Monolayer graphene/SiC Schottky barrier diodes with improved barrier height uniformity as a sensing platform for the detection of heavy metals

• Ivan Shtepliuk,
• Jens Eriksson,
• Volodymyr Khranovskyy,
• Tihomir Iakimov,
• Anita Lloyd Spetz and
• Rositsa Yakimova

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1800–1814, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.173

• graphene model of 30 carbon atoms with edges terminated by 14 hydrogen atoms (3 × 3 C30H14 cluster). To study the concentration dependence we also used the 2 × 2 (C16H10) cluster. It should be pointed out that the geometry optimization of interacting systems (graphene supercell–heavy metals) was done at

• difference between the total energy of the neutral graphene cluster and the total energy of a cation of the same cluster with +1 charge. Knowing the work function of pristine graphene and the different interacting systems one can easily predict the value of the Schottky barrier height, which forms as a

• small clusters behave themselves as conventional semiconductors and have an energy gap. This energy gap depends on the size of the hydrogenated graphene clusters and significantly decreases with increasing cluster size [57]. Furthermore, hydrogen atoms can contribute to the chemical interaction between

Numerical investigation of depth profiling capabilities of helium and neon ions in ion microscopy

• Patrick Philipp,
• Lukasz Rzeznik and
• Tom Wirtz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1749–1760, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.168

• spectrometry (SIMS) has been a topic of interest for many years. In recent years, the primary ion species evolved from heavy monatomic ions to cluster and massive cluster primary ions in order to preserve a maximum of organic information. The progress in less-damaging sputtering goes along with a loss in

• lateral resolution for 2D and 3D imaging. By contrast the development of a mass spectrometer as an add-on tool for the helium ion microscope (HIM), which uses finely focussed He+ or Ne+ beams, allows for the analysis of secondary ions and small secondary cluster ions with unprecedented lateral resolution

• ], minimising the fragmentation of the polymer chains to retain a maximum of organic information by using cluster primary ions is one field of investigation. Nevertheless, for high lateral resolution, the use of monatomic primary ion species is however required. For the latter, the detection of small secondary

Microwave synthesis of high-quality and uniform 4 nm ZnFe₂O₄ nanocrystals for application in energy storage and nanomagnetics

• Christian Suchomski,
• Ben Breitung,
• Ralf Witte,
• Michael Knapp,
• Sondes Bauer,
• Tilo Baumbach,
• Christian Reitz and
• Torsten Brezesinski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1350–1360, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.126

• moment per cluster, kB is the Boltzmann’s constant and T is the temperature. The best fit was obtained with M0, k and µ values equal to 0.84 µB/f.u., 7.8 × 10–2 emu/(T × f.u.) and 1090 µB, respectively. Using these data and assuming a spherical cluster shape (with eight f.u. per unit cell), the cluster

Viability and proliferation of endothelial cells upon exposure to GaN nanoparticles

• Tudor Braniste,
• Ion Tiginyanu,
• Tibor Horvath,
• Simion Raevschi,
• Serghei Cebotari,
• Marco Lux,
• Axel Haverich and
• Andres Hilfiker

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1330–1337, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.124

• Academy of Sciences of Moldova under Grants 16.00353.50.08A and 15.817.02.29A and the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG) via the Cluster of Excellence, “From regenerative biology to reconstructive therapy” (REBIRTH). We would like to thank Erin C. Boyle for the critical

On the pathway of cellular uptake: new insight into the interaction between the cell membrane and very small nanoparticles

• Claudia Messerschmidt,
• Daniel Hofmann,
• Anja Kroeger,
• Katharina Landfester,
• Volker Mailänder and
• Ingo Lieberwirth

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1296–1311, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.121

• adsorption to the cell membrane in this case. However, for the larger NPs the uptake process is dominated by single events and the cluster formation of the NPs prior to their approach to the cell membrane seems to be of minor importance. One might speculate that the protein induced interaction between the

• NPs is rather weak and hence their interaction with the cell membrane induces a breakage of single NPs from the cluster assemblage. Morphology of uptake Size-dependent uptake of nanoparticles has been well studied in general. It is accepted that different kinds of nanoparticles are taken up by

Straightforward and robust synthesis of monodisperse surface-functionalized gold nanoclusters

• Silvia Varela-Aramburu,
• Richard Wirth,
• Chian-Hui Lai,
• Guillermo Orts-Gil and
• Peter H. Seeberger

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1278–1283, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.118

• discovered by serendipity. The resultant monodisperse gold nanoclusters are more stable than those generated using some other common methods. The carboxylic acid contained in the stabilizing agent on the cluster surface serves as anchor for nanocluster functionalization. Alternatively, the addition of thiols

