Template-controlled piezoactivity of ZnO thin films grown via a bioinspired approach

• Nina J. Blumenstein,
• Fabian Streb,
• Stefan Walheim,
• Thomas Schimmel,
• Zaklina Burghard and
• Joachim Bill

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 296–303, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.32

• . Keywords: piezoresponse force microscopy; template-controlled deposition; ZnO; Introduction Zinc oxide is a wide band gap semiconductor. Thin films of it can be applied in, e.g., LEDs [1][2][3] or transistors [4][5][6]. Furthermore, due to its piezoelectricity, it can be incorporated in actuators [7] or

• different functionalities are available, e.g., amino-, carboxylate or sulfonate groups for hydrophilic or alkyl groups and fluorine atoms for hydrophobic modifications. The properties of these functional groups control the interaction with ZnO. In the case of a template with polar functionality

• composite nacre with its remarkable mechanical stability [37]. The growth of the inorganic, polycrystalline aragonite platelets is directed by biopolymers. This organic template leads to oriented attachment of the CaCO3 crystallites so that a preferred orientation along the c-axis arises [38]. According to

Photocatalysis applications of some hybrid polymeric composites incorporating TiO₂ nanoparticles and their combinations with SiO₂/Fe₂O₃

• Andreea Laura Chibac,
• Tinca Buruiana,
• Violeta Melinte and
• Emil C. Buruiana

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 272–286, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.30

• in the polymeric matrix, as can be observed for the hybrid composites S1 and S4 in the inset of Figure 4a and Figure 4d, respectively. Therefore, it is clear that the introduction of the TiO2 nanoparticles in a polymer template avoids their agglomeration. The hybrid polymeric films, S1–S4 (thickness

Performance of colloidal CdS sensitized solar cells with ZnO nanorods/nanoparticles

• Anurag Roy,
• Partha Pratim Das,
• Mukta Tathavadekar,
• Sumita Das and
• Parukuttyamma Sujatha Devi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 210–221, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.23

• photoelectrode surface and (iii) poor fill factors of the as-prepared DSSC devices. Conclusion Colloidal CdS NPs have been synthesized through a bioinspired route using bovine serum albumin as a template. The structural, microstructural and optical studies confirmed the formation of phase pure cubic CdS NPs with

Structural and tribometric characterization of biomimetically inspired synthetic "insect adhesives"

• Matthias W. Speidel,
• Malte Kleemeier,
• Andreas Hartwig,
• Klaus Rischka,
• Angelika Ellermann,
• Rolf Daniels and
• Oliver Betz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 45–63, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.6

Facile fabrication of luminescent organic dots by thermolysis of citric acid in urea melt, and their use for cell staining and polyelectrolyte microcapsule labelling

• Nadezhda M. Zholobak,
• Anton L. Popov,
• Alexander B. Shcherbakov,
• Nelly R. Popova,
• Mykhailo M. Guzyk,
• Valeriy P. Antonovich,
• Alla V. Yegorova,
• Yuliya V. Scrypynets,
• Inna I. Leonenko,
• Alexander Ye. Baranchikov and
• Vladimir K. Ivanov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1905–1917, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.182

• [56][57], with some modifications: instead of one polyanionic layer on the surface of microcapsules, a layer of negatively charged O-dots was used (Figure 8). Calcium carbonate microparticles were used as the template for fabrication of the nanocomposite shells. The first polyelectrolyte layer was

Properties of Ni and Ni–Fe nanowires electrochemically deposited into a porous alumina template

• Alla I. Vorobjova,
• Dmitry L. Shimanovich,
• Kazimir I. Yanushkevich,
• Sergej L. Prischepa and
• Elena A. Outkina

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1709–1717, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.163

• value of Ni–Fe NWs in the alumina template is higher than that of the Ni sample and bulk Ni, also the Curie temperature of the Ni–Fe sample (790 K) is higher than that of the Ni sample one or bulk Ni. Keywords: electrochemical deposition; nanowire; porous alumina template; specific magnetization

