Piezotronic effect in AlGaN/AlN/GaN heterojunction nanowires used as a flexible strain sensor

• Jianqi Dong,
• Liang Chen,
• Yuqing Yang and
• Xingfu Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1847–1853, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.166

• unambiguously show that there is a positive correlation between strain and current. Taking the current in the free state as the reference, the current increased by 53.55% at 1.78% tensile strain, whereas it decreased by approx. 53.49% at −1.78% compressive strain, showing superior strain detection ability. The

• , regardless of the strain, the gauge factor shows an increasing trend at a bias voltage of 1.9 V. At a strain of −1.78% (compressive strain) or 1.78% (tensile strain), the gauge factor is as high as 30, which enables the detection of a very small deformation. Compared with previous works [27][28][29], the

• strain detection ability of the device. The gauge factor was calculated under different strain conditions. It was as high as 30 under either a −1.78% compressive strain or a 1.78% tensile strain, which shows the high sensitivity of the sensor. Furthermore, multiple cycles of tensile stress–release

Mapping of integrated PIN diodes with a 3D architecture by scanning microwave impedance microscopy and dynamic spectroscopy

• Rosine Coq Germanicus,
• Peter De Wolf,
• Florent Lallemand,
• Catherine Bunel,
• Serge Bardy,
• Hugues Murray and
• Ulrike Lüders

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1764–1775, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.159

• architecture is analysed. sMIM measurements of the different layers of the PIN diode are presented and discussed in terms of detection mechanism, sensitivity, and precision. In the second part, supported by analytic calculations of the equivalent nano-MIS capacitor, a new multidimensional approach, including a

• ; integrated PIN diode; nanoprobing; scanning probe microscopy (SPM); scanning microwave impedance microscopy (sMIM); spectroscopy; Introduction In “front end of line” (FEOL) processing, the control, detection, and quantification of the effective 2D distributions of active dopants in semiconductors are

• the measurements of the electrical interactions of a biased tip–sample nanoscale system [1][2]. Scanning spreading resistance microscopy (SSRM) and scanning capacitance microscopy (SCM) [3][4][5] are modes widely used for the detection of charge carriers, carrier types, and density of defects. These

PEG/PEI-functionalized single-walled carbon nanotubes as delivery carriers for doxorubicin: synthesis, characterization, and in vitro evaluation

• Shuoye Yang,
• Zhenwei Wang,
• Yahong Ping,
• Yuying Miao,
• Yongmei Xiao,
• Lingbo Qu,
• Lu Zhang,
• Yuansen Hu and
• Jinshui Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1728–1741, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.155

• antitumor activity. Furthermore, fluorescence detection and flow cytometry (FCM) analysis results indicated that the internalization into cells of CNTs-PEG-PEI was significantly enhanced, thus inducing tumor cell death through apoptosis more efficiently. The above series of benefits of CNTs-PEG-PEI may be

• (PI) Apoptosis Detection Kit. Cells were first seeded into 6-well plates and incubated for 24 h. Then the cells were treated with fresh serum-free medium containing free DOX or DOX-loaded nanocarrier formulations with a DOX concentration of 50 or 100 μg·mL−1 in the dark. The cell apoptosis after

Application of contact-resonance AFM methods to polymer samples

• Sebastian Friedrich and
• Brunero Cappella

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1714–1727, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.154

• modulus, but also the measured CR frequency itself are affected by large uncertainties and are often not reproducible. Therefore, several CR-AFM studies on polymers are limited to the mere detection of contrasts in CR frequency, without further calculations and, hence, without a quantitative determination

Functional nanostructures for electronics, spintronics and sensors

• Anatolie S. Sidorenko

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1704–1706, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.152

• coupled superconducting nanowires with quantum phase slips which may be used for interpretation of already existing experiments on meander-like nanowires and for the design of a novel set of superconducting sensors. Another very promising photon detector [16] was demonstrated for supersensitive detection

