Utilizing the surface potential of a solid electrolyte region as the potential reference in Kelvin probe force microscopy

• Nobuyuki Ishida

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1558–1563, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.129

• contact potential difference (CPD) between a tip and the sample. It has been used to evaluate a wide range of electronic and ionic devices [5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. The CPD is quantified by applying a regulated DC voltage, relative to an electrical ground, to the tip or the sample, to minimize the

• the reduction of Ti ions in the solid electrolyte owing to direct contact between the Li metal and solid electrolyte, a poly(ethylene oxide)-based polymer electrolyte film (Osaka Soda Co., Ltd.), denoted PEO, was inserted between them. Before the KPFM measurements, the sample was heated at 150 °C for

Induced electric conductivity in organic polymers

• Konstantin Y. Arutyunov,
• Anatoli S. Gurski,
• Vladimir V. Artemov,
• Alexander L. Vasiliev,
• Azat R. Yusupov,
• Danfis D. Karamov and
• Alexei N. Lachinov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1551–1557, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.128

• the preparation of a sample for electron microscopy. Results and Discussion The experiment was carried out in a four-contact configuration at direct or alternating currents. Both R(T) and V(I) dependences of the Pb–PDP–Pb sandwich could be measured, as shown in Figure 2a, and the transport

• is significantly different. In particular, as the voltage increases, there is the tendency for the current flowing through the heterostructure to saturate. Previously [2], it was found that at high temperatures, the mechanism of overcoming the barrier at the metal/polymer contact is satisfactorily

• temperature, k is the Boltzmann constant, e is the electron charge, A is the contact area, A* is the Richardson constant, Is the saturation current. To proceed, it is important to determine the saturation current using, e.g., the semi-logarithmic dependence of the current on applied voltage. This is the so

Frequency-dependent nanomechanical profiling for medical diagnosis

• Santiago D. Solares and
• Alexander X. Cartagena-Rivera

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1483–1489, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.122

• measured while it is in close contact with the surrounding tissue. Similar developments could be envisioned for measurements inside veins or arteries, in which case the sensing device could be inserted by means of a catheter, such as those already in use [33]. In this case, greater miniaturization would be

• body through small insertions. It is also worth mentioning that the AFM measurement principle does not need to be limited to the use of microscale or nanoscale probes. In fact, the mathematics of the viscoelastic contact problem between a probe of known geometry (e.g., a sphere) and a flat surface [15

Structural studies and selected physical investigations of LiCoO₂ obtained by combustion synthesis

• Monika Michalska,
• Paweł Ławniczak,
• Tomasz Strachowski,
• Adam Ostrowski and
• Waldemar Bednarski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1473–1482, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.121

• also observed using this microscope. The SEM images show the morphology of the LiCoO2 obtained at different synthesis temperatures. Before analysis, the samples were sputtered with graphite to improve the electrical contact. All samples were observed at 1 kV. EPR analysis Electron paramagnetic

Coherent amplification of radiation from two phase-locked Josephson junction arrays

• Mikhail A. Galin,
• Vladimir M. Krasnov,
• Ilya A. Shereshevsky,
• Nadezhda K. Vdovicheva and
• Vladislav V. Kurin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1445–1457, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.119

• substrate with the thickness 0.38 mm. It contains three closely located straight strips with a separation of only 4 μm. Each strip has the length L = 5 mm and the width w = 14 μm and contains 332 JJs distributed uniformly along the strip. The junction area is 8 × 8 μm2. Contact electrodes are connected to

• facilitate access to the contact pads of the bottom array, the substrate of the top array was trimmed to a width of about 3 mm. The arrays are similar to those in sample-1, but with a different shape of connecting electrodes (cf. Figure 1a,b and Figure 5a), which does not influence the measurements. The

Dry under water: air retaining properties of large-scale elastomer foils covered with mushroom-shaped surface microstructures

• Matthias Mail,
• Stefan Walheim,
• Thomas Schimmel,
• Wilhelm Barthlott,
• Stanislav N. Gorb and
• Lars Heepe

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1370–1379, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.113

• the surface tension of water, cos θ is the water contact angle of poly(vinylsiloxane) which was assumed to be 95°, and ρw = 997 kg/m3 the density of water, and g the gravitational acceleration. The reduced bubble lifetime for h > hmax whereas Vi is the initial volume of the air layer, with Ai the

• investigations of the diffusion behavior at different pressures are plotted in the graph. The results are in good agreement with the theoretically predicted values. Further, our results indicate that both the size and shape of the contact area between water and air plays a crucial role for the stability of the