• ][10]. Applying of porous alumina as a template allows the formation of vertically ordered NW arrays with uniform geometrical parameters (diameter, length, and density) which can be readily controlled over a wide range of sizes [11][12][13][14]. Additionally, porous alumina is a heat-resistant material

• most common in industrial development. However, the problem of pore blocking during deposition into the high aspect ratio template requires optimization of the deposition conditions (current density, temperature, electrolyte composition) and adjustment of the parameters of the template (diameter, pore

Filled and empty states of Zn-TPP films deposited on Fe(001)-p(1×1)O

• Gianlorenzo Bussetti,
• Alberto Calloni,
• Rossella Yivlialin,
• Andrea Picone,
• Federico Bottegoni and
• Marco Finazzi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1527–1531, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.146

• a template for the deposition of other organic molecules or (ii) as a buffer layer in flat organic devices. On the other hand, a detailed analysis of the electronic properties of the porphyrin single layer requires a reference sample for comparison. Generally, as well as in this paper, a thick

Polystyrene-block-poly(ethylene oxide) copolymers as templates for stacked, spherical large-mesopore silica coatings: dependence of silica pore size on the PS/PEO ratio

• Roberto Nisticò,
• Giuliana Magnacca,
• Sushilkumar A. Jadhav and
• Dominique Scalarone

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1454–1460, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.137

• templating (exotemplating) [6][7]. In general, templating agents arrange in the surrounding environment in such a way to generate a porous system in the newly synthesized materials, which replicates the 3D structure of the template arrangement. Often, both shape and size of the resulting porous system are

• directly and clearly correlated to the adopted porogen, but sometimes the template behavior and its effect on pore generation remain unclear. Concerning soft templating, this procedure is related to the use of amphiphilic, low molecular weight surfactants or supramolecular cooperative macromolecules, which

• constant value. This happens when a swelling equilibrium with the apolar solvent inside/outside the templating micelles is achieved. Even though further studies are necessary to better clarify this point, the interesting trends reported here confirm the importance of the template choice in order to obtain

Dealloying of gold–copper alloy nanowires: From hillocks to ring-shaped nanopores

• Adrien Chauvin,
• Cyril Delacôte,
• Mohammed Boujtita,
• Benoit Angleraud,
• Junjun Ding,
• Chang-Hwan Choi,
• Pierre-Yves Tessier and
• Abdel-Aziz El Mel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1361–1367, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.127

• size and shape coupled to the alignment and periodic organization of the nanowires is expected to promote the SERS effect originating from such gold nanostructures. Experimental Nanopatterned substrates The nanopatterned silicon substrates used as a template to grow the nanowires were prepared using a

Ammonia gas sensors based on In₂O₃/PANI hetero-nanofibers operating at room temperature

• Qingxin Nie,
• Zengyuan Pang,
• Hangyi Lu,
• Yibing Cai and
• Qufu Wei

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1312–1321, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.122

• electrospinning, and then hollow structure indium oxide (In2O3) nanofibers were obtained through calcination with PVP as template material. In situ polymerization was used to prepare indium oxide/polyaniline (In2O3/PANI) composite nanofibers with different mass ratios of In2O3 to aniline. The structure and

• image show the detailed structure of In2O3 nanofibers. In Figure 3c and 3d, it is confirmed that the In2O3 nanofibers consited of small grains and the hollow structure can be clearly observed. The hollow structure of In2O3 nanofibers was synthesized by a template-assisted method. PVP as the supporting

Mesoporous hollow carbon spheres for lithium–sulfur batteries: distribution of sulfur and electrochemical performance

• Anika C. Juhl,
• Artur Schneider,
• Boris Ufer,
• Torsten Brezesinski,
• Jürgen Janek and
• Michael Fröba

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1229–1240, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.114

• mg·cm−2 was investigated. Results and Discussion Silica template and hollow carbon spheres Hollow carbon spheres with a mesoporous shell were obtained by impregnation of silica spheres with a core–shell structure with phenol and formaldehyde (first step in Figure 1). Carbonization under inert atmosphere