Experimental and simulation-based investigation of He, Ne and Ar irradiation of polymers for ion microscopy

• Lukasz Rzeznik,
• Yves Fleming,
• Tom Wirtz and
• Patrick Philipp

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1113–1128, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.104

• secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). Combined with a high-resolution mass spectrometer, mass interferences can be avoided and isotopes and small cluster ions identified unambiguously. These properties have been used since the early days of SIMS for imaging applications [1]. On the Cameca NanoSIMS, which

• HIM has been developed for high resolution electron microscopy and nanofabrication using the He+ or Ne+-emitting atomic level ion source (ALIS) [4]. Compared to cluster ion bombardment, the use of monoatomic primary ion species (such as Cs+, O−, Ga+) for imaging in SIMS allows significantly higher

Invariance of molecular charge transport upon changes of extended molecule size and several related issues

• Ioan Bâldea

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 418–431, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.37

• partitioned into a central region (also referred to as the “extended molecule”, “transport region”, “scattering region”, or “cluster”) linked to two semi-infinite “left” (L) and “right” (R) electrodes. This partitioning is inherently arbitrary. This arbitrariness is related to the arbitrariness in choosing

• under which conditions (i)–(iii) are usually listed in the context of realistic (DFT) calculations. The “extended” molecule should be taken large enough so that effects of the cluster to the (Kohn–Sham) potential outside the scattering region is screened. Outside the sufficiently large, extended

Surface coating affects behavior of metallic nanoparticles in a biological environment

• Darija Domazet Jurašin,
• Marija Ćurlin,
• Ivona Capjak,
• Tea Crnković,
• Marija Lovrić,
• Michal Babič,
• Daniel Horák,
• Ivana Vinković Vrček and
• Srećko Gajović

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 246–262, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.23

• further confirmed by TEM that clearly showed non-agglomerated, well-dispersed NPs in the BMP (Figure 7). This highlights the difficulties of using the DLS technique for extracting changes in the actual size of NP core when taking into account surface coatings, which can agglomerate/cluster on the NP

Single-molecule magnet behavior in 2,2’-bipyrimidine-bridged dilanthanide complexes

• Wen Yu,
• Frank Schramm,
• Eufemio Moreno Pineda,
• Yanhua Lan,
• Olaf Fuhr,
• Jinjie Chen,
• Hironari Isshiki,
• Wolfgang Wernsdorfer,
• Wulf Wulfhekel and
• Mario Ruben

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 126–137, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.15

• total spin, leading to slow magnetic relaxation and magnetic hysteresis at low temperatures. Combined with their long coherence times they could open the door to quantum computing [5][6]. After the first SMM was discovered in 1980 [7][8], for the next 15 years the SMM field was dominated by cluster

• molecular phase, small numbers of bright protrusions form a cluster-type arrangement on the upper terrace of the gold crystal (Figure 8b). The shape of these clusters as well as of the molecular phase differs substantially from the projected molecular structure, which can be derived from the single crystal

Simultaneous cancer control and diagnosis with magnetic nanohybrid materials

• Reza Saadat and
• Franz Renz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 121–125, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.14

• [Fe(II)(bzimpy)2] (bzimpy = 2,6-bis(benzimidazol-2-yl)pyridine). The resulting MNP cluster can be used as a pH-labile switch: By protonation of the electron pairs of the ligands (which are coordinated to the iron ion) the MNP cluster-stabilizing complex [Fe(II)(bzimpy)2] decomposes [13] in an acidic

• hence be assumed that a network (consisting of about three units in all spatial directions) of the MNP was obtained. We assume that bigger cluster units do not appear long enough to be detected due to shear forces destroying them. The cluster units are stable in a pH range from 13 to 4.5. At lower pH

• are planed. Model of a nanohybrid-PET-system. MNP can assemble and disassemble at different pH. The disassembled NP spread in the tumor cell and can be detected by PET [6][7]. Idealized 3D cave structure of a NP cluster. Grey spheres: MNP, lines: [Fe(II)(bzimpy)2] linking units, orange spheres

Surface-site reactivity in small-molecule adsorption: A theoretical study of thiol binding on multi-coordinated gold clusters

• Elvis C. M. Ting,
• Tatiana Popa and
• Irina Paci

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 53–61, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.6

• cluster with a broad range of metal site coordination numbers, from 3 to 9, and examined the binding conditions of methylthiol at the various sites. Conclusion: We found that despite the small molecular size, the dispersive interactions of the backbone are a determining factor in the molecular affinity

