Concurrent nanoscale surface etching and SnO₂ loading of carbon fibers for vanadium ion redox enhancement

• Jun Maruyama,
• Shohei Maruyama,
• Tomoko Fukuhara,
• Toru Nagaoka and
• Kei Hanafusa

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 985–992, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.99

• spectroscopy. Figure 2 shows the Raman spectra of TGP and the treated samples. After the coating of TGP with CSnPc, the Am and D2 peaks appeared in addition to the G and D peaks. The peaks are ascribed to amorphous carbon, the surface graphene layers as a disordered graphitic lattice, the ideal graphitic

• lattice, and the graphene layer edges also as the disordered graphitic lattice, respectively [21][22]. The presence of the Am peak indicates that CSnPc is amorphous. The Am peak is decreased (Table 2) and the D peak is increased in the spectrum for TGP-CSnPc-550Air. The ratios between the intensities of

• the D peak and the G peak (ID/IG) increased from 0.255 (TGP) to 0.382 (TGP-CSnPc-550Air), suggesting the exposure of the edge planes on the carbon fiber surface and also a slight retention of the amorphous carbon [23]. This assumption is based on the general recognition that the ratio is related to

Nanoscale optical and structural characterisation of silk

• Meguya Ryu,
• Reo Honda,
• Adrian Cernescu,
• Arturas Vailionis,
• Armandas Balčytis,
• Jitraporn Vongsvivut,
• Jing-Liang Li,
• Denver P. Linklater,
• Elena P. Ivanova,
• Vygantas Mizeikis,
• Mark J. Tobin,
• Junko Morikawa and
• Saulius Juodkazis

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 922–929, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.93

• wavelength and 22.8 °C. (a) Far-field optical image of longitudinal slices of white silk embedded in an epoxy sheet. The inset shows schematics of a lateral silk slice composed of β-sheets interconnected with α-coils and amorphous segments. (b) Optical and topographic images of the silk slice shown in (a

Co-doped MnFe₂O₄ nanoparticles: magnetic anisotropy and interparticle interactions

• Bagher Aslibeiki,
• Parviz Kameli,
• Hadi Salamati,
• Giorgio Concas,
• Maria Salvador Fernandez,
• Alessandro Talone,
• Giuseppe Muscas and
• Davide Peddis

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 856–865, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.86

• %), cobalt nitrate (Co(NO3)2·6H2O, Merck, 98.5%) and citric acid (C6H6O7, Merck, 99.5%) powders were mixed in a 1:1 molar ratio of total metal nitrates to citric acid. The powders were milled for 1 h in a planetary ball mill using agate balls, producing an amorphous precursor (Supporting Information File 1

• . Uncertainties in the last digit are given in parentheses. Supporting Information An example of a typical X-ray diffraction pattern of the amorphous phase obtained immediately after the milling process for sample C0 (Figure S1). ZFC and FC curves measured for all samples are shown in Figure S2. For sample C0

Synthesis of MnO₂–CuO–Fe₂O₃/CNTs catalysts: low-temperature SCR activity and formation mechanism

• Yanbing Zhang,
• Lihua Liu,
• Yingzan Chen,
• Xianglong Cheng,
• Chengjian Song,
• Mingjie Ding and
• Haipeng Zhao

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 848–855, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.85

• conversions of 4% MnO2–CuO–Fe2O3/CNTs catalyst of 43.1–87.9% at 80–180 °C were achieved, which was ascribed to the generation of amorphous MnO2, CuO and Fe2O3, and a high surface-oxygen (Os) content. Keywords: amorphous materials; carbon nanotubes; low-dimensional materials; low-temperature catalysis; SCR

• , only a weak peak of MnO2 (PDF#53-0633) can be observed when the loading was greater than or equal to 4%, whereas no diffraction peaks of metal oxides could be found, suggesting the formation of amorphous metal oxide phases. Amorphous catalytic materials are conducive to SCR activity [19], which is also

• , also verifying the generation of metal oxide catalysts on the CNT surface. The EDX spectrum (Figure 3d) shows signals of Mn, Cu, Fe, O and C. Clear lattice fringes of the metal oxides cannot be observed in the HRTEM images, indicating the generation of amorphous materials, which is consistent with the

Tungsten disulfide-based nanocomposites for photothermal therapy

• Tzuriel Levin,
• Hagit Sade,
• Rina Ben-Shabbat Binyamini,
• Maayan Pour,
• Iftach Nachman and
• Jean-Paul Lellouche

