueous precursor solution onto a substrate held at 260 °C. Current–voltage scans and

• pneumatically sprayed through air onto a substrate with a surface temperature of 260 °C. The solution volume was varied from 2.5 to 10 mL and the solution feeding rate was 1 mL/min. Current–voltage scans of the solar cells were used to obtain the principal characteristics of the solar cells: voltage at open

• sample. Open-circuit voltage (VOC), short-circuit current (JSC), fill factor (FF) and light to electricity conversion efficiency (η) of ITO/ZnO/In2S3/CuInS2/Au-NP solar cell, evaluated from current–voltage measurements. The volume of the precursor solution for Au-NP was 2.5 mL. The EQE of the cell is

Characterization of 10,12-pentacosadiynoic acid Langmuir–Blodgett monolayers and their use in metal–insulator–metal tunnel devices

• Saumya Sharma,
• Mohamad Khawaja,
• Manoj K. Ram,
• D. Yogi Goswami and
• Elias Stefanakos

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2240–2247, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.233

• , horizontal deposition) techniques were used to deposit the PDA film on various substrates (glass, quartz, silicon, and nickel-coated film on glass). The electrochemical, electrical and optical properties of the LB and LS PDA films were studied using cyclic voltammetry, current–voltage characteristics (I–V

• precise control of the thickness of the insulating monolayers proved critical for electron tunneling to take place in the MIM structure. The current–voltage characteristics of the MIM diode revealed tunneling behavior in the fabricated Ni–PDA LB film–Ni structures. Keywords: Langmuir–Blodgett monolayer

• sputtered onto the PDA layers with the aid of a shadow mask. To avoid physical damage to the PDA layers, the RF power during sputtering was kept at only 30 W to sustain enough plasma to allow sputtering of Ni atoms. Current–voltage characteristics of the Ni–PDA–Ni assembly were measured using a

Low cost, p-ZnO/n-Si, rectifying, nano heterojunction diode: Fabrication and electrical characterization

• Vinay Kabra,
• Lubna Aamir and
• M. M. Malik

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2216–2221, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.230

• an n-Si substrate using a dip coating technique. The device was then characterized by current–voltage (I–V) and capacitance–voltage (C–V) measurements. The effect of UV illumination on the I–V characteristics was also explored and indicated the formation of a highly rectifying, nano heterojunction

• other electronic circuitry. Keywords: capacitance–voltage measurements; current–voltage measurement; solution-processed rectifying p-ZnO/n-Si heterojunction diode; UV illumination; Introduction The fabrication of homo- and hetero-junction diodes based on nanomaterials is an emerging field that could

• using solution-processed p-ZnO nanoparticles. The current–voltage (I–V) and capacitance–voltage (C–V) characteristics of heterojunctions were analyzed, resulting in rectification ratios of 101 and 232 (at 3 V) and cut-in voltages of 1.5 V and 0.9 V under dark and UV illumination, respectively

Electrical contacts to individual SWCNTs: A review

• Wei Liu,
• Christofer Hierold and
• Miroslav Haluska

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2202–2215, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.229

• ) measurement was developed to extract the Schottky barrier height for silicon planar devices [31], it requires a more sophisticated setup for CNFETs due to the small capacitance in the metal–SWCNT contact area [32]. Current–voltage (I–V) measurements performed at different temperatures (also called the thermal

Sequence-dependent electrical response of ssDNA-decorated carbon nanotube, field-effect transistors to dopamine

• Hari Krishna Salila Vijayalal Mohan,
• Jianing An and
• Lianxi Zheng

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2113–2121, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.220

• sequence combinations, which interact differently with CNTs as well as DA, and consequently, this influences the FET response. The transistor electrical parameters such as conductance, transconductance, threshold voltage and hysteresis gap extracted from the current–voltage characteristics are indicators

Effect of channel length on the electrical response of carbon nanotube field-effect transistors to deoxyribonucleic acid hybridization

• Hari Krishna Salila Vijayalal Mohan,
• Jianing An,
• Yani Zhang,
• Chee How Wong and
• Lianxi Zheng

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2081–2091, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.217

• nanotube surface. However, with increasing channel length, the large channel resistance could be a limiting factor in the detection sensitivity. In particular, the FET electrical parameters such as conductance, transconductance, threshold voltage and hysteresis gap extracted from the current–voltage

Optical properties and electrical transport of thin films of terbium(III) bis(phthalocyanine) on cobalt

• Peter Robaschik,
• Pablo F. Siles,
• Daniel Bülz,
• Peter Richter,
• Manuel Monecke,
• Michael Fronk,
• Svetlana Klyatskaya,
• Daniel Grimm,
• Oliver G. Schmidt,
• Mario Ruben,
• Dietrich R. T. Zahn and
• Georgeta Salvan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2070–2078, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.215

