Electrical characterization of single nanometer-wide Si fins in dense arrays

• Steven Folkersma,
• Janusz Bogdanowicz,
• Andreas Schulze,
• Paola Favia,
• Dirch H. Petersen,
• Ole Hansen,
• Henrik H. Henrichsen,
• Peter F. Nielsen,
• Lior Shiv and
• Wilfried Vandervorst

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1863–1867, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.178

• control the electrical contact between the metallic (Ni-coated) μ4pp electrodes and the semiconducting (Si) fins. Next, we show that, by carefully controlling this process, the electrical contact can be confined to one single fin such that the resistance of individual fins in dense arrays can be measured

• electrodes comprise four Ni-coated Si cantilevers with a spacing of 8 µm and a contact size dcontact ≈ 300 nm [6][9][10]. In a μ4pp measurement, the electrodes are landed on the sample surface after which a current Iin is injected into the investigated sample via two of the electrodes while the induced

• voltage drop V is measured between the other two electrodes. Initially, however, the native oxides present both on the semiconducting material and the Ni-coated electrodes act as highly resistive barriers and therefore prevent any electrical contact [11]. To establish the electrical contact, the μ4pp

Increasing the performance of a superconducting spin valve using a Heusler alloy

• Andrey A. Kamashev,
• Aidar A. Validov,
• Joachim Schumann,
• Vladislav Kataev,
• Bernd Büchner,
• Yakov V. Fominov and
• Ilgiz A. Garifullin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1764–1769, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.167

• . It is well known [30][31] that in dilute alloys, e.g., in PdNi alloys with 10% of Ni, ξh is of the order of 5 nm, which is an order of magnitude larger compared to pure ferromagnetic elements such as Fe, Ni, or Co. As our present experimental results demonstrate, the use of a Heusler alloy for the

• this respect it would be very interesting to explore theoretically and experimentally the option of optimization of the F1 layer in the SSV AFM/F1/N1/F2/N2/S heterostructure. Recently, Singh et al. [32] reported a huge SSV effect for a S/F1/N/F2 structure made of amorphous MoGe, Ni, Cu and CrO2 as S

Cryochemical synthesis of ultrasmall, highly crystalline, nanostructured metal oxides and salts

• Elena A. Trusova and
• Nikolai S. Trutnev

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1755–1763, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.166

• indicated in the formation of a 2D interface layer which included Ni–O–Si bonds on the surface of the mesoporous silicate. It was found that the composite system prepared by cryotreatment of the emulsion showed a higher hydro-desulfurization catalytic activity by several orders of magnitude as compared to

• soft conditions for the formation of Ce-, Fe- and Ni-oxide nanocrystallites, and its special feature is the use of cryogenic processing (liquid N2, −196 °C ) of metal-containing water–organic sols. In addition, we have patented a device for the production of cryochemical crystalline substances from

• using a hydraulic jet injector with a swirler, directing the spray torch into the liquid nitrogen environment (−196 °C), where cryogranulation took place. In the next step, the granules were exposed to freeze-drying and calcination, resulting in the production of metal oxide nanopowders (Ce, Fe or Ni

Nanoscale electrochemical response of lithium-ion cathodes: a combined study using C-AFM and SIMS

• Jonathan Op de Beeck,
• Nouha Labyedh,
• Alfonso Sepúlveda,
• Valentina Spampinato,
• Alexis Franquet,
• Thierry Conard,
• Philippe M. Vereecken,
• Wilfried Vandervorst and
• Umberto Celano

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1623–1628, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.154

•  1a. The three samples mentioned above are all deposited on a metallic current collector (Ni or Pt) on top of a silicon wafer. Spatially resolved electrical properties are observed with nanometer resolution by scanning a biased conductive AFM tip across the top surface. Unless specified otherwise, we

• apply always the bias to the sample (i.e., the metallic Ni/Pt layer) while the C-AFM tip is grounded. By measuring the current (using the tip as a nanoscale electrode) and the tip deflection as a function of the AFM tip position, two-dimensional maps of the local conductivity and the topography can be

Cr(VI) remediation from aqueous environment through modified-TiO₂-mediated photocatalytic reduction

• Rashmi Acharya,
• Brundabana Naik and
• Kulamani Parida

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1448–1470, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.137