• air layer. The loss of air happened not only at the interface of water and air between the top side of the MSM, but also on the sides. This means the water-contact-area/volume ratio of the air layer is a crucial parameter for the long term stability of the kept air. Previous works have focused

Straight roads into nowhere – obvious and not-so-obvious biological models for ferrophobic surfaces

• Wilfried Konrad,
• Christoph Neinhuis and
• Anita Roth-Nebelsick

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1345–1360, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.111

• is described that started with a posed technical problem for which seemingly obvious biological models exist. The technical problem was to devise a ferrophobic surface that prevents the contact between the copper surface of a tuyère (a water cooled aeration pipe within a blast furnace) and liquid

• extend a short distance into the blast furnace (Figure 1b,c). Occasionally, liquid iron that runs down along the inner side of the outer wall of the furnace makes contact with the tuyère. If the heat input exceeds the capacity of the tuyère’s water cooling system, the tuyère burns through, and, as a

• straightforward to search for suitable biological models of external surfaces that prevent the contact to a liquid and that are able to create stable air/liquid interfaces resilient to perturbation. The biological models we considered first were the structured surfaces of Salvinia molesta leaves (see Figure 2

Bending and punching characteristics of aluminum sheets using the quasi-continuum method

• Man-Ping Chang,
• Shang-Jui Lin and
• Te-Hua Fang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1303–1315, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.108

• the adhesion force increases with an increase of the contact area between the punch and the workpiece. However, when the debris crumple, the slip phenomenon appears [61]. Besides, comparing the three crystal orientation curves, O1 shows a more stable curve during the loading process, while the O2 and

• increased with an increase of the taper angle. When the taper angle increases, the contact area between the punch and the workpiece is decreased, and a higher internal energy is stored in the atoms, resulting in a higher fracture strength [63]. Figure 14 shows the shear stress distribution of various taper

Growing up in a rough world: scaling of frictional adhesion and morphology of the Tokay gecko (Gekko gecko)

• Anthony J. Cobos and
• Timothy E. Higham

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1292–1302, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.107

• structure on speed and acceleration capacity in climbing geckos, and they found that acceleration was greatest on the smoothest surface (wood) where the most contact between the adhesive system and the surface could be made [27]. This illustrates that the main issue faced by geckos that are attaching via

• adhesive pads is the contact area between the setae and the surface. With increasingly rough surfaces, the area for contact decreases, leading to decreased adhesive performance. In a modeling framework, the force of adhesion can be related to surface energy of the substrate, the area of the adhering pad

• ][37]. A key factor that is relatively unexplored is that the morphology of the adhesive system likely changes with body size, which can then impact the amount of contact made between the adhesive system and the surface on which it is clinging or moving. For example, setal length and toepad area have

Laser-processed antiadhesive bionic combs for handling nanofibers inspired by nanostructures on the legs of cribellate spiders

• Sebastian Lifka,
• Kristóf Harsányi,
• Erich Baumgartner,
• Lukas Pichler,
• Dariya Baiko,
• Karsten Wasmuth,
• Johannes Heitz,
• Marco Meyer,
• Anna-Christin Joel,
• Jörn Bonse and
• Werner Baumgartner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1268–1283, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.105

• the case for these reasons: (1) Due to the smaller radius, the fiber also becomes softer. In consequence, the easier deflection can increase the contact area, resulting in larger forces. The van der Waals force is proportional to the root of the radius, μ ∼ √R, and the materials stiffness, expressed

• by the area moment of inertia J, is proportional to the fourth power of the radius, J ∼ R4. Hence, the fiber gains more contact area much faster than the force decreases. (2) With a smaller radius, more fibers can attach simultaneously to the surface, which leads to a further increase in the total

• approach related to the surface free energy of the fluid, we use an energy approach related to the bending energy of the nanofibers to describe the fiber adhesion on structured surfaces. An important point is that the theory presented here deals with cylindrical fibers that come into contact with the

Studies of probe tip materials by atomic force microscopy: a review

• Ke Xu and
• Yuzhe Liu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1256–1267, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.104

• a homemade cantilevered non-contact atomic force microscopy (NC-AFM) system. As the first step of tip sharpening, the focus is on the controlled extraction of individual clusters. The experimental results show that controlled extraction of individual clusters induces a change in tip sharpness, which

• assembly methods, direct growth of carbon nanotubes by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) allows for increased bond strength between CNT tips and AFM probes. A pore growth method was used by Hafner et al. [42]. The method uses AFM imaging in contact mode to flatten the silicon tip, followed by hydrogen

