Gold(I) N-heterocyclic carbene precursors for focused electron beam-induced deposition

• Cristiano Glessi,
• Aya Mahgoub,
• Cornelis W. Hagen and
• Mats Tilset

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 257–269, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.21

• and some volatile fragments. The technique has been employed in applications such as the fabrication of nanoconnectors [5], extreme ultra-violet lithography (EUVL) mask repair [6], AFM probe tips [7][8][9], nanodevices for plasmonics [10], gas sensors [11][12], optoelectronics [13], and magnetic [14

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

• ); paper-based sensors; self-powered devices; P-TENGs; triboelectric nanogenerator; Introduction Environmental pollution is an undeniable fact in our daily lives. The air pollution caused by industrial waste generation (gases/toxins) and by the combustion of fossil fuels is getting more and more serious

• [1][2]. Meanwhile, with the rapid growth of the Internet of Things (IoTs), the explosive growth of sensors has led to the massive use of batteries, which have also resulted in severe environmental issues in virtue of their short lifetime. In this regard, renewable energy sources, such as wind, wave

• pattering process results in porous MCG structures (with pore sizes ranging from hundreds of nanometers to several microns), which can be used in various applications, such as mechanical energy harvesting devices, chemical sensors, and electrochemical supercapacitors. Screen printing is a facile, efficient

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

• Sciences (CAS), Suzhou 215123, China CAS Key Laboratory of Nanophotonic Materials and Devices, Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, Suzhou 215123, China 10.3762/bjnano.12.7 Abstract We study the oscillatory behavior of qPlus sensors with a long tilted tip by means of finite element simulations

• horizontally and vertically. The vibration characteristics of qPlus sensors with different tip sizes were studied. An optimized tip size was derived from obtained values of tip amplitude, ratio between vertical and lateral amplitude components, output current, and quality factor. For high spatial resolution

• . Here, we report a numerical study of the vibration modes of qPlus sensors. Eigenfrequencies, tip amplitudes, ratios between vertical and lateral amplitude components, output currents, and Q factor values as functions of the tip size of the qPlus sensor are systematically analyzed. Eventually, the

ZnO and MXenes as electrode materials for supercapacitor devices

• Ameen Uddin Ammar,
• Ipek Deniz Yildirim,
• Feray Bakan and
• Emre Erdem

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 49–57, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.4

• gaining more popularity. ZnO is an inherently highly defective material with a large bandgap energy at room temperature. It is one the most extensively studied prototype semiconductors regarding defect structures. The intrinsic point defects play a crucial role in device performance regarding sensors

Bio-imaging with the helium-ion microscope: A review

• Matthias Schmidt,
• James M. Byrne and
• Ilari J. Maasilta

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 1–23, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.1

• instrument, and which holds promise to conduct exciting THIM experiments also on biological samples [58]. Secondly, within the npSCOPE H2020 project an “instrument [is being developed] that couples the extraordinarily high resolution of the […] helium-ion microscope with sensors for composition (a mass

Piezotronic effect in AlGaN/AlN/GaN heterojunction nanowires used as a flexible strain sensor

• Jianqi Dong,
• Liang Chen,
• Yuqing Yang and
• Xingfu Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1847–1853, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.166

• effect; strain sensors; strain tests; top-down method; Introduction Due to the non-centrosymmetric structure of the group-III nitride semiconductor materials (e.g., GaN, AlN, and AlGaN), spontaneous polarization (Psp) and piezoelectric polarization induced by lattice mismatch (Plm) are inevitably

• based on the 1D quantum confinement effect. Hence, the unique electrical and optical properties of 1D semiconductor NWs have attracted research interest from the field of nanogenerators [11][12][13][14] and NW-based strain sensors [15][16][17][18][19]. Strain sensors can convert mechanical deformation

• , AlGaN/AlN/GaN NWs with high electron mobility, carrier density, and mechanical flexibility have become good candidates for highly sensitive and flexible strain sensors. In this work, we use a top-down two-step process, including inductively coupled plasma (ICP) dry etching and selective electrochemical

Functional nanostructures for electronics, spintronics and sensors

• Anatolie S. Sidorenko

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1704–1706, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.152

• Anatolie S. Sidorenko D. Ghitu Institute of Electronic Engineering and Nanotechnologies, Chisinau, Moldova and Orel State University, Orel, Russia 10.3762/bjnano.11.152 Keywords: functional nanostructures; nanoelectronics; post-Moore generation; sensors; spintronics; supercomputers

• coupled superconducting nanowires with quantum phase slips which may be used for interpretation of already existing experiments on meander-like nanowires and for the design of a novel set of superconducting sensors. Another very promising photon detector [16] was demonstrated for supersensitive detection

• applications for quantum electronics and spintronics. In addition to these highlighted works, there are also other interesting functional nanostructures, sensors and quantum detectors presented, to highlight the fascinating world of nanoelectronics. The concept of this thematic issue emerged during the