• and etching of the template yielded the hollow spheres (second and third step in Figure 1). The employed silica spheres with a solid core and mesoporous shell (SCMS silica) were synthesized in two steps by modified literature methods [33][34]. Solid silica spheres were synthesized by the Stöber method

• and retaining significant amounts of sulfur, thus ensuring stable performance upon prolonged cycling. Experimental details Synthesis of hollow carbon spheres Synthesis of silica template Silica spheres with a solid core and mesoporous shell were synthesized according to a modification of literature

Tunable longitudinal modes in extended silver nanoparticle assemblies

• Serene S. Bayram,
• Klas Lindfors and
• Amy Szuchmacher Blum

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1219–1228, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.113

• of the building blocks themselves [1][2]. A wide range of self-assembly strategies have been used to assemble nanoparticles into organized nanostructures [1][2][3][4]. Template-based or directed assemblies result in structures dictated by template size and shape. Both soft templates such as polymers

Fast diffusion of silver in TiO₂ nanotube arrays

• Wanggang Zhang,
• Yiming Liu,
• Diaoyu Zhou,
• Hui Wang,
• Wei Liang and
• Fuqian Yang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1129–1140, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.105

• structures, including nanotubes, nanoparticles, nanorods, mesoporous spheres, nanosheets, nanowires have been synthesized via anodic oxidation, template, and hydrothermal processing to increase the ratio of surface area to volume for the maximization of effective surface area [17]. Among the low-dimensional

Dielectrophoresis of gold nanoparticles conjugated to DNA origami structures

• Anja Henning-Knechtel,
• Matthew Wiens,
• Mathias Lakatos,
• Andreas Heerwig,
• Frieder Ostermaier,
• Nora Haufe and
• Michael Mertig

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 948–956, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.87

• constructs constitute promising template structures to combine different organic and inorganic nanomaterials into tailored hybrid nanodevices, and hence, hold the potential to combine self-assembly of functional molecules with conventional fabrication methods in nanotechnology [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. To

• staple strands were combined with the 10 nM template in a Mg2+ containing 1×TE buffer solution (12.5 mM MgCl2, 40 mM Tris, 2 mM EDTA, pH 8.1). Then, the mixture was heated to 85 °C for 15 min, cooled to 56 °C and further cooled to 4 °C after 1 h. In order to purify the resulting structure from excess

• are schematically depicted (diameter: d = 6 nm, length: l = 414 nm). (c) caDNAno design representation with the template strand in blue, and main and capture staples in green and red, respectively. The capturing strands are 126 bases apart from each other on both helices. (d,e) TEM images of the

Optical absorption signature of a self-assembled dye monolayer on graphene

• Tessnim Sghaier,
• Sylvain Le Liepvre,
• Céline Fiorini,
• Ludovic Douillard and
• Fabrice Charra

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 862–868, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.78

• deposited on a dielectric substrate [18], in which case no significant spectral shift was observed. An exciting perspective could be given by hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) monolayers, which combine a dielectric nature with an atomic-scale template similar to that of graphene [41]. Conclusion In conclusion

Templated green synthesis of plasmonic silver nanoparticles in onion epidermal cells suitable for surface-enhanced Raman and hyper-Raman scattering

• Marta Espina Palanco,
• Klaus Bo Mogensen,
• Marina Gühlke,
• Zsuzsanna Heiner,
• Janina Kneipp and
• Katrin Kneipp

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 834–840, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.75

• the extracellular matrix provides a biological template for the growth of plasmonic nanostructures. This is indicated by red glowing images of extracellular spaces in dark field microscopy of onion layers a few hours after AgNO3 exposure due to the formation of silver nanoparticles. Silver

• space they surround provide a biological template for the growth process of plasmonic silver structures. In our experimental study, we exploit luminescence spectroscopy and dark-field microscopy for probing the formation of metal nanostructures in situ in the onion tissue. Local optical fields related

