A sonochemical approach to the direct surface functionalization of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles with (3-aminopropyl)triethoxysilane

• Bashiru Kayode Sodipo and
• Azlan Abdul Aziz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1472–1476, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.160

• ; superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPION); Findings Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPION) have a wide range of applications in biomedical research and development. The main drawbacks of SPION are a high surface energy, van der Waals forces of attraction and dipole to dipole interactions that

Microstructural and plasmonic modifications in Ag–TiO₂ and Au–TiO₂ nanocomposites through ion beam irradiation

• Venkata Sai Kiran Chakravadhanula,
• Yogendra Kumar Mishra,
• Venkata Girish Kotnur,
• Devesh Kumar Avasthi,
• Thomas Strunskus,
• Vladimir Zaporotchenko,
• Dietmar Fink,
• Lorenz Kienle and
• Franz Faupel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1419–1431, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.154

• utilized to fabricate different multifunctional nanocomposites for different applications [7][8][9]. Generally, the main motivation behind the use of an insulating matrix is to maintain the necessary separation between metal nanoparticles (resulting from differences in surface energy of the individual

Self-organization of mesoscopic silver wires by electrochemical deposition

• Sheng Zhong,
• Thomas Koch,
• Stefan Walheim,
• Harald Rösner,
• Eberhard Nold,
• Aaron Kobler,
• Torsten Scherer,
• Di Wang,
• Christian Kübel,
• Mu Wang,
• Horst Hahn and
• Thomas Schimmel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1285–1290, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.142

• atomic scale. It is known, that the (112) surface energy is relatively high and that the growth speed of [112] is faster than that of other facets [35]. Hence elongated silver wires are generated due to the anisotropy in growth rate. However, anisotropy in growth rate cannot guarantee for the formation

Physical principles of fluid-mediated insect attachment - Shouldn’t insects slip?

• Jan-Henning Dirks

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1160–1166, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.127

• between the adhesive pad and the substrate [61]. The classic hydrodynamic model only describes the friction observed with relatively “thick” layers of lubricant (≥0.5 μm, [62]), where neither the specific surface properties (roughness, surface energy) nor Amonton’s law are involved [63]. Friction forces

Template-directed synthesis and characterization of microstructured ceramic Ce/ZrO₂@SiO₂ composite tubes

• Jörg J. Schneider and
• Meike Naumann

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1152–1159, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.126

• = El + γSm, where EI is the lattice energy, γ is the surface energy, and Sm is the molar surface. The two values of EI are nearly identical for the monoclinic and tetragonal phase (11016 vs 11011 kJmol−1) [16], so the favorite formation of one over the other is mainly determined by their individual

• surface energies γ (11.3 × 10−5 Jcm2 vs 7.5–7.7 × 10−5 Jcm2) [17][18]. Consequently, the tetragonal phase is the more stable one for the solid solution Ce0.13/Zr0.87O2 due to its lower surface energy. Moreover, the incorporation of Ce4+ into its crystal lattice increases that effect. In addition to the

Dry friction of microstructured polymer surfaces inspired by snake skin

• Martina J. Baum,
• Lars Heepe,
• Elena Fadeeva and
• Stanislav N. Gorb

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1091–1103, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.122

• scale [11]. These properties must be kept up over a longer period of time until new skin is moulted. Frictional properties of snake skin in contact with a solid partner depend on (i) the surface energy, (ii) material properties, and (iii) surface topography of the tribo-pair [12][13]. The surface energy

DFT study of binding and electron transfer from colorless aromatic pollutants to a TiO₂ nanocluster: Application to photocatalytic degradation under visible light irradiation

• Corneliu I. Oprea,
• Petre Panait and
• Mihai A. Gîrţu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1016–1030, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.115

• geometry, which lowered the surface energy. To prevent the occurrence of dangling bonds for some peripheric oxygen atoms and to avoid the problem of the surface states in the gap [45] we introduced four hydrogen atoms [29][46]. The resulting Ti24O50H4 cluster has a length of 12.76 Å and a width of 7.39 Å

