Green and scalable synthesis of nanocrystalline kuramite

• Andrea Giaccherini,
• Giuseppe Cucinotta,
• Stefano Martinuzzi,
• Enrico Berretti,
• Werner Oberhauser,
• Alessandro Lavacchi,
• Giovanni Orazio Lepore,
• Giordano Montegrossi,
• Maurizio Romanelli,
• Antonio De Luca,
• Massimo Innocenti,
• Vanni Moggi Cecchi,
• Matteo Mannini,
• Antonella Buccianti and
• Francesco Di Benedetto

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2073–2083, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.202

• covellite in the final product, a relevant factor is the molar defect of Cu precursor in the EG. The crystal chemical analysis (by Raman, XRD and EXAFS) revealed a random distribution of antisite defects, SnCu and CuSn, in the tetragonal structure while still maintaining the I−42m symmetry. These chemical

Improvement of the thermoelectric properties of a MoO₃ monolayer through oxygen vacancies

• Wenwen Zheng,
• Wei Cao,
• Ziyu Wang,
• Huixiong Deng,
• Jing Shi and
• Rui Xiong

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2031–2038, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.199

• supercell (72 atoms) to construct a neutral defect, such that the stoichiometric proportion is MoO2.94. Since there are three types of O atoms in the primitive cell, we named the three defective structures VO1, VO2 and VO3. Further details of the defect structures are presented in Supporting Information

• File 1. The formation energy, Ef, of a neutral defect is defined as: Ef = Etot(defect) − Etot(supercell) + ½ Etot(O2), where Etot(defect) is the total energy of the supercell containing the defect, Etot(supercell) is the total energy of the perfect supercell and Etot(O2) is the total energy of the

• oxygen molecules. Then we calculate the formation energies and band gaps of these defect structures. The absolute Ef values are 2.074 eV (VO1), 2.076 eV (VO2) and 4.108 eV (VO3) while the band gaps are 0.837 eV (VO1), 0.797 eV (VO2) and 0.831 eV (VO3). In contrast to the bulk MoO3, the three defective

The influence of porosity on nanoparticle formation in hierarchical aluminophosphates

• Matthew E. Potter,
• Lauren N. Riley,
• Alice E. Oakley,
• Panashe M. Mhembere,
• June Callison and
• Robert Raja

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1952–1957, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.191

• (Figure S4 and Figure S5, Supporting Information File 1), the decrease in porosity suggests that the 1D channels are blocked, restricting access to the internal micropores. As pore mouths are known to produce high-energy defect sites [18], they are more likely to encourage nanoparticle deposition, thus

First principles modeling of pure black phosphorus devices under pressure

• Ximing Rong,
• Zhizhou Yu,
• Zewen Wu,
• Junjun Li,
• Bin Wang and
• Yin Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1943–1951, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.190

• to 40%, which indicates the stability of monolayer BP under zero pressure. The smooth variation of Etot means that monolayer BP can maintain its structure even at large pressure, and does not form any structural defect or bonding twist. The stress Ps can be calculated by Ps = −∂Etot/∂d·1/S with d the

Fabrication and characterization of Si_1−xGe_x nanocrystals in as-grown and annealed structures: a comparative study

• Muhammad Taha Sultan,
• Adrian Valentin Maraloiu,
• Ionel Stavarache,
• Jón Tómas Gudmundsson,
• Andrei Manolescu,
• Valentin Serban Teodorescu,
• Magdalena Lidia Ciurea and
• Halldór Gudfinnur Svavarsson

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1873–1882, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.182

• the SiGe NCs); these defects do not appear because other relaxation processes take place as shown earlier. Since these shearing defects are near or in the (111) stacking planes of the SiGe structure, the NC size along the direction that is parallel to the defect plane remains large and the two others

Tuning the performance of vanadium redox flow batteries by modifying the structural defects of the carbon felt electrode

• Ditty Dixon,
• Deepu Joseph Babu,
• Aiswarya Bhaskar,
• Hans-Michael Bruns,
• Joerg J. Schneider,
• Frieder Scheiba and
• Helmut Ehrenberg