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 811–822, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.81

• WS2-NT-CM-PEI (Figure 2h) shows that the wavy-looking matrix surrounding the crystalline maghemite is amorphous. Table 1 shows the results of ICP analysis of CAN-mag nanoparticles and WS2-NT-CM composite. The ratios between iron and cerium are very close when comparing the nanoparticles and the

An efficient electrode material for high performance solid-state hybrid supercapacitors based on a Cu/CuO/porous carbon nanofiber/TiO₂ hybrid composite

• Mamta Sham Lal,
• Thirugnanam Lavanya and
• Sundara Ramaprabhu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 781–793, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.78

• composites in the range of 1000–2000 cm−1. The amorphous degree of the sample was calculated from the relative intensity ratio of the D- and G-bands (ID/IG) as 2.38, 2.93, 3.16 and 3.35 for CNF, PCNF, Cu/PCNF and Cu/CuO/PCNF/TiO2, respectively. The morphology and microstructure of the as-prepared CNF, PCNF

Renewable energy conversion using nano- and microstructured materials

• Harry Mönig and
• Martina Schmid

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 771–773, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.76

• in nanoporous cobalt oxide photocathodes [7], and an approach in which silicon nanoparticles are embedded in an amorphous carbon matrix [8]. In terms of material saving, nano- and microstructured absorbers offer great potential, e.g., via ultrathin absorbers as highlighted for Sb2S3 hybrid solar

On the transformation of “zincone”-like into porous ZnO thin films from sub-saturated plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition

• Alberto Perrotta,
• Julian Pilz,
• Stefan Pachmajer,
• Antonella Milella and
• Anna Maria Coclite

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 746–759, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.74

• an inhibition of the crystal formation in the resulting TiO2 layers, and the authors attributed this to the amorphous titania being constrained in the organic matrix. As a consequence, an investigation of the crystallinity of Zn-alkoxide layers would shed a light on the evolution of the ZnO crystals

• ]. From this, a control from amorphous zinc alkoxide (1 s plasma exposure) to crystalline ZnO (4 s plasma exposure) with a preferred (100) orientation as a function of plasma time can be concluded. During the calcination of samples deposited at 1 s plasma exposure time, ZnO peaks become visible starting

• plasma exposure time and 4 s plasma exposure time are reported in Figure 5a, Figure 5d and Figure 5g, respectively. For the sample deposited with 1 s plasma exposure time (Figure 5a), no diffraction signal was measured, indicating an amorphous material. In the sample deposited with 2 s plasma exposure

An iridescent film of porous anodic aluminum oxide with alternatingly electrodeposited Cu and SiO₂ nanoparticles

• Menglei Chang,
• Huawen Hu,
• Haiyan Quan,
• Hongyang Wei,
• Zhangyi Xiong,
• Jiacong Lu,
• Pin Luo,
• Yaoheng Liang,
• Jianzhen Ou and
• Dongchu Chen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 735–745, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.73

• ), Al(220), Al(311), respectively. There is no diffraction that can be indexed to SiO2, which might because it is present in the film as an amorphous state. Also, no signal can be noted for Cu species, which is most likely due to the low content of Cu that is below the detection limit of the XRD

Choosing a substrate for the ion irradiation of two-dimensional materials

• Egor A. Kolesov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 531–539, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.54

• [35]. TRIM treats a target as an amorphous matrix with a homogenous mass distribution and calculates collision impact regardless of collision density. Thus, it is very important to underline that when applied in a straightforward manner, this method fits bulk materials only and is not applicable for

Mechanical and thermodynamic properties of Aβ₄₂, Aβ₄₀, and α-synuclein fibrils: a coarse-grained method to complement experimental studies

• Adolfo B. Poma,
• Horacio V. Guzman,
• Mai Suan Li and
• Panagiotis E. Theodorakis

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 500–513, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.51

• dominated by extended regions of amorphous aggregates. Such regions will induce the overall softening of the fibril and therefore a drop in the elastic modulus. Figure 5b shows the distributions of the characteristic native distances (see Figure 2 for their definition). For β-amyloid and α-synuclein fibrils

• [27]. The YT value for α-synuclein is comparable to that of Aβ42. The experimental data on YT for α-syn fibril has been reported [30] and it is by a factor of two smaller than that of Aβ40. Such difference is attributed to an uncontrollable growth of amorphous aggregates during fibrillization that

