Zn/F-doped tin oxide nanoparticles synthesized by laser pyrolysis: structural and optical properties

• Florian Dumitrache,
• Iuliana P. Morjan,
• Elena Dutu,
• Ion Morjan,
• Claudiu Teodor Fleaca,
• Monica Scarisoreanu,
• Alina Ilie,
• Marius Dumitru,
• Cristian Mihailescu,
• Adriana Smarandache and
• Gabriel Prodan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 9–21, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.2

• dopant concentration). Keywords: laser pyrolysis; nanoparticles; optical bandgap; Zn/F-doped SnO2; Introduction Recently, there has been growing interest in the field of transparent conducting oxides and wide bandgap oxide nanocrystalline materials such as tin oxide (SnO2). It is generally agreed that

• reduced bandgap of tin oxide nanoparticles by introduction of defects to the crystal lattice is ≈0.7 eV [4]. Generally, the doping of these semiconducting oxides with specific cations or anions is performed in order to increase their electrical conductivity while maintaining a high optical transparency in

• precursors to oxides (SnO2 and ZnO, in fact Zn-doped SnO2), CO2 and H2O in the laser pyrolysis reaction zone. Due to the much higher reactivity of metals, the metal oxides are formed with priority, and the unoxidized alkyl radicals from the precursors will undergo a complex process involving reactions such

A novel polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane-modified layered double hydroxide: preparation, characterization and properties

• Xianwei Zhang,
• Zhongzhu Ma,
• Hong Fan,
• Carla Bittencourt,
• Jintao Wan and
• Philippe Dubois

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 3053–3068, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.284

• structure of LDH layers was completely destroyed by dehydroxylation, resulting in the formation of random stacking of mixed oxides containing Mg and Al [34]. The surface after degradation in air seems not as rough and coarse as that after degradation in N2, which might be caused by the different gas release

• reacts with the metal oxides to form a continuous and compact condensed phase. This mixed carbonized protecting layer provides a good barrier to the transfer of heat and mass, preventing the inner layer against further decomposition and accelerating the formation of char. Evidence in favor of this

Ternary nanocomposites of reduced graphene oxide, polyaniline and hexaniobate: hierarchical architecture and high polaron formation

• Claudio H. B. Silva,
• Maria Iliut,
• Christopher Muryn,
• Christian Berger,
• Zachary Coldrick,
• Vera R. L. Constantino,
• Marcia L. A. Temperini and
• Aravind Vijayaraghavan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2936–2946, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.272

• properties when compared to individual phases or enable new technological applications [1][2][3]. For instance, ternary nanocomposites (conducting polymers, metal oxides and carbon-based materials) exhibit improved energy and power densities, improved stabilities upon charge/discharge cycles [4], and higher

Time-resolved universal temperature measurements using NaYF₄:Er³⁺,Yb³⁺ upconverting nanoparticles in an electrospray jet

• Kristina Shrestha,
• Arwa A. Alaulamie,
• Ali Rafiei Miandashti and
• Hugh H. Richardson

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2916–2924, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.270

• . Experimental Synthesis of NaYF4:Er3+,Yb3+ upconverting nanoparticles The UNCPs were synthesized using the thermal decomposition method. Briefly, sodium trifluoroacetate was added to a mixture of oxides of ytterbium, yttrium, and erbium and decomposed in oleic acid and octadecane solvent. UNCPs synthesized were

Nanostructure-induced performance degradation of WO₃·nH₂O for energy conversion and storage devices

• Zhenyin Hai,
• Mohammad Karbalaei Akbari,
• Zihan Wei,
• Danfeng Cui,
• Chenyang Xue,
• Hongyan Xu,
• Philippe M. Heynderickx,
• Francis Verpoort and
• Serge Zhuiykov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2845–2854, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.265

• layered transition metal oxides. Keywords: 2D layered oxides; interlayer water; van der Waals interaction; WO3·nH2O; Introduction Within the less than 20 years since the successful exfoliation of atomically thin graphene, 2D layered nanomaterials have been contributing greatly to the advances of

• nanoscience and nanotechnology with their exotic properties and versatility of applications [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. Among all 2D nanomaterials, 2D transition metal oxides (TMOs) are the group with the highest electrochemical activities for energy conversion and storage [11][12][13][14][15]. As the

Graphene-enhanced metal oxide gas sensors at room temperature: a review

• Dongjin Sun,
• Yifan Luo,
• Marc Debliquy and
• Chao Zhang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2832–2844, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.264

• sensors based on rGO/metal oxides, which exhibit enhanced sensing performance mainly due to the formation of heterojunctions. Tai et al. [46] deposited ZnO nanoparticles and GO thin films on gold interdigital electrodes (IDEs) through a simple spray process and thermally reduced the deposits to ZnO–rGO

