Nanostructure-induced performance degradation of WO₃·nH₂O for energy conversion and storage devices

• Zhenyin Hai,
• Mohammad Karbalaei Akbari,
• Zihan Wei,
• Danfeng Cui,
• Chenyang Xue,
• Hongyan Xu,
• Philippe M. Heynderickx,
• Francis Verpoort and
• Serge Zhuiykov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2845–2854, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.265

• layered transition metal oxides. Keywords: 2D layered oxides; interlayer water; van der Waals interaction; WO3·nH2O; Introduction Within the less than 20 years since the successful exfoliation of atomically thin graphene, 2D layered nanomaterials have been contributing greatly to the advances of

• nanoscience and nanotechnology with their exotic properties and versatility of applications [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. Among all 2D nanomaterials, 2D transition metal oxides (TMOs) are the group with the highest electrochemical activities for energy conversion and storage [11][12][13][14][15]. As the

Graphene-enhanced metal oxide gas sensors at room temperature: a review

• Dongjin Sun,
• Yifan Luo,
• Marc Debliquy and
• Chao Zhang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2832–2844, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.264

• sensors based on rGO/metal oxides, which exhibit enhanced sensing performance mainly due to the formation of heterojunctions. Tai et al. [46] deposited ZnO nanoparticles and GO thin films on gold interdigital electrodes (IDEs) through a simple spray process and thermally reduced the deposits to ZnO–rGO

• during the carbothermal reduction (1150 °C). Another was the formation of Schottky barriers between ZnO and the metal electrodes, which caused ZnO to exhibit p-type semiconductor properties. The gas-sensing performance parameters of the abovementioned sensors for reducing gases based on metal oxides and

• performance of the ternary composite sensor was still the p–n heterojunctions. The gas-sensing performance parameters of the abovementioned NO2 sensors based on metal oxides and rGO enhanced by the formation of semiconductor interfaces are listed in Table 2. Enhancement by improved morphology and structure By

Pattern generation for direct-write three-dimensional nanoscale structures via focused electron beam induced deposition

• Lukas Keller and
• Michael Huth

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2581–2598, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.240

• ] but also various oxides and carbides in either amorphous or polycrystalline form [18][19] are accessible. By employing additional postdeposition treatments the metal volume content of some otherwise granular metals can be increased to virtually 100% [20][21][22]. Despite the apparent simplicity of the

Improved catalytic combustion of methane using CuO nanobelts with predominantly (001) surfaces

• Qingquan Kong,
• Yichun Yin,
• Bing Xue,
• Yonggang Jin,
• Wei Feng,
• Zhi-Gang Chen,
• Shi Su and
• Chenghua Sun

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2526–2532, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.235

• , such as transition metal (TM) oxides and various complex structures (e.g., perovskite, spinel and hexaaluminate) have been tested as catalysts for CH4 oxidation. But so far their performance is still much lower than noble metals. An ideal catalyst for CH4 oxidation should have a high capacity to adsorb

• most metal oxides. To improve the reactivity of metal oxides, surfaces with high energy (and thus low surface area), namely minority surfaces, may offer new opportunities. Although minority surfaces often diminish quickly during crystal growth due to their low stability, they can be stabilized by

Thickness-dependent photoelectrochemical properties of a semitransparent Co₃O₄ photocathode

• Malkeshkumar Patel and
• Joondong Kim

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2432–2442, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.228

• -dependent properties; Introduction Hydrogen production using water splitting in photoelectrochemical (PEC) cells may help to overcome challenges in the conversion and storage of solar energy. Most of the metal oxides are earth-abundant, non-toxic, stable and easy to synthesise, and hence attractive

• -absorber materials such as metal sulfides and metal oxides via heterojunction. The photocurrent can be further improved by three approaches: The first one is to improve the optoelectronic processes in the Co3O4 film [39], the second is to improve the composition of the heterojunction, i.e. Co3O4/Ga2O3 [42

ZnO-nanostructure-based electrochemical sensor: Effect of nanostructure morphology on the sensing of heavy metal ions

• Marina Krasovska,
• Vjaceslavs Gerbreders,
• Irena Mihailova,
• Andrejs Ogurcovs,
• Eriks Sledevskis,
• Andrejs Gerbreders and
• Pavels Sarajevs

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2421–2431, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.227

• mixture of lead oxides and metallic lead. The XRD pattern and EDS spectra of the sediment composition has been previously reported [16]. The formation of lead oxide is explained by the quasichemical Lewis interaction between lead ions and hydroxy groups on the ZnO surface as a result of coordination or