Improving control of carbide-derived carbon microstructure by immobilization of a transition-metal catalyst within the shell of carbide/carbon core–shell structures

• Teguh Ariyanto,
• Jan Glaesel,
• Andreas Kern,
• Gui-Rong Zhang and
• Bastian J. M. Etzold

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 419–427, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.41

• using halogen gases at elevated temperatures. Depending on the carbide and parameters employed during the synthesis, CDC can be varied from extremely amorphous to highly crystalline microstructures and from ultramicro- to mesoporous pore structures. Therefore, CDC is known as material with tunable

• Raman spectroscopy. The XRD patterns for the different catalyst loadings are given in Figure 3a. The CDC-Ni0 reference material shows no reflexes indicating an amorphous character, which is in agreement with the literature [15]. Once adding graphitization catalyst (CDC-Ni5 to CDC-Ni60) clearly graphitic

• ). Despite the relative constant crystal sizes, the increasing intensity of the XRD reflexes indicates that the amount of crystalline carbon compared to amorphous phase is increasing with higher nickel loading. TPO was employed to probe the ratio between of amorphous and crystalline carbon, based on the

Advanced scanning probe lithography using anatase-to-rutile transition to create localized TiO₂ nanorods

• Julian Kalb,
• Vanessa Knittel and
• Lukas Schmidt-Mende

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 412–418, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.40

• transformation into rutile TiO2 on these facets [41]. Thus, it is possible to promote a position-controlled hydrothermal growth by generating anatase nanoparticles locally by scratching across an anatase film using a conventional AFM tip. Experimental We fabricated a 40 nm thin amorphous TiO2 film by DC sputter

Biocompatible organic–inorganic hybrid materials based on nucleobases and titanium developed by molecular layer deposition

• Leva Momtazi,
• Henrik H. Sønsteby and
• Ola Nilsen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 399–411, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.39

• , confirming the hybrid nature of the as-deposited films with an amorphous structure where partial inclusion of the TTIP molecule occurs during growth. The films are highly hydrophilic, while the nucleobases do leach in water providing an amorphous structure mainly of TiO2 with reduced density and index of

• N1–H (1508 cm−1) after coordination with titanium, as reported previously in Na-uracil thin films and explained by N–H···O hydrogen bond pairs formed between uracil molecules [30]. This may be due to the amorphous nature of our Ti-based complex, hampering the arrangement of the nucleobases. The

• the initial 15 minutes of immersion in water, one may question the bioactivity of these films in comparison to pure TiO2. Clearly, these films obtained a lower density, amorphous structure (except for thymine deposited at 250 °C) with porous morphology, when compared to anatase TiO2. This is verified

One-step nonhydrolytic sol–gel synthesis of mesoporous TiO₂ phosphonate hybrid materials

• Yanhui Wang,
• P. Hubert Mutin and
• Johan G. Alauzun

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 356–362, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.35

• with the P/Ti ratio, leading to an increase of the specific surface area and a decrease of the pore size of the hybrid samples. For a P/Ti ratio of 0.2, the volume fraction of organic octyl groups exceeds 50%. The hybrid material becomes nonporous and can be described as amorphous TiO2 clusters

• and TiP0.05 showed the presence of well-crystallized anatase nanocrystals (JCPDS 21-1272), as in the TiO2 sample. There was no evidence of rutile. The TiP0.1 sample appeared partially crystallized, while the TiP0.2 sample was amorphous in XRD experiments. The crystallite size (Table 1) of the hybrid

• to amorphous TiO2 domains [15][39]. The low values found for the BET C constant (from 42 for TiP0.02 to 28 for TiP0.1) confirm that the surface of the anatase nanoparticles is capped by apolar octyl groups. C values of 47 and 34 have been reported for oxide nanoparticles post-modified by

Geometrical optimisation of core–shell nanowire arrays for enhanced absorption in thin crystalline silicon heterojunction solar cells

• Robin Vismara,
• Olindo Isabella,
• Andrea Ingenito,
• Fai Tong Si and
• Miro Zeman

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 322–331, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.31

• manufacturing costs and, in the case of amorphous silicon alloys, reduce the effect of light-induced degradation [1][2][3]. An alternative approach involves the utilisation of nanostructures that are similar in size to the wavelength of light. This allows for an increase of the electromagnetic (EM) field