• during the carbothermal reduction (1150 °C). Another was the formation of Schottky barriers between ZnO and the metal electrodes, which caused ZnO to exhibit p-type semiconductor properties. The gas-sensing performance parameters of the abovementioned sensors for reducing gases based on metal oxides and

• performance of the ternary composite sensor was still the p–n heterojunctions. The gas-sensing performance parameters of the abovementioned NO2 sensors based on metal oxides and rGO enhanced by the formation of semiconductor interfaces are listed in Table 2. Enhancement by improved morphology and structure By

Pattern generation for direct-write three-dimensional nanoscale structures via focused electron beam induced deposition

• Lukas Keller and
• Michael Huth

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2581–2598, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.240

• ] but also various oxides and carbides in either amorphous or polycrystalline form [18][19] are accessible. By employing additional postdeposition treatments the metal volume content of some otherwise granular metals can be increased to virtually 100% [20][21][22]. Despite the apparent simplicity of the

Improved catalytic combustion of methane using CuO nanobelts with predominantly (001) surfaces

• Qingquan Kong,
• Yichun Yin,
• Bing Xue,
• Yonggang Jin,
• Wei Feng,
• Zhi-Gang Chen,
• Shi Su and
• Chenghua Sun

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2526–2532, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.235

• , such as transition metal (TM) oxides and various complex structures (e.g., perovskite, spinel and hexaaluminate) have been tested as catalysts for CH4 oxidation. But so far their performance is still much lower than noble metals. An ideal catalyst for CH4 oxidation should have a high capacity to adsorb

• most metal oxides. To improve the reactivity of metal oxides, surfaces with high energy (and thus low surface area), namely minority surfaces, may offer new opportunities. Although minority surfaces often diminish quickly during crystal growth due to their low stability, they can be stabilized by

Thickness-dependent photoelectrochemical properties of a semitransparent Co₃O₄ photocathode

• Malkeshkumar Patel and
• Joondong Kim

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2432–2442, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.228

• -dependent properties; Introduction Hydrogen production using water splitting in photoelectrochemical (PEC) cells may help to overcome challenges in the conversion and storage of solar energy. Most of the metal oxides are earth-abundant, non-toxic, stable and easy to synthesise, and hence attractive

• -absorber materials such as metal sulfides and metal oxides via heterojunction. The photocurrent can be further improved by three approaches: The first one is to improve the optoelectronic processes in the Co3O4 film [39], the second is to improve the composition of the heterojunction, i.e. Co3O4/Ga2O3 [42

ZnO-nanostructure-based electrochemical sensor: Effect of nanostructure morphology on the sensing of heavy metal ions

• Marina Krasovska,
• Vjaceslavs Gerbreders,
• Irena Mihailova,
• Andrejs Ogurcovs,
• Eriks Sledevskis,
• Andrejs Gerbreders and
• Pavels Sarajevs

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2421–2431, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.227

• mixture of lead oxides and metallic lead. The XRD pattern and EDS spectra of the sediment composition has been previously reported [16]. The formation of lead oxide is explained by the quasichemical Lewis interaction between lead ions and hydroxy groups on the ZnO surface as a result of coordination or

• to 2 mM). The reduction peak current for the highest concentration can be explained by mass crystallization in the solution, in parallel with the sorption process. It is the threshold above which crystallites of lead oxides become visible on the ZnO nanostructured surface by SEM. In order to visually

• forms well-developed crystallites of lead oxides mixture, whereas Cd(NO3)2 forms a very thin amorphous layer on the ZnO surface. The SEM images were recorded using secondary electrons, whose output depth is within the range of 1–10 nm; the fact that the contours of the ZnO nanotubes (bright points) are

Intrinsic ultrasmall nanoscale silicon turns n-/p-type with SiO₂/Si₃N₄-coating

• Dirk König,
• Daniel Hiller,
• Noël Wilck,
• Birger Berghoff,
• Merlin Müller,
• Sangeeta Thakur,
• Giovanni Di Santo,
• Luca Petaccia,
• Joachim Mayer,
• Sean Smith and
• Joachim Knoch

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2255–2264, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.210

• , Si modulation doping of adjacent dielectric layers based on nitrides [11] and oxides [12], in analogy to modulation doping of III–V semiconductors, were shown to be an alternative to conventional impurity doping. It would be ideal to achieve electron- (n-) or hole- (p-) type conductivity in usn-Si

Electrospun one-dimensional nanostructures: a new horizon for gas sensing materials