• to 2 mM). The reduction peak current for the highest concentration can be explained by mass crystallization in the solution, in parallel with the sorption process. It is the threshold above which crystallites of lead oxides become visible on the ZnO nanostructured surface by SEM. In order to visually

• forms well-developed crystallites of lead oxides mixture, whereas Cd(NO3)2 forms a very thin amorphous layer on the ZnO surface. The SEM images were recorded using secondary electrons, whose output depth is within the range of 1–10 nm; the fact that the contours of the ZnO nanotubes (bright points) are

Intrinsic ultrasmall nanoscale silicon turns n-/p-type with SiO₂/Si₃N₄-coating

• Dirk König,
• Daniel Hiller,
• Noël Wilck,
• Birger Berghoff,
• Merlin Müller,
• Sangeeta Thakur,
• Giovanni Di Santo,
• Luca Petaccia,
• Joachim Mayer,
• Sean Smith and
• Joachim Knoch

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2255–2264, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.210

• , Si modulation doping of adjacent dielectric layers based on nitrides [11] and oxides [12], in analogy to modulation doping of III–V semiconductors, were shown to be an alternative to conventional impurity doping. It would be ideal to achieve electron- (n-) or hole- (p-) type conductivity in usn-Si

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

• ][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33]. Different types of nanostructures, including those based on metal oxides (MOx), organic and inorganic materials and carbon nanostructures, have shown promising sensing performance due to their unique characteristics, such as high surface-to-volume

• shown in Figure 1. A nanofiber film has a surface area approximately twice that of a continuous thin film. This property means that nanofibers are excellent candidates for gas sensing applications. Moreover, nanofibers derived from a variety of materials, such as polymers, metals, metal-oxides and

• the development of the gas sensors employing electrospun nanofibers have been published. Recently, Choi et al. [43] reported a review on chemiresistive and optical sensors employing only semiconducting metal oxides and their functionalization by catalytic nanoparticles. Herein, we will comprehensively

Spin-coated planar Sb₂S₃ hybrid solar cells approaching 5% efficiency

• Pascal Kaienburg,
• Benjamin Klingebiel and
• Thomas Kirchartz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2114–2124, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.200

• requires the precise control of processing conditions and eventually limits the process’ reproducibility [29][32]. During chemical reactions in the water bath, various antimony oxides, hydroxides and sulfates form [6][42][43][44] which could be detrimental to device performance. With respect to oxide

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

• as platinum or its alloys, or metal oxides, which affect the engineering cost of fuel cells being also energy consuming and not highly selective [3]. Therefore, research efforts have been devoted towards alternative highly active catalysts from non-precious metals [4]. Repeatedly reported potential

Synthesis of rare-earth metal and rare-earth metal-fluoride nanoparticles in ionic liquids and propylene carbonate

• Marvin Siebels,
• Lukas Mai,
• Laura Schmolke,
• Kai Schütte,
• Juri Barthel,
• Junpei Yue,
• Jörg Thomas,
• Bernd M. Smarsly,
• Anjana Devi,
• Roland A. Fischer and
• Christoph Janiak

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1881–1894, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.180

• the polymerization of olefins [15][16] and as precursors in chemical vapor (CVD) processes of rare-earth materials such as oxides and nitrides [17][18][19]. It is especially advantageous that the decomposition products from the amidinate ligand are gaseous so that product contamination is minimized

• nanoparticles were determined by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy (HAADF-STEM). The crystalline phases and the absence of impurities (oxides) in RE-NPs and REF3-NPs were identified by powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) and selected

• Figures S4c, S5c, S6d, Supporting Information File 1) through comparison to the reported binding energies of metal(III) fluorides/oxides, metal(0) and organic fluorine/oxygen (Table 2) [48][49]. The measured metal and fluorine XPS values are in good agreement with the values of metal(III) fluorides that

Electrical characterization of single nanometer-wide Si fins in dense arrays

• Steven Folkersma,
• Janusz Bogdanowicz,
• Andreas Schulze,
• Paola Favia,
• Dirch H. Petersen,
• Ole Hansen,
• Henrik H. Henrichsen,
• Peter F. Nielsen,
• Lior Shiv and
• Wilfried Vandervorst

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1863–1867, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.178

• voltage drop V is measured between the other two electrodes. Initially, however, the native oxides present both on the semiconducting material and the Ni-coated electrodes act as highly resistive barriers and therefore prevent any electrical contact [11]. To establish the electrical contact, the μ4pp