• allows for local current–voltage (I–V) spectroscopy as well as current mapping of particular areas of interest on the organic film. I–V spectroscopy is realized by subsequent sweeping of the applied bias while the AFM conductive probe is located at a fixed location on the sample surface. This procedure

• films presents a transition from a linear ohmic-like transport regime for low voltages to a square law dependence for high voltages. These results appear to be in agreement with a space-charge-limited current process (SCLC). According to G. Horowitz et al., the linear current–voltage characteristics can

• the same location indicated in (b) for the case of an applied voltage of 0.6 V (c), 1.0 V (d) and 1.5 V (e). Transport mechanism for TbPc2 thin films. Red and blue solid lines indicate the average of 20 local I–V spectroscopy cycles. (a) Current–voltage characteristics for TbPc2 thin films. Grey and

Photodetectors based on carbon nanotubes deposited by using a spray technique on semi-insulating gallium arsenide

• Domenico Melisi,
• Maria Angela Nitti,
• Marco Valentini,
• Antonio Valentini,
• Teresa Ligonzo,
• Giuseppe De Pascali and
• Marianna Ambrico

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1999–2006, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.208

• starting material. The morphological properties of the deposited films has been analysed by means of electron microscopy, in scanning and transmission mode. Detectors with different layouts have been prepared and current–voltage characteristics have been recorded in the dark and under irradiation with

• , electron microscopy, in scanning (SEM) and transmission (TEM) modes, was used. Current–voltage (I–V) characterizations under dark and illuminated conditions, from NIR to UV region, were performed with two different device configurations. The resulting QE and the photocurrent spectral measurements are

• Detectors, serial no. 97-527) was used for the QE calculation. An Agilent source/monitor unit was used to record the current–voltage characteristics. To obtain more detailed information of the photodetector in the range of vis–NIR, photocurrent spectra of the SFS and of the ITO/GaAs/Ti/Au control sample

The influence of molecular mobility on the properties of networks of gold nanoparticles and organic ligands

• Edwin J. Devid,
• Paulo N. Martinho,
• M. Venkata Kamalakar,
• Úna Prendergast,
• Christian Kübel,
• Tibebe Lemma,
• Jean-François Dayen,
• Tia. E. Keyes,
• Bernard Doudin,
• Mario Ruben and
• Sense Jan van der Molen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1664–1674, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.177

• estimated typical Coulomb-blockade charging energies of around 14–17 meV [5], in correspondence with temperature- and voltage-dependent transport measurements. Hence, in alkanethiol and OPE-based networks Coulomb blockade dominates below 200–250 K, whereas around room temperature, the current–voltage (I–V

• current–voltage (I–V) curves of Au-NP–S-BPP networks). If we compare octanethiol and OPE-based networks with the Au-NP–S-BPP network, the latter behaves differently at higher temperatures. For example, for the first two types of samples, the low-bias resistance is basically independent of voltage and

An analytical approach to evaluate the performance of graphene and carbon nanotubes for NH₃ gas sensor applications

• Elnaz Akbari,
• Vijay K. Arora,
• Aria Enzevaee,
• Mohamad. T. Ahmadi,
• Mehdi Saeidmanesh,
• Mohsen Khaledian,
• Hediyeh Karimi and
• Rubiyah Yusof

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 726–734, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.85

• surface molecules is emphasized. NH3 has been used as the prototype gas to be detected by the nanosensor and the corresponding current–voltage (I–V) characteristics of the FET-based sensor are studied. A graphene-based gas sensor model is also developed. The results from graphene and CNT models are

• Fermi–Dirac integral can be obtained from Equation 12 as . Accordingly, the Fermi–Dirac integral of order –1/2 can be simplified as [50]: Based on the current–voltage characteristic of graphene-based FET devices, the gas sensor performance can be evaluated through Equation 14. Assuming that the source

• : Results and Discussion Figure 4 illustrates the assessments of the gas sensor performance based on CNT and graphene nano-structures by considering their current–voltage characteristics when they are exposed to NH3 [53]. Also shown is the experimental data [53]. The agreement is good except near the

An ultrasonic technology for production of antibacterial nanomaterials and their coating on textiles

• Anna V. Abramova,
• Vladimir O. Abramov,
• Aharon Gedanken,
• Ilana Perelshtein and
• Vadim M. Bayazitov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 532–536, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.62

• bubbly liquid between the electrodes. The experiments also revealed that the sonoplasma discharge is characterized by a glow in the whole volume of the liquid and an increasing current–voltage characteristic, which is typical for the abnormal glow discharge. Arc discharges in aqueous electrolytes, which

