Lead-free hybrid perovskites for photovoltaics

• Oleksandr Stroyuk

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2209–2235, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.207

• this material as compared to planar films of the same composition [122]. It was found that of the three “homologs” of CsSnX3 HPs (X = Cl, Br, I) the bromide-based compound shows an exceptionally high photochemical and chemical stability, which can further be enhanced by doping with SnF2 [110]. The

• stability of MASnI3-based cells can also be strongly enhanced by doping with SnF2 [118][123][124]. The doped materials showed a remarkable stability when illuminated under ambient air conditions without additional encapsulation (Figure 4c). Additionally, the SnF2 doping results in a decrease of the HP

• bandgap down to 1.25 eV, which is highly beneficial for the cell performance. This redshift effect was attributed to the Burstein–Moss effect arising from a significant doping of the absorber material with holes [118]. The SnF2 doping was found to almost double the radiative lifetime of charge carriers

Electrospun one-dimensional nanostructures: a new horizon for gas sensing materials

• Muhammad Imran,
• Nunzio Motta and
• Mahnaz Shafiei

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2128–2170, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.202

• and/or calcination temperature [130]. The most effective approach to improve the gas sensing response of pure MOx 1D nanostructures is by functionalizing with different catalytic metals, MOx or noble metals [11][146]. Doping changes the reaction kinetics and electronic characteristics as well as the

• electronic sensitization. Traditionally, the doping is done by noble metals like Au [109][146][153][154][155][156], Ag [157][158][159][160][161], Pt [162][163][164][165][166][167][168], or Pd [75][107][148][169][170][171][172][173][174][175][176]. Moreover, noble metals can catalyse the gas sensing response

• ]. Doping with Ae metals exhibits an advantage in grain growth control [86]. For example, after thermal treatment, nanoparticle/nanograins show necked connections for each type of Ae-doped SnO2 NF. Therefore, a conduction channel can be established within each aggregate due to the space-charge layer region

Phosphorus monolayer doping (MLD) of silicon on insulator (SOI) substrates

• Noel Kennedy,
• Ray Duffy,
• Luke Eaton,
• Dan O’Connell,
• Scott Monaghan,
• Shane Garvey,
• James Connolly,
• Chris Hatem,
• Justin D. Holmes and
• Brenda Long

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2106–2113, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.199

• Applied Materials, Gloucester, Massachusetts, USA CRANN@AMBER, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland 10.3762/bjnano.9.199 Abstract This paper details the application of phosphorus monolayer doping of silicon on insulator substrates. There have been no previous publications dedicated to the topic of

• MLD on SOI, which allows for the impact of reduced substrate dimensions to be probed. The doping was done through functionalization of the substrates with chemically bound allyldiphenylphosphine dopant molecules. Following functionalization, the samples were capped and annealed to enable the diffusion

• of dopant atoms into the substrate and their activation. Electrical and material characterisation was carried out to determine the impact of MLD on surface quality and activation results produced by the process. MLD has proven to be highly applicable to SOI substrates producing doping levels in

Metal-free catalysis based on nitrogen-doped carbon nanomaterials: a photoelectron spectroscopy point of view

• Mattia Scardamaglia and
• Carla Bittencourt

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2015–2031, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.191

• have addressed in the last decades are described, in particular the enduring debate on the role of the different nitrogen functionalities in the catalytic activity of nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes and graphene. Keywords: catalysis; carbon nanotubes; graphene; metal-free; nitrogen doping

• system. The most common nitrogen doping techniques and how the doping activates the surface are described, and the spectroscopic differences regarding the nitrogen incorporation in graphene and CNTs are discussed. Review Heteroatom-doped carbon nanostructures Carbon nanotubes and graphene share many

• zero-gap semiconductor). This peculiarity represents one of the biggest challenges for its use in concrete applications, because it results in a very low density of states (DOS) at the Fermi level for typical doping levels, making graphene an intrinsically inert material. To overcome these issues

A differential Hall effect measurement method with sub-nanometre resolution for active dopant concentration profiling in ultrathin doped Si_1−xGe_x and Si layers

• Richard Daubriac,
• Emmanuel Scheid,
• Hiba Rizk,
• Richard Monflier,
• Sylvain Joblot,
• Rémi Beneyton,
• Pablo Acosta Alba,
• Sébastien Kerdilès and
• Filadelfo Cristiano

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1926–1939, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.184