Piezoelectric sensor based on graphene-doped PVDF nanofibers for sign language translation

• Shuai Yang,
• Xiaojing Cui,
• Rui Guo,
• Zhiyi Zhang,
• Shengbo Sang and
• Hulin Zhang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1655–1662, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.148

• , piezoelectric sensors show potential in wearable sensing applications [19][36][37][38][39][40][41]. However, traditional piezoelectric sensor devices such as piezoelectric ceramics have disadvantages in detecting bending, and their detection stability and measurement range need to be improved [18][42][43][44

Selective detection of complex gas mixtures using point contacts: concept, method and tools

• Alexander P. Pospelov,
• Victor I. Belan,
• Dmytro O. Harbuz,
• Volodymyr L. Vakula,
• Lyudmila V. Kamarchuk,
• Yuliya V. Volkova and
• Gennadii V. Kamarchuk

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1631–1643, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.146

• breath test. The present study indicates some necessary prerequisites for the design of fast detection methods using differential sensor analysis in real time, which can be implemented in various areas of science and technology, among which medicine is one of the most important. Keywords: breath profile

• ; cortisol; hormone detection; point contact; quantum sensor; selective detection; serotonin; Yanson point contacts; Introduction The functioning of devices comprising low-dimensional structures as basic elements depends on quantum effects, which play a crucial role in the unique properties of nanomaterials

• solve the problems that could not be solved when analogues were used to measure the variation in electrical conductance. This can be exemplified by the new quantum mechanism of selective detection in gaseous and liquid media [10] and by the possibility of real-time detection of carcinogenic strains of

A self-powered, flexible ultra-thin Si/ZnO nanowire photodetector as full-spectrum optical sensor and pyroelectric nanogenerator

• Liang Chen,
• Jianqi Dong,
• Miao He and
• Xingfu Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1623–1630, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.145

• -cycle dynamic response curve extracted from Figure 1c is shown in Figure 1d, indicating that the PD possesses a fast response speed (rising time τr = 18 μs, falling time τf = 25 μs). It is obvious that the p-Si/n-ZnO NWs heterojunction PDs exhibit excellent detection capability and work well without an

• -powered PDs yields full-spectrum (UV–visible–NIR) detection. The broad spectral photoresponse from UV to NIR is related to two different bandgap materials (wide bandgap = 3.2 eV and narrow bandgap = 1.1 eV). Remarkably, the photoresponse current is significantly enhanced by introducing the pyroelectric

Detecting stable adsorbates of (1S)-camphor on Cu(111) with Bayesian optimization

• Jari Järvi,
• Patrick Rinke and
• Milica Todorović

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1577–1589, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.140

• detect the stable adsorbate structures of camphor on Cu(111). With BOSS, we build a surrogate model of the PES of adsorption and data-mine this PES to identify the stable structures in its minima. We converge the model for a reliable detection of all the PES minima, not only the global energy minimum. We

• iteratively with active learning, and identifies the stable structures in the minima of the PES. In this work, we apply BOSS with DFT for accurate sampling of the energy points. In the following, we introduce the four-step process (Figure 1) of structure detection with BOSS and DFT, in analogy to [31]. We

Fabrication of nano/microstructures for SERS substrates using an electrochemical method

• Jingran Zhang,
• Tianqi Jia,
• Xiaoping Li,
• Junjie Yang,
• Zhengkai Li,
• Guangfeng Shi,
• Xinming Zhang and
• Zuobin Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1568–1576, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.139

• electrochemical method, three-dimensional arrayed nanopore structures are machined onto a Mg surface. The structured Mg surface is coated with a thin gold (Au) film, which is used as a surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrate. A rhodamine 6G (R6G) probe molecule is used as the detection agent for the