• percussive mode AFM imaging, and the growth of PdNWCNT does not significantly decrease the cantilever spring constant and cantilever mass factor. PdNWCNTs showed better performance than standard CNTs in some SPM applications. For example, because it is difficult to form good ohmic contact CNTs, the existence

Roll-to-roll fabrication of superhydrophobic pads covered with nanofur for the efficient clean-up of oil spills

• Patrick Weiser,
• Robin Kietz,
• Marc Schneider,
• Matthias Worgull and
• Hendrik Hölscher

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1228–1239, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.102

• unwanted dirt [5][6]. The lotus effect is commonly achieved by hierarchical nano- and micro-structuring of surfaces made from materials with low surface energy leading to very high contact angles (above 150°). This strategy is inspired by the lotus leaf [1] but can be found on many other surfaces in nature

• a significant increase of the contact angle of water droplets. The fractal structure minimizes contact area as well as adhesion forces between surface and water droplet, thereby equipping the surface with self-cleaning properties equivalent to the lotus effect [24]. Additionally, the high increase

• comparable high contact angle (95–100°, depending on the exact type [25][26][27]), which helps to achieve a high contact angle also for the structured surface. Second, we know from previous studies that it has a comparable wide process window for the hot pulling of nanofur [28]. Third, polypropylene is well

Application of nanoarchitectonics in moist-electric generation

• Jia-Cheng Feng and
• Hong Xia

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1185–1200, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.99

• occurs when a liquid is in contact with a solid with a surface charge. This interaction is mainly dominated by the electric double layer (EDL), which consists of a layer of ions (Stern layer) that is tightly adsorbed to the charged surface and a layer of counter ions (diffusion layer) that is attracted

• interaction. The actual charge transfer is much more complicated, involving the contact angle, dielectric function, temperature, and ion concentration [15][16][17]. In MEGs, compared to bulk materials, nanoarchitectonics yields a higher specific surface area to the active material, which makes the contact

• ion species. Dropping a droplet of 80 μL 0.6 M CuCl2 solution from 15 cm above the contact point onto a 70° tilted graphene surface under gravity may create a pulse voltage of 30 mV and a short-circuit current of 1.7 μA, as shown in Figure 2c–f. Carbon nanoparticles form nanoscale networks by stacking

Microneedle-based ocular drug delivery systems – recent advances and challenges

• Piotr Gadziński,
• Anna Froelich,
• Monika Wojtyłko,
• Antoni Białek,
• Julia Krysztofiak and
• Tomasz Osmałek

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1167–1184, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.98

• a constant controlled rate according to zero-order kinetics [79][80][81]. Drug-loaded soft contact lenses can be classified as non-dissolving implants [82][83]. Satisfactory results are also obtained with in situ gelling liquid implants [84][85] or film forming liquids [86][87][88]. In addition to

• ) [130], and poly(lactic-co-glycolic)acid (PLGA) [131] are widely investigated as microneedle materials. Among them, there are hydrogel-forming agents swelling upon the contact with interstitial fluid in the skin during microneedle application. These polymers include poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate

• swelling upon the contact with the fluid at the administration site. It is noteworthy that the polymer matrix does not dissolve under physiological conditions and can be removed after the drug is released [117][144]. As the microneedles absorb interstitial fluid from the surrounding tissue, they can be

A cantilever-based, ultrahigh-vacuum, low-temperature scanning probe instrument for multidimensional scanning force microscopy

• Hao Liu,
• Zuned Ahmed,
• Sasa Vranjkovic,
• Manfred Parschau,
• Andrada-Oana Mandru and
• Hans J. Hug

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1120–1140, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.95

• macroscopic wire tip to the free prong. Compared to the typically used microscopic AFM cantilevers, the tuning fork sensor has a rather high stiffness, k ≈ 2 kN/m. This facilitates AFM operation with small oscillation amplitudes (A < 100 pm) because a snap-to-contact or instabilities of the phase-locked loop

• pulley system that locks in at the microscope bottom such that a mechanical contact between the Cu cone and the cone-shaped part of the LHe microscope shield is achieved. To obtain access to the microscope, the LN2 shield can be rotated such that it connects to the inner LHe shield to open up an access

• sphere running on a hardened steel plate. Note that initially a sapphire plate was used. However, we found the plate cracked after a few days of piezo motor operation, presumably caused from an ultrasound-actuated contact resonance of the Al2O3 sphere on the sapphire plate arising from the triangular