• %. Scattering correction must be accounted for when extracting Hall effect parameters. The measured values of Hall carrier concentration and Hall mobility are therefore corrected by using the Hall scattering factor, rH, [33][34][35] which depends on the studied material, i.e., on Ge content, doping type and

• -uniform doping profiles, the depletion width (and the related correction) will vary with depth. For example, in the particular case discussed in this section, the investigated 20 nm thick SiGe layer is uniformly doped at 1019 cm−3. For typical silicon-dioxide charge densities of 1012 cm−2·eV−1, simple

• calculations provide a depletion width of about 2 nm. Consequently, in this case, a depth-scale translation is necessary. However, for the higher carrier concentrations typically investigated in source/drain doping studies, such as those discussed in the next section (1020 cm−3 and above), and considering the

Nonlinear effect of carrier drift on the performance of an n-type ZnO nanowire nanogenerator by coupling piezoelectric effect and semiconduction

• Yuxing Liang,
• Shuaiqi Fan,
• Xuedong Chen and
• Yuantai Hu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1917–1925, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.183

• center of the forbidden band. Hence, the electric field E2 induced only by the piezoelectric characteristics is symmetrical with regard to the neutral axis, as shown in Figure 5. After n-type doping, the Fermi level moves upwards from the center of the forbidden band. The deformation-induced electric

The role of the Ge mole fraction in improving the performance of a nanoscale junctionless tunneling FET: concept and scaling capability

• Hichem Ferhati,
• Fayçal Djeffal and
• Toufik Bentrcia

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1856–1862, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.177

• Figure 1, L is the channel length, tch refers to the channel thickness, Nd is the doping concentration of the channel, and Ls and Ld denote the extension lengths of source and drain, respectively. The accurate modeling of the nanoscale DG-HJ-JL TFET requires taking into account quantum-confinement

• temperatures in the current equations [25]. Moreover, models for carrier recombination (Shockley–Read–Hall (SRH), Auger and surface recombination) are also adopted [26]. In fact, the carrier mobility mainly depends on three quantities, transverse and parallel electric field, doping and temperature, which were

Numerical analysis of single-point spectroscopy curves used in photo-carrier dynamics measurements by Kelvin probe force microscopy under frequency-modulated excitation

• Pablo A. Fernández Garrillo,
• Benjamin Grévin and
• Łukasz Borowik

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1834–1843, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.175

• associated to SPV decay. Here, the number of build-up and decay time constants can be determined in advance from accessible literature by taking to account the type and properties of materials, e.g., doping level and type, defects concentration and gap energy. Types of recombination mechanisms for silicon

A visible-light-controlled platform for prolonged drug release based on Ag-doped TiO₂ nanotubes with a hydrophobic layer

• Caihong Liang,
• Jiang Wen and
• Xiaoming Liao

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1793–1801, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.170

• exhibit promising application as a localized, prolonged drug delivery platform. Keywords: Ag doping; drug delivery; hydrophobic layer; prolonged drug release; TiO2 nanotubes; visible-light-controlled release; Introduction Titanium dioxide nanotubes (TNTs) are often employed as drug carriers, owing to

• light by doping AuNPs onto the nanotubes to improve the photocatalysis of the TNTs, which feasibly allows drug release under visible light. However, controlled drug release in combination with extended release delivery via a TiO2 nanotube platform has been rarely investigated. As a trace element

• electric field [33] and results in the generation of e− and h+ even under irradiation with lower energy light. Thus, doping with AgNPs has evidently enhanced the TiO2 photocatalysis under visible-light irradiation. However, after loading with the Zn2+-based drug and coating with the NDM layer, the

Nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes coated with zinc oxide nanoparticles as sulfur encapsulator for high-performance lithium/sulfur batteries

• Yan Zhao,
• Zhengjun Liu,
• Liancheng Sun,
• Yongguang Zhang,
• Yuting Feng,
• Xin Wang,
• Indira Kurmanbayeva and
• Zhumabay Bakenov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1677–1685, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.159

• ” or ”confine” the S atoms in the cathode, and, therefore, reduce any losses of S. As an excellent conductive agent, carbon-based materials, e.g., carbon black, graphene and carbon nanotubes (CNTs), have been widely used in Li/S composite cathode materials [3]. In addition, by doping with N and a

• of nucleation sites in NCNT allows ZnO to uniformly grow on its surface with a small size. Also, NCNT has a higher electrical conductivity due to its additional free electron pairs compared to CNT without nitrogen doping. The ZnO@NCNT composite showed excellent electrochemical properties in lithium