Photovoltaic properties of ZnO nanorods/p-type Si heterojunction structures

• Rafal Pietruszka,
• Bartlomiej S. Witkowski,
• Grzegorz Luka,
• Lukasz Wachnicki,
• Sylwia Gieraltowska,
• Krzysztof Kopalko,
• Eunika Zielony,
• Piotr Bieganski,
• Ewa Placzek-Popko and
• Marek Godlewski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 173–179, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.17

• solar cell structures were characterized by a Scanning Electron Microscope Hitachi SU-70 with an accelerating voltage of 15 kV. PV response was measured by using current–voltage (I–V) curve tracer for fast I–V measurements with a sun simulator cl. AAA, at an illumination irradiance of 100 mW/cm2

• investigated solar cells structure based on zinc oxide nanorods (not to scale). Cross-section and top view (up) SEM images illustrating zinc oxide nanorods grown at different pH values of 7, 7.5 and 8. Images at the bottom show cross-section and top view of ZnONR covered with ZnO:Al layers. Current–voltage

A nano-graphite cold cathode for an energy-efficient cathodoluminescent light source

• Alexander N. Obraztsov,
• Victor I. Kleshch and
• Elena A. Smolnikova

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 493–500, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.58

• 10–6 Torr. The used experimental set-up allows the registration of FE current–voltage dependencies and the distribution of emission sites over the cathode surface in direct current and pulsed regimes corresponding to the device applications. The CL lamp manufacturing was made with the use of standard

Characterization of electroforming-free titanium dioxide memristors

• John Paul Strachan,
• J. Joshua Yang,
• L. A. Montoro,
• C. A. Ospina,
• A. J. Ramirez,
• A. L. D. Kilcoyne,
• Gilberto Medeiros-Ribeiro and
• R. Stanley Williams

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 467–473, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.55

• dramatically reduced microphysical changes after electrical operation. Keywords: electron microscopy; memristor; resistance switching; transition-metal oxide; X-ray spectroscopy; Introduction A memristor is a passive electronic element that displays a pinched hysteresis loop in its current–voltage

Micro- and nanoscale electrical characterization of large-area graphene transferred to functional substrates

• Gabriele Fisichella,
• Salvatore Di Franco,
• Patrick Fiorenza,
• Raffaella Lo Nigro,
• Fabrizio Roccaforte,
• Cristina Tudisco,
• Guido G. Condorelli,
• Nicolò Piluso,
• Noemi Spartà,
• Stella Lo Verso,
• Corrado Accardi,
• Cristina Tringali,
• Sebastiano Ravesi and
• Filippo Giannazzo

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 234–242, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.24

• rectangular graphene area. The current–voltage (I–V) characteristics for different distances between adjacent contacts are reported in Figure 4b, showing an Ohmic behaviour for all the contact distances. In Figure 4c the resistance R, obtained from the slope of each curve, is plotted versus the contact

• method. The contacts had identical geometry (200 µm width and 100 µm length) and the distance between the pairs of adjacent contacts were 20, 20, 40, 60, 80, 100 and 100 µm, respectively. The current–voltage (I–V) characteristics were measured in a Karl-Süss probe station by using a HP 4156B parameter

Photoresponse from single upright-standing ZnO nanorods explored by photoconductive AFM

• Igor Beinik,
• Markus Kratzer,
• Astrid Wachauer,
• Lin Wang,
• Yuri P. Piryatinski,
• Gerhard Brauer,
• Xin Yi Chen,
• Yuk Fan Hsu,
• Aleksandra B. Djurišić and
• Christian Teichert

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 208–217, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.21

• were carried out under ambient conditions on as-grown samples. The current–voltage (I–V) characteristics were recorded at the sample surface, which was under illumination directly from the optical fiber placed at an angle of about 15 to 20° with respect to the surface. For these measurements, we used a

• upright standing ZnO nanorods, of photoluminescence obtained at 300 K. Current–voltage characteristics of dark (green curve, dashed) and illuminated state (red curve, solid) recorded from a single upright-standing ZnO nanorod by using a standard ±20 nA range amplifier. The illuminated characteristic was

Influence of diffusion on space-charge-limited current measurements in organic semiconductors

• Thomas Kirchartz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 180–188, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.18

• Thomas Kirchartz Department of Physics and Centre for Plastic Electronics, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom 10.3762/bjnano.4.18 Abstract Numerical simulations of current–voltage curves in electron-only devices are used to discuss the influence of charged

• reasonably accurate mobility values. Keywords: current–voltage curves; electron-only device; drift–diffusion; mobility; simulation; traps; Introduction A frequently used method to analyze charge carrier transport in organic semiconductors is based on space-charge-limited current measurements performed on

• single carrier devices [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]. These devices consist of two contacts that are either both electron-injecting or both hole-injecting, meaning that the current–voltage curve of these devices is not determined by the recombination of electrons and holes in the volume

