Vapor deposition routes to conformal polymer thin films

• Priya Moni,
• Ahmed Al-Obeidi and
• Karen K. Gleason

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 723–735, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.76

• p-xylylene diradical usually results in no chemical reaction. However, when a p-xylylene diradical collides with a cluster of two adsorbed diradicals, it can react to form a new, heavy chain that does not desorb from the surface [13]. Analysis by Fortin and Lu using the chemisorption model and

Calculating free energies of organic molecules on insulating substrates

• Julian Gaberle,
• David Z. Gao and
• Alexander L. Shluger

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 667–674, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.71

• is supported by EPSRC, UK and JAIST, Japan. We acknowledge the use of the ARCHER high-performance computing facilities via our membership to the U.K. HPC Materials Chemistry Consortium, which is funded by EPSRC (grant EP/L000202). DZG acknowledges the use of the Serenity computing cluster and support

Computing the T-matrix of a scattering object with multiple plane wave illuminations

• Martin Fruhnert,
• Ivan Fernandez-Corbaton,
• Vassilios Yannopapas and
• Carsten Rockstuhl

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 614–626, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.66

• object scatters the electromagnetic field, is calculated and subsequently used in a multiple-scattering algorithm, similar to the multi-Mie Method [20][24], to calculate the scattered fields of a large cluster of arbitrary particles. There are several analytical and semi-analytical ways to calculate the

• useful for understanding the nature of a given response. Furthermore, the T-matrix can be used in an extended multiscattering formalism to calculate the response of a whole cluster of objects efficiently. This will speed up calculations by a considerable amount. Single sphere with multiple plane wave

Analysis and modification of defective surface aggregates on PCDTBT:PCBM solar cell blends using combined Kelvin probe, conductive and bimodal atomic force microscopy

• Hanaul Noh,
• Alfredo J. Diaz and
• Santiago D. Solares

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 579–589, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.62

• featured structure seems to be a cluster of aggregated layer portions, as supported by the group exfoliation behavior shown in Figure S5 (Supporting Information File 1). It is worth noting here that the existence of ultra-thin mesoscopic clusters has not yet been reported, despite numerous studies on

• made of acceptor molecules, hole conduction would be deficient (see Figure 5) and localization of electrons would cause negative potential changes [40]. Furthermore, the measured thickness of the cluster layer is similar to the diameter of fullerenes if we consider partially buried PCBM molecules or

Graphene functionalised by laser-ablated V₂O₅ for a highly sensitive NH₃ sensor

• Margus Kodu,
• Artjom Berholts,
• Tauno Kahro,
• Mati Kook,
• Peeter Ritslaid,
• Helina Seemen,
• Tea Avarmaa,
• Harry Alles and
• Raivo Jaaniso

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 571–578, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.61

• induces a large number of defects in graphene. We propose that during functionalisation of graphene by PLD, the defect creation in the graphene sheet by energetic plasma species is instantly followed by the V2O5 cluster growth at the defect site as the PLD process continues. The V2O5 clusters are probably

Methods for preparing polymer-decorated single exchange-biased magnetic nanoparticles for application in flexible polymer-based films

• Laurence Ourry,
• Delphine Toulemon,
• Souad Ammar and
• Fayna Mammeri

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 408–417, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.43

• . Dipolar interactions between NPs too close to each other favour a collective magnetic glass state with lower magnetization and coercivity because of inhomogeneous and frustrated macrospin cluster freezing. Consequently, tailoring chemically (through surface functionalization) and magnetically stable NPs

• polymers) [2][3]. If the interparticle distances are decreased too much, a collective magnetic glass state is set up, reducing magnetization and coercivity because of inhomogeneous and frustrated macrospin cluster freezing [4][5][6]. Ideally, flexible magnetic devices require dense but well-separated

Association of aescin with β- and γ-cyclodextrins studied by DFT calculations and spectroscopic methods

• Ana I. Ramos,
• Pedro D. Vaz,
• Susana S. Braga and
• Artur M. S. Silva

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 348–357, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.37

• SCARF cluster. Thanks are also due to the COST Action MP1202: Rational design of hybrid organic-inorganic interfaces) and to the COST Action MP 1302 Nanospectroscopy, where parts of the findings presented in this manuscript have been previously presented, as shown: – MP1202: HINT Training School “Bottom

Influence of hydrofluoric acid treatment on electroless deposition of Au clusters

• Rachela G. Milazzo,
• Antonio M. Mio,
• Giuseppe D’Arrigo,
• Emanuele Smecca,
• Alessandra Alberti,
• Gabriele Fisichella,
• Filippo Giannazzo,
• Corrado Spinella and
• Emanuele Rimini

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 183–189, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.19

• pretreatments and the deposition step on a Si sample already thinned and then ready for TEM analysis. The Au cluster morphology was quite similar (see Supporting Information File 1, Figure S1) to that obtained by deposition on bulk substrates. As a result, we used standard wafers for deposition, and the samples

• , and the obtained root mean square (RMS) was 3 nm, which is about one order of magnitude higher than a typical Si wafer (Figure 2c). Consequently, the surface-free energy increases [33] for a rougher surface and promotes 3D cluster formation by offering preferential sites for nucleation as apex or

