Quantum size effects in TiO₂ thin films grown by atomic layer deposition

• Massimo Tallarida,
• Chittaranjan Das and
• Dieter Schmeisser

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 77–82, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.7

• characterization in an in situ ALD system, where the freshly deposited thin films were transported into the measurement chamber without breaking the vacuum [12][13]. The XAS of 3d transition metal (TM) oxides at the O-K and the TM-L2,3 edges is a very important tool to determine their electronic and structural

• properties. Although the detailed interpretation of XAS measurements is very complex and not yet completely achieved, it was shown that rutile, anatase and amorphous TiO2 films, as well as quantum-confined TiO2 nanostructures exhibit distinct features at both the O-K and the TM-L2,3 edges [10][14][15]. Here

Design criteria for stable Pt/C fuel cell catalysts

• Josef C. Meier,
• Carolina Galeano,
• Ioannis Katsounaros,
• Jonathon Witte,
• Hans J. Bongard,
• Angel A. Topalov,
• Claudio Baldizzone,
• Stefano Mezzavilla,
• Ferdi Schüth and
• Karl J. J. Mayrhofer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 44–67, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.5

• were observed to occur simultaneously and their contribution to the overall surface area loss seems to vary depending on the applied protocols and the structural properties of the catalyst [16][42][66][67]. In this study, we use identical location electron microscopic techniques in combination with

Template based precursor route for the synthesis of CuInSe₂ nanorod arrays for potential solar cell applications

• Mikhail Pashchanka,
• Jonas Bang,
• Niklas S. A. Gora,
• Ildiko Balog,
• Rudolf C. Hoffmann and
• Jörg J. Schneider

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 868–874, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.98

• structural properties can be thus obtained. The most intensive peak at 172 cm−1 results from the Γ1 chalcopyrite phonon mode (selenium anion vibration) [24]. This signal is commonly observed in CuInSe2 thin films and nanoparticles, and its intensity is associated with the crystalline quality [25][26][27]. A

Simulation of electron transport during electron-beam-induced deposition of nanostructures

• Francesc Salvat-Pujol,
• Harald O. Jeschke and
• Roser Valentí

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 781–792, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.89

• that addresses the multi-scale nature of the electron-beam-induced deposition (EBID) process. Furthermore, similar simulations can help to understand the role that is played by backscattered electrons and emitted secondary electrons in the change of structural properties of nanostructured materials

• distribution of energy and charge that occurs under EBID conditions. The study is not only relevant for EBID, but it is also a first step to understanding aspects of other experimental techniques including, e.g., the effect of backscattered electrons in the change of structural properties in direct and oxygen

• distribution in the substrate and the deposit under irradiation with an electron beam. Moreover, similar simulations can aid the understanding of the role that is played by backscattered and secondary electrons in changing the structural properties of nanostructured materials in several post-growth techniques

Structural, optical and photocatalytic properties of flower-like ZnO nanostructures prepared by a facile wet chemical method

• Sini Kuriakose,
• Neha Bhardwaj,
• Jaspal Singh,
• Biswarup Satpati and
• Satyabrata Mohapatra

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 763–770, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.87

• . The samples prepared by using different zinc acetate concentrations of 0.02 M, 0.05 M and 0.1 M are referred to as S1, S2 and S3. Characterization of photocatalysts The structural properties of the samples were determined by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) at room temperature using Panalytical X’pert

Evolution of microstructure and related optical properties of ZnO grown by atomic layer deposition

• Adib Abou Chaaya,
• Roman Viter,
• Mikhael Bechelany,
• Zanda Alute,
• Donats Erts,
• Anastasiya Zalesskaya,
• Kristaps Kovalevskis,
• Vincent Rouessac,
• Valentyn Smyntyna and
• Philippe Miele

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 690–698, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.78

• defects. Correlation between optical and structural properties. The optical properties of ultrathin ZnO films are tailored by structural parameters (grain size, stoichiometry, etc.). A strong relation between the crystalline structures and photoluminescence of ZnO is described by the intensity ratio of

