Revealing the formation mechanism and band gap tuning of Sb₂S₃ nanoparticles

• Maximilian Joschko,
• Franck Yvan Fotue Wafo,
• Christina Malsi,
• Danilo Kisić,
• Ivana Validžić and
• Christina Graf

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 1021–1033, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.76

• reaction allowed tuning of the optical band gap of the amorphous nanoparticles in the range of 2.2–2.0 eV. On the contrary, the optical band gap of the crystalline particles decreased to a value of 1.7 eV and remained constant when the reaction progressed. Based on the proposed formation mechanism, future

• syntheses for Sb2S3 particles can be developed, allowing tuning of the particle properties in a broad range. In this way, the selective use of this material in a wide range of applications will become possible. Keywords: band gap; kinetics; nanoparticles; Sb2S3; solar cells; Introduction The search for

• are several requirements for materials to be eligible for application in the field of photovoltaics, such as high absorption performance, nontoxicity, abundance, efficiency, and low cost. As a semiconductor with a low band gap and a high absorption coefficient, antimony(III) sulfide (Sb2S3) has become

Progress and innovation of nanostructured sulfur cathodes and metal-free anodes for room-temperature Na–S batteries

• Marina Tabuyo-Martínez,
• Bernd Wicklein and
• Pilar Aranda

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 995–1020, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.75

• intercalation in anode materials of SiBs, this knowledge should now be transferred to RT Na–S batteries to increase their safety and applicability. The patent survey also revealed quite clearly the gap that exists between academic and industrial RT Na–S battery research, where the former flourishes with a

In situ transport characterization of magnetic states in Nb/Co superconductor/ferromagnet heterostructures

• Olena M. Kapran,
• Roman Morari,
• Taras Golod,
• Evgenii A. Borodianskyi,
• Vladimir Boian,
• Andrei Prepelita,
• Nikolay Klenov,
• Anatoli S. Sidorenko and
• Vladimir M. Krasnov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 913–923, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.68

• )[Co(1.5)Nb(8)Co(2.5)Nb(8)]6Co(1.5 nm)Nb(25) ML at T > Tc. The blue/red curves represent up/down field sweeps (data from [43]). (c) Simulated superconducting energy gap, Δ, in the S2 ML for P (red) and AP (blue) states. (d) Longitudinal resistance as a function of the temperature, normalized by Rn (T

Prediction of Co and Ru nanocluster morphology on 2D MoS₂ from interaction energies

• Cara-Lena Nies and
• Michael Nolan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 704–724, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.56

• gap in understanding thin film nucleation on 2D materials. In this paper, we present a density functional theory (DFT) study of the adsorption of small Co and Ru structures, with up to four atoms, on a monolayer of MoS2. We explore how the metal–substrate and metal–metal interactions contribute to the

• insights, there is a knowledge gap in the understanding of metal thin film nucleation on 2D materials [28]. We showed that we can investigate the first stages of thin film nucleation on 2D materials with first principles simulations, using the example of small Cun structures on an MoS2 monolayer (ML). MoS2

• magnitude as the overall metal contribution increases with added adatoms. Some mid-gap states for Mo d-orbitals and S p-orbitals also begin to appear as more adatoms are added, contributing to the increasingly metallic nature of the system. DOS plots for all configurations are shown in section S3 of

A review of defect engineering, ion implantation, and nanofabrication using the helium ion microscope

• Frances I. Allen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 633–664, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.52

• into the YBCO thin film and thus be used to define precise sample geometries, without material removal. For example, high-dose irradiation over larger areas leaving a narrow gap in between has been used to define YBCO nanowires, which were then line-irradiated at lower dose to form nanowire-based

Local stiffness and work function variations of hexagonal boron nitride on Cu(111)

• Abhishek Grewal,
• Yuqi Wang,
• Matthias Münks,
• Klaus Kern and
• Markus Ternes

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 559–565, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.46

• 6.1 eV [35], which can be modulated by the Moiré pattern [30]. We analyse the substrate using STM topography, dI/dV, and frequency shift, Δf, AFM maps under low (in-gap) and high (conduction band onset) bias conditions (see Figure 2). Due to h-BN being insulating, no spectroscopic contribution is

On the stability of microwave-fabricated SERS substrates – chemical and morphological considerations

• Limin Wang,
• Aisha Adebola Womiloju,
• Christiane Höppener,
• Ulrich S. Schubert and
• Stephanie Hoeppener

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 541–551, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.44