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1698–1706, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.165

• the carbon felt. Moreover, the D-band of the plasma-treated sample was shifted to a higher frequency, indicating an increase in the defect density. Mostly, this increase in defects can be correlated to heteroatom substitution/doping (N-doping) and the simultaneous creation of new edge sites [17]. At

Subsurface imaging of flexible circuits via contact resonance atomic force microscopy

• Wenting Wang,
• Chengfu Ma,
• Yuhang Chen,
• Lei Zheng,
• Huarong Liu and
• Jiaru Chu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1636–1647, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.159

• calculations provide a guide to optimizing parameter settings for the nondestructive diagnosis of flexible circuits. Defect detection of the embedded circuit pattern was also carried out, which indicates the capability of imaging tiny subsurface structures smaller than 100 nm by using CR-AFM. Keywords: atomic

• force microscopy (AFM); contact resonance atomic force microscopy (CR-AFM); contact stiffness; defect detection; flexible circuits; subsurface imaging; Introduction With the rapid shrinkage of microelectronic devices, flexible circuits are intensively used while being functionalized as supercapacitors

• been carried out using CR-AFM for subsurface imaging, its application in defect diagnosis for flexible circuits has seldom been reported. Intuitively, the presence of buried metal circuit patterns in the tip-generated stress field will alter the local indentation modulus. This consequently leads to

Hierarchically structured 3D carbon nanotube electrodes for electrocatalytic applications

• Pei Wang,
• Katarzyna Kulp and
• Michael Bron

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1475–1487, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.146

• carbon, respectively [64]. The intensity ratios of these bands (ID/IG) for the CNT/GC und CNT/CNT/GC electrodes are 1.36 und 1.54, respectively. This indicates that the secondary CNTs are less ordered and have a higher defect density than the primary ones. As the last step in electrode preparation, Pt

• -oxidation of COad compared to Pt-CNT/GC The reason for this improved poisoning tolerance is not known to us at the moment. However, it is known from literature that methanol as well as CO oxidation are very sensitive to Pt surface structure. It might be that a defect-rich structure of our Pt nanoparticles

• oxygen reduction reaction. Although there are differences in electrode preparation (in the present case, Pt is electrodeposited onto the carbon-based electrodes, probably leading to defect-rich particles (see also below), while in [52], Pt deposition has been deposited by CVD), we think that generally

Direct observation of oxygen-vacancy formation and structural changes in Bi₂WO₆ nanoflakes induced by electron irradiation

• Hong-long Shi,
• Bin Zou,
• Zi-an Li,
• Min-ting Luo and
• Wen-zhong Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1434–1442, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.141

• vacancies can significantly alter the electron structure by creating new defect levels in forbidden bands, and thus boost oxygen evolution [14]. Despite the important role of the oxygen vacancies in Bi2WO6, understanding their formation mechanism remains elusive, in part due to the lack of direct

• irradiation, in this case, is far too low to decompose Bi2WO6 nanoflakes. Besides, loops or defect clusters were not observed during the whole irradiation process suggesting that the knock-off or sputtering effects can be neglected. When a high-energy electron beam passes through the sample, an electric field

• then performed in situ electron irradiation experiments on the as-synthesized Bi2WO6 nanoflakes by using TEM techniques. We observed that 200 keV electrons are an efficient source of irradiation to induce defect states in thin Bi2WO6. Our detailed HRTEM and SAED analyses have revealed that energetic

Kelvin probe force microscopy of the nanoscale electrical surface potential barrier of metal/semiconductor interfaces in ambient atmosphere

• Petr Knotek,
• Tomáš Plecháček,
• Jan Smolík,
• Petr Kutálek,
• Filip Dvořák,
• Milan Vlček,
• Jiří Navrátil and
• Čestmír Drašar

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1401–1411, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.138