• nitrogen purge followed by 2 s pulse of H2O, 30 s exposure to H2O, and a final 60 s nitrogen purge. ZnO films with 100, 200, 500, and 1000 ALD cycles were deposited on Si and glass substrates to study the influence of the thickness. The temperature was fixed at 100 °C. Characterization Structural

• properties of the ZnO films were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), ellipsometry, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXRD). An Asylum Research MFP-3D atomic force microscope equipped with a commercial silicon tip was operated in the tapping

Large-scale atomistic and quantum-mechanical simulations of a Nafion membrane: Morphology, proton solvation and charge transport

• Pavel V. Komarov,
• Pavel G. Khalatur and
• Alexei R. Khokhlov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 567–587, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.65

• -mechanical principles rather than on empirical potentials. This provides a possibility to observe not only structural properties of materials at classical level but also electronic effects responsible for chemical transformations. However, the QMD method requires computer resources by orders of magnitude

Deformation-induced grain growth and twinning in nanocrystalline palladium thin films

• Aaron Kobler,
• Jochen Lohmiller,
• Jonathan Schäfer,
• Michael Kerber,
• Anna Castrup,
• Ankush Kashiwar,
• Patric A. Gruber,
• Karsten Albe,
• Horst Hahn and
• Christian Kübel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 554–566, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.64

• migration out of the grain. If the grains are initially defect free, partial dislocations nucleate into a defect free grain and can form stacking faults and twinning faults by successive nucleation of partial dislocations. Overview of the structural properties of the three ncPd sample sets analyzed using

Influence of the solvent on the stability of bis(terpyridine) structures on graphite

• Daniela Künzel and
• Axel Groß

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 269–277, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.29

• , force-field molecular dynamics are used in order to describe the adsorption properties of solvated BTP molecules on graphite. The structure of 3,3′-BTP, which is known for its high versatility in surface structures is shown in Figure 1. There are of course force fields that reproduce structural

• properties of water quite satisfactorily [19][20]. However, here we need general-purpose force fields that are able to describe different solvents, solvent–molecule and molecule–surface interactions equally well. Hence, we use the Universal (UFF) [21], Compass (condensed-phase optimized molecular potentials

Catalytic activity of nanostructured Au: Scale effects versus bimetallic/bifunctional effects in low-temperature CO oxidation on nanoporous Au

• Lu-Cun Wang,
• Yi Zhong,
• Haijun Jin,
• Daniel Widmann,
• Jörg Weissmüller and
• R. Jürgen Behm

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 111–128, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.13

• these two aspects by using NPG samples that are completely free of the second metal or to vary the structural properties of the nanostructured NPG material, such as surface area or crystallite/ligament size, at a constant (surface) content of the respective second metal. Both of these approaches are not

• possible from experimental reasons, since it is not possible to completely remove all of the less noble metal, such as Ag and Cu, from the starting alloy [10], and also since these impurities sensitively affect the structural properties of the resulting NPG materials [13]. Therefore, these aspects have to

• information on the structural properties of the bulk phase, XRD measurements were performed on these samples (Figure 2a). Considering the discussion in the Experimental subsection „Catalyst characterization“, the broad diffraction peaks of metallic Au for the three fresh samples, NPG(Ag)-2 to NPG(Ag)-4

Structural and electronic properties of oligo- and polythiophenes modified by substituents

• Simon P. Rittmeyer and
• Axel Groß

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 909–919, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.101

• Simon P. Rittmeyer Axel Gross Institute of Theoretical Chemistry, Ulm University, Albert-Einstein-Allee 11, D-89069 Ulm, Germany 10.3762/bjnano.3.101 Abstract The electronic and structural properties of oligo- and polythiophenes that can be used as building blocks for molecular electronic devices

• any polymer material the molecules are not isolated. However, there is no true chemical interaction between the molecules such that it is very likely that the electronic and structural properties of the oligo- and polythiophenes are not substantially modified by the presence of weakly interacting