• . Additionally, a 10−6 mol·L−1 solution of lysozyme was successfully detected using the Mg–Au nanopore substrates. Our low-cost method is reproducible, homogeneous, and suitable for the fabrication of SERS substrates. Keywords: electrochemical machining; gold (Au); lysozyme detection; magnesium (Mg); micro

• . Subsequently, nanoholes were transferred onto the glass surface using the peeling template method and R6G molecules (10−6 mol·L−1) were used with the substrate for detection. Au nanostructures of different shapes and sizes (including grating, disk, and pyramid structures) have also been fabricated using EBL

Helium ion microscope – secondary ion mass spectrometry for geological materials

• Matthew R. Ball,
• Richard J. M. Taylor,
• Joshua F. Einsle,
• Fouzia Khanom,
• Christelle Guillermier and
• Richard J. Harrison

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1504–1515, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.133

• difficult nature of observing Li with traditional microanalytical techniques. Also Li represents a “best-case” scenario for isotopic measurements. Here we present details of sample preparation, instrument sensitivity, theoretical, and measured detection limits for both elemental and isotopic analysis as

Protruding hydrogen atoms as markers for the molecular orientation of a metallocene

• Linda Laflör,
• Michael Reichling and
• Philipp Rahe

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1432–1438, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.127

• ][8]. Furthermore, the imaging of hydrogen atoms attached to propellane molecules with CO-functionalised tips was suggested to enable the identification of three-dimensional molecules [9]. Very recently, a combination of NC-AFM and automated structure detection has been able to resolve the orientation

Triboelectric nanogenerator based on Teflon/vitamin B1 powder for self-powered humidity sensing

• Liangyi Zhang,
• Huan Li,
• Yiyuan Xie,
• Jing Guo and
• Zhiyuan Zhu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1394–1401, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.123

• in luminosity of thirty LEDs under different relative humidity conditions. The results presented in this work are compared with previous studies for humidity detection. Funding This research was supported by Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. LY20F040004), the

Ultrasensitive detection of cadmium ions using a microcantilever-based piezoresistive sensor for groundwater

• Dinesh Rotake,
• Anand Darji and
• Nitin Kale

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1242–1253, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.108

• – 76, India. 10.3762/bjnano.11.108 Abstract This paper proposes the selective and ultrasensitive detection of Cd(II) ions using a cysteamine-functionalized microcantilever-based sensor with cross-linked ᴅʟ-glyceraldehyde (DL-GC). The detection time for various laboratory-based techniques is generally

• 12–24 hours. The experiments were performed to create self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of cysteamine cross-linked with ᴅʟ-glyceraldehyde on the microcantilever surface to selectively capture the targeted Cd(II). The proposed portable microfluidic platform is able to achieve the detection in 20–23 min

• with a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.56 ng (2.78 pM), which perfectly describes its excellent performance over other reported techniques. Many researchers used nanoparticle-based sensors for the detection of heavy metal ions, but daily increasing usage and commercialization of nanoparticles are rapidly

Magnetic-field-assisted synthesis of anisotropic iron oxide particles: Effect of pH

• Andrey V. Shibaev,
• Petr V. Shvets,
• Darya E. Kessel,
• Roman A. Kamyshinsky,
• Anton S. Orekhov,
• Sergey S. Abramchuk,
• Alexei R. Khokhlov and
• Olga E. Philippova

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1230–1241, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.107

• scanning TEM (STEM). The specimens were examined under a TITAN 80-300 microscope (FEI, USA) equipped with a Schottky field emission gun, a spherical aberration corrector (Cs probe corrector), a direct detection camera (Falcon II, FEI, USA), and an EDX spectroscopy system (EDAX, USA). The TEM was operated

Nonadiabatic superconductivity in a Li-intercalated hexagonal boron nitride bilayer

• Kamila A. Szewczyk,
• Izabela A. Domagalska,
• Artur P. Durajski and
• Radosław Szczęśniak

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1178–1189, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.102