• :3 by ball-milling at 350 min−1 for 3 h to obtain the sulfur composite precursor. The S/ZnO@NCNT composite was obtained by heating the precursor at 155 °C for 10 h, in argon flow with a heating rate of 5 °C·min−1. The sulfur-doping method was described in our previous study [33]. Materials

Free-radical gases on two-dimensional transition-metal disulfides (XS₂, X = Mo/W): robust half-metallicity for efficient nitrogen oxide sensors

• Chunmei Zhang,
• Yalong Jiao,
• Fengxian Ma,
• Sri Kasi Matta,
• Steven Bottle and
• Aijun Du

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1641–1646, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.156

• could be uses in spintronics. But the lack of suitable materials limits the development of spintronic applications. Doping semiconductors may be applied to achieve spin-polarized currents, but this requires a complicated process. Although many materials have been predicted in theory for this purpose

Sulfur-, nitrogen- and platinum-doped titania thin films with high catalytic efficiency under visible-light illumination

• Boštjan Žener,
• Lev Matoh,
• Giorgio Carraro,
• Bojan Miljević and
• Romana Cerc Korošec

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1629–1640, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.155

• and subsequent degradation was used to fit the experimental data. The results have shown an increase in photocatalytic activity under visible-light illumination of nonmetal and metal doped and co-doped titania thin films compared to an undoped sample. Keywords: doping; photocatalysis; sol–gel

• photocatalytic activity under a broader solar spectrum: doping with metals [23][24][25][26], nonmetals [27][28][29][30] and co-doping [31][32]. When doping with metals, they act as a free electron trap and thereby prevent electron–hole recombination, which results in enhanced photocatalytic activity of the

• material system [33][34]. Nitrogen has been shown to be an effective doping element in increasing the response of TiO2 during visible-light illumination. When the material is doped with nitrogen, a linear combination of 2p orbitals of N and O results in the formation of hybrid orbitals, causing a narrowing

Absence of free carriers in silicon nanocrystals grown from phosphorus- and boron-doped silicon-rich oxide and oxynitride

• Daniel Hiller,
• Julian López-Vidrier,
• Keita Nomoto,
• Michael Wahl,
• Wolfgang Bock,
• Tomáš Chlouba,
• František Trojánek,
• Sebastian Gutsch,
• Margit Zacharias,
• Dirk König,
• Petr Malý and
• Michael Kopnarski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1501–1511, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.141

• –voltage (I–V) measurements. The results clearly show that no free carriers, neither from P- nor from B-doping, exist in the Si NCs, although in some configurations charge carriers can be generated by electric field ionization. The absence of free carriers in Si NCs ≤5 nm in diameter despite the presence

• of P- or B-atoms has severe implications for future applications of conventional impurity doping of Si in sub-10 nm technology nodes. Keywords: atom probe tomography; doping; photoluminescence; silicon nanocrystals; transient transmission; Introduction The conductivity type and free carrier

• concentration of a semiconductor can be controlled via doping. Conventional impurity doping requires the incorporation of a suitable foreign atom on a lattice site and its ionization by thermal energy. Therefore, the energetic position of a dopant in the bandgap has to be close to the respective band edges. For

Cr(VI) remediation from aqueous environment through modified-TiO₂-mediated photocatalytic reduction

• Rashmi Acharya,
• Brundabana Naik and
• Kulamani Parida

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1448–1470, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.137

• nanostructured TiO2 to agglomerate results in difficulties during the separation process [84]. The detailed mechanism for photocatalytic reduction of Cr(VI) by neat TiO2 is presented in Figure 3. To overcome these limitations, researchers have adopted several modifications such as (i) doping with metals

• , nonmetals and co-doping [85][86][87][88], (ii) coupling of photosensitized nanomaterials [89], (iii) combination of heterojunction materials [90] and (iv) introduction of plasmonic photocatalysts for hot electron generation [62][76]. The modification of TiO2 induces the enhancement of photocatalytic

• studies. Optical studies such as ultraviolet–visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV–vis DRS) and photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL) explain the shift of the absorption range to the visible region and prohibition of recombination of charge carriers, respectively. The doping of nonmetals such as N, S

Formation mechanisms of boron oxide films fabricated by large-area electron beam-induced deposition of trimethyl borate