Imaging ultra thin layers with helium ion microscopy: Utilizing the channeling contrast mechanism

• Gregor Hlawacek,
• Vasilisa Veligura,
• Stefan Lorbek,
• Tijs F. Mocking,
• Antony George,
• Raoul van Gastel,
• Harold J. W. Zandvliet and
• Bene Poelsema

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 507–512, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.58

• seen under incident beam angles that allow channeling into Ge{001} is a sign of their different structural properties. The Co in the crystallites influences the position of the atoms sufficiently to block the channels in the covered part of the Ge{001} surface. This independently supports the scanning

Distribution of functional groups in periodic mesoporous organosilica materials studied by small-angle neutron scattering with in situ adsorption of nitrogen

• Monir Sharifi,
• Dirk Wallacher and
• Michael Wark

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 428–437, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.49

• ] and providing insight into both the sorption mechanism, i.e., micropore filling, formation of nitrogen layers and capillary condensation [23][24], and the structural properties. Often adsorbates are favored in which hydrogen atoms can be isotopically substituted by deuterium atoms and, hence, the

Synthesis and catalytic applications of combined zeolitic/mesoporous materials

• Jarian Vernimmen,
• Vera Meynen and
• Pegie Cool

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 785–801, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.87

• of mesoporous materials can be found in several excellent reviews [33][34][35][36][37]. Although there is large diversity in structural properties among mesoporous materials, these materials all have in common that their (metallo)silicate framework is not crystalline, but amorphous. This implies that

• formation mechanism and detailed structural properties of the materials need to be explored in more detail before drawing any conclusion on its applicability. 1.2.4 Conclusion As pointed out in the preceding paragraphs, each synthesis strategy for the formation of combined zeolitic/mesoporous materials has

• investigated. Therefore, more research concerning their structural properties and catalytic behavior is necessary to fully explore and understand the catalytic potential of the combined zeolitic/mesoporous materials. At the moment, it is still too early to tell whether industrialization of these combined

Nanostructured, mesoporous Au/TiO₂ model catalysts – structure, stability and catalytic properties

• Matthias Roos,
• Dominique Böcking,
• Kwabena Offeh Gyimah,
• Gabriela Kucerova,
• Joachim Bansmann,
• Johannes Biskupek,
• Ute Kaiser,
• Nicola Hüsing and
• R. Jürgen Behm

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 593–606, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.63

• total, most of the structural properties of the mesoporous TiO2 thin films on Si(100) substrates (crystallinity, pore size) are similar to those found in the mesoporous TiO2 powder. Subsequent Au loading leads to a homogeneous distribution of the Au nanoparticles with a slightly smaller mean size, but a

Inorganic–organic hybrid materials through post-synthesis modification: Impact of the treatment with azides on the mesopore structure

• Miriam Keppeler,
• Jürgen Holzbock,
• Johanna Akbarzadeh,
• Herwig Peterlik and
• Nicola Hüsing

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 486–498, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.52

• manipulation of the dimensions and the state of aggregation of the supramolecular aggregates will directly influence the structural properties of the resulting inorganic porous material, and research efforts are devoted to the control of the structural properties through the synthesis conditions. For ordered

• changes [29]. The present work focuses on the influence of these surface functionalization reactions on the structural properties of preformed silica gels. The first section describes the nucleophilic substitution of hierarchically organized SiO2–(CH2)1,3–Cl gels to give the corresponding SiO2–(CH2)1,3–N3

• , the influence of the reaction on the structural properties of the material has been mostly neglected [30]. This influence of the nucleophilic substitution on the porous structure of the meso/macroporous monoliths, with special emphasis on the long range hexagonal ordering of the mesopores, was

Characterization of protein adsorption onto FePt nanoparticles using dual-focus fluorescence correlation spectroscopy

• Pauline Maffre,
• Karin Nienhaus,
• Faheem Amin,
• Wolfgang J. Parak and
• G. Ulrich Nienhaus

