Unlocking higher harmonics in atomic force microscopy with gentle interactions

• Sergio Santos,
• Victor Barcons,
• Josep Font and
• Albert Verdaguer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 268–277, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.29

• , and by driving with sufficiently small (sub-nanometer) second mode amplitudes, the first mode amplitude [24] or frequency [17] can be employed to track the sample in amplitude or frequency modulation (AM and FM), respectively. The second mode can then be left as an open loop for high sensitivity

• shift induced by variations in Hamaker alone Finally, a parameter that quantifies the sensitivity of the phase shift to noise and signal, the phase ratio PR() can be defined from the ratio between Equation 19 and Equation 18: Large values of PR result in a high sensitivity of the phase shift to the

Structural, optical and photocatalytic properties of flower-like ZnO nanostructures prepared by a facile wet chemical method

• Sini Kuriakose,
• Neha Bhardwaj,
• Jaspal Singh,
• Biswarup Satpati and
• Satyabrata Mohapatra

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 763–770, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.87

• ], gas sensors [29][30], clean energy applications [31] and UV detection [32]. Xia et al. [12] synthesized nanostructured ZnO flowers made up of bundled nanochains that could detect dopamine in the presence of L-ascorbic acid with high sensitivity and selectivity. Flower-shaped ZnO nanostructures were

In situ monitoring magnetism and resistance of nanophase platinum upon electrochemical oxidation

• Eva-Maria Steyskal,
• Stefan Topolovec,
• Stephan Landgraf,
• Heinz Krenn and
• Roland Würschum

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 394–399, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.46

• , exhibiting a total variation ΔR/R0 of about 6% (Figure 2b). The variation of R with the potential U exhibits a pronounced hysteresis, which indicates a high sensitivity of R with respect to superficial oxygen adsorption. This sensitivity is also clearly reflected by the steep increase or decrease of R right

A highly pH-sensitive nanowire field-effect transistor based on silicon on insulator

• Denis E. Presnov,
• Sergey V. Amitonov,
• Pavel A. Krutitskii,
• Valentina V. Kolybasova,
• Igor A. Devyatov,
• Vladimir A. Krupenin and
• Igor I. Soloviev

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 330–335, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.38

• conventional FET and nanomechanical systems. This extremely high sensitivity gives an opportunity to construct local potential probes with nanoscale lateral resolution based on NW FET. In comparison with single-electron transistors [6], it is easy to fabricate a device operating at room temperature, which can

Continuous parallel ESI-MS analysis of reactions carried out in a bespoke 3D printed device

• Jennifer S. Mathieson,
• Mali H. Rosnes,
• Victor Sans,
• Philip J. Kitson and
• Leroy Cronin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 285–291, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.31

• purity. Electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) is an excellent analytical tool for flow chemistry due to its high sensitivity, allowing for low sample concentrations and production of structural information that you may not get from other techniques. There are several reports in which ESI-MS

Micro- and nanoscale electrical characterization of large-area graphene transferred to functional substrates

• Gabriele Fisichella,
• Salvatore Di Franco,
• Patrick Fiorenza,
• Raffaella Lo Nigro,
• Fabrizio Roccaforte,
• Cristina Tudisco,
• Guido G. Condorelli,
• Nicolò Piluso,
• Noemi Spartà,
• Stella Lo Verso,
• Corrado Accardi,
• Cristina Tringali,
• Sebastiano Ravesi and
• Filippo Giannazzo

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 234–242, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.24

• . The torsion amplitude is used as the feedback signal to measure surface morphology. A dc bias was applied to a macroscopic metal contact deposited onto graphene, and the current locally injected from the nanometric conductive tip into graphene was probed by a high sensitivity (fA) current sensor

Functionalization of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes

• Eloise Van Hooijdonk,
• Carla Bittencourt,
• Rony Snyders and
• Jean-François Colomer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 129–152, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.14

Plasmonics-based detection of H₂ and CO: discrimination between reducing gases facilitated by material control

• Gnanaprakash Dharmalingam,
• Nicholas A. Joy,
• Benjamin Grisafe and
• Michael A. Carpenter

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 712–721, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.81

• , and particularly for plasmonics-based gas sensing. The extremely high sensitivity of the plasmon resonance peak to changes in the free-electron density of gold nanoparticles or a change in the dielectric function of the metal-oxide host material due to adsorbate reactions on surfaces makes this a

FTIR nanobiosensors for Escherichia coli detection

• Stefania Mura,
• Gianfranco Greppi,
• Maria Laura Marongiu,
• Pier Paolo Roggero,
• Sandeep P. Ravindranath,
• Lisa J. Mauer,
• Nicoletta Schibeci,
• Francesco Perria,
• Massimo Piccinini,
• Plinio Innocenzi and
• Joseph Irudayaraj

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 485–492, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.55

• traditional devices into biosensing systems with high sensitivity. In particular, mesoporous titania thin films synthesized with the sol–gel method, were used to immobilize biomolecules (antibodies and pathogens) thanks to the high surface area due to their nano-organization, visible in a AFM image (Figure 1