• forming Au/Bi2Se3 alloy and NIs in the shape of a semispherical defect, whereas Mo reacts with the matrix and forms thermodynamically more stable layered MoSe2 in the shape of nanosheets. Experimental Single crystalline Bi2Se3 samples were grown by heating stoichiometric mixtures of the pure elements

• /compound formation. This material displayed lower density (topographical expansion, Figure 5) and the creation of the defect states (tentatively connected to the shoulder of the UPS edge, see Figure 8, black curve near 17 eV as well as a decrease in the surface contact potential of the Au NIs, see Figure 6

Nanoscale spatial mapping of mechanical properties through dynamic atomic force microscopy

• Zahra Abooalizadeh,
• Leszek Josef Sudak and
• Philip Egberts

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1332–1347, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.132

• measurements showed significantly higher variation in the amplitude as the tip traversed over the surface. Despite the higher sensitivity in detecting variations in the surface displacement, the covered step did not appear in any of the on-resonance measurements under the varying normal forces. As this defect

Alloyed Pt₃M (M = Co, Ni) nanoparticles supported on S- and N-doped carbon nanotubes for the oxygen reduction reaction

• Stéphane Louisia,
• Yohann R. J. Thomas,
• Pierre Lecante,
• Marie Heitzmann,
• M. Rosa Axet,
• Pierre-André Jacques and
• Philippe Serp

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1251–1269, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.125

• -range order in a sample. Finally, another parameter, measurable by Raman spectroscopy that is relevant to catalyst preparation, is the LD: LD is a typical inter-defect distance that we have measured as described in [41]. A lower ID/IG (and higher LD) is obtained for the CNT sample and a higher ID/IG

Imaging the surface potential at the steps on the rutile TiO₂(110) surface by Kelvin probe force microscopy

• Masato Miyazaki,
• Huan Fei Wen,
• Quanzhen Zhang,
• Yuuki Adachi,
• Jan Brndiar,
• Ivan Štich,
• Yan Jun Li and
• Yasuhiro Sugawara

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1228–1236, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.122

• several factors can be considered: a phantom force derived from the flow of a tunneling current [48][49], the local adsorption of molecules, the localization of defect states [55][56], the induced dipole moment [50], the unintentional change in tip–sample distance [57], the electron redistribution due to

• addition, we also observed a drop in CPD on the surface without O2 exposure, indicating that the drop in CPD is not due to O2 adsorption. Third, we analyze the influence of the local pinning of the Fermi level due to defect states [55][56]. In the case of n-type semiconductors, negatively charged defect

• states derived from donor atoms may localize at the steps and increase the work function due to upward band bending. In contrast, for p-type semiconductors positively charged defect states from acceptor atoms may localize at the steps and decrease the work function due to downward band bending. However

Green fabrication of lanthanide-doped hydroxide-based phosphors: Y(OH)₃:Eu³⁺ nanoparticles for white light generation

• Tugrul Guner,
• Anilcan Kus,
• Mehmet Ozcan,
• Aziz Genc,
• Hasan Sahin and
• Mustafa M. Demir

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1200–1210, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.119

• medium. Since the rate of hydroxide release is a strong parameter to control the size, size distribution and defect content of the resulting crystal, it is expected to obtain a variation for these values in the case of comparing the effect of HMTA and LiOH on the crystal growth. Moreover, such a

• surrounding the O atoms. It appears that the strongly bonded Eu atoms not only lead to deformation in the lattice structure but also to emergence of defect-like states resulting in additional peaks in the PL spectrum. White light generation by integrating red Y(OH)3:Eu3+ phosphors into a YAG-based color

Pure and mixed ordered monolayers of tetracyano-2,6-naphthoquinodimethane and hexathiapentacene on the Ag(100) surface

• Robert Harbers,
• Timo Heepenstrick,
• Dmitrii F. Perepichka and
• Moritz Sokolowski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1188–1199, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.118

• the formation of well-ordered and defect-free domains, with a structure consistent with the LEED pattern. Domains on flat terraces exhibit a lateral extension of more than 100 nm, but they do not overgrow Ag steps. The molecules appear to lie flat on the surface with a higher apparent height of the