Sub-10 nm colloidal lithography for circuit-integrated spin-photo-electronic devices

• Adrian Iovan,
• Marco Fischer,
• Roberto Lo Conte and
• Vladislav Korenivski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 884–892, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.98

• effects due to spin-flip relaxation are expected, only phonon relaxation (heat). The typical array resistance is measured to be 10–20 mΩ. The current–voltage characteristic is smooth and approximately parabolic, typical of the expected phonon background. Thus, these test data agreed with the expected

• -type changes in the current–voltage characteristics of our fully enclosed optical resonator. Such threshold-type excitations, of giant magnitude, are indeed observed in the device resistance (conductance changes of a factor of 2), as shown in Figure 5c. This demonstration opens the way to explore a new

• 40 nm thick SiO2 layer for insulation, rotating the sample holder during deposition. Finally, the resist was lifted off, and the last step of lithography was the use of negative resist and deposition of a 200 nm thick Al top electrode. Transport measurements: The current–voltage (I–V) characteristics

Current–voltage characteristics of single-molecule diarylethene junctions measured with adjustable gold electrodes in solution

• Bernd M. Briechle,
• Youngsang Kim,
• Philipp Ehrenreich,
• Artur Erbe,
• Dmytro Sysoiev,
• Thomas Huhn,
• Ulrich Groth and
• Elke Scheer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 798–808, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.89

• current–voltage characteristics of these junctions are measured in a mechanically controlled break-junction system at room temperature and in liquid environment. We compare the transport properties of a series of molecules, labeled TSC, MN, and 4Py, with the same switching core but varying side-arms and

• [30][31]. Recently, low-temperature measurements of the current–voltage characteristics of single-molecule diarylethene junctions have been reported [32]. By applying the resonant-level model, the level alignment and the coupling strength of the dominant current-carrying molecular orbital (frontier

• several thousands of traces are used. A more detailed discussion about the histograms and the stability of individual junctions is given in Supporting Information File 1. For recording the current–voltage (I–V) characteristics the breaking procedure can be stopped at any position of the stretching or

The memory effect of nanoscale memristors investigated by conducting scanning probe microscopy methods

• César Moreno,
• Carmen Munuera,
• Xavier Obradors and
• Carmen Ocal

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 722–730, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.82

• ] and therefore the characterization of the local electrical properties becomes more and more important. In this work we have combined conductive scanning force microscopy imaging and single-point current–voltage spectroscopy, with more advanced spectroscopy measurements (3-D modes) to characterize the

• , interpretation of colour-coded current maps depends on the voltage sign as well as the absolute current magnitude. Thus higher currents appear darker in C-SFM images taken at negative Vtip, while brighter for positive Vtip. The current–voltage (I–V) characteristics of the contact were measured as a function of

Revealing thermal effects in the electronic transport through irradiated atomic metal point contacts

• Bastian Kopp,
• Zhiwei Yi,
• Daniel Benner,
• Fang-Qing Xie,
• Christian Obermair,
• Thomas Schimmel,
• Johannes Boneberg,
• Paul Leiderer and
• Elke Scheer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 703–711, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.80

• electrode is controlled by the virtual ground technique implemented by the operational amplifier (OP2) in this current–voltage converter. The size of the atomic contact is controlled by applying the control potential Uec through amplifier OP1. The whole measurement is controlled by a home-written software

Low-temperature synthesis of carbon nanotubes on indium tin oxide electrodes for organic solar cells

• Andrea Capasso,
• Luigi Salamandra,
• Aldo Di Carlo,
• John M. Bell and
• Nunzio Motta

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 524–532, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.60

• with bare ITO-coated glass were also made for comparison with the same procedure. The current–voltage (I–V) characteristics under 1 sun (AM1.5G) were measured with an Agilent E5262A source meter. SEM images of MWCNTs grown on ITO-coated glass by CVD at: (a) 550 °C, (b) 525 °C, (c) 500 °C. Transmittance

• 525 °C). WF levels for cells with ITO (left) and ITO–CNT (right) electrode. (All reported values are in eV and negative). Current–voltage characteristic and output power of P3HT:PCBM solar cells: (a) Cell C and cell C1, compared to a reference cell made with bare ITO-coated glass; (b) classic ITO

Ultraviolet photodetection of flexible ZnO nanowire sheets in polydimethylsiloxane polymer

• Jinzhang Liu,
• Nunzio Motta and
• Soonil Lee

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 353–359, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.41

• PDMS would slowly spread out of the agglomeration of Ag nanoparticles and infiltrate the nanowire film due to capillarity. Figure 3a shows the current–voltage (I–V) curves of the device in PDMS, measured under UV-light illumination (312 nm, 30 mW·cm−2) and in the dark. The I–V curves of two other