Macromolecular shape and interactions in layer-by-layer assemblies within cylindrical nanopores

• Thomas D. Lazzara,
• K. H. Aaron Lau,
• Wolfgang Knoll,
• Andreas Janshoff and
• Claudia Steinem

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 475–484, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.54

• of colloidal particles or cylindrical nanoporous membranes, the direct investigation of surface processes occurring within nanosized pores has been hampered by the limited availability of in situ, high-sensitivity, surface characterization techniques to monitor changes occurring inside the porous

Mapping mechanical properties of organic thin films by force-modulation microscopy in aqueous media

• Jianming Zhang,
• Zehra Parlak,
• Carleen M. Bowers,
• Terrence Oas and
• Stefan Zauscher

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 464–474, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.53

• illustrate the effect of grafting density and molecular packing on the apparent layer stiffness, but also demonstrate the high sensitivity of FMM in solution for imaging self-assembled monolayers. The third row (Figure 4c) shows images obtained on a sample first patterned by exposure in 10 µM EG3-thiol for 1

Current-induced forces in mesoscopic systems: A scattering-matrix approach

• Niels Bode,
• Silvia Viola Kusminskiy,
• Reinhold Egger and
• Felix von Oppen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 144–162, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.15

• transport current can excite mechanical modes, and vice versa, the mechanical motion affects the transport current. The reduced size and high sensitivity of the resulting devices make them attractive for applications such as sensors of mass or charge, nanoscale motors, or switches [17]. On a more

An MCBJ case study: The influence of π-conjugation on the single-molecule conductance at a solid/liquid interface

• Wenjing Hong,
• Hennie Valkenier,
• Gábor Mészáros,
• David Zsolt Manrique,
• Artem Mishchenko,
• Alexander Putz,
• Pavel Moreno García,
• Colin J. Lambert,
• Jan C. Hummelen and
• Thomas Wandlowski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 699–713, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.76

• -designed MCBJ setup was equipped with a high-sensitivity logarithmic I–V converter [53] , which enabled current measurements down to 10 fA with a high dynamic range. The paper is organized as follows: We will first introduce our novel instrumental and methodological developments, and we shall subsequently

• in AC molecular bridges [24]. From a technical point of view, the accessibility and reliability of the low conductance data for the AQ molecular junction also illustrates the high sensitivity of our new MCBJ setup. Figure 8C shows the 1-D conductance histogram of the dihydroanthracene wire AH with a

Distinguishing magnetic and electrostatic interactions by a Kelvin probe force microscopy–magnetic force microscopy combination

• Miriam Jaafar,
• Oscar Iglesias-Freire,
• Luis Serrano-Ramón,
• Manuel Ricardo Ibarra,
• Jose Maria de Teresa and
• Agustina Asenjo

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 552–560, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.59

• different short, medium and long range interactions with high sensitivity and lateral resolution. The spreading of this technique was possible thanks to the development of specific operation modes and to the functionalization of the probes. Thus, regarding the mode employed, SFM can be used to characterize

Determination of object position, vortex shedding frequency and flow velocity using artificial lateral line canals

• Adrian Klein and
• Horst Bleckmann

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 276–283, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.32

• cylinder. Keywords: artificial lateral line; biomimetics; flow sensor; mechanoreception; optical sensor; Introduction Nature has invented a stunning diversity of sensory systems whose small size and high sensitivity is so far unmatched by man-made devices. Flow sensors based on hairs are located on the

Single-pass Kelvin force microscopy and dC/dZ measurements in the intermittent contact: applications to polymer materials

• Sergei Magonov and
• John Alexander

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 15–27, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.2

• compositional imaging. The high sensitivity of the AFM probe to various materials properties is behind such visualization of individual components of complex materials. So far, compositional imaging of heterogeneous polymer materials is primarily based on differences of local mechanical and adhesive properties

Magnetic nanoparticles for biomedical NMR-based diagnostics

• Huilin Shao,
• Tae-Jong Yoon,
• Monty Liong,
• Ralph Weissleder and
• Hakho Lee

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2010, 1, 142–154, doi:10.3762/bjnano.1.17

• molecular measurements into clinical settings, however, an assay would need to 1) provide high sensitivity and specificity, 2) minimize sample preparation and sample volume, and 3) ideally allow concurrent detection of diverse target moieties through multiplexed measurements. Biosensing strategies based on

Sensing surface PEGylation with microcantilevers

• Natalija Backmann,
• Natascha Kappeler,
• Thomas Braun,
• François Huber,
• Hans-Peter Lang,
• Christoph Gerber and
• Roderick Y. H. Lim

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2010, 1, 3–13, doi:10.3762/bjnano.1.2

• (QCM-D) [11] and surface plasmon resonance (SPR) [12] also allow for the characterization of adsorption-induced and structural changes in interfacial polymer layers. The high sensitivity of microcantilever sensors has proven to be a powerful platform for detecting molecular interactions in a label-free