• on the substrates [8], the synthesis of complex nanoparticle structures with tunable interparticle gap sizes [9], the utilization of micro- and nanofabricated structures obtained by lithography techniques [10][11][12] comprising nanodisk arrays [13], nanoholes [14][15], nanocups [16][17

• enhancement and least obvious changes in particle morphology are observed for the sample treated with PBS at pH 11. The highest Raman enhancement could be potentially associated here to smaller gap sizes, which favor the formation of hot spots to enhance the Raman intensities due to electromagnetic field

• gap sizes. Since the carbonate buffer system provides a pH of 10, the previously observed beneficial effect of basic buffer systems can contribute to a better performance of the SERS substrates as the nanoparticles are apparently less prone to oxidation in buffer solutions with a high pH value [35

Simulation of gas sensing with a triboelectric nanogenerator

• Kaiqin Zhao,
• Hua Gan,
• Huan Li,
• Ziyu Liu and
• Zhiyuan Zhu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 507–516, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.41

• area. Further, in order to eliminate the inevitable topological change during the actual movement of the TENG, an air gap was established in COMSOL to construct the two-dimensional model of the TENG. Based on the assumption that the surface charge density of the triboelectric nanogenerator is constant

• potential difference increases as ds increases. The potential of the hypotenuse of the right-angled triangle TENG is smaller than that of the right-angled side, but as the distance ds increases, the gap between the potentials of the two sides decreases until the potential of the hypotenuse is greater than

• materials approach or move away from each other, other substances, such as water vapor, carbon dioxide, and other gases, can pass through the gap. We present a simulation with water vapor under ideal conditions, that is, the surface charge density may be changed during the experiment. A simplified two

Interface interaction of transition metal phthalocyanines with strontium titanate (100)

• Reimer Karstens,
• Thomas Chassé and
• Heiko Peisert

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 485–496, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.39

• theoretical approaches [6]. Possible applications of STO/organic interfaces include FETs [7][8], photodiodes [9], and organic spin valves[10]. Strontium titanate is a semiconductor with an indirect band gap of 3.25 eV [11] crystallizing in a perovskite structure with cubic unit cell. The conductivity can be

• slightly different position of the Fermi level in the gap of the STO semiconductor. Upon evaporation of the organic molecules, no changes of the peak shape can be detected, pointing to the absence of chemical interactions involving Ti atoms at the interface. However, we note that the surface sensitivity at

Intracranial recording in patients with aphasia using nanomaterial-based flexible electronics: promises and challenges

• Qingchun Wang and
• Wai Ting Siok

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 330–342, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.27

• more precise understanding of the neuronal mechanism of language processing. Sustained research progress in neuroimaging and nanomaterials will facilitate further investigation of brain functions. Ultimately, it is only a matter of time before the gap between research and clinical application is closed

The patterning toolbox FIB-o-mat: Exploiting the full potential of focused helium ions for nanofabrication

• Victor Deinhart,
• Lisa-Marie Kern,
• Jan N. Kirchhof,
• Sabrina Juergensen,
• Joris Sturm,
• Enno Krauss,
• Thorsten Feichtner,
• Sviatoslav Kovalchuk,
• Michael Schneider,
• Dieter Engel,
• Bastian Pfau,
• Bert Hecht,
• Kirill I. Bolotin,
• Stephanie Reich and
• Katja Höflich

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 304–318, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.25

• by measuring the bright optical modes [59]. The target geometry for all fabrication techniques is a particle radius of 45 nm with a gap size of 35 nm. This is the geometry that can reliably fabricated by resist-based electron beam lithography on physically sputtered gold layers (cf. Figure 7a). Later

• , we will assess the ultimate resolution of He ion beam machining to minimize the gap sizes. The gold flakes of approx. 30 nm thickness were wet-chemically synthesized on glass [60] and transferred to the target substrate via a PMMA-mediated method. On the target glass substrate, a thin layer of gold

• decay of the plasmonic near field. Hence, a nanopatterning approach that is able to realize sub-10 nm gaps in a reproducible manner is highly desired. He ion beam milling already demonstrated these capabilities in the fabrication of strongly coupled dimers with gap distances of less than 6 nm [62][63

Differences in surface chemistry of iron oxide nanoparticles result in different routes of internalization

• Barbora Svitkova,
• Vlasta Zavisova,
• Veronika Nemethova,
• Martina Koneracka,
• Miroslava Kretova,
• Filip Razga,
• Monika Ursinyova and
• Alena Gabelova

