A new approach to grain boundary engineering for nanocrystalline materials

• Shigeaki Kobayashi,
• Sadahiro Tsurekawa and
• Tadao Watanabe

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1829–1849, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.176

• the fractal analysis of the grain boundary microstructure. Keywords: electrical resistivity control; fractal analysis; grain boundary engineering (GBE); intergranular fracture control; nanocrystalline materials; Review Introduction Nanocrystalline metals and alloys have been receiving increased

• ] have suggested that the stability of the nanocrystalline structure is improved by preferential segregation of solute atoms to grain boundaries because their excess free energy can be reduced. Therefore, it is very likely that the grain boundary microstructure characterized by appropriate

• produced by precise control of grain boundary microstructure associated with the evolution of a sharp <110> texture in the 1980s [52], soon after the first report on nanocrystalline materials. A number of excellent review papers have been published on nanocrystalline materials produced by different

3D printing of mineral–polymer bone substitutes based on sodium alginate and calcium phosphate

• Aleksey A. Egorov,
• Alexander Yu. Fedotov,
• Anton V. Mironov,
• Vladimir S. Komlev,
• Vladimir K. Popov and
• Yury V. Zobkov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1794–1799, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.172

• electron modes, was used for 3D microstructure analysis. The samples were sputter-coated with a 25 nm thick gold layer prior to imaging, imparting electrical conductivity to the surfaces. FTIR spectroscopy (Nicolet Avatar 330, England) was performed after mixing 1 mg of the grinded sample with 300 mg of

• of the surface and internal region of a 3D printed sample (white arrows indicate DCPD crystals). SEM micrographs of the microstructure of 3D printed samples on the basis of alginate with concentration of (a) 0.25, (b) 1.0 and (c) 2.0 wt %. FTIR spectra of (1) sodium alginate, (2) DCPD, and (3) the 3D

Nanostructured TiO₂-based gas sensors with enhanced sensitivity to reducing gases

• Wojciech Maziarz,
• Anna Kusior and
• Anita Trenczek-Zajac

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1718–1726, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.164

• SnO2 leads to a considerable increase in selectivity as well as increase in sensitivity to CO(CH3)2, which is according to literature [2], completely unique for both TiO2 and SnO2. Secondly, the well thought out, design engineering of the TiO2 microstructure allows for switching from the H2 highly

• different microstructure were investigated: thin layer 2D and flower-like 3D nanostructures as well as 3D structures decorated with SnO2. It was found that crystal structure and morphology of the sensors affect the material selectivity. The sensor based on a thin layer of titanium dioxide (rutile) exhibited

Microwave synthesis of high-quality and uniform 4 nm ZnFe₂O₄ nanocrystals for application in energy storage and nanomagnetics

• Christian Suchomski,
• Ben Breitung,
• Ralf Witte,
• Michael Knapp,
• Sondes Bauer,
• Tilo Baumbach,
• Christian Reitz and
• Torsten Brezesinski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1350–1360, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.126

• can be fitted by a log-normal distribution with a mean of 3.3 nm and standard deviation of 0.2 nm. The microstructure of the as-prepared ZFO nanoparticles was analyzed in more detail by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD). The XRD pattern in Figure 2 corroborates the SAED results, showing only reflections

On the pathway of cellular uptake: new insight into the interaction between the cell membrane and very small nanoparticles

• Claudia Messerschmidt,
• Daniel Hofmann,
• Anja Kroeger,
• Katharina Landfester,
• Volker Mailänder and
• Ingo Lieberwirth

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1296–1311, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.121

• concentrations is remarkable. Accordingly, we can look for the uptake microstructure using any of the above mentioned cell lines. Furthermore, since all morphological observations yield similar structural information, we checked the uptake morphologies under conditions when all energy-dependent processes in the

Improved lithium-ion battery anode capacity with a network of easily fabricated spindle-like carbon nanofibers

• Mengting Liu,
• Wenhe Xie,
• Lili Gu,
• Tianfeng Qin,
• Xiaoyi Hou and
• Deyan He

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1289–1295, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.120

• , a network of spindle-like carbon nanofibers anchored with MnO and N for LIB anodes was fabricated via a simplified synthesis route involving electrospinning followed by preoxidation in air and postcarbonization in Ar. The microstructure, chemical composition and electrochemical lithium storage

• MnO or the microstructure change after the first lithiation process [5][7][27]. In the anodic scan, the broad peak centered at 1.31 V relates to the decomposition of Li2O and regeneration of MnO, which shifts to 1.33–1.36 V in the second and third cycle [8][15][20]. Additionally, the weak peak