• addition to this, the introduction of NiO resulted in good contact between NiO and TiO2, and as a consequence, the Ti 3d and Ni 3d sates are overlapped to form a modified conduction band. This caused band gap reduction resulting in a red shift of the absorption. Hence, the coupling of NiO with TiO2 not

• only retards the recombination of photogenerated electrons and holes, but also extends the absorption edge towards the visible region. Moreover, an increase in the Ni content hinders aggregation of TiO2 because an appreciable amount of NiO restricts the growth of TiO2 particles. The inhibition in

Tailoring polarization and magnetization of absorbing terahertz metamaterials using a cut-wire sandwich structure

• Hadi Teguh Yudistira,
• Shuo Liu,
• Tie Jun Cui and
• Han Zhang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1437–1447, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.136

• , refractive index, wave number in free space, substrate thickness and impedance, respectively. In the matching air impedance condition (i.e., z = 1 + i0), the reflectance would be zero and Equation 1 is expressed as where nr and ni are the real and imaginary parts of the refractive index, respectively

• proposed absorber [36][40]. The refractive index and impedance were obtained using Equation 5 and Equation 6 [40] as where X = (1 / 2S212)(1 – S112 + S212). The metamaterial was considered a passive medium; hence, the sign in Equation 5 and Equation 6 was determined according to zr ≥ 0 and ni ≥ 0, where zr

Atomistic modeling of tribological properties of Pd and Al nanoparticles on a graphene surface

• Alexei Khomenko,
• Miroslav Zakharov,
• Denis Boyko and
• Bo N. J. Persson

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1239–1246, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.115

• wear at the atomic level [2][8][10][12][15][16][17][18][19]. Preliminarily MD studies were carried out for the formation and friction of Ag, Ni, Au, Cu nanoparticles on graphene [10][11]. This paper extends the study to Al and Pd nanoparticles [17]. Besides, in previous papers the temperature

• a function of time [6][10][11][13][18][19][24][25][26]. Previously we studied friction of Ag, Ni, Au and Cu nanoparticles on graphene [10][11]. In the present paper, we chose Al and Pd nanoparticles because the software we use allows to explore only metals with a face-centered cubic lattice. Besides

• area of Ni nanoparticles changes from 0.2 nN to 0.45 nN and from 0.1 nN to 0.2 nN for Ag, with contact area A from 20 nm2 to 60 nm2 for Ni and from 30 nm2 to 80 nm2 for Ag. The shear stress depending on the contact area of Ag nanoparticles varies from 40 MPa to 90 MPa and from 50 MPa to 140 MPa for Ni

Understanding the performance and mechanism of Mg-containing oxides as support catalysts in the thermal dry reforming of methane

• Nor Fazila Khairudin,
• Mohd Farid Fahmi Sukri,
• Mehrnoush Khavarian and
• Abdul Rahman Mohamed

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1162–1183, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.108

• (synthetic gas) production and co-utilization of methane and carbon dioxide, which are the main greenhouse gases. Magnesium is commonly applied in a Ni-based catalyst in DRM to improve catalyst performance and inhibit carbon deposition. The aim of this review is to gain better insight into recent

• developments on the use of Mg as a support or promoter for DRM catalysts. Its high basicity and high thermal stability make Mg suitable for introduction into the highly endothermic reaction of DRM. The introduction of Mg as a support or promoter for Ni-based catalysts allows for good metal dispersion on the

• , and Ir, exhibit high activity and resistance toward carbon formation [19][20][21]. However, these noble metals are associated with high cost and low availability, so non-noble metals, such as Ni [18][22][23][24], Fe [25][26][27][28], and Co [29][30] are most often used. Among the non-noble metals, Ni

Thermoelectric current in topological insulator nanowires with impurities

• Sigurdur I. Erlingsson,
• Jens H. Bardarson and
• Andrei Manolescu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1156–1161, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.107

• = 4.0 T, for a nanowire of length L = 1000 nm. The disorder strength is set to W = 4.8 and the density of impurities is varied: ni = 3.0 nm−1, 6.0 nm−1 and 12 nm−1. For comparison, we consider two types of impurities: scalar impurities described by Equation 3 (red traces), and magnetic impurities