• ) peak at 38.2° was expected to be the most dominant (the bars represented the computed intensities for a powder sample), the dominant peak at 2θ = 44.3° indicates the occurrence of texturing in the Au cluster orientation. The (111) Au peak at 2θ = 38.2°, measured with grazing incidence X-ray diffraction

From iron coordination compounds to metal oxide nanoparticles

• Mihail Iacob,
• Carmen Racles,
• Codrin Tugui,
• George Stiubianu,
• Adrian Bele,
• Liviu Sacarescu,
• Daniel Timpu and
• Maria Cazacu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 2074–2087, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.198

• -valence trinuclear acetate cluster to obtain ultra-small iron oxide nanoparticles. These have been prepared by one-step procedure consisting of the thermal decomposition of the reaction mixture that contains mixed-valence iron acetate (FeAc1) as the oxide precursor, dodecylamine (DA) and sunflower oil (SO

• , Figure S5b) were assigned to magnetite (JCPDS 190629). Thus, the possibility to obtain magnetite nanoparticles from a mixed-valence iron acetate cluster has been demonstrated. In this procedure, small monodisperse nanoparticles were separated from polydisperse ones by a simple filtration. Preparation

• hedgehog-like (hairy)) were selected (Table 1). Cubic nanoparticles (NPT2) were obtained by thermal decomposition of the FeF ([Fe3O(C4H3OCOO)6(CH3OH)3]NO3∙2CH3OH) cluster in the presence of hexadecylamine (HA), olive oil (OO) and TCAA at 350 °C. The reaction was performed at higher temperatures (350 °C

A novel electrochemical nanobiosensor for the ultrasensitive and specific detection of femtomolar-level gastric cancer biomarker miRNA-106a

• Maryam Daneshpour,
• Kobra Omidfar and
• Hossein Ghanbarian

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 2023–2036, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.193

• have been considered as promising biomarker for early cancer detection [8][9]. There are already numerous reports that specify various miRNAs involved in GC tumorigenesis such as miR-106a [3]. miR-106a belongs to the miR-17 family and is an oncogenic member of miR-106a-363 cluster which is located on

• Xq26.2. Unlike most members of this cluster, the altered expression of miR-106a can be followed in solid tumors, stool, and plasma/serum samples of patients with gastrointestinal tumors such as GC and colorectal cancer [10][11]. According to the recent studies, miR-106a level is significantly associated

Effect of Anderson localization on light emission from gold nanoparticle aggregates

• Mohamed H. Abdellatif,
• Marco Salerno,
• Gaser N. Abdelrasoul,
• Ioannis Liakos,
• Alice Scarpellini,
• Sergio Marras and
• Alberto Diaspro

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 2013–2022, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.192

• high energy side of Figure 5d, a separated cluster of data points appears for glass. This is probably due to the somewhat irregular behavior of aggregation on this substrate, where sometimes the nanoparticles did not totally wet the surface and formed a tree-like network. Hence, aggregated islands

Zigzag phosphorene nanoribbons: one-dimensional resonant channels in two-dimensional atomic crystals

• Carlos. J. Páez,
• Dario. A. Bahamon,
• Ana L. C. Pereira and
• Peter. A. Schulz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1983–1990, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.189

• by the arrow 2 in panel (b). Acknowledgements CJP and ALCP acknowledge FAPESP, grant 2012/19060-0. DAB acknowledges support from FAPESP grant 2012/50259-8. PAS acknowledges support from CNPq. Numerical simulations were performed at cluster LaSCADo-UNICAMP, supported by FAPESP under project 2010

Ferromagnetic behaviour of ZnO: the role of grain boundaries

• Boris B. Straumal,
• Svetlana G. Protasova,
• Andrei A. Mazilkin,
• Eberhard Goering,
• Gisela Schütz,
• Petr B. Straumal and
• Brigitte Baretzky

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1936–1947, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.185

• functional theory calculations. For the cluster with about 200 atoms in an effective electrostatic field formed by the rest of the simulated system the electronic structure was determined. The calculation show that for single-crystalline ZnO the energy difference between highest occupied molecular orbital

Cubic chemically ordered FeRh and FeCo nanomagnets prepared by mass-selected low-energy cluster-beam deposition: a comparative study

• Veronique Dupuis,
• Anthony Robert,
• Arnaud Hillion,
• Ghassan Khadra,
• Nils Blanc,
• Damien Le Roy,
• Florent Tournus,
• Clement Albin,
• Olivier Boisron and
• Alexandre Tamion

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1850–1860, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.177

• moment for the FeCo soft alloy. In this paper, we present the magnetic and structural properties of nanoparticles of less than 5 nm diameter embedded in an inert carbon matrix prepared by mass-selected low-energy cluster-beam deposition technique. We obtained a CsCl-type (B2) chemically ordered phase for

• correlation between morphology and magnetism has also been predicted from theoretical density functional theory calculations in agreement with experiments on FeRh nanoparticles prepared by co-sputtering [8]. In addition, for FeCo nanoparticles generated in the gas phase by means of an arc cluster ion source

• low-energy cluster-beam deposition (MS-LECBD) embedded in a carbon matrix. Notice that most of this work is based on the results of the PhD theses of A. Hillion [10] and G. Khadra [11] at Lyon, France. The structural and magnetic properties of as-prepared and annealed nanoalloys were investigated

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