The self-similarity theory of high pressure torsion

• Yan Beygelzimer,
• Roman Kulagin,
• Laszlo S. Toth and
• Yulia Ivanisenko

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1267–1277, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.117

• originating from the self-similarity of the microstructure, while it has been shown in the present work that the self-similarity of HPT at the macro-level requires power-law hardening, Thus, there is a relationship between self-similarities at different scales in HPT: Self-similarity at the micro-level is a

• parameters for each β value. In particular, one cannot use Equation 1 and Equation 2 to compute shear strain in this case. In [22] the scaling nature of the power-law interval of the hardening curve was established based on the self-similarity of the microstructure. Therefore, self-similarity at the micro

Influence of synthesis conditions on microstructure and phase transformations of annealed Sr₂FeMoO_6−x nanopowders formed by the citrate–gel method

• Marta Yarmolich,
• Nikolai Kalanda,
• Sergey Demyanov,
• Herman Terryn,
• Jon Ustarroz,
• Maksim Silibin and
• Gennadii Gorokh

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1202–1207, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.111

• nm and a superstructural ordering of iron and molybdenum cations of 88%. Keywords: magnetic materials; microstructure; nanoparticles; phase transformation; sol–gel preparation; Introduction Due to their unique and extremely important magneto-transport and magnetic properties [1][2], metal oxide

• atmosphere with predetermined anionic and cationic defectiveness, is problematic [9]. This is due to several factors: the phase purity within the sample, cation and anion vacancies, sample microstructure, chemical composition and thickness of the grain boundaries [10][11][12][13]. Sol–gel technology is a

• correlation between the citrate–gel synthesis conditions (pH of initial solutions and annealing temperature) and the microstructure and phase transformations of the Sr2FeMoO6−x nanopowders. Results and Discussion Figure 1a–c shows representative field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) images of

Fast diffusion of silver in TiO₂ nanotube arrays

• Wanggang Zhang,
• Yiming Liu,
• Diaoyu Zhou,
• Hui Wang,
• Wei Liang and
• Fuqian Yang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1129–1140, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.105

• on the evolution of Ag nanofilms on the surface of TiO2 nanotubes and microstructure of Ag nanofilms are investigated by X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. Ag atoms migrate mainly on the outmost surface of the TiO2 nanotubes, and fast

• ). The prepared pure TiO2 nanotube arrays exhibit a highly ordered structure, and the TiO2 nanotubes are normal to the surface of the corresponding Ti foil. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was used to analyze the microstructure of the prepared pure TiO2 nanotubes. Figure 3a shows the TEM images of

• with Ag nanofilm. No crystallinity of TiO2 is observable for the untreated TiO2 nanotube arrays with Ag nanofilm, and the coating of the Ag nanofilm does not cause any change of the microstructure of the TiO2 nanotube arrays. The XRD patterns of all the heat-treated TiO2 nanotube arrays with Ag

Development of highly faceted reduced graphene oxide-coated copper oxide and copper nanoparticles on a copper foil surface

• Rebeca Ortega-Amaya,
• Yasuhiro Matsumoto,
• Andrés M. Espinoza-Rivas,
• Manuel A. Pérez-Guzmán and
• Mauricio Ortega-López

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1010–1017, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.93

• ]. In fact, kinetics studies on metal melting revealed that the pre-melting temperature depends partly on the surface microstructure and partly on surface-adsorbed impurities [24]. It has also been reported that, for nanostructured materials, the melting point strongly depends on the size and it is

The hydraulic mechanism in the hind wing veins of Cybister japonicus Sharp (order: Coleoptera)

• Jiyu Sun,
• Wei Wu,
• Mingze Ling,
• Bharat Bhushan and
• Jin Tong

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 904–913, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.82

• length was 35–40 mm. Microstructure testing Microstructure testing was conducted in a manner similar to that described in [20]. The microstructures of the cross sections of hind wing veins were captured using an inverted fluorescence microscope (OLYMPUS, LX71). All beetles were anesthetized with ether

Frog tongue surface microstructures: functional and evolutionary patterns

• Thomas Kleinteich and
• Stanislav N. Gorb

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 893–903, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.81

• mucus layer during tongue retraction. It is plausible to assume that different species have different physical (rheological) properties of the mucus, and that these properties are correlated with a particular microstructure of the tongue or vice versa. The viscosity of the mucus is critical for

Synthesis and applications of carbon nanomaterials for energy generation and storage