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

• . Nowadays, pressure and bending angle sensors are mainly based on signals caused by a changing force [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]. Plenty of measurement methods, using different materials and different principles, have been proposed in recent years [26]. Although these sensors can detect various

• 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

• 10.3762/bjnano.11.146 Abstract Of all modern nanosensors using the principle of measuring variations in electric conductance, point-contact sensors stand out in having a number of original sensor properties not manifested by their analogues. The nontrivial nature of point-contact sensors is based on the

• 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

• potential of quantum point-contact sensors to selectively detect components of a gas mixture in real time. To demonstrate the high efficiency of the proposed approach, we analyze the human breath, which is the most complex of the currently known natural gas mixtures with extremely low concentrations of its

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

• energy. This is achieved by utilizing the temperature dependence of electric displacement of polar materials, which are already applied in solar cells, photodetectors, temperature sensors, and stretchable electronics [15][16][17][18]. It means that the PENGs could serve as a power source to power PDs by

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

• oxygen, solid-state diffusion in metal alloys as well as the Kirkendall effect. The nanoporous microspheres generated by the silver oxidation within the Au/Ag alloy film might have potential applications to the field of gas sensors and catalysis since those require nanoporous semiconductor materials with

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

• excellent performance, which can be used as motion [35][36][37] and temperature sensors [38][39], UV detectors [40], tactile sensors [41][42][43], sensors for healthcare [44][45][46][47], humidity sensors, and gas sensors [48][49][50][51], for example. In this work, a flexible undulated electrode-based

• , 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

Design of V-shaped cantilevers for enhanced multifrequency AFM measurements

• Mehrnoosh Damircheli and
• Babak Eslami

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1525–1541, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.135

• systems (MEMS), superparamagnetic particle embedded microprobe (SPEM) sensors, or lab-on chips devices [5][6][7][8]. Microcantilevers are also an important component of atomic force microscopes (AFM). Due to their importance in AFM, there have been many studies on modeling the cantilevers to represent the

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

• significantly boost the performance of modern sensors, energy storage devices, or energy harvesters and have become essential in their development. These structures can either be well-defined regular structures fabricated in a top-down process, or self-assembled random structures from bottom-up processes. These

• 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

• demonstrate a wafer-level integration of high aspect ratio nanoporous templates. These self-assembled silicon nanostructures are locally defined. This is the basis of a local platform of high specific surface area for the fabrication of functional devices such as sensors, harvesters, or energy storage devices

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

• experiments (5 and 77 K) with qPlus sensors as well as at room temperature using silicon cantilevers [22]. Although the NC-AFM tips were not functionalised, i.e., not specifically terminated with atoms or molecules for imaging, we find a very good agreement between the experimental data and probe particle

• 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

• samples, custom-built sensors were fabricated with a separate tunnelling current wire to exclude cross-talk between the NC-AFM and tunnelling current signals [30], while sensors as supplied by the manufacturer were used for measurements on bulk CaF2 samples. Sensors were excited to oscillation amplitudes

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

• environment has been increasing due to the current life habits of the population [5][6][7]. Moreover, a variety of sensors are often placed in severe environmental conditions, which might restrict their power supply options [8][9][10][11][12]. As a result, several lines of research have been focused on the

• systems can be mitigated [17][18][19][20][21]. Hence, the investigation of self-powered sensors which harvest energy from the surrounding environment is highly sustainable. Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) have been growing in popularity for use as a novel technology to harvest energy. TENGs have a

• ]. Recently, TENG-based sensors have attracted increased attention [34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41]. In 2014, Ga-doped ZnO was used for the fabrication of piezo-humidity sensors with a high sensitivity and a fast response [42]. In 2018, Vivekananthan et al. proposed sustainable energy harvesting and battery

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

• research works has been done examining different doping elements. Doped tin oxide thin film have been widely used in the fields of thin film solar cell electrodes, electronic display devices, and gas sensors. Also doped SnO2 been used for energy-saving low-emissivity glass coatings due to low resistivity

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

• ; Introduction Currently, superconducting detectors are the most sensitive devices in the electromagnetic field and find wide application in radioastronomy and quantum electronics. Sensors based on superconductors can detect microwaves close to the single-photon limit [1]. Most of such sensors are based on

• 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

• superconducting sensors and semiconductor detectors [19][20]. Schematic of the 0–120 kHz cryogenic LNA based on paired SSM2210 transistors. The important component values are: R1 = R2 = 100 Ω, R3 = R4 = 4.3 kΩ, C5 = 470 nF. The capacitors are realized in 0402 package (C0G type) and the resistors are realized as

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

• with a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.56 ng (2.78 pM), which perfectly describes its excellent performance over other reported techniques. Many researchers used nanoparticle-based sensors for the detection of heavy metal ions, but daily increasing usage and commercialization of nanoparticles are rapidly