• contact size and the contact resistance for each electrode–fin contact are, respectively, indicated by dcontact and RCj (j = 1, 2,…, 8). Note that all contact resistances are initially considered to be highly resistive because the native oxides present on both the fins and electrodes prevent current flow

Quantitative comparison of wideband low-latency phase-locked loop circuit designs for high-speed frequency modulation atomic force microscopy

• Kazuki Miyata and
• Takeshi Fukuma

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1844–1855, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.176

• [1]. It has been used under ultrahigh vacuum conditions for high-resolution imaging of various materials, including metals, semiconductors, metal oxides, and organic molecules [2][3][4][5]. Furthermore, recent advances in FM-AFM have enabled atom manipulation and identification at room temperature [6

Cryochemical synthesis of ultrasmall, highly crystalline, nanostructured metal oxides and salts

• Elena A. Trusova and
• Nikolai S. Trutnev

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1755–1763, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.166

• /bjnano.9.166 Abstract In the present investigation, the cryochemical approach was used for the improved synthesis of nanocrystalline metal oxides (e.g., NiO, Fe2O3, CeO2) and NaNO3 salt. It was shown that the solutions and sols can be treated with a liquid nitrogen stream (−196 °C) to increase the powder

• characteristics without significant increase in technical development costs. Keywords: cryochemical synthesis; cryosols; nanocrystalline metal oxides; nanostructured powders; Introduction In recent decades, nanostructured raw products have become particularly in demand for obtaining many of the new functional

• that of the same composition prepared directly from an as-prepared microemulsion. In [14] we reported on a method for producing metal oxides (CeO2, Fe2O3 and NiO) with a crystallite size less than ≤10 nm by a combination of the sol–gel method and cryotechnology. The essence of the method is to create

Magnetic properties of Fe₃O₄ antidot arrays synthesized by AFIR: atomic layer deposition, focused ion beam and thermal reduction

• Juan L. Palma,
• Alejandro Pereira,
• Raquel Álvaro,
• José Miguel García-Martín and
• Juan Escrig

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1728–1734, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.164

• milling, and the subsequent thermal reduction of the antidot arrays. Magnetic characterizations were carried out by magneto-optic Kerr effect measurements, showing the enhancement of the coercivity for the antidot arrays. AFIR opens a new route to manufacture ordered antidot arrays of magnetic oxides with

• + reduction), and it consists of the deposition of a thin film by ALD, the generation of holes by means of FIB, and the thermal reduction of the antidot arrays. AFIR opens a new route to manufacture ordered antidot arrays of oxides with variable lattice parameters, arrays that have not been synthesized by

• to manufacture square and hexagonal antidot arrays of magnetic oxides among other geometries, and with variable lattice parameters. Outline of the AFIR process. Si(100) wafers with a native layer of SiO2 were coated with Fe2O3. Antidot arrays were directly etched in the continuous films of Fe2O3

Multimodal noncontact atomic force microscopy and Kelvin probe force microscopy investigations of organolead tribromide perovskite single crystals

• Yann Almadori,
• David Moerman,
• Jaume Llacer Martinez,
• Philippe Leclère and
• Benjamin Grévin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1695–1704, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.161

• oxides, it originates indirectly from the superposition of photovoltaic and converse piezoelectricity effects (we refer the reader to review articles [18] for a more comprehensive introduction to the field of photostrictive materials). The photostriction observed by a few teams in organolead trialides is

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

• Li/S batteries [5]. Another popular strategy to reduce polysulfides from dissolution is using metal oxides, such as TiO2 [6], ZnO [7], MnO2 [8], and SiO2 [9], as the additives or coating layer in the S-cathode. This is because metal oxides can provide strong binding sites with S and reduce the

• shuttling effect [10]. In addition, metal oxides can be easily synthesized in various morphologies, e.g., hollow structures, to “hold” S [11]. Similar to S, metal oxides are, however, not conductive [12]. Therefore, an efficient approach is to use hybrids/composites of carbon materials and metal oxides, as

Friction force microscopy of tribochemistry and interfacial ageing for the SiO_x/Si/Au system

• Christiane Petzold,
• Marcus Koch and
• Roland Bennewitz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1647–1658, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.157

• wear. Friction, wear, and the re-passivation by oxides are discussed based on results for the temporal development of friction forces, on images of the scanned area after friction force microscopy experiments, and on electron microscopy of the tips. Keywords: contact ageing; friction; nanotribology