• Aiden A. Martin and
• Philip J. Depond

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1282–1287, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.120

• structural properties similar to those of tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS, Si(C2H5O)4), which has been well characterized as a precursor for EBID of silica films [14]. TMB has previously been used for boron doping of SiO2 [15] and diamond [16], and the deposition of BCN fibres [17], BN nanotubes [18] and BN

Artifacts in time-resolved Kelvin probe force microscopy

• Sascha Sadewasser,
• Nicoleta Nicoara and
• Santiago D. Solares

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1272–1281, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.119

• function [3][4][5]. (ii) The CPD can reflect spatial variations in the charge density [6][7][8], individual localized charges [9], or even partial charge densities within a single molecule [10][11]. Finally, (iii) doping type and charge-carrier concentration in semiconductors will control the position of

Theoretical study of strain-dependent optical absorption in a doped self-assembled InAs/InGaAs/GaAs/AlGaAs quantum dot

• Tarek A. Ameen,
• Hesameddin Ilatikhameneh,
• Archana Tankasala,
• Yuling Hsueh,
• James Charles,
• Jim Fonseca,
• Michael Povolotskyi,
• Jun Oh Kim,
• Sanjay Krishna,
• Monica S. Allen,
• Jeffery W. Allen,
• Rajib Rahman and
• Gerhard Klimeck

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1075–1084, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.99

• nm. The wetting layer is two monolayers. The measured system has been doped with sheet doping of two electrons per dot. The strain controlling layer is made of In0.15Ga0.85As and is sandwiched between two layers of GaAs each with a thickness of 1 nm. Next, there are two layers of Al0.22Ga0.78As, each

• states in valence and conduction bands, Fi = 1, while Ff depends on the energy level and doping. Normally, quantum dots are occupied by a number of electrons equal to the average number of dopants per dot [34]. This approach is reasonable for quantum dots that are far from heavily doped regions. However

• attributed to idealizing the quantum dot shape, ignoring the slight uncertainty in the material compositions and the variations in the quantum dot dimensions. The doping is 1.5 electrons per dot. The inclusion of many-particle configuration interaction (CI) in calculating the energy transitions significantly

Electro-optical interfacial effects on a graphene/π-conjugated organic semiconductor hybrid system

• Karolline A. S. Araujo,
• Luiz A. Cury,
• Matheus J. S. Matos,
• Thales F. D. Fernandes,
• Luiz G. Cançado and
• Bernardo R. A. Neves

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 963–974, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.90

• of the RA SAM, even at room temperature. Additionally, photo-assisted electrical force microscopy, photo-assisted scanning Kelvin probe microscopy and Raman spectroscopy indicate a RA-induced graphene doping and photo-charge generation. Finally, the optical excitation of the RA monolayer generates

• of graphene-based devices, SAM surface functionalization is employed for both doping level control and work function tuning [14][15][16]. The present work brings these two fronts together by investigating a graphene/retinoic acid (RA) – a π-conjugated organic semiconductor – hybrid system and its

• influences: graphene-promoted high photoluminescence efficiency of RA and RA-induced doping and charge modulation of graphene. The results suggest that low-dimensional hybrid systems, with reciprocal modifications of the constituents’ original properties, may tailor the desired properties in future device

Facile chemical routes to mesoporous silver substrates for SERS analysis

• Elina A. Tastekova,
• Alexander Y. Polyakov,
• Anastasia E. Goldt,
• Alexander V. Sidorov,
• Alexandra A. Oshmyanskaya,
• Irina V. Sukhorukova,
• Dmitry V. Shtansky,
• Wolgang Grünert and
• Anastasia V. Grigorieva

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 880–889, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.82

• known for its ability to increase the endurance performance of athletes, which resulted in its inclusion to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) prohibited list. Results and Discussion Following the procedure proposed by Lyu et al. [26], Ag2O cubic crystallites were synthesized by alkaline precipitation

• was added to the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) prohibited list as a doping substance [35]. The corresponding analyte was investigated as an aqueous solution of 1 × 10−3 M and 1 × 10−2 M total concentrations. We used its unique Raman spectra from the source [36] to identify the substance. The most

Noble metal-modified titania with visible-light activity for the decomposition of microorganisms

• Maya Endo,
• Zhishun Wei,
• Kunlei Wang,
• Baris Karabiyik,
• Kenta Yoshiiri,
• Paulina Rokicka,
• Bunsho Ohtani,
• Agata Markowska-Szczupak and
• Ewa Kowalska

