A review of carbon-based and non-carbon-based catalyst supports for the selective catalytic reduction of nitric oxide

• Shahreen Binti Izwan Anthonysamy,
• Syahidah Binti Afandi,
• Mehrnoush Khavarian and
• Abdul Rahman Bin Mohamed

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 740–761, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.68

• prepared using the sol–gel method had better catalytic activity than that of the impregnation method. Besides that, a huge amount of oxygen vacancies and superoxide ions was observed when cobalt metal was introduced via the sol–gel method, thereby enhancing the SCR performance. On the other hand, the co

Synthesis and characterization of two new TiO₂-containing benzothiazole-based imine composites for organic device applications

• Anna Różycka,
• Agnieszka Iwan,
• Krzysztof Artur Bogdanowicz,
• Michal Filapek,
• Natalia Górska,
• Damian Pociecha,
• Marek Malinowski,
• Patryk Fryń,
• Agnieszka Hreniak,
• Jakub Rysz,
• Paweł Dąbczyński and
• Monika Marzec

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 721–739, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.67

• both investigated imines. Similar interactions of oxygen vacancies existing on the TiO2 surface with SP1 and SP2 were observed. The imine:TiO2 mixtures showed good air stability and reusability, which demonstrates its potential for organic device applications. Keywords: azomethines; composites; HOMO

• hydrocarbon chains or aromatic rings are not visible. The observed changes confirmed the significant influence of titanium dioxide on the structural properties of both investigated compounds. It can be explained by the interactions of oxygen vacancies existing on the TiO2 surface with SP1 as well as SP2

Dynamics and fragmentation mechanism of (C₅H₄CH₃)Pt(CH₃)₃ on SiO₂ surfaces

• Kaliappan Muthukumar,
• Harald O. Jeschke and
• Roser Valentí

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 711–720, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.66

• ca. 15 Å in the original supercell) and an enhanced concentration of surface hydroxyl vacancies is provided in the reduced cell on partially dehydroxylated surfaces (i.e., 25% and 50% compared to 11% and 22%). However, the environment around these sites is similar (i.e., the sites are isolated on the

Mechanistic insights into plasmonic photocatalysts in utilizing visible light

• Kah Hon Leong,
• Azrina Abd Aziz,
• Lan Ching Sim,
• Pichiah Saravanan,
• Min Jang and
• Detlef Bahnemann

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 628–648, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.59

• the formation of copper vacancies in the material through exposure to oxygen or to a Ce(IV) complex [143]. Similarly, the LSPR band in stoichiometric Cu2–xS, Cu2–xSe and Cu2–xTe was improved by converting them into their nonstoichiometric counterparts via oxidation/reductive reactions [142]. Besides

Sensing behavior of flower-shaped MoS₂ nanoflakes: case study with methanol and xylene

• Maryam Barzegar,
• Masoud Berahman and
• Azam Iraji zad

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 608–615, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.57

• sulfur vacancies in the samples. The previous report shows that sulfur vacancies can increase the possibility of charge transfer in MoS2 nanoflakes which may act as the main reason to alter the conductivity [35]. It has been also reported that the crystal phase and edge play a significant role in the

• electro-activity of MoS2 nanosheets. Furthermore, sulfur vacancies contribute significantly to the electronic properties of MoS2 [36][37]. Hence, such sulfur vacancy is desirable for the gas sensing properties of MoS2. To study the application of the flower-shaped MoS2 for gas sensing, the Brunauer–Emmett

• the resistance returns back to its initial value. In the hydrothermal growth of MoS2 (as proven before), the high edges, corners and vacancies provide proper sites for reaction and sensing of the gas molecules [43]. A scrutinized investigation of the results revealed that when methanol enters the

Influence of the preparation method on the photocatalytic activity of Nd-modified TiO₂

• Patrycja Parnicka,
• Paweł Mazierski,
• Tomasz Grzyb,
• Wojciech Lisowski,
• Ewa Kowalska,
• Bunsho Ohtani,
• Adriana Zaleska-Medynska and
• Joanna Nadolna

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 447–459, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.43

• increasing the content of surface oxygen vacancies and defects [31][40]. These electron trapping sites can enhance the separation of photogenerated electron–hole pairs [24]. Furthermore, both pristine and Nd-TiO2 NPs exhibit obvious excitonic PL signals with a similar curve shape. The observed phenomena can

• amount of oxygen vacancies and defects was found on the surface of the 0.25% Nd-TiO2(HT) sample. As previously mentioned, the presence of oxygen deficient centres on the surface and surface defects such as Ti3+ can reduce the rate of electron–hole pair recombination [45][46][47]. Further, the light

