Hydrothermal-derived carbon as a stabilizing matrix for improved cycling performance of silicon-based anodes for lithium-ion full cells

• Mirco Ruttert,
• Florian Holtstiege,
• Jessica Hüsker,
• Markus Börner,
• Martin Winter and
• Tobias Placke

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2381–2395, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.223

• remarkable that the LIB cell chemistry concerning the negative electrode (anode) of commercial cells is still quite similar to that of the very first LIBs, based on carbonaceous anode materials. There are several good reasons why carbonaceous anode materials, especially graphite, are still state of the art

• anode materials, such as silicon (Si) and tin (Sn), have aroused great interest in the last decade with the aim to replace graphite, as these materials offer considerably higher theoretical, specific capacities of 3,579 mAh g−1 and 990 mAh g−1, respectively, compared to that of graphite [9][10][11][12

• ]. The high capacity of Si results from a different lithium-ion storage mechanism compared to graphite: while graphite intercalates Li-ions into its host structure, Si “alloys” with Li (or more precisely, forms various intermetallic phases) at a maximum stoichiometry of Li15Si4 at ≈50 mV vs Li/Li+ [13

Metal-free catalysis based on nitrogen-doped carbon nanomaterials: a photoelectron spectroscopy point of view

• Mattia Scardamaglia and
• Carla Bittencourt

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2015–2031, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.191

• potential for the ORR and might convert the ORR reaction mechanism from a two-electron process to a four-electron process. More recently, Guo and co-workers reported a detailed study on highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) doped with well-defined N configurations [115]. They achieved the synthesis of

Recent highlights in nanoscale and mesoscale friction

• Andrea Vanossi,
• Dirk Dietzel,
• Andre Schirmeisen,
• Ernst Meyer,
• Rémy Pawlak,
• Thilo Glatzel,
• Marcin Kisiel,
• Shigeki Kawai and
• Nicola Manini

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1995–2014, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.190

• experiments of gold and antimony nanoparticles on highly oriented pyrolithic graphite (HOPG) [46], where the precise value of γ was found to depend sensitively on the crystallinity of the particles. As predicted theoretically [66][67], γ = 0.5 was found for the case of amorphous Sb nanoparticles, whereas

• areas of the analyzed systems in these works spanned several orders of magnitude ranging from a few square nanometers for GNRs [58] to almost the square micrometer range for sheared graphite stacks [49]. Once the exact tribological scenario is identified, further interface effects can be derived from

• sliding nanosystems. This was demonstrated, e.g., for sheared graphite stacks [49], where nanomanipulation experiments also allowed the authors to determine the adhesion forces between the sliding graphite surfaces, simply by distinguishing between reversible displacement forces related to the

Defect formation in multiwalled carbon nanotubes under low-energy He and Ne ion irradiation

• Santhana Eswara,
• Jean-Nicolas Audinot,
• Brahime El Adib,
• Maël Guennou,
• Tom Wirtz and
• Patrick Philipp

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1951–1963, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.186

• appearance of magnetism was reported for graphite after proton irradiation [18] and of fullerenes after the irradiation with heavy ions [19]. For the development of novel technological applications, being able to modify the structure of CNTs alone is not sufficient. It is also important to relate the

• graphite (HOPG) and SWCNT and the modification of the Raman spectra when introducing defects in the different materials. Furthermore, HOPG and SWCNT spectra differ from those of graphite and nanocarbon [1]. The Raman spectrum of MWCNTs is in between those of graphite and nanocarbon. All these materials

• in the sample. Depending on the sample a fourth peak due to intercalated graphite compounds and increasing disorder produced by functionalization and strain can appear in the region of 1617–1625 cm−1 [1]. Further information on defects can be obtained by the intensity of optical absorbance which is

Synthesis of carbon nanowalls from a single-source metal-organic precursor

• André Giese,
• Sebastian Schipporeit,
• Volker Buck and
• Nicolas Wöhrl

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1895–1905, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.181

• measured by using transmission electron microscopy to be of several nanometers [2][3][4][5][6][7], similar to that of vertically aligned carbon nanotube arrays [8]. In CNWs, few graphene layers stick together like thin graphite flakes. The height of the CNWs can be of several micrometers, contributing to

• structure. Often, the CNW growth is explained simply by the Vollmer–Weber growth model, with the growth direction changing from horizontal to vertical as soon as the substrate is fully covered [9]. With a few exceptions of using metal-organic precursors [20] or graphite, in the majority of experiments for

• described before that defects in initial graphene and graphite layers can lead to grain boundaries and defects that fold up and can be seen as additional nucleation sites for the growth of CNWs [21]. This model of increasing defects in the CNWs is also backed by Raman spectroscopy measurements as shown