• graphene/hBN heterojunction devices allowed for the detection of the Hofstadter’s butterfly phenomenon [39][40]. In both layer and bulk form, hBN has a large bandgap energy, which makes it an insulator [13][41]. Therefore, for a long time this material was not associated with superconductivity. The

Revealing the local crystallinity of single silicon core–shell nanowires using tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy

• Marius van den Berg,
• Ardeshir Moeinian,
• Arne Kobald,
• Yu-Ting Chen,
• Anke Horneber,
• Steffen Strehle,
• Alfred J. Meixner and
• Dai Zhang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1147–1156, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.99

• beam. The near field localized at the tip apex enhances the optical field in the tip–sample gap by several orders of magnitude and simultaneously directs the emitted photons from the gap into the far field for detection. With recent demonstrations of a spatial resolution even at the angstrom level [25

Thermophoretic tweezers for single nanoparticle manipulation

• Jošt Stergar and
• Natan Osterman

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1126–1133, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.97

• -time force feedback can also be implemented with optical tweezers [14][15][16]. Recently, systems based on high-precision position detection and feedback control running at 100 kHz have been employed to generate arbitrary potentials for micrometer-sized particles [17][18]. A less commonly used

Applications of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles in drug and therapeutic delivery, and biotechnological advancements

• Maria Suciu,
• Corina M. Ionescu,
• Alexandra Ciorita,
• Septimiu C. Tripon,
• Dragos Nica,
• Hani Al-Salami and
• Lucian Barbu-Tudoran

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1092–1109, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.94

• -coated SPIONs capped with epidermal growth factor and green fluorescent protein to target atherosclerotic plaques for MRI detection in vivo with good biocompatibility and good targeting resolution, showing that for this application retention time and dimension of the PEG-coated SPIONs were ideal [131

• ]. Regarding commercial SPIONs, reports indicate that Ferumoxide/Endorem can be found in chondrocytes for up to 12 weeks, at which time they still yield a good MRI signal [132]. Feraheme was detected for 40 days in myocytes in vivo [133]. SPIONs applications: hyperthermia, imagistics, detection SPIONs have

• detection. SPIONs have gained a lot of interest in theranostics, which combines diagnostics and treatment by a single intervention, where they show a lot of promise [64][134][135][136][137][138]. Depending on the dimension of the SPIONs, the heating during hyperthermia is determined by Néel relaxation for

A few-layer graphene/chlorin e6 hybrid nanomaterial and its application in photodynamic therapy against Candida albicans

• Selene Acosta,
• Carlos Moreno-Aguilar,
• Dania Hernández-Sánchez,
• Beatriz Morales-Cruzado,
• Erick Sarmiento-Gomez,
• Carla Bittencourt,
• Luis Octavio Sánchez-Vargas and
• Mildred Quintana

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1054–1061, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.90

• biological applications, such as biosensors, protein detection, bioimaging and drug delivery [17][18]. In recent years, graphene nanoparticles have been used in many different applications ranging from enhanced spectroscopy techniques, coatings, polymeric composites, sensors, drug delivery systems and others

Highly sensitive detection of estradiol by a SERS sensor based on TiO₂ covered with gold nanoparticles

• Andrea Brognara,
• Ili F. Mohamad Ali Nasri,
• Beatrice R. Bricchi,
• Andrea Li Bassi,
• Caroline Gauchotte-Lindsay,
• Matteo Ghidelli and
• Nathalie Lidgi-Guigui

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1026–1035, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.87

• -enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) sensors for the detection of 17β-estradiol. Gold deposition on top of a TiO2 surface leads to the formation of nanoparticles the plasmonic properties of which fulfil the requirements of a SERS sensor. The morphological and optical properties of the surface were investigated

• . Specifically, we demonstrate that the TiO2 background pressure during pulsed laser deposition and the annealing conditions offer control over the formation of Au nanoparticles with different sizes, shapes and distributions, yielding a versatile sensor. We have exploited the surface for the detection of 17β