• impurity configurations between the magnetic and scalar cases we adjusted the chemical potential to μ = 7.15 meV to maximize the anomalous current. The values of Wimp and ni used here were chosen such that we could observe an evolution in Figure 3a from resolving the quantized steps to not seeing any. For

• vF = 105 m/s and R = 50 nm for the current calculations, which gives E0 = ≈ 1.3 meV. a) Transmission function and b) thermoelectric current calculated in the presence of impurities at B = 4.0 T. The nanowire length is L = 1000 nm and the impurity densities are ni =3.0 nm−1, 6.0 nm−1 and 12 nm−1. The

P3HT:PCBM blend films phase diagram on the base of variable-temperature spectroscopic ellipsometry

• Barbara Hajduk,
• Henryk Bednarski,
• Bożena Jarząbek,
• Henryk Janeczek and
• Paweł Nitschke

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1108–1115, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.102

• optical model parametrizes the spectral dependence of the refractive index n and the extinction coefficient k on the wavelength λ by the following relations: where the temperature-dependent parameters ni and ki, with i = 0, 1 and 2, are the model (fitting) parameters and the coefficients C0 and C1 are the

An implementation of spin–orbit coupling for band structure calculations with Gaussian basis sets: Two-dimensional topological crystals of Sb and Bi

• Sahar Pakdel,
• Mahdi Pourfath and
• J. J. Palacios

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1015–1023, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.94

• , these shortcomings can be overcome by considering linear combinations of GTOs to form contracted Gaussian-type orbitals (CGTOs): Here each primitive, as defined in Equation 2, is normalized on its own (Ni) and the whole contracted function has an overall normalization constant (N0). The coefficients di

Fatigue crack growth characteristics of Fe and Ni under cyclic loading using a quasi-continuum method

• Ren-Zheng Qiu,
• Yi-Chen Lin and
• Te-Hua Fang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1000–1014, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.93

• growth and expansion characteristics of single-crystal Fe and Ni under cyclic loading modes I and II. In particular, the crack growth and expansion characteristics of Fe and Ni under cyclic loading were evaluated in terms of atomic stress fields and force–distance curves. The simulation results indicated

• microscopic scale [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. For face-centered cubic (FCC) metallic systems, Wu et al. [10] have investigated the fatigue crack growth in single-crystal Ni under different cyclic loading regimes. They found that different crack propagation and stress distributions lead to

• double slip in single-crystal Ni and Cu under different loading orientations, including [111], [100], [110] and [101], have been reported by Potirniche et al. [12]. In addition, the fatigue crack growth of body-centered cubic (BCC) metallic systems under cyclic loading was analyzed by some MD simulations

Comparative study of sculptured metallic thin films deposited by oblique angle deposition at different temperatures

• Susann Liedtke,
• Christoph Grüner,
• Jürgen W. Gerlach and
• Bernd Rauschenbach

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 954–962, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.89

• . So far, metallic (Ag and Au) tilted columns grown at low substrate temperatures (133 K) have exclusively been studied by Jen et al. [12][13][14]. In the present study, the growth processes of seven different metals (Al, Ni, Ti, Co, Cr, Mo and Ta) deposited at 77 K are compared with each other and

• experimental conditions (77 K substrate temperature and 82° incidence angle). For example, Ta columns have a much steeper tilt angle than Al and Ni columns, whereas the tilt angles for Cr, Mo and Ta columns are almost identical. As shown in Figure 5a and 5b, respectively, the dependence of the tilt angle β on

• the incidence angle θ is studied exemplarily for Al and Ni as well as Cr, Mo and Ta deposited at 77 K (blue data points) and at 300 K (red data points) substrate temperature. Two general observations can be made. Firstly, for Ni, Cr and Mo columns the tilt angle for a fixed incidence angle does not

Heavy-metal detectors based on modified ferrite nanoparticles

• Urszula Klekotka,
• Ewelina Wińska,
• Elżbieta Zambrzycka-Szelewa,
• Dariusz Satuła and
• Beata Kalska-Szostko

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 762–770, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.69

• composition and surface modification. The aim of the study is to examine the efficiency of adsorption of heavy metals in artificial solutions on doped magnetite nanoparticles (Ca, Co, Mn, Ni) surface-modified with PA, SA, AA, 3-PPA or 16-PHDA linkers. Experimental Reagents and solutions Chemicals used in this