• , we focus, in the current work, on the surface-binding groups. To this end, we replaced molecular backbones with methyl groups, in order to remove factors such as lone-pair or charge-group surface interactions, and the overall backbone–surface interaction. We designed a 20-atom Au cluster, with gold

• atom sites spanning an array of coordination numbers Ni, with i = 3–9, and investigated the binding behavior of single molecules of methylthiol in its non-dissociated and dissociated forms, as a model for the surface-binding group of physisorbed and chemisorbed thiols. The cluster itself was built to

Effects of electronic coupling and electrostatic potential on charge transport in carbon-based molecular electronic junctions

• Richard L. McCreery

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 32–46, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.4

• close to that of the free G9 HOMO (−4.75 eV). The system H−3 orbital resembles the original AB HOMO, and is localized on the AB molecule in the G9−AB system. It is important to note here that the system H−1 and H−2 orbitals are “hybrid” orbitals formed when the AB is bonded to the G9 cluster. G9–AB is a

• cluster (middle), all in eV relative to a vacuum reference. Selected orbitals and their energies (in eV) are surround the diagram. Molecules are in their optimized geometries, with a 37° dihedral between G9 and AB planes in G9–AB. HOMO and H−1 orbitals for G9–AB for a range of dihedral angles between the

• G9 plane and AB aromatic rings, indicated at left. Orbital energies for all orbitals are indicated in blue, while the sum of the Mulliken charges on the AB moiety is indicated in red. A negative Mulliken charge indicates partial electron transfer from G9 to AB upon forming the covalent G9–AB cluster

Large area scanning probe microscope in ultra-high vacuum demonstrated for electrostatic force measurements on high-voltage devices

• Urs Gysin,
• Thilo Glatzel,
• Thomas Schmölzer,
• Adolf Schöner,
• Sergey Reshanov,
• Holger Bartolf and
• Ernst Meyer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2485–2497, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.258

• . The grain seems to be covered by a residual layer partly smearing out the CPD contrast. The PtIr-coated tip is most probably contaminated by a metal oxide cluster (CuO or CrO) due to slight tip–sample contacts before the measurements, such that the work function is around Φtip = 5 eV [40]. Also in

Application of biclustering of gene expression data and gene set enrichment analysis methods to identify potentially disease causing nanomaterials

• Andrew Williams and
• Sabina Halappanavar

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2438–2448, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.252

• of biclustering is that genes in the same cluster do not have to behave similarly over all experimental conditions. Unlike classical clustering techniques, biclusters can overlap with each other. This is ideal for mining functionally related gene sets as genes can be associated with more than one

• inflammation to be the predominant response following exposure to a variety of NMs. Bicluster-7 was the other significant cluster that was enriched in most of the experiments related to CNTs and CB. This cluster consisted of gene symbols showing strong association with pulmonary fibrosis. CNTs are well known

• for the cluster analysis was 1-correlation estimated using Spearman correlation with average linkage. Gene set enrichment results of the NM datasets. Barplots of the −log10(p-value) from the GSEA are presented for each of the NM studies. The studies are ordered in the barplots as follows: TiO2: UV

Sub-monolayer film growth of a volatile lanthanide complex on metallic surfaces

• Hironari Isshiki,
• Jinjie Chen,
• Kevin Edelmann and
• Wulf Wulfhekel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2412–2416, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.248

• and small clusters at the elbow sites of the Au(111) herringbone reconstruction [16], but no large islands at this coverage (see Figure 2e). Figure 2f shows an isolated molecule in the center, and two clusters containing three molecules (i.e., molecular trimers). The cluster formation at the elbow

Ultrastructural changes in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus induced by positively charged silver nanoparticles

• Dulce G. Romero-Urbina,
• Humberto H. Lara,
• J. Jesús Velázquez-Salazar,
• M. Josefina Arellano-Jiménez,
• Eduardo Larios,
• Anand Srinivasan,
• Jose L. Lopez-Ribot and
• Miguel José Yacamán

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2396–2405, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.246

• to the MRSA cell wall, resulting in deformation and eventual cell bursting when AgNPs cluster around the cell wall (Figure 7a,b). SEM images were also obtained to compare MRSA and MSSA cells treated with AgNPs. In these images, we can see groups of whole cells and their sizes and morphologies, as

A simple and efficient quasi 3-dimensional viscoelastic model and software for simulation of tapping-mode atomic force microscopy

• Santiago D. Solares

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2233–2241, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.229

• symmetric AFM tips and surfaces, including a defective tip that has a cluster protruding from its apex (this is described below). Similarly, the software tool provided assumes radial symmetry, but it can be easily modified to allow deviations from it. Figure 4a shows a typical force curve for the Q3D model