One-step synthesis of high quality kesterite Cu₂ZnSnS₄ nanocrystals – a hydrothermal approach

• Vincent Tiing Tiong,
• John Bell and
• Hongxia Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 438–446, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.51

• ]. Hence, it is rational to conjecture that TGA might play two key roles in this work. One is to prevent aggregation of CZTS nanocrystals by capping on the generated nanocrystals to reduce the surface energy (steric hindrance) during the hydrothermal process; the other role is selective adsorption on

Single-asperity contact mechanics with positive and negative work of adhesion: Influence of finite-range interactions and a continuum description for the squeeze-out of wetting fluids

• Martin H. Müser

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 419–437, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.50

Oriented attachment explains cobalt ferrite nanoparticle growth in bioinspired syntheses

• Annalena Wolff,
• Walid Hetaba,
• Marco Wißbrock,
• Stefan Löffler,
• Nadine Mill,
• Katrin Eckstädt,
• Axel Dreyer,
• Inga Ennen,
• Norbert Sewald,
• Peter Schattschneider and
• Andreas Hütten

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 210–218, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.23

• , intermediate phase possesses a large amount of energetically unfavourable inner surfaces. To reduce the surface energy, adjacent primary building blocks can align along a common crystallographic axis and coalesce [12][13]. Phase transformations are often observed prior to aggregation [12]. The secondary

• ferrite nanoparticles was studied in this work. A detailed description of the crystallite formation is therefore not discussed here. Polypeptide-nanoparticle interaction and growth of primary building blocks The driving force of crystal growth is the reduction of surface energy. The final crystal faces

• are therefore those with the lowest surface energy. Faces with higher energies have increased growth rates and vanish in the final morphology. The final top/bottom crystal faces of the cobalt ferrite particles, synthesized without c25-mms6, was determined to be (112) recently [20]. This crystal face

3D-nanoarchitectured Pd/Ni catalysts prepared by atomic layer deposition for the electrooxidation of formic acid

• Loïc Assaud,
• Evans Monyoncho,
• Kristina Pitzschel,
• Anis Allagui,
• Matthieu Petit,
• Margrit Hanbücken,
• Elena A. Baranova and
• Lionel Santinacci

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 162–172, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.16

• film uniformly. This could be due to a lower surface energy between the Pd and the annealed substrate. It is even possible to form a Pd/Ni alloy if the NiO top layer appears only when the sample is exposed to air. The two different growth mechanisms demonstrate the strong influence of the substrate on

Synthesis of embedded Au nanostructures by ion irradiation: influence of ion induced viscous flow and sputtering

• Udai B. Singh,
• D. C. Agarwal,
• S. A. Khan,
• S. Mohapatra,
• H. Amekura,
• D. P. Datta,
• Ajay Kumar,
• R. K. Choudhury,
• T. K. Chan,
• Thomas Osipowicz and
• D. K. Avasthi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 105–110, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.10

• embedding of NPs result from the different surface energies, i.e., the surface energy of the particle and its substrate, and the particle–substrate interface energy. It is reported that surface energy of embedded NPs is less than the surface energy of both glass and NPs [23]. The ion bombardment provides

• burrowing effect during ion beam irradiation because the Au nanoparticles want to minimize their surface energy. In this way embedded Au NPs can be created by ion irradiation of Au thin films, which may be an alternative way of ion beam assisted synthesis of embedded NPs after optimizing the thickness of

Design criteria for stable Pt/C fuel cell catalysts

• Josef C. Meier,
• Carolina Galeano,
• Ioannis Katsounaros,
• Jonathon Witte,
• Hans J. Bongard,
• Angel A. Topalov,
• Claudio Baldizzone,
• Stefano Mezzavilla,
• Ferdi Schüth and
• Karl J. J. Mayrhofer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 44–67, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.5

• the reduction with hydrogen that permeates the ionomer from the anode chamber of the cell [44][45][46]. Platinum dissolution is expected to be especially severe for smaller platinum particles, which have a higher surface energy and are thus considered to dissolve already at lower potentials than bulk