• . Multiple studies of nanowire solar cells can be found in literature, using different materials: indium phosphide [18][19], gallium arsenide [20][21], zinc oxide [15][22], crystalline silicon [6][8][11][12][13][16][17][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34], amorphous silicon alloys [35][36][37

• ], and recently perovskite [38][39][40][41]. In this contribution, the performance of crystalline silicon (c-Si) nanowire arrays is investigated. The study is divided in two parts. First, a proof-of-concept device was realised, consisting of a heterojunction of amorphous silicon on a p-type c-Si nanowire

Interaction of Te and Se interlayers with Ag or Au nanofilms in sandwich structures

• Arkadiusz Ciesielski,
• Lukasz Skowronski,
• Marek Trzcinski,
• Ewa Górecka,
• Wojciech Pacuski and
• Tomasz Szoplik

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 238–246, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.22

• common sublayers for silver and gold are Cr [1][2], Ti [2][13][14], Ni [14][15], Cu [16], Ge [3][14][15][17] as well as amorphous hydrogenated carbon (a-C:H) [4], polymer layers [18][19] and recently also Al2O3 [9]. The use of these materials is relatively inexpensive and is an easy way to promote the

Raman study of flash-lamp annealed aqueous Cu₂ZnSnS₄ nanocrystals

• Yevhenii Havryliuk,
• Oleksandr Selyshchev,
• Mykhailo Valakh,
• Alexandra Raevskaya,
• Oleksandr Stroyuk,
• Constance Schmidt,
• Volodymyr Dzhagan and
• Dietrich R. T. Zahn

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 222–227, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.20

• -treated films, broad Raman features in the range of carbon-related D- and G-bands were detected (Figure 2b). These bands are related to the decomposition of ligands into amorphous carbon phases [45]. No relation between the intensity if these bands and the quality of the CZTS spectrum was observed. The

Study of silica-based intrinsically emitting nanoparticles produced by an excimer laser

• Imène Reghioua,
• Mattia Fanetti,
• Sylvain Girard,
• Diego Di Francesca,
• Simonpietro Agnello,
• Layla Martin-Samos,
• Marco Cannas,
• Matjaz Valant,
• Melanie Raine,
• Marc Gaillardin,
• Nicolas Richard,
• Philippe Paillet,
• Aziz Boukenter,
• Youcef Ouerdane and
• Antonino Alessi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 211–221, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.19

• be detected in pure silica nanoparticles, evidencing the positive impact of Ge for the development of intrinsically emitting nanoparticles. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) data suggested that the Ge-doped silica nanoparticles are amorphous. SEM and TEM data evidenced that the produced

• energies per pulse we provide evidence for the production of similar nanoparticles. Extending the previous studies we also show the amorphous nature of the nanoparticles produced by KrF irradiation. Results In Table 1, we report the characteristics of the investigated samples. In particular, the sample

• , indicating that the produced particles are amorphous. Figure 3e and 3f show the dark-field STEM images recorded for large nanoparticles and for a group of small ones detected in sample A. In both images we note the presence of several brilliant spots. Such spots are present independent from the particle size

Uniform Sb₂S₃ optical coatings by chemical spray method

• Jako S. Eensalu,
• Atanas Katerski,
• Erki Kärber,
• Ilona Oja Acik,
• Arvo Mere and
• Malle Krunks

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 198–210, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.18

• uniform thickness. First, amorphous Sb2S3 layers, likely forming by 3D Volmer–Weber island growth through a molten phase reaction between SbCl3 and SC(NH2)2, were deposited in air on a glass/ITO/TiO2 substrate by ultrasonic spraying of methanolic Sb/S 1:3 molar ratio solution at 200–210 °C. Second, we

• produced polycrystalline uniform films of Sb2S3 (Eg 1.8 eV) with a post-deposition thermal treatment of amorphous Sb2S3 layers in vacuum at 170 °C, <4 × 10−6 Torr for 5 minutes. The effects of the deposition temperature, the precursor molar ratio and the thermal treatment temperature on the Sb2S3 layers

• ratio solution at 250 °C in air yielded separate Sb2S3 grains, which did not cover the TiO2 substrate entirely, whereas spraying the Sb/S 1:3 solution yielded an inhomogeneous mix of amorphous and polycrystalline Sb2S3 [12]. We learned to produce continuous uniform layers of polycrystalline Sb2S3 by a