An adapted Coffey model for studying susceptibility losses in interacting magnetic nanoparticles

• Mihaela Osaci and
• Matteo Cacciola

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2173–2182, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.223

• , and a clustered subsystem of nanoparticles. We considered the case of cluster forming because nanoparticles aggregate and form clusters in real-world specimens. Simulated clusters contain 50 nanoparticles with random local distribution. We defined the local volume fraction rV,loc, i.e., the volume

• fraction of nanoparticles in the cluster. The global volume fraction rV is the volume fraction in the simulated specimen. In case of uniformly and randomly distributed particles, or the clustered subsystem, the nanoparticles have been located within a body-centered cubic lattice. Considering each lattice

Distribution of Pd clusters on ultrathin, epitaxial TiO_x films on Pt₃Ti(111)

• Christian Breinlich,
• Maria Buchholz,
• Marco Moors,
• Tobias Pertram,
• Conrad Becker and
• Klaus Wandelt

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2007–2014, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.204

• -type superstructure with fewer and shallower defects, making the template effect less discernible. Keywords: cluster growth; palladium; platinum–titanium alloy; scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM); template; titanium oxide; Introduction Catalysts often consist of metal nanoparticles dispersed on an

• we investigate the template effect of two different structures of the same type of oxide on the cluster growth of the same metal, namely Pd on z'-TiOx and w'-TiOx. Experimental setup The scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) experiments were conducted on our custom-built LT-STM, which for the

• nucleation sites for cluster growth [15][16]. Pd cluster growth on the z'-TiOx phase Figure 2a shows an STM image of a z'-TiOx surface onto which Pd was deposited at room temperature for 90 s (≈0.1 ± 0.05 ML). The stripes and trenches of the z'-TiOx structure are visible in Figure 2a running from the upper

An ISA-TAB-Nano based data collection framework to support data-driven modelling of nanotoxicology

• Richard L. Marchese Robinson,
• Mark T. D. Cronin,
• Andrea-Nicole Richarz and
• Robert Rallo

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1978–1999, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.202

• physicochemical characterisation data which the templates were designed to capture were based upon considering the well-known MINChar Initiative Parameters List [53], the provisional recommendations developed within the NanoSafety Cluster Databases Working Group [26], other resources developed within the context

• of the NanoSafety Cluster projects PreNanoTox [54] and MARINA [55] as well as discussions with nanotoxicology researchers and consideration of the published literature regarding toxicologically significant physicochemical characterisation parameters (for nanomaterials) and experimental variables

Magnetic reversal dynamics of a quantum system on a picosecond timescale

• Nikolay V. Klenov,
• Alexey V. Kuznetsov,
• Igor I. Soloviev,
• Sergey V. Bakurskiy and
• Olga V. Tikhonova

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1946–1956, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.199

• ][27]. However, in our case, the problem is solved for a simple two-level system suitable for modeling the behavior of not only the superconducting flux qubits, but the atomic systems, including promising molecular magnetic memory cells, atom-like spins in semiconductors, magnetic cluster inclusion in

NanoE-Tox: New and in-depth database concerning ecotoxicity of nanomaterials

• Katre Juganson,
• Angela Ivask,
• Irina Blinova,
• Monika Mortimer and
• Anne Kahru

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1788–1804, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.183

• that the available data on nanomaterials in environmental, health and safety databases and online chemical databases were very scarce [14]. Recently, a databases working group was established in the framework of European Union NanoSafety Cluster [15] which highlights the importance of development of in

The Nanomaterial Data Curation Initiative: A collaborative approach to assessing, evaluating, and advancing the state of the field

• Christine Ogilvie Hendren,
• Christina M. Powers,
• Mark D. Hoover and
• Stacey L. Harper

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1752–1762, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.179

• called for in various ways by the NRC, the NNI and the EU Nanosafety Cluster. Multiple focal areas and driving goals must be considered across the data life cycle; multiple roles exist as well, with different orientations toward the data including creators, customers, curators, and analysts. At this

Radiation losses in the microwave K_u band in magneto-electric nanocomposites

• Talwinder Kaur,
• Sachin Kumar,
• Jyoti Sharma and
• A. K. Srivastava

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1700–1707, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.173

• hexaferrite and (b) composite COP at room temperature in the X band. Hysteresis loops of composites. Transmission electron micrographs of magneto-electric composites (a) cluster of composites (b and c) particles of hexaferrite enclosed by polyaniline (CL6P). Reflection loss for composites. Real (µ′) and