• Marco Notarianni,
• Jinzhang Liu,
• Kristy Vernon and
• Nunzio Motta

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 149–196, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.17

Dependence of lattice strain relaxation, absorbance, and sheet resistance on thickness in textured ZnO@B transparent conductive oxide for thin-film solar cell applications

• Kuang-Yang Kou,
• Yu-En Huang,
• Chien-Hsun Chen and
• Shih-Wei Feng

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 75–80, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.9

• addition, the microstructure, optical properties, and strain of thickness-dependent ZnO thin film grown by atomic layer deposition have been reported [17]. The thicker ZnO thin films show a larger crystalline grain, a smaller lattice strain, a higher Zn/O ratio, and better crystal quality. Furthermore

Influence of wide band gap oxide substrates on the photoelectrochemical properties and structural disorder of CdS nanoparticles grown by the successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) method

• Mikalai V. Malashchonak,
• Alexander V. Mazanik,
• Olga V. Korolik,
• Еugene А. Streltsov and
• Anatoly I. Kulak

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2252–2262, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.231

• states, but is determined also by the microstructure of the system under study. At the same time, the Urbach energy enables one to track the variation of structural disorder with N, because according to the obtained SEM data, variation of the number of SILAR cycles over a wide range has no appreciable

Surface engineering of nanoporous substrate for solid oxide fuel cells with atomic layer-deposited electrolyte

• Sanghoon Ji,
• Waqas Hassan Tanveer,
• Wonjong Yu,
• Sungmin Kang,
• Gu Young Cho,
• Sung Han Kim,
• Jihwan An and
• Suk Won Cha

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1805–1810, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.184

• the impoverished mass transport and shortened TPB length caused by excessively thick BEC, which is parallel to previous research discussing the effects of the thickness and microstructure of BECs [14]. To examine the diffusion characteristics of ALD YSZ on the BEC side, 50 nm-thick ALD YSZ was

• deposited on BECs with different thicknesses, whose cross-sectional microstructure was investigated by focused ion beam and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FIB/FE-SEM) imaging: the BECs were 40 nm and 320 nm in thickness. In case of the thinner BEC, a significant amount of ALD YSZ certainly

• fabrication processes of the Pt films are close to the ways described in our preview work [24]. Thin film characterization The film density was determined by X-ray reflectometry analysis using the X’Pert Pro (PANalytical, Netherlands) instrument. The surface microstructure was investigated by FIB/FE-SEM

Possibilities and limitations of advanced transmission electron microscopy for carbon-based nanomaterials

• Xiaoxing Ke,
• Carla Bittencourt and
• Gustaaf Van Tendeloo

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1541–1557, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.158

• Xiaoxing Ke Carla Bittencourt Gustaaf Van Tendeloo EMAT, University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, 2020 Antwerp, Belgium Institute of Microstructure and Property of Advanced Materials, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, China Chemistry of Interaction Plasma Surface (ChiPS

Influence of the shape and surface oxidation in the magnetization reversal of thin iron nanowires grown by focused electron beam induced deposition

• Luis A. Rodríguez,
• Lorenz Deen,
• Rosa Córdoba,
• César Magén,
• Etienne Snoeck,
• Bert Koopmans and
• José M. De Teresa

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1319–1331, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.136

• producing the magnetization reversal. Most of magnetic devices work by producing a voltage output when the magnetization reversal occurs. In the case of cobalt deposits, it was previously found that the coercive field is governed by shape anisotropy [24] due to the polycrystalline microstructure [25], and

• the growth were, respectively, 1.4 nA and 3 kV. The first experiments under relatively high precursor flux (process pressure approx. 6 × 10−6 mbar) indicated that the microstructure of the deposits consisted of grains with a typical size of about 100 nm, as can be observed in Figure S1 of Supporting

• reproduce the observed dependence of the coercive field. TEM experiments: deposit shape, halo extension, surface oxidation TEM characterization of the microstructure and composition of Fe nanowires was carried out in a probe-corrected FEI Titan 60-300 operated at 300 kV. Two TEM lamellae of Fe nanowires

High photocatalytic activity of V-doped SrTiO₃ porous nanofibers produced from a combined electrospinning and thermal diffusion process

• Panpan Jing,
• Wei Lan,
• Qing Su and
• Erqing Xie

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1281–1286, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.132

• photocatalytic activity with excellent endurance. Results and Discussion The morphology and microstructure are very important for the development of an excellent photocatalyst. In Figure 1a, the pure SrTiO3 nanofibers appear to be tens of micrometers in length, with a porous surface and uniform diameter