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 829–841, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.77

• , by morphology design [22][23][24][25][26], surface modification [27][28][29][30][31][32], doping [33][34][35][36], or the formation of heterojunctions with other semiconductors [37][38][39][40]. Modification with noble metals seems the most promising as it is well known that under UV irradiation

Effect of ferroelectric BaTiO₃ particles on the threshold voltage of a smectic A liquid crystal

• Abbas R. Imamaliyev,
• Mahammadali A. Ramazanov and
• Shirkhan A. Humbatov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 824–828, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.76

• A LCs are much higher in comparison with nematic LCs [15]. In this work, the possibility of reducing the planar–homeotropic transition threshold voltage in smectic A LC by doping with submicron ferroelectric particles of BaTiO3 is shown. Experimental The smectic A LC is a mixture of p-nitrophenyl p

• dielectric constant as a result of the planar–homeotropic transition is measured. The doping of smectic A liquid crystal with ferroelectric BaTiO3 particles also reduces the threshold voltage of the planar–homeotropic transition, which can be explained by the appearance of a strong local electric field

Surface-plasmon-enhanced ultraviolet emission of Au-decorated ZnO structures for gas sensing and photocatalytic devices

• T. Anh Thu Do,
• Truong Giang Ho,
• Thu Hoai Bui,
• Quang Ngan Pham,
• Hong Thai Giang,
• Thi Thu Do,
• Duc Van Nguyen and
• Dai Lam Tran

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 771–779, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.70

• factors, including absorbed oxygen species (O2−, O−, and O2−), charge carrier concentration, and the defects and vacancies on the ZnO surfaces. The gas response performance can be improved by a charge transfer process through surface modification [3][5][6] and doping of catalytic materials [7][8][9]. The

Heavy-metal detectors based on modified ferrite nanoparticles

• Urszula Klekotka,
• Ewelina Wińska,
• Elżbieta Zambrzycka-Szelewa,
• Dariusz Satuła and
• Beata Kalska-Szostko

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 762–770, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.69

• surface modification. The obtained images for each kind of fabricated ferrites are presented in Figure 2. The TEM images show that regardless of doping (Ca2+, Co2+, Mn2+ or Ni2+), the studied nanoparticles exhibit a similar round shape and average size. In Table 1, diameters of every type of synthesized

• %) and the smallest one in the case of Co dopant. These results show that the superparamagnetic blocking temperature for the Ca doping is below room temperature whereas for the other cases it is slightly above. Taking both features of the measured spectra into account, the mean values of the hyperfine

Synthesis and characterization of two new TiO₂-containing benzothiazole-based imine composites for organic device applications

• Anna Różycka,
• Agnieszka Iwan,
• Krzysztof Artur Bogdanowicz,
• Michal Filapek,
• Natalia Górska,
• Damian Pociecha,
• Marek Malinowski,
• Patryk Fryń,
• Agnieszka Hreniak,
• Jakub Rysz,
• Paweł Dąbczyński and
• Monika Marzec

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 721–739, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.67

• the case of the SP2:P3HT (1:1 w/w) mixture: the shift in reduction properties for SP2 is almost negligible, while in the positive region, the voltammogram is dominated by p-doping of the polymer. Moreover, we carried out the series of measurements for mixtures of SP2 and TiO2 (in various proportions

The effect of atmospheric doping on pressure-dependent Raman scattering in supported graphene

• Egor A. Kolesov,
• Mikhail S. Tivanov,
• Olga V. Korolik,
• Olesya O. Kapitanova,
• Xiao Fu,
• Hak Dong Cho,
• Tae Won Kang and
• Gennady N Panin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 704–710, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.65

• .9.65 Abstract Atmospheric doping of supported graphene was investigated by Raman scattering under different pressures. Various Raman spectra parameters were found to depend on the pressure and the substrate material. The results are interpreted in terms of atmospheric adsorption leading to a change in

• graphene charge carrier density and the effect of the substrate on the electronic and phonon properties of graphene. It was found that adsorption of molecules from the atmosphere onto graphene doped with nitrogen (electron doping) compensates for the electron charge. Furthermore, the atmosphere-induced

• doping drastically decreases the spatial heterogeneity of charge carriers in graphene doped with nitrogen, while the opposite effect was observed for undoped samples. The results of this study should be taken into account for the development of sensors and nanoelectronic devices based on graphene