Wafer-scale bioactive substrate patterning by chemical lift-off lithography

• Chong-You Chen,
• Chang-Ming Wang,
• Hsiang-Hua Li,
• Hong-Hseng Chan and
• Wei-Ssu Liao

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 311–320, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.31

• create distinct regions carrying dissimilar surface properties for a variety of applications [21]. With conformal contact-induced reactions, the top layer Au–Au bond breakage on an alkanethiol SAM covered Au substrate leads to the exposure of fresh Au toward the exterior environment. These vacancies can

Anchoring of a dye precursor on NiO(001) studied by non-contact atomic force microscopy

• Sara Freund,
• Antoine Hinaut,
• Nathalie Marinakis,
• Edwin C. Constable,
• Ernst Meyer,
• Catherine E. Housecroft and
• Thilo Glatzel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 242–249, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.26

• nor any contrast inversion, as for example in measurements on TiO2 [51], and considering that Ni vacancies are supposed to occur more frequently in NiO [52], it can be assumed that the protrusions are related to oxygen atoms. This is also in agreement with earlier experimental studies on NiO where

Atomic layer deposition and properties of ZrO₂/Fe₂O₃ thin films

• Kristjan Kalam,
• Helina Seemen,
• Peeter Ritslaid,
• Mihkel Rähn,
• Aile Tamm,
• Kaupo Kukli,
• Aarne Kasikov,
• Joosep Link,
• Raivo Stern,
• Salvador Dueñas,
• Helena Castán and
• Héctor García

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 119–128, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.14

• reactive DC magnetron sputtering [7], also exhibited ferromagnetic properties. The undoped ZrO2 exhibited ferromagnetic properties mainly driven by oxygen vacancies. Monoclinic and tetragonal phases with similar amounts of oxygen vacancies were compared and ferromagnetism was only observed in the case of

• iron and zirconium oxides, the amount of defects (in particular oxygen vacancies) is increased due to the substitutive exchange between metal ions of different valence, resulting in an increase also in the leakage currents. Pure ZrO2 exhibited the lowest leakage current (Figure 7) and did not show any

Facile synthesis of silver/silver thiocyanate (Ag@AgSCN) plasmonic nanostructures with enhanced photocatalytic performance

• Xinfu Zhao,
• Dairong Chen,
• Abdul Qayum,
• Bo Chen and
• Xiuling Jiao

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2781–2789, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.277

• nm. The absorption peak of silver nanoparticles becomes gradually stronger as the content of Ag increases, indicating that the sunlight utilization efficiency increases steadily. During UV irradiation, many defects are formed in AgSCN, including different interstitial sites and vacancies [29]. The

• the metal from the Fermi level directly transfer to the conduction band of AgSCN, and the vacancies remain on the surface of the Ag particles. A dipole-based resonance energy can directly excite semiconductors to produce photogenerated electron–hole pairs that can improve the visible-light catalytic

• vacancies were left on the surface of the Ag particles. The dipole-based resonance energy can directly excite semiconductors to produce photogenerated electron–hole pairs. The presence of Ag nanoparticles can not only improve the photocatalytic efficiency, but also can trap photogenerated electrons, slow

Patterning of supported gold monolayers via chemical lift-off lithography

• Liane S. Slaughter,
• Kevin M. Cheung,
• Sami Kaappa,
• Huan H. Cao,
• Qing Yang,
• Thomas D. Young,
• Andrew C. Serino,
• Sami Malola,
• Jana M. Olson,
• Stephan Link,
• Hannu Häkkinen,
• Anne M. Andrews and
• Paul S. Weiss

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2648–2661, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.265

• . The values for Ha and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) are shown below each graph. Two configurations calculated by molecular dynamics simulations of lift-off of a butanethiolate SAM on Au{111}. (A) Initially, densely packed RS–Au–SR (R = butyl) units occur on Au{111} having surface vacancies. The

• number of vacancies equals the number of RS–Au–SR units. (B) Initially, a dense packing of individual butane thiolates occurs at the face-centered cubic sites of a defect-free Au{111} surface. The dashed vertical lines define the borders of each computational unit cell, i.e., in the figure there are two

Fabrication of CeO₂–MO_x (M = Cu, Co, Ni) composite yolk–shell nanospheres with enhanced catalytic properties for CO oxidation

• Ling Liu,
• Jingjing Shi,
• Hongxia Cao,
• Ruiyu Wang and
• Ziwu Liu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2425–2437, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.241

• independent forms. The formation of highly-dispersed copper species promotes the adsorption of CO molecules, while the presence of oxygen vacancies provided by CeO2 can in turn create active oxygen in the oxidation reactions [12][13]. Therefore, the creation of two-phase interfaces as numerous as possible and