• -estradiol, an emerging contaminant in environmental waters. We have found a limit of detection of 1 nM with a sensitivity allowing for a dynamic range of five orders of magnitude (up to 100 µM). Keywords: aptamer; Au nanoparticles; 17-β estradiol (E2); plasmonics; sensor; surface-enhanced Raman scattering

Microwave photon detection by an Al Josephson junction

• Leonid S. Revin,
• Andrey L. Pankratov,
• Anna V. Gordeeva,
• Anton A. Yablokov,
• Igor V. Rakut,
• Victor O. Zbrozhek and
• Leonid S. Kuzmin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 960–965, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.80

• the JJ constantly inspires new applications, such as thermometry [8][9], noise statistics [10][11][12] and single-photon detection [13]. There are, at least, two different approaches for the practical realization of single-photon detectors based on Josephson junctions, both having their advantages and

• non-adiabatic excitation in a JJ. As soon as the detector switches, it must be reset by setting the current back to zero and waiting when a Josephson phase relaxes in a potential well. This implies a low repetition rate. The second approach for experimental microwave detection [17][18] uses the

• fit of the lifetime below). In this case, the potential barrier height is 1.3 × 10−24 J, while the photon energy at 9 GHz is 6 × 10−24 J. Thus, we are in the range where few-photon detection is possible. Results and Discussion In this section, we present preliminary results of the first measurements

Measurement of electrostatic tip–sample interactions by time-domain Kelvin probe force microscopy

• Christian Ritz,
• Tino Wagner and
• Andreas Stemmer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 911–921, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.76

• an alternative approach to find the surface potential without lock-in detection. Our method operates directly on the frequency-shift signal measured in frequency-modulated atomic force microscopy and continuously estimates the electrostatic influence due to the applied voltage modulation. This

• results in a continuous measurement of the local surface potential, the capacitance gradient, and the frequency shift induced by surface topography. In contrast to conventional techniques, the detection of the topography-induced frequency shift enables the compensation of all electrostatic influences

• the system. The signal correlation coefficients contain information about coupling and crosstalk between the channels estimated. Our method can be applied in closed-loop as well as in open-loop mode. Results of both modes are discussed in this paper. Detection Principle The overall frequency shift in

Band tail state related photoluminescence and photoresponse of ZnMgO solid solution nanostructured films

• Vadim Morari,
• Aida Pantazi,
• Nicolai Curmei,
• Vitalie Postolache,
• Emil V. Rusu,
• Marius Enachescu,
• Ion M. Tiginyanu and
• Veaceslav V. Ursaki

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 899–910, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.75

• –0.78 for Zn1−xMgxO thin films grown by reactive DC magnetron co-sputtering [12]. It was shown that this investigation technique is highly sensitive for the detection of embedded structural inhomogeneities, and it was found that the phase segregation occurs in the range of x = 0.35–0.65 with coexistence

Key for crossing the BBB with nanoparticles: the rational design

• Sonia M. Lombardo,
• Marc Schneider,
• Akif E. Türeli and
• Nazende Günday Türeli

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 866–883, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.72

• parenchyma [117]. It was then hypothesized that the high affinity of the antibody for the TfR might prevent its release from the abluminal surface of brain endothelial cells. The detection of OX26 in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and in neurons only in areas of close proximity to the ventricular system also

• -6 was an accurate probe for the nanoparticle detection. It was therefore possible to conclude that the fluorescence detected in the abluminal compartment during the transcytosis assay was due to the probe inside the nanoparticles, and not due to free coumarin-6. Hence, it seems that CBSA-conjugated

• concentration in the brain is sufficiently high to allow for their detection, making them potential carriers for theranostic treatments [174]. It has been shown that the organ distribution of gold nanoparticles depends on the size of the particles. In multiple in vivo studies on rodents, low amounts of AuNPs of