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 270–281, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.22

• of CME under different physiological conditions is poorly understood and other studies are required to bridge this gap in our knowledge. Conclusion MNPs coated with bovine serum albumin (BSA-SO-MNPs) and polyethylene glycol (PEG-SO-MNPs), were found to enter the cells by different routes of

The nanomorphology of cell surfaces of adhered osteoblasts

• Christian Voelkner,
• Mirco Wendt,
• Regina Lange,
• Max Ulbrich,
• Martina Gruening,
• Susanne Staehlke,
• Barbara Nebe,
• Ingo Barke and
• Sylvia Speller

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 242–256, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.20

• step edge height not only incorporates the gap between cell and surface of the material but also the local height of the cell itself (Figure 9b). Both parameters may vary independently, and from the three-dimensional cell morphology we can only determine the sum of gap and cell height. At the higher

• edges (above 1 µm) the step edge slope is greater than 89° and there is hardly any curvature detectable on the cell before its height falls to the substrate level. This could mean that the cell has a pronouncedly undermined configuration, compatible with the gap distance rising at the rim of cells (see

• corresponds to less than 1/(10 nm) [49][50]. Sometimes we find rugged traces with only 60 nm height. We suspect that those may originate from protein secretions from the extracellular matrix left behind, material that was formerly present within the gap between cell and substrate. Either this protein becomes

Extended iron phthalocyanine islands self-assembled on a Ge(001):H surface

• Rafal Zuzak,
• Marek Szymonski and
• Szymon Godlewski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 232–241, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.19

• ) phthalocyanine (FePc) molecules on a Ge(001):H surface results in monolayer islands extending over hundreds of nanometers and comprising upright-oriented entities. Scanning tunneling spectroscopy reveals a transport gap of 2.70 eV in agreement with other reports regarding isolated FePc molecules. Detailed

• van der Waals interactions [7], but the lack of a gap results in broadening and shifting of the molecular resonances. In recent years, it has been proposed to add a buffer layer between the metallic substrate and the molecules of interest [8][9]. This approach allows for the decoupling of the

• scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS) measurements indicate that the FePc molecules stay intact upon adsorption on the Ge(001):H surface. The gap measured with STS matches well independently recorded data for weekly coupled FePc molecules. Also, it is in good agreement with optical measurements, indicating

Scanning transmission helium ion microscopy on carbon nanomembranes

• Daniel Emmrich,
• Annalena Wolff,
• Nikolaus Meyerbröker,
• Jörg K. N. Lindner,
• André Beyer and
• Armin Gölzhäuser

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 222–231, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.18

• with hole diameters from 100 μm to 3 mm lead to acceptance angles between 3 and 98 mrad. Two centering pins ensure that all aperture strips are always mounted at the identical position on the holder. The total size of the holder is limited by the dimensions of the load lock valve as well as by the gap

TiO_x/Pt₃Ti(111) surface-directed formation of electronically responsive supramolecular assemblies of tungsten oxide clusters

• Marco Moors,
• Yun An,
• Agnieszka Kuc and
• Kirill Yu. Monakhov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 203–212, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.16

• atoms per each WVI center. As a result, tungsten ions are in tetrahedral coordination environments. W3O9 shows a large energy gap of 3.4 eV which nearly reaches the value of bulk WO3 exhibiting a direct band gap of 3.5 eV [12]. Overall, W3O9 can be seen as the smallest molecular model for bulk WO3

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

• plated with a metal electrode at the back surface of each layer. When the two dielectric films are vertically separated and periodically contacted due to the application of external forces, a small air gap is formed in the middle and a potential difference is induced between the two electrodes, which can

A review on the green and sustainable synthesis of silver nanoparticles and one-dimensional silver nanostructures

• Sina Kaabipour and
• Shohreh Hemmati

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 102–136, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.9

Bulk chemical composition contrast from attractive forces in AFM force spectroscopy

• Dorothee Silbernagl,
• Media Ghasem Zadeh Khorasani,
• Natalia Cano Murillo,
• Anna Maria Elert and
• Heinz Sturm

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 58–71, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.5

• Gaussian distributions (envelope function: black line) shows that the normal distribution of Fattr(PC) (blue line) and Fattr(epoxy) (brown line) do not overlap. Due to this gap, a third intermediate peak Fattr(int) (light blue line) can be unambiguously distinguished. However, the three distributions