• /and hierarchical architecture, which possess excellent redox properties and abundant oxygen vacancies, will be favorable for the enhancement of catalytic activity toward CO oxidation. CeO2-based hybrid oxides with hollow structure can be synthesized by a sacrificial-template method based on

• on various parameters, including the crystal defects, oxygen vacancies, phonon confinement, and inhomogeneous strain related to the reduced ceria [31][32]. Herein, the shift can be related to the interaction between the MOx species and CeO2 surface, which leads to lengthening and weakening of the M–O

Ta₂N₃ nanocrystals grown in Al₂O₃ thin layers

• Krešimir Salamon,
• Maja Buljan,
• Iva Šarić,
• Mladen Petravić and
• Sigrid Bernstorff

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2162–2170, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.215

• these materials are non-stoichiometric materials (metal or N vacancies) the properties of which can be tuned by using different preparation parameters [15][16]. Along with the choice of material, the LSPR efficiency very much depends on the NP morphology [2][4][17]. For example, TiN nanoparticles can

Intercalation of Si between MoS₂ layers

• Rik van Bremen,
• Qirong Yao,
• Soumya Banerjee,
• Deniz Cakir,
• Nuri Oncel and
• Harold J. W. Zandvliet

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1952–1960, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.196

• intrinsic defects, which are visible as dark depressions as indicated by the arrow in Figure 1a. These defects are most probably caused by vacancies or interstitials and have been found to exhibit a metal-like behavior [42][43]. Upon the deposition of 0.2 monolayers of Si, the surface morphology converts to

Process-specific mechanisms of vertically oriented graphene growth in plasmas

• Subrata Ghosh,
• Shyamal R. Polaki,
• Niranjan Kumar,
• Sankarakumar Amirthapandian,
• Mohamed Kamruddin and
• Kostya (Ken) Ostrikov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1658–1670, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.166

• spectra exhibit D + D″ (ca. 2450 cm−1), G′ (ca. 2705 cm−1), D + D′ (ca. 2948 cm−1) and 2D′ (ca. 3244 cm−1) peaks. The defect-related peaks (D, D′, D″ and the overtones) are attributed to high edge density, structural defects and disorder such as vacancies and strained hexagonal/non-hexagonal (pentagon or

Uptake and intracellular accumulation of diamond nanoparticles – a metabolic and cytotoxic study

• Antonín Brož,
• Lucie Bačáková,
• Pavla Štenclová,
• Alexander Kromka and
• Štěpán Potocký

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1649–1657, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.165

• influencing the bulk of the NDs (formation of vacancies, and N-V sites supported by high-temperature annealing in vacuum) [39]. This was confirmed by the fact that there was no obvious difference in the FTIR spectra between the MR-18 sample and the AR-40 sample. The zeta potential of MR-type NDs were negative

Two-dimensional carbon-based nanocomposites for photocatalytic energy generation and environmental remediation applications

• Suneel Kumar,
• Ashish Kumar,
• Ashish Bahuguna,
• Vipul Sharma and
• Venkata Krishnan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1571–1600, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.159

• reactions but mainly hydrogen evolution reactions [67]. The lattice structure of g-C3N4 is composed of C–N with short interlayer distances and amino functional groups with larger periodic vacancies [67]. In addition to this, g-C3N4 possesses excellent chemical and thermal stability, unique surface

Low-temperature CO oxidation over Cu/Pt co-doped ZrO₂ nanoparticles synthesized by solution combustion

• Amit Singhania and
• Shipra Mital Gupta

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1546–1552, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.156

• dissolve into the ZrO2 lattice and thus creates oxygen vacancies due to lattice distortion and charge imbalance. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) results showed Cu/Pt co-doped ZrO2 nanoparticles with a size of ca. 10 nm. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectra confirmed cubic

• structure and larger oxygen vacancies. The nanoparticles showed excellent activity for CO oxidation. The temperature T50 (the temperature at which 50% of CO are converted) was lowered by 175 °C in comparison to bare ZrO2. Further, they exhibited very high stability for CO reaction (time-on-stream ≈ 70 h

• ). This is due to combined effect of smaller particle size, large oxygen vacancies, high specific surface area and better thermal stability of the Cu/Pt co-doped ZrO2 nanoparticles. The apparent activation energy for CO oxidation is found to be 45.6 kJ·mol−1. The CO conversion decreases with increase in

Formation of ferromagnetic molecular thin films from blends by annealing

• Peter Robaschik,
• Ye Ma,
• Salahud Din and
• Sandrine Heutz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1469–1475, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.146