• the WHO limit of 3 μg/L. Keywords: BioMEMS; heavy metal ions (HMIs); limit of detection (LOD); microcantilevers; microfluidics; micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS); piezoresistive sensors; SAM (self-assembled monolayers); World Health Organization (WHO); Introduction Water is fundamentally

• concentrations below the limit is also hazardous. Hence, it is essential to sense Cd(II) in the picomolar (pM) range well below the specified WHO limit. The ion-selective electrodes (ISEs) fabricated by [7] are stable and precise for HMI detection, but the measurement requires by laboratory equipment. Sensors

3D superconducting hollow nanowires with tailored diameters grown by focused He⁺ beam direct writing

• Rosa Córdoba,
• Alfonso Ibarra,
• Dominique Mailly,
• Isabel Guillamón,
• Hermann Suderow and
• José María De Teresa

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1198–1206, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.104

• nano-antennas and sensors, based on 3D superconducting architectures. Keywords: electron tomography; focused ion beam induced deposition (FIBID); helium ion microscope; magneto-transport measurements; nano-superconductors; tungsten carbide (WC); Introduction Superconductors are dissipationless

• carriers of electric current and provide macroscopic, and thus robust, quantum coherence. This allows for a wide range of applications, particularly at the nanometer-scale, where they can be easily integrated in circuits and used as ultrasensitive sensors of magnetic fields, temperature and as key elements

• for quantum computation. The behavior of nanosized superconductors as one-dimensional quantum oscillators [1], Josephson junction arrays [2], electronic transport devices [3][4][5][6][7], very small-scale devices [8][9], micrometer-scale coolers [10], or thermal and spin sensors [11][12] has been

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

• Marius van den Berg Ardeshir Moeinian Arne Kobald Yu-Ting Chen Anke Horneber Steffen Strehle Alfred J. Meixner Dai Zhang Institute of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Auf der Morgenstelle 15, Tübingen, Germany Center for Light-Matter Interaction, Sensors

• serving as multifunctional platforms for field-effect transistors [4][5][6], photovoltaic devices [7][8][9][10] and miniaturized chemical sensors [5][11][12]. A key element for many of those devices are high-quality nanometer-scale semiconductor junctions, such as pn-junctions that ensure the intended

Vibration analysis and pull-in instability behavior in a multiwalled piezoelectric nanosensor with fluid flow conveyance

• Sayyid H. Hashemi Kachapi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1072–1081, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.92

• analysis; surface/interface effect; van der Waals force; viscous fluid velocity; Introduction Nanomechanical sensors and resonators, especially when combined with piezoelectric materials, are widely used in modern engineering, which encompasses numerous, diverse fields of science and technology

A few-layer graphene/chlorin e6 hybrid nanomaterial and its application in photodynamic therapy against Candida albicans

• Selene Acosta,
• Carlos Moreno-Aguilar,
• Dania Hernández-Sánchez,
• Beatriz Morales-Cruzado,
• Erick Sarmiento-Gomez,
• Carla Bittencourt,
• Luis Octavio Sánchez-Vargas and
• Mildred Quintana

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1054–1061, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.90

• biological applications, such as biosensors, protein detection, bioimaging and drug delivery [17][18]. In recent years, graphene nanoparticles have been used in many different applications ranging from enhanced spectroscopy techniques, coatings, polymeric composites, sensors, drug delivery systems and others

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

• -enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) sensors for the detection of 17β-estradiol. Gold deposition on top of a TiO2 surface leads to the formation of nanoparticles the plasmonic properties of which fulfil the requirements of a SERS sensor. The morphological and optical properties of the surface were investigated

• possess many of the important qualities required for the functionalization of SERS sensors [18][19][20][21]. Aptamers are single-stranded DNA molecules that are specifically selected to bind to a target molecule. They are relatively cheap and their chemistry is easy to tune so that they can attach to a

• established [26]. They are very specific and very sensitive, however, they are also time-consuming and expensive [27]. SERS sensors are therefore investigated as an alternative as they present the potential for in situ near-real-time analysis. In the following we will present the possibilities of TiO2 porous

Gas-sensing features of nanostructured tellurium thin films

• Dumitru Tsiulyanu

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

• nanotube-based sensors showed similar (or sometimes lower) numbers regarding sensitivity and response/recovery times in comparison to Te single-crystalline microtube-based gas sensors [7]. An increase in the gas-sensing performance was achieved by growing single-crystal Te-based nanotubes and nanowires via

• hydrothermal recrystallization [23]. The response time range of NH3 gas sensors based on such nanocomponents was 5–18 s but the recovery time ranged between 170–720 s. From comparison with state-of-the-art devices, it can be observed that the physically nanostructured Te thin films exhibit great potential for

• applications in development in advanced gas sensors and, so far, are the only Te-based nanostructured sensors tested with this purpose. Besides, it can also be observed that nanostructuring is mostly performed via phase transformations, such as hydrothermal recrystallization and growth of Te nanocrystals