• stabilizing chemicals. The plant delivers not only the required chemicals, the extracellular matrix including cell walls in the onion layer also provide a bio-template for growing the plasmonic silver nanostructures. Green silver nanostructures grown in the cell walls and extracellular space are suited for

Magnetic switching of nanoscale antidot lattices

• Ulf Wiedwald,
• Joachim Gräfe,
• Kristof M. Lebecki,
• Maxim Skripnik,
• Felix Haering,
• Gisela Schütz,
• Paul Ziemann,
• Eberhard Goering and
• Ulrich Nowak

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 733–750, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.65

Hierarchical coassembly of DNA–triptycene hybrid molecular building blocks and zinc protoporphyrin IX

• Rina Kumari,
• Sumit Singh,
• Mohan Monisha,
• Sourav Bhowmick,
• Anindya Roy,
• Neeladri Das and
• Prolay Das

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 697–707, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.62

• applications [43][44].These small molecules also provide the template for the construction of self-assembled supramolecular structures that undergo several self-correction steps in the due course of the construction of their complex structures [45]. These structures may be nanopores, nanofibers, nanotubes and

• in the present study is two-fold. Firstly, in the interaction of Zn PpIX with DNA, the former is hypothesized to provide template for assembly formation [45]. Secondly, the generation of ROS through excitation of porphyrins is an established fact [48]. The covalent conjugation of TPA with ssDNA was

• significantly increases the stability of the DNA duplex and simultaneously provides a template to initiate the formation of nanofibers [50]. The nanofibers appear to be compactly organized and bundled together in the form of elongated rope-like structures. However, in the absence of Zn PpIX during the self

Novel roles for well-known players: from tobacco mosaic virus pests to enzymatically active assemblies

• Claudia Koch,
• Fabian J. Eber,
• Carlos Azucena,
• Alexander Förste,
• Stefan Walheim,
• Thomas Schimmel,
• Alexander M. Bittner,
• Holger Jeske,
• Hartmut Gliemann,
• Sabine Eiben,
• Fania C. Geiger and
• Christina Wege

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 613–629, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.54

• the template [6][7]. Principal players in virus-based nanotechnology are cowpea mosaic virus (CPMV), cowpea chlorotic mottle virus (CCMV), potato virus X (PVX), the bacteriophages MS2 and M13 and tobacco mosaic virus (TMV; for a list of abbreviations, see Table 1) [1][4][6][8]. The application

• , TMV-like particles (TLPs) of altered length, or non-linear more complex structures up to branched architectures may be generated [54][55][56][57][58][59]. Furthermore, it is possible to immobilize one end of the RNA template prior to its encapsidation by CP, resulting in TLP growth bottom-up at sites

• reaction. The resulting nanowell template was incubated with OAs-containing RNA, to allow its hybridization to ssDNA exposed on the bottom of the holes. After assembly-competent CP was applied, TMV-like rods were detected protruding in almost upright orientations (Figure 8B). Further improvements of the

Rigid multipodal platforms for metal surfaces

• Michal Valášek,
• Marcin Lindner and
• Marcel Mayor

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 374–405, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.34

• ]. These achiral molecules are at first arranged on the surface in the form of chiral trimers, which then serve as the template for final 2D chiral hexagonal pattern. Upon adsorption on a gold surface, a racemic mixture of 17 self-assembles to form spatially ordered ribbon-like islands, which then lead to

Hemolysin coregulated protein 1 as a molecular gluing unit for the assembly of nanoparticle hybrid structures

• Tuan Anh Pham,
• Andreas Schreiber,
• Elena V. Sturm (née Rosseeva),
• Stefan Schiller and
• Helmut Cölfen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 351–363, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.32

• anisotropy in shape and possible properties. However, nanoparticle (NP) assembly leading to one-dimensional (1D) superstructures or arrays has received less attention compared to their two- or three-dimensional equivalents [2]. The NP assembly can be conducted in a template-based or template-free way. In

• particular, a template-free approach is more difficult to achieve since specific interactions in terms of chemical and spatial interplay have to be ensured. The controlled assembly of NPs using organic compounds such as polymers [3][4][5][6][7], peptides [8][9] and DNA [10][11][12][13][14] demonstrate great