Synthesis of rare-earth metal and rare-earth metal-fluoride nanoparticles in ionic liquids and propylene carbonate

• Marvin Siebels,
• Lukas Mai,
• Laura Schmolke,
• Kai Schütte,
• Juri Barthel,
• Junpei Yue,
• Jörg Thomas,
• Bernd M. Smarsly,
• Anjana Devi,
• Roland A. Fischer and
• Christoph Janiak

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1881–1894, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.180

• green (PrF3), white (EuF3, GdF3) and rose-coloured (ErF3) 1.0 wt % dispersions of REF3-NPs in IL. Schmitz et al. synthesized REF3-NPs with RE = Pr, Eu, supported on different types of thermally reduced graphite oxide (TRGO) in [BMIm][BF4] [12]. The formation of REF3-NPs is due to the [BF4]− anion in the

SO₂ gas adsorption on carbon nanomaterials: a comparative study

• Deepu J. Babu,
• Divya Puthusseri,
• Frank G. Kühl,
• Sherif Okeil,
• Michael Bruns,
• Manfred Hampe and
• Jörg J. Schneider

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1782–1792, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.169

• -graphene layers [18]. With this morphology it represents a typological carbon adsorbent with extended structural disorder. Graphene oxide (GO) has a 2D layered structure as shown schematically in Figure 1b. The starting material for the synthesis of GO is graphite, the oxidation of which introduces oxygen

• distinguish between various carbon materials containing sp2-hybridized carbon atoms. Raman spectra of the different adsorbents investigated in this work are given in Figure 3d. For reference, the Raman spectrum of graphite is also given. The G-band or graphite band (ca. 1585 cm−1) is the Raman signature for

• inversely proportional to the concentration of defects in the structure [34]. The D′-band (ca. 1620 cm−1) is also another defect-induced band which is assigned to the in-plane vibrations of the outer parts of the graphite domains [35][36]. It is typically observed for MWCNTs and intercalated graphite

Multimodal noncontact atomic force microscopy and Kelvin probe force microscopy investigations of organolead tribromide perovskite single crystals

• Yann Almadori,
• David Moerman,
• Jaume Llacer Martinez,
• Philippe Leclère and
• Benjamin Grévin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1695–1704, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.161

• were acquired under the same illumination conditions and with the same cantilever on a highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) substrate (Figure S3, Supporting Information File 1). The surface potential displays no shift under illumination (which also confirms the absence of any carrier

• function of the optical power and of the z variation as a function of the frequency shift set point. Curves of the relative height and surface potential recorded during illumination sequences on a highly oriented pyrolytic graphite substrate and on the MAPbBr3 single crystal for various optical powers

Sheet-on-belt branched TiO₂(B)/rGO powders with enhanced photocatalytic activity

• Huan Xing,
• Wei Wen and
• Jin-Ming Wu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1550–1557, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.146

• and maintained for 72 h at room temperature. After the reaction, the precipitate was centrifugally removed and the remaining solution served as the precursor solution. 2. Synthesis of TiO2(B)/rGO nanobelts (TGN): Graphene oxide (GO) was synthesized starting from graphite flakes by a modified Hummers

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

• TiO2 are listed in Table 1. Photocatalytic reduction of Cr(VI) over reduced graphene oxide modified TiO2 Graphene is a single layer of two-dimensional carbon material with graphite structure. Because of its low cost, excellent conductivity, superior chemical stability and exceptionally high specific

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

• contact area changes from 1000 nm2 to 100000 nm2. Also, for Sb particles on highly oriented pyrolytic graphite τ is in the range from 0.1 MPa to 1 MPa with the same changes of contact area. In [7] the shear stress decreases linearly with contact area while we find that τ is nearly independent of it. This

A novel copper precursor for electron beam induced deposition

• Caspar Haverkamp,
• George Sarau,
• Mikhail N. Polyakov,
• Ivo Utke,
• Marcos V. Puydinger dos Santos,
• Silke Christiansen and
• Katja Höflich

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1220–1227, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.113

• this carbon. One larger peak is visible around 1580 cm−1, as well as one minor peak around 1350 cm−1. These peaks are referred to as D for disordered and G for graphite [18]. The intensity ratio of the D to G peak is a measure of the amorphization state of carbon. The low value of 0.3 for the FEBID

Heterostuctures of 4-(chloromethyl)phenyltrichlorosilane and 5,10,15,20-tetra(4-pyridyl)-21H,23H-porphine prepared on Si(111) using particle lithography: Nanoscale characterization of the main steps of nanopatterning

• Phillip C. Chambers and
• Jayne C. Garno

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1211–1219, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.112