Quantitative analysis of annealing-induced instabilities of photo-leakage current and negative-bias-illumination-stress in a-InGaZnO thin-film transistors

• Dapeng Wang and
• Mamoru Furuta

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1125–1130, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.112

• bulk, whereas high-temperature annealing causes a quality degradation of the adjacent interfaces. Light of short wavelengths below 460 nm induces defect generation in the forward measurement and the leakage current increases in the reverse measurement, especially for the low-temperature-annealed device

• adjacent interfaces. The incident photon energy (>2.7 eV) excites the defect generation and the leakage current increases in the devices regardless of heating temperature. By means of the double-scan mode and a positive gate pulse, the NBIS-caused hysteresis of the TFTs annealed at different temperatures

• 7.67 × 1011 cm−2·eV−1 is obtained for the TFT treated at 300 °C. From the comprehensive analysis of the hysteresis and SS results, we concluded that the low-temperature-annealed TFT exhibits the high density of defects in the IGZO bulk, whereas the high-temperature-treated device has severe defect

CuInSe₂ quantum dots grown by molecular beam epitaxy on amorphous SiO₂ surfaces

• Henrique Limborço,
• Pedro M.P. Salomé,
• Rodrigo Ribeiro-Andrade,
• Jennifer P. Teixeira,
• Nicoleta Nicoara,
• Kamal Abderrafi,
• Joaquim P. Leitão,
• Juan C. Gonzalez and
• Sascha Sadewasser

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1103–1111, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.110

• formation of a Cu–In–Se ordered defect compound, which has been reported to form along the tie-line of the (Cu2Se)x–(In2Se3)1−x pseudo-binary system [38][39], and which has a bandgap energy very close to that of CuInSe2 [40]. In this compositional region, i.e., low amounts of Cu compared with In, the so

Direct growth of few-layer graphene on AlN-based resonators for high-sensitivity gravimetric biosensors

• Jimena Olivares,
• Teona Mirea,
• Lorena Gordillo-Dagallier,
• Bruno Marco,
• José Miguel Escolano,
• Marta Clement and
• Enrique Iborra

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 975–984, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.98

• functionalization platforms. On one hand, graphene containing defects (COOH groups) can be covalently functionalized by using an EDC/NHS zero-cross linker, which allows for the binding of primary amines present in proteins and antibodies [11][12]. On the other hand, defect-free graphene is highly hydrophobic, and

• of their characteristics and then functionalized to manufacture gravimetric biosensors, which eliminates the need to use complex transfer methods. Defect-free few-layer graphene was selectively grown through a low-temperature (650 °C) CVD process on Ni [16] thin-film catalysts previously evaporated

• graphene with better quality. The hydrophobic character of the surface was confirmed by dropping water on it with a pipette, which revealed the lack of liquid adhesion to the surface. We also analysed the influence of the process parameters (pressure, Ar/C2H2 flow ratio and cooling rate) on the defect

Rapid, ultraviolet-induced, reversibly switchable wettability of superhydrophobic/superhydrophilic surfaces

• Yunlu Pan,
• Wenting Kong,
• Bharat Bhushan and
• Xuezeng Zhao

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 866–873, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.87

• are generated on the TiO2 surfaces under UV illumination. The holes lead to the production of oxygen vacancies to enhance the adsorption of hydroxy groups, while the hydroxy groups are replaced by oxygen atoms that have a stronger bond on the defect sites during heating process. However, the change in

Renewable energy conversion using nano- and microstructured materials

• Harry Mönig and
• Martina Schmid

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 771–773, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.76

• extent, the difficulties in this endeavour originate from the complexity of interfaces nanostructured in three dimensions [22]. Relating the morphology to results from defect-spectroscopy experiments, theoretical models and device performance could be a valuable approach to comprehensively address such

