Uptake and intracellular accumulation of diamond nanoparticles – a metabolic and cytotoxic study

• Antonín Brož,
• Lucie Bačáková,
• Pavla Štenclová,
• Alexander Kromka and
• Štěpán Potocký

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1649–1657, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.165

• measurements to eliminate sample cross contamination. A Nicolet 8700 FTIR spectrometer (Thermo Scientific, USA) was equipped with N2 purging, a KBr beamsplitter and an MCT detector cooled by liquid nitrogen. 50 µL of the water suspension with NDs was applied on the Au mirror by the drop-casting method just

Two-dimensional carbon-based nanocomposites for photocatalytic energy generation and environmental remediation applications

• Suneel Kumar,
• Ashish Kumar,
• Ashish Bahuguna,
• Vipul Sharma and
• Venkata Krishnan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1571–1600, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.159

Metal oxide nanostructures: preparation, characterization and functional applications as chemical sensors

• Dario Zappa,
• Angela Bertuna,
• Elisabetta Comini,
• Navpreet Kaur,
• Nicola Poli,
• Veronica Sberveglieri and
• Giorgio Sberveglieri

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1205–1217, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.122

• oxidizing and a reducing gas interesting for environmental monitoring). Moreover, we have integrated metal oxide nanowires into an electronic nose and proved its ability in a real case study, more specifically the detection of water contamination. Results and Discussion Preparation of metal oxide

• sensors. As a case study, we have chosen the analysis of water contamination. Nowadays, a fast and economic device for the early detection of microbial contamination and quality assurance is needed to reduce the number of food-borne related hospitalizations by year. Moreover, there is a strong need for a

Adsorption characteristics of Er₃N@C₈₀on W(110) and Au(111) studied via scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy

• Sebastian Schimmel,
• Zhixiang Sun,
• Danny Baumann,
• Denis Krylov,
• Nataliya Samoylova,
• Alexey Popov,
• Bernd Büchner and
• Christian Hess

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1127–1134, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.114

• in situ in a variable temperature STM. To provide contamination free substrate surfaces, cleaning treatments were applied to the used single crystals, prior to the measurement. According to the proceeding suggested by Bode et al. [10], the W(110)-surface was cleaned by repeated cycles of annealing (T

Growth, structure and stability of sputter-deposited MoS₂ thin films

• Reinhard Kaindl,
• Bernhard C. Bayer,
• Roland Resel,
• Thomas Müller,
• Viera Skakalova,
• Gerlinde Habler,
• Rainer Abart,
• Alexey S. Cherevan,
• Dominik Eder,
• Maxime Blatter,
• Fabian Fischer,
• Jannik C. Meyer,
• Dmitry K. Polyushkin and
• Wolfgang Waldhauser

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1115–1126, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.113

• work for instance reported significant oxygen and carbon incorporation during typical PVD conditions, where substitutional doping of MoS2 with oxygen recently was shown to drastically alter its electronic structure [37][38][50]. Also key effects of, e.g., Nb or Na contamination on electronic properties

• spacing and textured microstructure. Importantly both RT and 400 °C deposited films appear to have a metallic-like conduction character, which is unexpected for MoS2 films that are usually semiconducting. It is likely that a combination of Mo/S stoichiometry, add-atom contamination and local structural

The integration of graphene into microelectronic devices

• Guenther Ruhl,
• Sebastian Wittmann,
• Matthias Koenig and
• Daniel Neumaier

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1056–1064, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.107

• charge carrier mobility. Several studies have been conducted on this topic [35][36], but the impact on manufacturability is still not very clear. However, there is continuous improvement towards large crystallite sizes in the millimeter range [37][38]. 2.2 Contamination Another important intrinsic

• property of graphene is the amount of contaminations from the synthesis and transfer process. The synthesis process mainly introduces metallic contaminations typically in the range of 1013 to 1014 atoms·cm−2, which corresponds to every tenth to hundredth atom in a monolayer. The main contamination is Cu