• triple-decker sandwich complex of phthalocyanine compounds prepared on graphite was studied using STM by Lei et al. [17]. A method of photocatalytic lithography was reported for making porphyrin surface structures that were applied for preparing protein arrays [18][19]. The assembly of porphyrins at

• functionalized phthalocyaninato-polysiloxane was studied with STM on surfaces of highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) by Samori et al. [22]. Photoelectronic devices of porphyrin polymers containing oligothienyl bridges were prepared as microscopic junction chips and as layered diodes by Shimadzu et al. [23

Electrodeposition of reduced graphene oxide with chitosan based on the coordination deposition method

• Mingyang Liu,
• Yanjun Chen,
• Chaoran Qin,
• Zheng Zhang,
• Shuai Ma,
• Xiuru Cai,
• Xueqian Li and
• Yifeng Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1200–1210, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.111

• electrochemical detection of 1-naphthol. Thus, the electrodeposition method for reduced graphene oxide in this work provides promising applications in nanocomposite films, functional coatings, and biodevices. Experimental Chemicals and materials Natural graphite powder (325 mesh), chitosan (90% deacetylation

Electrostatic force spectroscopy revealing the degree of reduction of individual graphene oxide sheets

• Yue Shen,
• Ying Wang,
• Yuan Zhou,
• Chunxi Hai,
• Jun Hu and
• Yi Zhang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1146–1155, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.106

• nanomaterials, which is critically important for further device applications. Experimental The samples under study were GO sheets prepared from graphite powder following a modified Hummers’ method [9][32][33][34][35]. Thermal reduction of GO sheets deposited on a substrate was carried out in an oven at 200 °C

Single-crystalline FeCo nanoparticle-filled carbon nanotubes: synthesis, structural characterization and magnetic properties

• Rasha Ghunaim,
• Maik Scholz,
• Christine Damm,
• Bernd Rellinghaus,
• Rüdiger Klingeler,
• Bernd Büchner,
• Michael Mertig and
• Silke Hampel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1024–1034, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.95

• refer to the CNTs, whereas here a graphite diffraction pattern was taken as a standard. Assuming the spherical shape of the nanoparticles, the mean particle diameter was calculated using Scherrer’s equation, given by [47]: where dXRD is the mean size of the particles, λ is the X-ray wavelength (Co Kα

Electro-optical interfacial effects on a graphene/π-conjugated organic semiconductor hybrid system

• Karolline A. S. Araujo,
• Luiz A. Cury,
• Matheus J. S. Matos,
• Thales F. D. Fernandes,
• Luiz G. Cançado and
• Bernardo R. A. Neves

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 963–974, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.90

• interfacial effects. Scanning probe microscopy (SPM) and Raman scattering experiments, along with first-principles calculations, reveal the presence of a highly ordered RA self-assembled monolayer atop graphene and graphite. The electro-optical characterization of the hybrid system discloses interfacial

• applications. Results and Discussion The first goal of this work was to investigate whether interfacial interactions could lead to the formation of an organized RA 2D monolayer-type film on a supporting substrate. Standard smooth substrates like mica, silicon oxide (SiOx) on Si, graphene and graphite

• microplates were tested (see Experimental section for a definition of graphite microplates). Several attempts with mica and SiOx yielded amorphous 3D-like RA agglomerates only (Figure S1, Supporting Information File 1). However, the graphene-RA interface in graphite microplate substrates systematically

Scanning speed phenomenon in contact-resonance atomic force microscopy

• Christopher C. Glover,
• Jason P. Killgore and
• Ryan C. Tung

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 945–952, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.87

• [23] was used to drive the cantilever-holder actuator and to excite and track the first and second CR frequencies while the scan velocity was randomly varied between 0.05 and 100 μm/s. The experiments were repeated on a sample of highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG). In this set of experiments

Nanoscale mapping of dielectric properties based on surface adhesion force measurements

• Ying Wang,
• Yue Shen,
• Xingya Wang,
• Zhiwei Shen,
• Bin Li,
• Jun Hu and
• Yi Zhang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 900–906, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.84

• Sample preparation An aqueous solution of single-layered GO sheets was prepared from graphite powder following a modified Hummer’s method [47][48][49]. A drop of 10 µL of as-prepared GO solution (50 ng/µL) was placed onto a mica substrate. Chemical reduction of GO was performed by exposure to a saturated

Effect of annealing treatments on CeO₂ grown on TiN and Si substrates by atomic layer deposition

• Silvia Vangelista,
• Rossella Piagge,
• Satu Ek and
• Alessio Lamperti

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 890–899, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.83

• atmosphere by using a graphite dome. Thickness, interface and surface roughness, and electronic density have been determined by data fitting using the MAUD software program [24]. MAUD has also been used for Rietveld refinement of GIXRD patterns, allowing to determine CeO2 cell parameter and crystallite size