• nanomaterials. Furthermore, kinetic investigation of the formation of such 1D Au NP structures and the utilization of this structure, for example, as a SERS template and catalyst are also of great interest. The formation kinetics of Au NP networks triggered by Hcp1_cys3 is investigated using UV–vis spectroscopy

Functional fusion of living systems with synthetic electrode interfaces

• Oskar Staufer,
• Sebastian Weber,
• C. Peter Bengtson,
• Hilmar Bading,
• Joachim P. Spatz and
• Amin Rustom

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 296–301, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.27

• : biointerface; biosensor; energy harvesting; nanoelectrodes; Physarum polycephalum; Findings The formation process of nanoelectrode interfaces (NEIs) was based on track-etch template synthesis as schematically shown in Figure 1a. First, monocrystalline gold (Au) nanowires in parallel arrangement featuring

Determination of Young’s modulus of Sb₂S₃ nanowires by in situ resonance and bending methods

• Liga Jasulaneca,
• Raimonds Meija,
• Alexander I. Livshits,
• Juris Prikulis,
• Subhajit Biswas,
• Justin D. Holmes and
• Donats Erts

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 278–283, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.25

• conditions (e.g., clamping) than alignment of the external force. The obtained mean value was then compared to that of bulk material [35]. Experimental The examined Sb2S3 NWs were synthesized inside cylindrical pores of anodic aluminum oxide template (AAO) by a solvent-less technique. The as-synthesized NWs

• removing outgrown NWs from the surface of the AAO template. Alternatively NWs from dissolved AAO templates were also used for mechanical testing. In this case filled AAO templates with NW diameters ranging from 80 to 200 nm were polished, dissolved in 9% H3PO4, washed and dried. The as-prepared Sb2S3 NW

Chemical bath deposition of textured and compact zinc oxide thin films on vinyl-terminated polystyrene brushes

• Nina J. Blumenstein,
• Caroline G. Hofmeister,
• Peter Lindemann,
• Cheng Huang,
• Johannes Baier,
• Andreas Leineweber,
• Stefan Walheim,
• Christof Wöll,
• Thomas Schimmel and
• Joachim Bill

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 102–110, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.12

• stronger interaction between the then polar template and polar ZnO crystallites in solution. This may lead to oriented attachment of the crystallites so that the observed (002) texture arises. Characterization of the templates and the resulting ZnO films were performed with ζ-potential and contact angle

• measurements as well as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Infrared spectroscopy (IR) measurements were used to investigate the polystyrene brushes before and after modification. Keywords: bioinspired synthesis; polymer brush; template activation

• results imply an activated dynamic precipitation model of ZnO thin films, which is the result of a base-catalyzed transesterification of polystyrene brushes in the early stage of ZnO precipitation. Results and Discussion Template characterization For the deposition of the PS brush, the molecule depicted

Fabrication and characterization of novel multilayered structures by stereocomplexion of poly(D-lactic acid)/poly(L-lactic acid) and self-assembly of polyelectrolytes

• Elena Dellacasa,
• Li Zhao,
• Gesheng Yang,
• Laura Pastorino and
• Gleb B. Sukhorukov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 81–90, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.10

• mass of the multilayers. Then, hollow, spherical microcapsules were obtained by the removal of the CaCO3 sacrificial template. The chemical composition of the obtained microcapsules was confirmed by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and wide X-ray diffraction (WXRD) analyses. The microcapsule

• are stable in acidic or basic conditions. This is due to the lack of pH-sensitive functional groups on the PLA polymers. Conclusion PLA stereocomplex microcapsules were successfully fabricated by the LBL technique using CaCO3 as a sacrificial template and enantiomeric PLAs with and without PEM

• the stereocomplex was also confirmed by the IR measurements. The SEM images showed a qualitative difference in the template surfaces coated with PLA and PEM layers respect to those coated only with PEM precursor. The characterization by TEM confirmed a successful template removal, resulting in intact