Self-assembly and wetting properties of gold nanorod–CTAB molecules on HOPG

• Imtiaz Ahmad,
• Floor Derkink,
• Tim Boulogne,
• Pantelis Bampoulis,
• Harold J. W. Zandvliet,
• Hidayat Ullah Khan,
• Rahim Jan and
• E. Stefan Kooij

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 696–705, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.69

• time, whereas the ones on the right portion begin to disappear. We ascribe this disappearance of the stripes to originate from the dislocation of CTAB molecules, creating point defects. Such defects will make the molecules less tightly bound at the defect site, and hence, support the growth of defects

• typical substrate features on a micrometer length scale. Careful analysis of the stripe dimensions, i.e., width, height and spacing, suggest that the stripes consist of multiple hemi-cylinders separated by a distance corresponding to the length of a single CTAB molecule. With increasing scan time, defect

• ) Sequential AFM images depicting the dynamics of self-assembled CTAB stripes on terraces; for reference, a defect which acts as a vacancy nucleation site is indicated by the white arrows. (E) After the large stripes have completely disappeared, a corrugation of the surface is still observed; the inset depicts

Choosing a substrate for the ion irradiation of two-dimensional materials

• Egor A. Kolesov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 531–539, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.54

• defect formation mechanisms. The estimations include Monte Carlo simulations for He, Ar, Xe, C, N and Si ions, performed in the incident ion energy range from 100 eV to 250 MeV. Cu, SiO2, SiC and Al2O3 substrates were analyzed. The considered substrate-related defect formation mechanisms are sputtering

• a resultant defect yield [3]; on the other, it can participate in defect formation in the 2D material through energy transfer from sputtered substrate atoms moving through the monolayer [1][4]. When the energy is suitable, these atoms can become embedded into the 2D material crystal lattice, leading

• studies focus more on defect formation energies and probabilities. At the same time, comparing the expected extent of each mechanism can allow not only the exclusion of unwanted effects, but also the use of them for a more controllable engineering of the process, in order to obtain a desired result

Ceria/polymer nanocontainers for high-performance encapsulation of fluorophores

• Kartheek Katta,
• Dmitry Busko,
• Yuri Avlasevich,
• Katharina Landfester,
• Stanislav Baluschev and
• Rafael Muñoz-Espí

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 522–530, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.53

• excellent antioxidant properties, ideal for applications such as water-gas shift catalysis [40], combustion catalysis [41], oxygen ion conductors, and solid-oxide fuel cells [42]. Due to the valence and oxygen defect properties of cerium(IV) oxide, nanoparticles of this material are also used as efficient

Advanced scanning probe lithography using anatase-to-rutile transition to create localized TiO₂ nanorods

• Julian Kalb,
• Vanessa Knittel and
• Lukas Schmidt-Mende

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 412–418, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.40

• and might charge the film locally. The charges are likely trapped in defect states generated by the scratching process. Furthermore, the native silicon oxide layer prevents a quick charge transport into the conductive boron-doped silicon substrate. A charged film might attract the precursor more

Sub-wavelength waveguide properties of 1D and surface-functionalized SnO₂ nanostructures of various morphologies

• Venkataramana Bonu,
• Binaya Kumar Sahu,
• Arindam Das,
• Sankarakumar Amirthapandian,
• Sandip Dhara and
• Harish C. Barshilia

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 379–388, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.37

• behavior was also demonstrated in tapered and surface-functionalized SnO2 NWs. While the tapered waveguide can allow for easy focusing of light, the simple surface chemistry offers selective light propagation by tuning the luminescence. Defect-related PL in NWs is studied using temperature-dependent

• -functionalized NBs are also demonstrated. The emission from these NWs, upon excitation with a 325 nm laser, are shown to originate from the defect emission. Temperature-dependent PL studies were carried out to probe the nature of defects in these NWs. A possible band diagram for the SnO2 NWs is proposed

• (n = 2.1) enables photonic confinement in the NW cavities. The observed waveguide nature arises from defect-controlled luminescence in the visible light range of SnO2 and detailed discussion is provided in the photoluminescence study section. For understanding the propagation of luminescence through