Green synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles toward highly efficient photocatalysis and antibacterial application

• Vo Thi Thu Nhu,
• Nguyen Duy Dat,
• Le-Minh Tam and
• Nguyen Hoang Phuong

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1108–1119, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.94

• adding ZnO NPs into the solutions containing E. coli, the suspensions were stirred. Samples were taken out at different contact times of 1, 3, and 6 h to evaluate the influence of time on the antibacterial efficiency. The solution was obtained after being diluted to decimal concentrations of 1/10, 1/100

• with ZnO NPs doses of 1, 5, and 10 mg/mL and contact time intervals of 1, 3, and 6 h. The ZnO NP concentration of 1 mg/mL is not enough to inhibit all E. coli bacteria after 6 h of treatment. By increasing the concentration of ZnO NPs to 5 mg/mL at contact times of 3 and 6 h, the inhibitory efficiency

• reached 99.83 and 100%, respectively. When the dose of the photocatalyst increased to 10 mg/mL, the E. coli inhibition efficiency reached 99.35% with a contact time of 1 h and the efficiency was 100% when the contact time was 3 h. The results of E. coli bacteria inhibition by ZnO NPs synthesized by the

Recent advances in green carbon dots (2015–2022): synthesis, metal ion sensing, and biological applications

• Aisha Kanwal,
• Naheed Bibi,
• Sajjad Hyder,
• Arif Muhammad,
• Hao Ren,
• Jiangtao Liu and
• Zhongli Lei

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1068–1107, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.93

• surface of CDs. They observed the change in PL characteristics of CDs during a period of one to four weeks and concluded that when amino-rich CDs come in contact with oxygen in the air, agglomeration of CDs is induced, and, hence, luminescence changes slowly from red to green color (Figure 5) [102]. A

Biomimetic chitosan with biocomposite nanomaterials for bone tissue repair and regeneration

• Se-Kwon Kim,
• Sesha Subramanian Murugan,
• Pandurang Appana Dalavi,
• Sebanti Gupta,
• Sukumaran Anil,
• Gi Hun Seong and
• Jayachandran Venkatesan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1051–1067, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.92

• tensile strength of ≈7.05 MPa. According to the findings in vitro, the combination of scaffolds promotes fast cell-to-cell contact, which boosts the regeneration impact on pre-osteoblast (MC3T3-E1) cell proliferation, growth, and differentiation [94]. The impact of a hybrid nanocomposite of poly(3

• wettability of the chitosan/reduced graphene oxide composites with specific acetic acid and lactic acid shows water contact angles of (75.40° ± 4.32°) and (36.71° ± 4.53°) [60]. The anticancer agent cisplatin was loaded into graphene oxide/hydroxyapatite/chitosan composites to enable proliferation of

• computed tomography (CT) scan radiographs which show good bone lodging in all implants. There are noticeable holes at the hydroxyapatite implant interface. Ag–Si hydroxyapatite implants, on the other hand, have a smooth contact between the host bone and the implant. Acemannan and chitosan coatings have

Spindle-like MIL101(Fe) decorated with Bi₂O₃ nanoparticles for enhanced degradation of chlortetracycline under visible-light irradiation

• Chen-chen Hao,
• Fang-yan Chen,
• Kun Bian,
• Yu-bin Tang and
• Wei-long Shi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1038–1050, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.91

• ). Figure 3d shows an HRTEM image of BOM-20 composites. The lattice fringes of 0.37 nm correspond to the (120) facet of α-Bi2O3 [55]. Meanwhile, the tight contact interface between Bi2O3 and MIL101(Fe) can be clearly observed. Furthermore, the elemental mapping images of BOM-20 (Figure 3e–h) reveal the

• nanoparticles and tridimensional MIL101(Fe). This 0D/3D heterojunction is conducive to fast separation and migration of the photoproduced electron–hole pairs due to more contact areas between Bi2O3 and MIL101(Fe) and shorter transfer distances of photoinduced charge carriers [8], which results in enhanced

Electrocatalytic oxygen reduction activity of AgCoCu oxides on reduced graphene oxide in alkaline media

• Iyyappan Madakannu,
• Indrajit Patil,
• Bhalchandra Kakade and
• Kasibhatta Kumara Ramanatha Datta

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1020–1029, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.89

• the interaction between electrolyte and the electrode surface. We probed the water wetting ability of supported ACC-2 and supportless ACC-2* by measuring the water contact angles (Figure S8a,b, Supporting Information File 1). The rGO-supported ACC-2 material showed a higher water wettability (14 ± 1