• from the CVD process, but also Fe is found in remarkable amounts. Several cleaning processes have been evaluated, but no substantial contamination removal could be achieved [39]. These metal contamination levels do not only lead to difficult integration into CMOS process lines (the typical upper

CVD transfer-free graphene for sensing applications

• Chiara Schiattarella,
• Sten Vollebregt,
• Tiziana Polichetti,
• Brigida Alfano,
• Ettore Massera,
• Maria Lucia Miglietta,
• Girolamo Di Francia and
• Pasqualina Maria Sarro

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1015–1022, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.102

• advantage of the absence of damage or contamination of the synthesized graphene, because there is no need for the transfer onto a substrate. Moreover, a proper pre-patterning of the Mo catalyst allows one to obtain graphene films with different shapes and dimensions. The sensing properties of the material

• interface. More recently, Lukosius et al. have shown the successful growth of a graphene layer underneath Ni bars on insulating SiO2 layers, so avoiding the metal contamination problems and complexity associated to graphene transfer [21]. In the present work, we show the results of the sensing performances

• throughout the whole fabrication process: after CVD growth, after Mo etching and after lift-off. The absence of contamination has then been attested by EDX analysis. In Figure 1 a representative optical micrograph of the fabricated devices is reported. The graphene layer (dark strip highlighted in red) and

Needs and challenges for assessing the environmental impacts of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs)

• Michelle Romero-Franco,
• Hilary A. Godwin,
• Muhammad Bilal and
• Yoram Cohen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 989–1014, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.101

Triptycene-terminated thiolate and selenolate monolayers on Au(111)

• Jinxuan Liu,
• Martin Kind,
• Björn Schüpbach,
• Daniel Käfer,
• Stefanie Winkler,
• Wenhua Zhang,
• Andreas Terfort and
• Christof Wöll

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 892–905, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.91

• procedure considering the incident photon flux by division by a spectrum of a clean, freshly sputtered Au substrate. The energy was scaled using the signal of a carbon contamination of a gold grid with a characteristic peak at 284.81 eV. To obtain the molecular orientation of the thiolates/selenolates

Measuring adhesion on rough surfaces using atomic force microscopy with a liquid probe

• Juan V. Escobar,
• Cristina Garza and
• Rolando Castillo

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 813–825, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.84

• mouth and head covers to avoid any contamination of the mercury surface drop. In this way, mercury drops are firmly attached and pinned to the cantilevers. A mercury drop pinned to a tipless cantilever using this procedure is shown in Figure 4. Measurement of the radius of curvature of standard Si3N4

3D Nanoprinting via laser-assisted electron beam induced deposition: growth kinetics, enhanced purity, and electrical resistivity

• Brett B. Lewis,
• Robert Winkler,
• Xiahan Sang,
• Pushpa R. Pudasaini,
• Michael G. Stanford,
• Harald Plank,
• Raymond R. Unocic,
• Jason D. Fowlkes and
• Philip D. Rack

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 801–812, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.83

• spectroscopy (EELS) were performed using a Nion UltraSTEM 100 which is equipped with aberration correction of the probe forming lens. Beam-induced damage and contamination were minimized by using an accelerating voltage of 60 kV and a 40 pA beam current. High angle annular dark field (HAADF) and bright field

Investigation of the photocatalytic efficiency of tantalum alkoxy carboxylate-derived Ta₂O₅ nanoparticles in rhodamine B removal

• Subia Ambreen,
• Mohammad Danish,
• Narendra D. Pandey and
• Ashutosh Pandey

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 604–613, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.65

• water resources has become a major concern. Contamination of water by organic dyes is a threat as these molecules are non-biodegradable and highly toxic. Conventional waste water treatments (to remove solids, organic matter and, sometimes, nutrients from wastewater) such as coarse screening, grit

Analysis and modification of defective surface aggregates on PCDTBT:PCBM solar cell blends using combined Kelvin probe, conductive and bimodal atomic force microscopy

• Hanaul Noh,
• Alfredo J. Diaz and
• Santiago D. Solares

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 579–589, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.62