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

• band gap in semiconductors. However, this approach has major problems. It is semi-empiric and indirect via the Tauc formula [12]. Therefore, it contains highly erroneous data. Here, the approach is to measure the reflectance data and accordingly plot the Tauc formula as a function of the energy

Effect of different silica coatings on the toxicity of upconversion nanoparticles on RAW 264.7 macrophage cells

• Cynthia Kembuan,
• Helena Oliveira and
• Christina Graf

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 35–48, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.3

• -coated UCNPs on RAW 264.7 macrophages, an analysis of the cell cycle dynamics of UCNP@thin_NH2 and UCNP@thick_NH2 samples was carried out. The cell cycle consists of four parts: The rest phase (G0); the first gap phase (G1), in which the cells grow and produce enzymes necessary for cell division; the

• synthesis phase (S), in which the DNA is replicated; and the second gap phase (G2), in which the cell continues to grow further and to perform processes that are necessary for mitosis [74]. Both silica-coated samples show a significant increase in the G0/G1 phase compared to control cells (not treated with

Kondo effects in small-bandgap carbon nanotube quantum dots

• Patryk Florków,
• Damian Krychowski and
• Stanisław Lipiński

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1873–1890, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.169

• prediction, one third of randomly selected nanotubes should be metallic. Experimentally, the fraction of nanotubes showing metallic behavior is very small (≤1% [41]). Even in nominally metallic tubes a narrow gap of the order of 10 meV is usually observed. These systems are sometimes called “nearly metallic

• equilibrium energy gap is 37 meV·nm2 [9][63]. ΔO and ΔZ stand for orbital and Zeeman parameters of spin–orbit coupling in the form: where sz is the spin component along the nanotube axis and lx is the Pauli matrix in the A–B graphene sublattice space. ΔZ = −δcos(3Θ)/D and ΔO = δ/D [63]. Various theoretical

• ⟩ degenerate in a magnetic field of Bo = |Δe|/μo ≈ 0.48 T. In small-bandgap nanotubes, the field dependencies of degeneracy lines are determined not only by spin–orbit parameters and orbital and spin magnetic moments, but also by the gap and the gate voltage. This is reflected in the nonlinear gate

Scanning transmission imaging in the helium ion microscope using a microchannel plate with a delay line detector

• Eduardo Serralta,
• Nico Klingner,
• Olivier De Castro,
• Michael Mousley,
• Santhana Eswara,
• Serge Duarte Pinto,
• Tom Wirtz and
• Gregor Hlawacek

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1854–1864, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.167

• future ToF applications. In the present form of the detector, we use two MCPs, each with a 50 mm by 50 mm square active area, stacked and rotated by 90° to each other with a gap of 100 μm between them. The first MCP has a magnesium oxide coating to increase the SE yield [37]. The MCP pores have a

Self-standing heterostructured NiC_x-NiFe-NC/biochar as a highly efficient cathode for lithium–oxygen batteries

• Shengyu Jing,
• Xu Gong,
• Shan Ji,
• Linhui Jia,
• Bruno G. Pollet,
• Sheng Yan and
• Huagen Liang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1809–1821, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.163

• that the overpotential of NiFe-PBA/PP-900 in the Li–O2 cell was comparable to data reported in the literature, as shown in Table 1. An ideal Li–O2 cell has a low charge voltage plateau and a high discharge voltage plateau. The gap between charge and discharge voltage plateaus of the Li–O2 battery with

High-responsivity hybrid α-Ag₂S/Si photodetector prepared by pulsed laser ablation in liquid

• Raid A. Ismail,
• Hanan A. Rawdhan and
• Duha S. Ahmed

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1596–1607, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.142

• (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and UV–vis spectroscopy. The optical absorption decreased and the optical energy gap of α-Ag2S increased from 1.5 to 2 eV after the CTAB surfactant was added to the Tu solution. XRD studies revealed that the synthesized Ag2S NPs were polycrystalline

• narrow direct optical energy gap, which ranges from 0.96 to 1.1 eV at room temperature. Ag2S has good chemical stability, low toxicity, and high optical absorption [4]. According to the growth temperature, Ag2S has three phases: monoclinic α-Ag2S (acanthite), β-Ag2S (argentite), and the stable γ-Ag2S [5

• with CTAB due to quantum size effects [31]. The absorption of the Ag2S NPs decreased sharply above λ = 302 nm for Ag2S prepared in pure Tu solution, while it decreased slowly for Ag2S prepared in Tu with CTAB, indicating different absorption edges. The optical band gap of the Ag2S NPs prepared in pure