Addition of Zn during the phosphine-based synthesis of indium phospide quantum dots: doping and surface passivation

• Natalia E. Mordvinova,
• Alexander A. Vinokurov,
• Oleg I. Lebedev,
• Tatiana A. Kuznetsova and
• Sergey G. Dorofeev

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1237–1246, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.127

• non-doped QDs calculated from XRD is approximately 3.8 nm. For Mnom = 0.5 the diameter is 3.3 nm, for Mnom = 1 it is 2.6 nm, and for Mnom = 2 it is 2.4 nm, where Mnom is the Zn:In molar ratio in the reaction mass. In order to investigate the fine microstructure of the Zn/InP QDs, and in particular the

Magnetic properties of iron cluster/chromium matrix nanocomposites

• Arne Fischer,
• Robert Kruk,
• Di Wang and
• Horst Hahn

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1158–1163, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.117

• treatment steps, i.e., quenching, annealing combined with plastic deformation, in order to obtain the multicomponent multiphase structures optimized for advanced structural and functional applications [1]. Besides the pathways used during the preparation of the alloys, their final nano- and microstructure

Tunable magnetism on the lateral mesoscale by post-processing of Co/Pt heterostructures

• Oleksandr V. Dobrovolskiy,
• Maksym Kompaniiets,
• Roland Sachser,
• Fabrizio Porrati,
• Christian Gspan,
• Harald Plank and
• Michael Huth

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1082–1090, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.109

• formed at different depths within the layered nano-stripe, as will be corroborated by a TEM inspection in the section devoted to the microstructure analysis. Summarizing this part, the following two effects are observed in the post-processed Co/Pt samples, namely (i) the development of hysteresis and (ii

• ) a reduction of the saturation field. To explain both effects, we next discuss the processes which take place in the deposits in the course of purification treatments. Purification mechanisms The as-deposited reference sample A has a nanogranular Co microstructure with inclusions of carbon and oxygen

• ferromagnet whose presence can explain both, the reduction of the saturation field as well as the appearance of a hysteresis loop in samples B and C. Microstructure analysis To get insight into the microstructure of the purified samples and to examine, whether the assumed CoPt L10 phase is indeed present in

From lithium to sodium: cell chemistry of room temperature sodium–air and sodium–sulfur batteries

• Philipp Adelhelm,
• Pascal Hartmann,
• Conrad L. Bender,
• Martin Busche,
• Christine Eufinger and
• Juergen Janek

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1016–1055, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.105

• a suitable conductive support structure. For the Li/S8 and Li/O2 batteries, this means that significant complexity is added, as a series of transport steps and nucleation/decomposition processes take place that will depend on the morphology, microstructure and surface chemistry of the conductive

Multiscale modeling of lithium ion batteries: thermal aspects

• Arnulf Latz and
• Jochen Zausch

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 987–1007, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.102

• microstructure of the electrodes. In recent years a theoretical structure emerges, which opens the possibility to establish a systematic modeling strategy from atomistic to continuum scale to capture and couple the relevant phenomena on each scale. We outline the building blocks for such a systematic approach

• and discuss in detail a rigorous approach for the continuum scale based on rational thermodynamics and homogenization theories. Our focus is on the development of a systematic thermodynamically consistent theory for thermal phenomena in batteries at the microstructure scale and at the cell scale. We

• cell scale are numerically solved in full 3D resolution. The complex very localized distributions of heat sources in a microstructure of a battery and the problems of mapping these localized sources on an averaged porous electrode model are discussed by comparing the detailed 3D microstructure-resolved

Electron-stimulated purification of platinum nanostructures grown via focused electron beam induced deposition

• Brett B. Lewis,
• Michael G. Stanford,
• Jason D. Fowlkes,
• Kevin Lester,
• Harald Plank and
• Philip D. Rack

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 907–918, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.94

• parameters during deposition. As the layer is extremely thin (a few monolayers) it can also be easily removed ex situ by with a brief focused ion beam etch. Microstructure Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images of the as-deposited and cured PtCx EBID patterns were taken to compare the microstructure

• ), and 5.06 nm (±0.80 nm) for as-deposited, 6 min, and 12 min purification patterns, respectively. In order to further characterize the microstructure development during purification, selected area electron diffraction patterns (SAED) were taken for an as-deposited and purified PtCx deposit as shown in

• microstructure and grain size of progressively purified material, six samples were prepared on 30 nm thick SiNx substrates for transmission electron microscopy (TEM) imaging. The samples were deposited and purified using similar parameters reported above. The samples were purified to different times (and doses