Towards the third dimension in direct electron beam writing of silver

• Katja Höflich,
• Jakub Mateusz Jurczyk,
• Katarzyna Madajska,
• Maximilian Götz,
• Luisa Berger,
• Carlos Guerra-Nuñez,
• Caspar Haverkamp,
• Iwona Szymanska and
• Ivo Utke

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 842–849, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.78

• carbon-based fragments of the precursor molecules. The intensity ratios between the D and G bands (ID/IG) were evaluated using a Lorentzian peak fitting, which suggests the formation of nanocrystalline graphite clusters within a disordered carbon matrix in both deposits [30]. The Raman measurements

Graphene composites with dental and biomedical applicability

• Sharali Malik,
• Felicite M. Ruddock,
• Adam H. Dowling,
• Kevin Byrne,
• Wolfgang Schmitt,
• Ivan Khalakhan,
• Yoshihiro Nemoto,
• Hongxuan Guo,
• Lok Kumar Shrestha,
• Katsuhiko Ariga and
• Jonathan P. Hill

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 801–808, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.73

• the MLG material is indicative of multi-layer graphene rather than graphite and the 2D band in the FLG material is indicative of few-layer graphene [14]. This allows us to see the conversion of commercial MLG material (Figure 1a, lower) to FLG (Figure 1a, upper, 1b–d). Figure 2 shows AFM (detail and

• oxygen content as the O 1s/C 1s ratios are very similar. The binding energies (Eb) ≈284.6 eV corresponds to C–H, C–C, (CH2)n and C=C bonds that are characteristic of graphite/graphene, ≈286 eV corresponds to C–O–C, ≈288.5 eV corresponds to O–C=O, ≈531.5–532 eV corresponds to C–O and ≈533 eV corresponds

The effect of atmospheric doping on pressure-dependent Raman scattering in supported graphene

• Egor A. Kolesov,
• Mikhail S. Tivanov,
• Olga V. Korolik,
• Olesya O. Kapitanova,
• Xiao Fu,
• Hak Dong Cho,
• Tae Won Kang and
• Gennady N Panin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 704–710, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.65

• (values of 1.8 and 2.7 were used, respectively [14]), a is the graphene atomic bond length (a0 under zero-pressure conditions). As it was shown in [5], a relationship for graphite in-plane compressibility from [17] is applicable for a(p)/a0 estimation: where is the linear compressibility and β' is its

Anchoring Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles in a reduced graphene oxide aerogel matrix via polydopamine coating

• Błażej Scheibe,
• Radosław Mrówczyński,
• Natalia Michalak,
• Karol Załęski,
• Michał Matczak,
• Mateusz Kempiński,
• Zuzanna Pietralik,
• Mikołaj Lewandowski,
• Stefan Jurga and
• Feliks Stobiecki

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 591–601, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.55

• nanoparticles are present in agglomerated form. The vibrational properties of the prepared aerogel samples were analyzed by Raman spectroscopy. The typical rGO spectrum is featured by the presence of four main vibrational modes, namely: D, G, 2D and D+G (D+D’) [43]. In graphite-like materials, the G mode is

• reference rGO aerogel, the rGO-Fe3O4 and rGO-PDA@Fe3O4 aerogel structures have less defects and higher structural order. The first effect is related to a k-selective resonant Raman scattering process observed in graphite-based materials, where the defect-activated D mode is excitation laser-dependent due to

• functional additives at the rGO defect sites, prevent unintended additives migration outside the aerogel and provide better structural stabilization of the whole aerogel structure. Experimental Graphite powder, iron(III) chloride hexahydrate, iron(II) chloride tetrahydrate, sodium nitride 99%, citric acid

Green synthesis of fluorescent carbon dots from spices for in vitro imaging and tumour cell growth inhibition

• Nagamalai Vasimalai,
• Vânia Vilas-Boas,
• Juan Gallo,
• María de Fátima Cerqueira,
• Mario Menéndez-Miranda,
• José Manuel Costa-Fernández,
• Lorena Diéguez,
• Begoña Espiña and
• María Teresa Fernández-Argüelles

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 530–544, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.51

• interactions [10]. Nevertheless, there is still no unanimous agreement in the scientific community about a consistent explanation of the optical properties of C-dots [11]. Nowadays, multiple synthesis techniques are described to obtain C-dots, as well as different carbon sources as alternative for graphite

• . Most common sources for the synthesis of carbon dots are graphite and citric acid. Graphite is used in top-down synthesis strategies, and uses dimethylformamide (DMF) as surface passivating agent [8]. However, since DMF is harmful to living cells, in this work carbon dots synthesized from graphite were