• Muhammad Imran,
• Nunzio Motta and
• Mahnaz Shafiei

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2128–2170, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.202

• ][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33]. Different types of nanostructures, including those based on metal oxides (MOx), organic and inorganic materials and carbon nanostructures, have shown promising sensing performance due to their unique characteristics, such as high surface-to-volume

• shown in Figure 1. A nanofiber film has a surface area approximately twice that of a continuous thin film. This property means that nanofibers are excellent candidates for gas sensing applications. Moreover, nanofibers derived from a variety of materials, such as polymers, metals, metal-oxides and

• the development of the gas sensors employing electrospun nanofibers have been published. Recently, Choi et al. [43] reported a review on chemiresistive and optical sensors employing only semiconducting metal oxides and their functionalization by catalytic nanoparticles. Herein, we will comprehensively

Spin-coated planar Sb₂S₃ hybrid solar cells approaching 5% efficiency

• Pascal Kaienburg,
• Benjamin Klingebiel and
• Thomas Kirchartz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2114–2124, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.200

• requires the precise control of processing conditions and eventually limits the process’ reproducibility [29][32]. During chemical reactions in the water bath, various antimony oxides, hydroxides and sulfates form [6][42][43][44] which could be detrimental to device performance. With respect to oxide

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

• as platinum or its alloys, or metal oxides, which affect the engineering cost of fuel cells being also energy consuming and not highly selective [3]. Therefore, research efforts have been devoted towards alternative highly active catalysts from non-precious metals [4]. Repeatedly reported potential

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

• the polymerization of olefins [15][16] and as precursors in chemical vapor (CVD) processes of rare-earth materials such as oxides and nitrides [17][18][19]. It is especially advantageous that the decomposition products from the amidinate ligand are gaseous so that product contamination is minimized

• nanoparticles were determined by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy (HAADF-STEM). The crystalline phases and the absence of impurities (oxides) in RE-NPs and REF3-NPs were identified by powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) and selected

• Figures S4c, S5c, S6d, Supporting Information File 1) through comparison to the reported binding energies of metal(III) fluorides/oxides, metal(0) and organic fluorine/oxygen (Table 2) [48][49]. The measured metal and fluorine XPS values are in good agreement with the values of metal(III) fluorides that

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

• 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

• contact size and the contact resistance for each electrode–fin contact are, respectively, indicated by dcontact and RCj (j = 1, 2,…, 8). Note that all contact resistances are initially considered to be highly resistive because the native oxides present on both the fins and electrodes prevent current flow

Quantitative comparison of wideband low-latency phase-locked loop circuit designs for high-speed frequency modulation atomic force microscopy

• Kazuki Miyata and
• Takeshi Fukuma

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1844–1855, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.176

• [1]. It has been used under ultrahigh vacuum conditions for high-resolution imaging of various materials, including metals, semiconductors, metal oxides, and organic molecules [2][3][4][5]. Furthermore, recent advances in FM-AFM have enabled atom manipulation and identification at room temperature [6

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

• /bjnano.9.166 Abstract In the present investigation, the cryochemical approach was used for the improved synthesis of nanocrystalline metal oxides (e.g., NiO, Fe2O3, CeO2) and NaNO3 salt. It was shown that the solutions and sols can be treated with a liquid nitrogen stream (−196 °C) to increase the powder

• characteristics without significant increase in technical development costs. Keywords: cryochemical synthesis; cryosols; nanocrystalline metal oxides; nanostructured powders; Introduction In recent decades, nanostructured raw products have become particularly in demand for obtaining many of the new functional

• that of the same composition prepared directly from an as-prepared microemulsion. In [14] we reported on a method for producing metal oxides (CeO2, Fe2O3 and NiO) with a crystallite size less than ≤10 nm by a combination of the sol–gel method and cryotechnology. The essence of the method is to create

Magnetic properties of Fe₃O₄ antidot arrays synthesized by AFIR: atomic layer deposition, focused ion beam and thermal reduction

• Juan L. Palma,
• Alejandro Pereira,
• Raquel Álvaro,
• José Miguel García-Martín and
• Juan Escrig

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1728–1734, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.164

• milling, and the subsequent thermal reduction of the antidot arrays. Magnetic characterizations were carried out by magneto-optic Kerr effect measurements, showing the enhancement of the coercivity for the antidot arrays. AFIR opens a new route to manufacture ordered antidot arrays of magnetic oxides with

• + reduction), and it consists of the deposition of a thin film by ALD, the generation of holes by means of FIB, and the thermal reduction of the antidot arrays. AFIR opens a new route to manufacture ordered antidot arrays of oxides with variable lattice parameters, arrays that have not been synthesized by