• spectroscopy due to the monolayer-like structure and the very small volume of the aggregates (of the order of one attoliter). We thus discuss the possible source of the aggregates, including donor polymer, acceptor polymer, other impurities and environmental contamination. First, the samples were fabricated

• with the same method and procedure for the DCB and CB cases, thus we can exclude contamination from the environment. Second, the samples were fabricated many times over a period of several months using different batches of donor and acceptor bulk materials and showed consistently the same behavior, so

Impact of air exposure and annealing on the chemical and electronic properties of the surface of SnO₂ nanolayers deposited by rheotaxial growth and vacuum oxidation

• Monika Kwoka and
• Maciej Krzywiecki

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 514–521, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.55

• were deposited by rheotaxial growth and vacuum oxidation (RGVO) and analyzed for the susceptibility to ambient-air exposure and the subsequent recovery under vacuum conditions. Particularly the surface chemistry of the layers, stoichiometry and level of carbon contamination, was scrutinized by X-ray

• carbon contamination. After air exposure the relative [O]/[Sn] concentration increased to 1.80 while maintaining a relatively low level of carbon contaminants. Subsequent UHV annealing led to a relative [O]/[Sn] concentration comparable to the pristine samples. The oxidation resulted in a variation of

• times under typical working conditions. Moreover, a crucial issue is the control of the prolonged exposure effects and contamination with carbon compounds and water vapor, because carbonaceous/water species are saturating (hence eliminating) the active surface sites available for any adsorbents to be

Functionalized TiO₂ nanoparticles by single-step hydrothermal synthesis: the role of the silane coupling agents

• Antoine R. M. Dalod,
• Lars Henriksen,
• Tor Grande and
• Mari-Ann Einarsrud

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 304–312, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.33

• well-ordered organic monolayers. In case of the aminosilane-functionalized samples, the low signal/noise ratios do not allow for an accurate measurement of the band positions. Additionally, because of possible surface contamination (from the carbon-coated grid) and/or optical aberration, the HR-TEM

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

• subsequent tarsal release from the substrate, (3) reducing the loss of tarsal fluid on the substrate, (4) keeping the adhesive compliable for perfect adaption to the surface micro-roughness and (5) protecting of the tarsal adhesive pads from contamination and abrasive damage [15]. In addition, our recently

• properties that are of high technical relevance, such as (i) versatility towards polar and non-polar surfaces, (ii) reversibility of the adhesive contact and (iii) robustness towards contamination and exsiccation. Basing our present contribution on previous chemical analyses of insect tarsal adhesives [4][15

• similar to those of water, they probably show, because of their hydrocarbon components, additional functional properties of technical relevance such as improved resistance towards desiccation and contamination, and beneficial wetting properties towards both hydrophilic and hydrophobic surfaces. The low

Obtaining and doping of InAs-QD/GaAs(001) nanostructures by ion beam sputtering

• Sergei N. Chebotarev,
• Alexander S. Pashchenko,
• Leonid S. Lunin,
• Elena N. Zhivotova,
• Georgy A. Erimeev and
• Marina L. Lunina

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 12–20, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.2

• mentioned above. The technical reason consists in that the increase in the current results in an increasingly blurred ion beam profile, and, as a result, in considerable loss of growth material, contamination of the chamber and worsening of the epitaxial conditions. A shorter distance between substrate and

Streptavidin-coated gold nanoparticles: critical role of oligonucleotides on stability and fractal aggregation

• Roberta D'Agata,
• Pasquale Palladino and
• Giuseppe Spoto

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1–11, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.1

• enhanced sensitivity enables the detection of point mutations in non-amplified human genomic DNA with attomolar sensitivity [13], thus offering an excellent cost-effective alternative to time consuming and prone to sample contamination nucleic acid amplification protocols [14]. In this context, the

When the going gets rough – studying the effect of surface roughness on the adhesive abilities of tree frogs

• Niall Crawford,
• Thomas Endlein,
• Jonathan T. Pham,
• Mathis Riehle and
• W. Jon P. Barnes

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 2116–2131, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.201