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 374–383, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.43

• structures upon NP binding. However, the evidence from 2fFCS presented here is rather indirect. In future studies, we shall employ more structure-specific spectroscopic methods such as single-particle FRET, which may yield more detailed insights into the structural properties of the protein corona

Extended X-ray absorption fine structure of bimetallic nanoparticles

• Carolin Antoniak

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 237–251, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.28

• and other contaminations on the investigated structure, EXAFS of in situ cleaned and oxide-free FePt nanoparticles seems to be a suitable tool to study the intrinsic structural properties of pure metallic nanoparticles. Wet-chemical synthesis A possible organometallic route to synthesise FePt

Structural and magnetic properties of ternary Fe_1–xMn_xPt nanoalloys from first principles

• Markus E. Gruner and
• Peter Entel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 162–172, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.20

• and structural properties of the ternary systems are in good agreement with previous bulk and thin film measurements. At an intermediate Mn-content around x = 0.25 a crossover between several phases with magnetic and structural properties is encountered, which may be interesting for exploitation in

• accurate description of structural properties of ferrous alloys, the use of the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) for the representation of the exchange–correlation functional is mandatory. In the present work, the formulation of Perdew and Wang [47][48] in connection with the spin interpolation

• ferro- and antiferromagnetic regions with canted moments. Later, Meyer and Thiele [74] investigated the same system as epitaxial films grown on MgO. Their XRD (X-ray diffraction) data essentially confirmed the structural properties reported in [73] despite possible mechanical strains due to the thin

Room temperature synthesis of indium tin oxide nanotubes with high precision wall thickness by electroless deposition

• Mario Boehme,
• Emanuel Ionescu,
• Ganhua Fu and
• Wolfgang Ensinger

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 119–126, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.14

• under aqueous conditions in ion track etched polycarbonate templates. Due to surface limitations, electroless deposition is a convenient and power saving method to construct hollow nanostructures. The structural properties of the ITO tubes grown were investigated by various analytical techniques. The

Structure, morphology, and magnetic properties of Fe nanoparticles deposited onto single-crystalline surfaces

• Armin Kleibert,
• Wolfgang Rosellen,
• Mathias Getzlaff and
• Joachim Bansmann

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 47–56, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.6

• . Conclusion: The magnetic and structural properties of nanoparticles are strongly affected by the deposition kinetics even when soft landing conditions are provided. The orientation of the deposited particles and thus their interface with the substrate strongly depend on the particle size with consequences

• physical approaches, the thermodynamics and the kinetics of the growth mode or – when depositing preformed clusters/nanoparticles on a surface – the landing kinetics and subsequent relaxation processes have a strong impact and thus need to be considered when attempting to control magnetic and structural

• properties of supported clusters or nanoparticles. Results: In this contribution we focus on mass-filtered Fe nanoparticles in a size range from 4 nm to 10 nm that are generated in a cluster source and subsequently deposited onto two single crystalline substrates: fcc Ni(111)/W(110) and bcc W(110). We use a

On the reticular construction concept of covalent organic frameworks

• Binit Lukose,
• Agnieszka Kuc,
• Johannes Frenzel and
• Thomas Heine

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2010, 1, 60–70, doi:10.3762/bjnano.1.8

• ]. Structural properties We have compared structural properties of isolated building blocks with those of the extended COF structures. Negligible differences have been found in the bond lengths and bond angles of the building blocks and the corresponding crystal structures. This indicates that the structural

Enhanced visible light photocatalysis through fast crystallization of zinc oxide nanorods

• Sunandan Baruah,
• Mohammad Abbas Mahmood,
• Myo Tay Zar Myint,
• Tanujjal Bora and
• Joydeep Dutta

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2010, 1, 14–20, doi:10.3762/bjnano.1.3

• during synthesis is an attractive option for visible light photocatalysis and further results with different pollutants will be presented in succeeding reports. ZnO, apart from having specific structural properties, can also be grown on any type of substrates, such as glass, alumina, polyethylene