• , materials, characterization data, electrochemical measurements, water contact angle measurements, and comparison of reported ORR activities of Ag-based catalysts. Acknowledgements Authors thank SRM IST for providing Microwave reactor facility and DST-FIST, Department of Chemistry [SR/FST/CST-66/2015(c

Effects of focused electron beam irradiation parameters on direct nanostructure formation on Ag surfaces

• Jānis Sniķeris,
• Vjačeslavs Gerbreders,
• Andrejs Bulanovs and
• Ēriks Sļedevskis

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1004–1010, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.87

• -contact atomic force microscopy (AFM) using the model Park NX10 AFM. The first experiment was conducted with beam current I as the variable parameter ranging from 7 to 500 pA. However, changing the value of I also changed the beam diameter d, which is a function of I and the working distance (WD). The

Interaction between honeybee mandibles and propolis

• Leonie Saccardi,
• Franz Brümmer,
• Jonas Schiebl,
• Oliver Schwarz,
• Alexander Kovalev and
• Stanislav Gorb

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 958–974, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.84

• development process that led to the anatomical investigation of honeybee mandibles. The hypothesis is that animal species that regularly have close contact with resinous plants or even actively harvest resins may have developed counter-stickiness strategies. This is because animals that permanently stick to a

• surface is in intensive contact with the sticky material during biting and shaping it. Therefore, the anatomy of bee mandibles was studied, focusing on the medial surface of the mandible tip to find possible reasons for reduced adhesion. Once physical and adhesive propolis properties as well as the

• , Germany) was attached to the metal spring with cyanoacrylate glue (5925 Ergo® Elastomer–Kisling GmbH, Bad Mergentheim, Germany). The freshly formed, cone-shaped sample of propolis was then mounted on the tip of the capillary without any additional glue. The propolis sample was brought into contact with

Design of a biomimetic, small-scale artificial leaf surface for the study of environmental interactions

• Miriam Anna Huth,
• Axel Huth,
• Lukas Schreiber and
• Kerstin Koch

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 944–957, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.83

• electron microscopy, gas chromatography–mass spectrometry, and by the determination of water contact angles, contact angle hysteresis, and tilting angles. Wheat leaves of different ages were covered exclusively with wax platelets. The extracted wheat wax was composed of alcohols, aldehydes, esters, and

• the plant cuticle and, thus, the first contact site of the plant with its biotic and abiotic environment. They form a thin crystalline wax film (less than 1 µm) and often various three-dimensional emerging wax crystals in the nano- and micrometer range (0.5–100 µm) [14][15][16]. Recrystallization of

• formation of biofilms [25][26]. A measure of the degree of wetting is the contact angle θ (CA). It describes the angle between the liquid–vapor interface and the liquid–solid interface. According to the CA, surfaces can be classified as superhydrophilic (0° < θ < 10°), hydrophilic (10° ≤ θ < 90

Comparing the performance of single and multifrequency Kelvin probe force microscopy techniques in air and water

• Jason I. Kilpatrick,
• Emrullah Kargin and
• Brian J. Rodriguez

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 922–943, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.82

• governing the performance of single and multifrequency Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) techniques in both air and water. Metrics such as minimum detectable contact potential difference, minimum required AC bias, and signal-to-noise ratio are compared and contrasted both off resonance and utilizing the

• local contact potential difference (CPD) between the probe and the sample. This, in turn, allows the work function of the sample to be measured if the work function of the probe is known and vice versa. The mapping of local electrical properties of the interface is essential to further our understanding

Bioselectivity of silk protein-based materials and their bio-inspired applications

• Hendrik Bargel,
• Vanessa T. Trossmann,
• Christoph Sommer and
• Thomas Scheibel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 902–921, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.81

• , natural biological adhesives are complex materials that have evolved to meet the various functional demands. Bioadhesion can be found in the range of the micro- to the macroscale [7]. Adhesion principles include contact mechanical principles such as capillary interactions, viscous forces, non-covalent

• achieve proper organization and communication, cells produce a large number of adhesion molecules that mediate cell contact phenomena based on receptor–ligand interactions [8]. The ability of mammalian cells to adhere to other cells, tissues, or the extracellular matrix (ECM) via specific molecular

• cells but to even display antiviral attachment properties [58]. Superhydrophobic surfaces inspired by the Lotus-effect® (>150° contact angle) have been found to diminish bacterial adhesion due to reduced protein surface adsorption [59][60][61]. Superhydrophobicity relies on the combination of chemical