• known size, which can lead to estimates of the Young’s modulus of tree frog toe pads. A similar analysis was used by Lorenz et al. [35], who studied the influence of contamination particles on the adhesion of viscoelastic materials. Using interference reflection microscopy, which allows one to estimate

Monolayer graphene/SiC Schottky barrier diodes with improved barrier height uniformity as a sensing platform for the detection of heavy metals

• Ivan Shtepliuk,
• Jens Eriksson,
• Volodymyr Khranovskyy,
• Tihomir Iakimov,
• Anita Lloyd Spetz and
• Rositsa Yakimova

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1800–1814, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.173

• operating staff; (3) the observation of interferences and additional ASV peak potentials originating from background contamination and overlapping potentials of the involved HMs [8][9][10]; (4) the toxicity of conventional mercury drop electrodes [11]; (5) the difficulty to determine the concentration of

Prediction of the mechanical properties of zeolite pellets for aerospace molecular decontamination applications

• Guillaume Rioland,
• Patrick Dutournié,
• Delphine Faye,
• T. Jean Daou and
• Joël Patarin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1761–1771, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.169

• decontamination; operating optimums; zeolite pellets; Introduction Molecular contamination is of great concern in aerospace-based applications. Once satellites are in orbit, molecules contained in paints, adhesives or glues can outgas and form films or droplets on the surface of mirrors, lenses, solar cells or

• optics could become covered by molecules, leading to a deterioration of these tools. Porous alumina, silica, zeolites and charcoal have been tested to solve the molecular contamination issue, and zeolites have been selected as the best candidates. At very low concentration, zeolites are able to trap

• used in industry [16][17][18][19]. In most applications, and for more convenience (i.e., handling, transport), zeolites cannot be used in powder-form. For space-based applications, particulate contamination has to be avoided. However, binders are necessary to improve the mechanical properties and to

Sb₂S₃ grown by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis and its application in a hybrid solar cell

• Erki Kärber,
• Atanas Katerski,
• Ilona Oja Acik,
• Arvo Mere,
• Valdek Mikli and
• Malle Krunks

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1662–1673, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.158

• it is also known that contamination, most notably with oxygen, can significantly increase the bandgap value of metal sulfide films [23][55][56]. Values of 1.52–1.55 eV are reported for layers of nanotubes, -rods, or -flakes that consist of single phase Sb2S3 [57][58][59]. A study on the correlation

Hydrophilic silver nanoparticles with tunable optical properties: application for the detection of heavy metals in water

• Paolo Prosposito,
• Federico Mochi,
• Erica Ciotta,
• Mauro Casalboni,
• Fabio De Matteis,
• Iole Venditti,
• Laura Fontana,
• Giovanna Testa and
• Ilaria Fratoddi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1654–1661, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.157

• of the nanoparticles occurred. Metal ion detection We investigated the optical sensing properties of the AgNP-3MPS material via absorption spectroscopy. Each solution of AgNP-3MPS/ion was prepared in spectroscopic cuvettes that were carefully cleaned to avoid contamination. To a specific amount of

Surface roughness rather than surface chemistry essentially affects insect adhesion

• Matt W. England,
• Tomoya Sato,
• Makoto Yagihashi,
• Atsushi Hozumi,
• Stanislav N. Gorb and
• Elena V. Gorb

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1471–1479, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.139

• that enhances de-wetting of the insect attachment fluid, (3) fluid absorption by textured substrates, (4) contamination of the insect pads by easily erodible particles of the substrate, and (5) the reduction of wetting by pad fluid due to coverage of the substrate by another fluid (or solid which can

Effect of tetramethylammonium hydroxide/isopropyl alcohol wet etching on geometry and surface roughness of silicon nanowires fabricated by AFM lithography

• Siti Noorhaniah Yusoh and
• Khatijah Aisha Yaacob

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1461–1470, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.138

• potassium hydroxide solution that has become a popular anisotropic etchant because of its good etching performance and lack of toxicity. However, KOH is not CMOS compatible because of the mobile K+ ion contamination [16]. By contrast, TMAH has attracted the interest of researchers because of its simple