• to manufacture square and hexagonal antidot arrays of magnetic oxides among other geometries, and with variable lattice parameters. Outline of the AFIR process. Si(100) wafers with a native layer of SiO2 were coated with Fe2O3. Antidot arrays were directly etched in the continuous films of Fe2O3

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

• oxides, it originates indirectly from the superposition of photovoltaic and converse piezoelectricity effects (we refer the reader to review articles [18] for a more comprehensive introduction to the field of photostrictive materials). The photostriction observed by a few teams in organolead trialides is

Nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes coated with zinc oxide nanoparticles as sulfur encapsulator for high-performance lithium/sulfur batteries

• Yan Zhao,
• Zhengjun Liu,
• Liancheng Sun,
• Yongguang Zhang,
• Yuting Feng,
• Xin Wang,
• Indira Kurmanbayeva and
• Zhumabay Bakenov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1677–1685, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.159

• Li/S batteries [5]. Another popular strategy to reduce polysulfides from dissolution is using metal oxides, such as TiO2 [6], ZnO [7], MnO2 [8], and SiO2 [9], as the additives or coating layer in the S-cathode. This is because metal oxides can provide strong binding sites with S and reduce the

• shuttling effect [10]. In addition, metal oxides can be easily synthesized in various morphologies, e.g., hollow structures, to “hold” S [11]. Similar to S, metal oxides are, however, not conductive [12]. Therefore, an efficient approach is to use hybrids/composites of carbon materials and metal oxides, as

Friction force microscopy of tribochemistry and interfacial ageing for the SiO_x/Si/Au system

• Christiane Petzold,
• Marcus Koch and
• Roland Bennewitz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1647–1658, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.157

• wear. Friction, wear, and the re-passivation by oxides are discussed based on results for the temporal development of friction forces, on images of the scanned area after friction force microscopy experiments, and on electron microscopy of the tips. Keywords: contact ageing; friction; nanotribology

Sulfur-, nitrogen- and platinum-doped titania thin films with high catalytic efficiency under visible-light illumination

• Boštjan Žener,
• Lev Matoh,
• Giorgio Carraro,
• Bojan Miljević and
• Romana Cerc Korošec

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1629–1640, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.155

• oxides and on the stage of synthesis during which the polymer is added [16][17][18]. The specific surface area can also be increased by decreasing the particle size of TiO2; however, it has been shown that the photocatalytic activity does not monotonically increase with decreasing particle size, but

• , water (m/z = 18) evolves, whereas in the third (510–560 °C) step, sulfur oxides (m/z = 48 and 64) evolve. Exothermic peaks, due to to the process of crystallization are overlapped by endothermic peaks, originating from the evolution of sulfates. Based on these results and the results of XRD measurements

• –610 °C) step sulfur oxides (m/z = 48 and 64) evolve from the sample. The exothermic peaks of crystallization are again overlapped by the endothermic peaks due to the evolution of sulfates. Sulfur oxides start evolving from this sample at lower temperatures (compared to S1) due to the presence of

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

• generally a solid and dense material while crystalline conductive oxides are used for the anode and cathode. As a solid electrolyte is significantly safer compared to its flammable organic liquid counterparts, its use does represent a clear advantage [2]. Moreover, the presence of crystalline ordering in

Absence of free carriers in silicon nanocrystals grown from phosphorus- and boron-doped silicon-rich oxide and oxynitride

• Daniel Hiller,
• Julian López-Vidrier,
• Keita Nomoto,
• Michael Wahl,
• Wolfgang Bock,
• Tomáš Chlouba,
• František Trojánek,
• Sebastian Gutsch,
• Margit Zacharias,
• Dirk König,
• Petr Malý and
• Michael Kopnarski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1501–1511, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.141

• oxide are SiH4 and N2O. Since Si-rich oxides have to be grown in O-depletion, some of the N-radicals present in the plasma react with the Si and are subsequently incorporated in the film. The resulting material is inevitably a Si-rich oxynitride (SRON) with in our case ≈10 atom % N [16]. Considering

• some safety issues, the oxidizing PECVD precursor gas can be replaced by O2, which allows for N-free Si-rich oxides (SRO) [17]. In both cases, small amounts of PH3 or B2H6 can be added during deposition to achieve P- or B-doped SRON or SRO, respectively. In this study, we investigate the structural

• Information File 1 the SIMS depth profiles for similarly configured SRO:B and SRON:B layers are shown. Here, the B-concentration is controlled by the B2H6-flux in the range from 0.13–1.32 atom % for SRO:B and 0.02–0.14 atom % for SRON:B. When plotting the P- and B-concentrations in the Si-rich oxides as