Mechanism of silica–lysozyme composite formation unravelled by in situ fast SAXS

• Tomasz M. Stawski,
• Daniela B. van den Heuvel,
• Rogier Besselink,
• Dominique J. Tobler and
• Liane G. Benning

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 182–197, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.17

• interactions are the key to understand the crystallisation of biominerals in living organisms (e.g., in bone formation), and to manufacture better functional materials [11][12][13][14][15]. In particular, composites of amorphous silica (SiO2) nanoparticles (NPs) and lysozyme (LZM) have attracted attention

• well-suspended. We derived a discrete size distribution (histogram in the inset of Figure 1B) for the NPs from the Monte Carlo fit implemented [29][30] in MCSAS under the a priori assumption that the NPs were spherical in shape [31] (physicochemical parameters of amorphous silica given in Table S1

• interaction between the protein LZM and amorphous silica NPs (Figure 5). Immediately upon mixing, aggregation is induced due to the opposing surface charge of the silica NPs and the protein. An infinitely extensive and open (D = 1.8–2.2) aggregate network, from the point of view of the SAXS measurement, forms

Nanoporous water oxidation electrodes with a low loading of laser-deposited Ru/C exhibit enhanced corrosion stability

• Sandra Haschke,
• Dmitrii Pankin,
• Vladimir Mikhailovskii,
• Maïssa K. S. Barr,
• Adriana Both-Engel,
• Alina Manshina and
• Julien Bachmann

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 157–167, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.15

• Ru/C layer along the inner pore walls. The amorphous material consists of metallic Ru incorporated in a carbonaceous C matrix as shown by X-ray diffraction combined with Raman and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopies. These porous electrodes reveal enhanced stability during water oxidation as compared

• been reported on siliceous supports) [23][24]. The areal loadings are as low as the lowest values found in the literature (amorphous RuO2 with 49 µg cm−2 [45], mixed Ru–Pt catalyst with 15–35 µg cm−2 [20], and RuO2 nanoparticles with 49 µg cm−2) [46]. Chemical characterization of nanostructured Ru/C

• samples The chemical and phase identity of the Ru/C material obtained by laser-induced deposition is delivered by a combination of X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Firstly, the Ru/C layer is amorphous, since only crystalline Al peaks of the substrate are visible

pH-mediated control over the mesostructure of ordered mesoporous materials templated by polyion complex micelles

• Emilie Molina,
• Mélody Mathonnat,
• Jason Richard,
• Patrick Lacroix-Desmazes,
• Martin In,
• Philippe Dieudonné,
• Thomas Cacciaguerra,
• Corine Gérardin and
• Nathalie Marcotte

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 144–156, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.14

• -matching pathway requires extreme pH conditions to produce OMMs, as for the synthesis of the well-known SBA (Santa Barbara Amorphous) and M41S (from Mobil Corporation) materials families, which proceed at pH < 1 and pH > 9, respectively. On the contrary, the neutral route necessitates less severe pH

New micro/mesoporous nanocomposite material from low-cost sources for the efficient removal of aromatic and pathogenic pollutants from water

• Emmanuel I. Unuabonah,
• Robert Nöske,
• Jens Weber,
• Christina Günter and
• Andreas Taubert

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 119–131, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.11

• from an amorphous or less crystalline (impurity) phase [41]. Overall the XRD and solid-state NMR data support the FTIR spectroscopy spectra in that all methods detect some chemical changes in the zinc-based HYCA materials compared to the starting materials, thus confirming the formation of a real

Wet chemistry route for the decoration of carbon nanotubes with iron oxide nanoparticles for gas sensing

• Hussam M. Elnabawy,
• Juan Casanova-Chafer,
• Badawi Anis,
• Mostafa Fedawy,
• Mattia Scardamaglia,
• Carla Bittencourt,
• Ahmed S. G. Khalil,
• Eduard Llobet and
• Xavier Vilanova

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 105–118, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.10

• (NO3)3·9H2O 99.95% trace metal basic) Acetic acid, Fluka Analytical (CH3COOH 99.8%) Decoration and characterization of carbon nanotubes Commercial CNTs from Nanocyl functionalized with (COOH) groups were further chemically purified by an acidic treatment to remove any traces of catalyst or amorphous

• . The line shape of the C1s spectra recorded is typical for carbon nanotubes, with an asymmetric and narrow sp2 peak at 284.5 eV; this is followed by a second contribution due to carbon in amorphous or sp3 configuration at 285.0 eV [34]. The presence of these peaks associated with C–O bonds indicates