• of Ca, Co, Mn and Ni elements into the primary magnetite structure. The obtained diffractograms are depicted in Figure 3. The XRD patterns show peaks typical for magnetite regardless of the nature of added elements. The 2θ values and the relative intensities unequivocally state the presence of

• indicate the presence of an organic shell. Co-doped ferrite nanoparticles have an evidentially dominating peak moved to 600 cm−1, which is in good agreement with the doublet observed in Mössbauer spectra, which, in turn, suggests the presence of maghemite. Ni ferrite also shows a similar trend, which is a

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

• the most commonly used techniques due to its simplicity [30]. This method starts with the inclusion of metals (Zn, Cu, Ni, Co, Fe or Mn) into the catalyst support material. A metal solution precursor is commonly added together with the support material. After mixing, the surface material is allowed to

• loading Zn- (Fe-, Ni-, Cu- or Ag-) promoted Co/Al2O3 catalyst to study the effect of additive metals on the SCR of NO. From the experimental studies, it was found that this technique definitely contributes towards a good homogeneous dispersion and helps prevent aggregation of highly deposited cobalt on

• alumina. Moreover, a uniform morphology of the catalyst was obtained and small-sized deposited cobalt was sustained under the presence of Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn or Ag. Meanwhile, Sun et al. [46] planned to enhance the performance of MnOx catalyst for the SCR-NH3 of NO reaction by modifying it with Eu using the co

Perovskite-structured CaTiO₃ coupled with g-C₃N₄ as a heterojunction photocatalyst for organic pollutant degradation

• Ashish Kumar,
• Christian Schuerings,
• Suneel Kumar,
• Ajay Kumar and
• Venkata Krishnan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 671–685, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.62

• experiments. Characterization The purity, phase composition and structure of the resultant samples were identified by utilizing powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies using a Rigaku SmartLab 9 kW rotating anode diffractometer working in Bragg configuration with Ni-filtered Cu Ka irradiation (λ = 0.1542 nm) at

Facile synthesis of ZnFe₂O₄ photocatalysts for decolourization of organic dyes under solar irradiation

• Arjun Behera,
• Debasmita Kandi,
• Sanjit Manohar Majhi,
• Satyabadi Martha and
• Kulamani Parida

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 436–446, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.42

• great attention in the field of photocatalysis. The reasons are the absorption of a maximum fraction of solar light, and specific optoelectronic and magnetic properties [6][7][8][9]. Metal ferrites exhibit a spinel-like structure having the general formula of MFe2O4 (M = Zn, Cu, Ni, Mn, Co) and are

Review: Electrostatically actuated nanobeam-based nanoelectromechanical switches – materials solutions and operational conditions

• Liga Jasulaneca,
• Jelena Kosmaca,
• Raimonds Meija,
• Jana Andzane and
• Donats Erts

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 271–300, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.29

BN/Ag hybrid nanomaterials with petal-like surfaces as catalysts and antibacterial agents

• Konstantin L. Firestein,
• Denis V. Leybo,
• Alexander E. Steinman,
• Andrey M. Kovalskii,
• Andrei T. Matveev,
• Anton M. Manakhov,
• Irina V. Sukhorukova,
• Pavel V. Slukin,
• Nadezda K. Fursova,
• Sergey G. Ignatov,
• Dmitri V. Golberg and
• Dmitry V. Shtansky

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 250–261, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.27

• . The activation energy for surface diffusion of Ag was shown to depend on the type of a substrate (67 kJ/mol (Ni), 73 kJ/mol (Cu), and 100–155 kJ/mol (TiCaPCON film)), but was always lower than the activation energy for bulk self-diffusion in Ag (191 kJ/mol) [28]. A significant increase in the

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

• recorded along the blue line visible in Figure 2c and demonstrates that each protrusion corresponds to every second atom. Thus, similar to what is observed for other materials [49][50], only one type of atom, either Ni or O, is visible in our nc-AFM measurements. Since no atomic defects have been observed

• 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

• surface in such a way that the two similar functional groups are always facing the same type of surface atom (either Ni or O). For instance, taking into account the partial charge distributions of the surface (Ni is δ+) and of the bpy unit (N is δ−), we might expect a positioning of the nitrogen atoms (in