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

• oxides and on the stage of synthesis during which the polymer is added [16][17][18]. The specific surface area can also be increased by decreasing the particle size of TiO2; however, it has been shown that the photocatalytic activity does not monotonically increase with decreasing particle size, but

• , water (m/z = 18) evolves, whereas in the third (510–560 °C) step, sulfur oxides (m/z = 48 and 64) evolve. Exothermic peaks, due to to the process of crystallization are overlapped by endothermic peaks, originating from the evolution of sulfates. Based on these results and the results of XRD measurements

• –610 °C) step sulfur oxides (m/z = 48 and 64) evolve from the sample. The exothermic peaks of crystallization are again overlapped by the endothermic peaks due to the evolution of sulfates. Sulfur oxides start evolving from this sample at lower temperatures (compared to S1) due to the presence of

Nanoscale electrochemical response of lithium-ion cathodes: a combined study using C-AFM and SIMS

• Jonathan Op de Beeck,
• Nouha Labyedh,
• Alfonso Sepúlveda,
• Valentina Spampinato,
• Alexis Franquet,
• Thierry Conard,
• Philippe M. Vereecken,
• Wilfried Vandervorst and
• Umberto Celano

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1623–1628, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.154

• generally a solid and dense material while crystalline conductive oxides are used for the anode and cathode. As a solid electrolyte is significantly safer compared to its flammable organic liquid counterparts, its use does represent a clear advantage [2]. Moreover, the presence of crystalline ordering in

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

• oxide are SiH4 and N2O. Since Si-rich oxides have to be grown in O-depletion, some of the N-radicals present in the plasma react with the Si and are subsequently incorporated in the film. The resulting material is inevitably a Si-rich oxynitride (SRON) with in our case ≈10 atom % N [16]. Considering

• some safety issues, the oxidizing PECVD precursor gas can be replaced by O2, which allows for N-free Si-rich oxides (SRO) [17]. In both cases, small amounts of PH3 or B2H6 can be added during deposition to achieve P- or B-doped SRON or SRO, respectively. In this study, we investigate the structural

• Information File 1 the SIMS depth profiles for similarly configured SRO:B and SRON:B layers are shown. Here, the B-concentration is controlled by the B2H6-flux in the range from 0.13–1.32 atom % for SRO:B and 0.02–0.14 atom % for SRON:B. When plotting the P- and B-concentrations in the Si-rich oxides as

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

• TiO2 as a photocatalyst and the importance of its modification for photocatalytic reduction of Cr(VI) has also been addressed. In this review, the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 after modification with carbon-based advanced materials, metal oxides, metal sulfides and noble metals towards reduction of

• photocatalytic reduction of Cr(VI) along with their good recoverability and recyclability. Keywords: charge transfer; Cr(VI) reduction; heterojunction; modified TiO2; photocatalysis; spinel oxides; Review Introduction The increase in the global population demands rapid growth of industrialization and

• with carbon-based advanced materials, noble metals, oxides and sulfides of transition metals for enhanced photocatalytic activity towards degradation of Cr(VI). The photocatalytic reduction of Cr(VI) over dye-sensitized TiO2 is also briefly discussed. The present review article has been divided into

Preparation and morphology-dependent wettability of porous alumina membranes

• Dmitry L. Shimanovich,
• Alla I. Vorobjova,
• Daria I. Tishkevich,
• Alex V. Trukhanov,
• Maxim V. Zdorovets and
• Artem L. Kozlovskiy

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1423–1436, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.135

• –Baxter model is more suitable for the description of large thickness oxides with small pores (received, for example, in sulfuric electrolyte). The Wenzel model was found to be more suitable for the description of small thickness oxides (less than 30 µm) with larger diameter pores (received, for example

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

• interest include carbon, silicon, various oxides, and a wide range of metals including gold, platinum and chromium (for a comprehensive list of materials and precursors please refer to the review by Utke et al. [10]). Conventional research has shown the efficient deposition of continuous films on the scale

A novel copper precursor for electron beam induced deposition

• Caspar Haverkamp,
• George Sarau,
• Mikhail N. Polyakov,
• Ivo Utke,
• Marcos V. Puydinger dos Santos,
• Silke Christiansen and
• Katja Höflich

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1220–1227, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.113

• deposits, with crystallites below ≈20 nm in diameter. Selected area electron diffraction (SAED) of the deposit (Figure 2e) yields diffraction rings which fully correspond to pure Cu, with no rings corresponding to Cu oxides. SAED was carried out for different regions within the deposit covering a