• vacancies in the mixed films generate sufficient free volume around the MnPc molecules for a rearrangement to the thermodynamically stable β-phase (Figure 1c), which normally forms above 300 °C [7][8]. Film morphology, structure and composition Optical micrographs in Figure 2 reveal the surface morphology

Fabrication of hierarchically porous TiO₂ nanofibers by microemulsion electrospinning and their application as anode material for lithium-ion batteries

• Jin Zhang,
• Yibing Cai,
• Xuebin Hou,
• Xiaofei Song,
• Pengfei Lv,
• Huimin Zhou and
• Qufu Wei

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1297–1306, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.131

• diameters of tens of nanometers. It meant that the axially aligned pores were the vacancies of paraffin oil. Thermogravimetry (TG) and differential thermogravimetry (DTG) curves of as-spun sample A1 are shown in Figure 2a. It can be seen that the total weight loss was approximately 35%, and whole

• the number of channels in each nanofiber decreased as the content of paraffin oil increased. This is because the pores stemmed from the vacancies of oil droplets after calcination, and a larger oil droplets were formed when more paraffin oil was added into the microemulsion [31]. The SEM image of

Metal oxide nanostructures: preparation, characterization and functional applications as chemical sensors

• Dario Zappa,
• Angela Bertuna,
• Elisabetta Comini,
• Navpreet Kaur,
• Nicola Poli,
• Veronica Sberveglieri and
• Giorgio Sberveglieri

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1205–1217, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.122

• NO2. At lower temperatures (100 °C), NiO devices are too resistive to be measured in our test chamber. NiO has hardly been studied as a material for chemical sensors. Hence, there are only few reports about a tentative NO2 sensing mechanism. Zhang et. al. [24] pointed out that nickel vacancies could

Stable Au–C bonds to the substrate for fullerene-based nanostructures

• Taras Chutora,
• Jesús Redondo,
• Bruno de la Torre,
• Martin Švec,
• Pavel Jelínek and
• Héctor Vázquez

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1073–1079, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.109

• tunneling microscope. These features are stable at room temperature against diffusion on the surface. We carry out DFT calculations of fullerene molecules having one missing carbon atom to simulate the vacancies in the molecules resulting from the sputtering process. These modified fullerenes have an

• vacancies. This provides a pathway for the formation of fullerene-based nanostructures on Au at room temperature. Keywords: Au–C bonds; density functional theory (DFT); fullerenes; scanning tunneling microscopy (STM); sputtering; Introduction In single-molecule electronics, the active element in an

• observed, which we show to be adsorbed fullerenes with defects created by the sputtering process. The sputtering process is expected to result in the formation of vacancies in the fullerene molecules, where C atoms are knocked out. A series of fullerene fragments can be formed in the collision with high

Structural properties and thermal stability of cobalt- and chromium-doped α-MnO₂ nanorods

• Romana Cerc Korošec,
• Polona Umek,
• Alexandre Gloter,
• Jana Padežnik Gomilšek and
• Peter Bukovec

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1032–1042, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.104

• , causing no structural distortion. The latter would lead to lower symmetry, from tetragonal to monoclinic, which means also a lower thermal stability. (II) Dopant ions of lower valence lead to the formation of octahedral vacancies to maintain the charge balance, with or without the additional incorporation

• of K+ into tunnels. Vacancies cause structural distortion and lower the thermal stability. When ions of higher valence are incorporated, the content of K+ ions is reduced or more Mn4+ ions are transformed to Mn3+ [14]. Recently, a few different strategies of doping of different MnO2 structures with

Study of the correlation between sensing performance and surface morphology of inkjet-printed aqueous graphene-based chemiresistors for NO₂ detection

• F. Villani,
• C. Schiattarella,
• T. Polichetti,
• R. Di Capua,
• F. Loffredo,
• B. Alfano,
• M. L. Miglietta,
• E. Massera,
• L. Verdoliva and
• G. Di Francia

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1023–1031, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.103

• the case of graphene the active sites are represented by sp2 carbon atoms (low interaction energy) and defects such as vacancies, dangling bonds, coordination defects and functionalizations (high interaction energy). In the specific case of our LPE graphene, defects are mostly ascribed to edge defects

CVD transfer-free graphene for sensing applications

• Chiara Schiattarella,
• Sten Vollebregt,
• Tiziana Polichetti,
• Brigida Alfano,
• Ettore Massera,
• Maria Lucia Miglietta,
• Girolamo Di Francia and
• Pasqualina Maria Sarro

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1015–1022, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.102

• , namely I(D)/I(D′), can be related to the preponderant typology of defects in the different graphene samples [25]. In particular, the I(D)/I(D′) ratio exhibits its maximum value, around 13, for sp3-like defects, it decreases down to about 7 in the case of vacancies and it is minimum for edge defects (ca