Dopant-stimulated growth of GaN nanotube-like nanostructures on Si(111) by molecular beam epitaxy

• Alexey D. Bolshakov,
• Alexey M. Mozharov,
• Georgiy A. Sapunov,
• Igor V. Shtrom,
• Nickolay V. Sibirev,
• Vladimir V. Fedorov,
• Evgeniy V. Ubyivovk,
• Maria Tchernycheva,
• George E. Cirlin and
• Ivan S. Mukhin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 146–154, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.17

• offer a new degree of freedom due to possible confinement effects. It has been previously demonstrated that GaN NTs may be synthesized using the following methods: 1) chemical vapor deposition of nitrogen precursor with gallium precursor in the presence of catalysts such as Ni, In or Au [11][12][13]; 2

Combined scanning probe electronic and thermal characterization of an indium arsenide nanowire

• Tino Wagner,
• Fabian Menges,
• Heike Riel,
• Bernd Gotsmann and
• Andreas Stemmer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 129–136, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.15

• average power of 2.9 μW and a peak current of 30 μA is shown superimposed as a colour code on the topography scan in Figure 1b. From topography, the wire height is 60 nm. On both sides, the wire is electrically contacted by 120 nm high Au/Ni top electrodes, leaving a wire segment of approx. 1 μm in

• . The InAs NW studied has a diameter of 60 nm and was contacted by Au/Ni metal contacts of double the NW thickness. Prior to metal deposition, the native oxide shell around the InAs wire was removed by a dip in buffered hydrofluoric acid (BHF) giving rise to a slight tapering of the NW towards the

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

• processes have been employed to prepare the samples. Ca- and Mg-stabilized cubic zirconia, prepared by pulsed laser deposition (PLD), has shown ferromagnetic properties [3]. Magnetic properties of PLD-synthesized ZrO2, doped with Co, Fe, Mn or Ni, have been studied [4], showing that doping ZrO2 with Mn

The rational design of a Au(I) precursor for focused electron beam induced deposition

• Ali Marashdeh,
• Thiadrik Tiesma,
• Niels J. C. van Velzen,
• Sjoerd Harder,
• Remco W. A. Havenith,
• Jeff T. M. De Hosson and
• Willem F. van Dorp

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2753–2765, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.274

• precursors are Co2(CO)8 [38][39][40], Fe(CO)5 [41][42][43] and HFeCo3(CO)12 [44]. These precursors yield deposits with a high metal content, given the right deposition conditions. W(CO)6 is basically too stable, resulting in a high contents of C and O in the deposit [28]. Ni(CO)4 on the other hand is too

• electronegative, which means that d-electrons are strongly bound and backdonation is poor. For this reason, Ni(CO)4 is less stable than Fe(CO)5. The calculated energies (BP86/ECP2) for dissociation of the first CO ligand in Fe(CO)5 and Ni(CO)4 are 44.5 and 27.5 kcal/mol, respectively [57]. Stabilities also

• metal→P backbonding is stronger for PF3, which is an excellent acceptor on due to its low-lying σ* orbitals. The electron-donor abilities of phosphine ligands are quantified by the Tolman electronic parameter [64]. The stretching frequency of CO in Ni(CO)3PX3 complexes is taken as a measure for the

Dry adhesives from carbon nanofibers grown in an open ethanol flame

• Christian Lutz,
• Julia Syurik,
• C. N. Shyam Kumar,
• Christian Kübel,
• Michael Bruns and
• Hendrik Hölscher

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2719–2728, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.271

• flow of the ethanol flame compared to the case of a horizontal placement of the sample as suggested by Zhang and Pan [9]. Figure 2a shows a time series of photos taken during a typical experiment during which CNFs are grown in an open ethanol flame. The right sample is a copper substrate with Ni

• -containing salt. The left sample is a clean silicon substrate without catalyst. After 20 s, the ethanol flame went green suggesting that NiCl2·6H2O is transformed to Ni-containing catalysts. Shortly after that, the area initially covered with Ni-containing salt, became black indicating the growth of carbon

• structures. The SEM images of samples taken after such a three-minute experiment (Figure 2b) indicate that carbon nanostructures grow only on the copper substrate with Ni-containing catalysts while no structures were observed on the clean silicon sample. The samples with carbon nanostructures are patchy