Synthesis of boron nitride nanotubes from unprocessed colemanite

• Saban Kalay,
• Zehra Yilmaz and
• Mustafa Çulha

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 843–851, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.95

• yet. According to the nucleation theory, the formation of a core depends on surface energy, supersaturation, vapor pressure, temperature and binding energy [23][24]. To synthesize unique, high yield and large scale BNNTs, the synthesis mechanism has to be clearly understood. At the moment, two

Dynamic nanoindentation by instrumented nanoindentation and force microscopy: a comparative review

• Sidney R. Cohen and
• Estelle Kalfon-Cohen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 815–833, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.93

• the overall force behavior at the nanoscale. Several groups considered the effects of adhesion under various contact mechanics models in the 1970s [9][10][11][12][13]. These models analyze the changing contact shapes and stresses that occur when the surface energy and the adhesive forces in the

• surface energy, expressed as adhesion within the contact zone. It was followed by the Derjaguin–Muller–Toporov (DMT) model, which is applicable for stiffer samples and a lower but non-negligible surface energy, probed by a comparably sharp tip [11]. The DMT model accounts for forces outside the contact

• importance of surface effects such as friction and surface energy, dropping to the sub-optical regime made optical determination of the contact geometry impossible. This led to the need to determine the contact region size from force–displacement curves. Fundamental equations and their limitations 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

• (Figure 2d). Defects on the ZnO nanosheets act as nucleation sites for the growth of secondary nanosheets. The primary and secondary nanosheets self-assemble to minimize the surface energy, and this leads to the formation of three-dimensional flower-like ZnO structures [30][40]. Photocatalytic studies

Multiple regimes of operation in bimodal AFM: understanding the energy of cantilever eigenmodes

• Daniel Kiracofe,
• Arvind Raman and
• Dalia Yablon

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 385–393, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.45

• second excitation. In this work, we take Ω1 = ω1 and Ω2 = ω2 to simulate bimodal driving of the 1st and 2nd eigenmodes. The tip–sample interaction force Fts(d) is described by a modified DMT model that includes a term for surface energy hysteresis. In other words, the force when the tip is approaching

• obtain the value at 250 kHz) for polypropylene and polyethylene at 250 kHz, respectively. Both materials have a surface energy hysteresis term of 0.06 J/m2 (chosen to approximately match the average energy dissipation in AM-AFM experiments). The same first eigenmode amplitude is used for both simulations

• jumps and the second eigenmode contrast does not reverse. Calibrated cantilever parameters for the experiments. Simulation parameters. Hamaker constant and surface energy are tuned to match the experiment. All other values are measured or nominal values. Supporting Information The Supporting

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

• can influence the surface adhesion between graphene and the substrate, including the substrate roughness and the surface energy. Though a complete understanding of this issue has not yet been achieved, it can be argued that, due to the inherent hydrophobic character of graphene, the adhesion of large

Catalytic activity of nanostructured Au: Scale effects versus bimetallic/bifunctional effects in low-temperature CO oxidation on nanoporous Au

• Lu-Cun Wang,
• Yi Zhong,
• Haijun Jin,
• Daniel Widmann,
• Jörg Weissmüller and
• R. Jürgen Behm

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 111–128, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.13

• thermodynamic point of view, Ag prefers either to be on the surface or to form interfacial alloys with Au, while Au prefers to segregate at the core due to the lower surface energy of Ag compared to Au in the absence of adsorbates [56][58]. This may be modified by strongly adsorbing species. The number of

• , with 5.3, 5.7 and 5.4 atom % for the samples NPG(Cu)-1 to NPG(Cu)-3, respectively, although to a much lesser extent compared with the NPG(Ag) materials. This can be simply explained by the lower surface energy of Au compared to that of Cu [63]. 2 Catalytic activities 2.1 Catalytic activities in the

Ordered arrays of nanoporous gold nanoparticles

• Dong Wang,
• Ran Ji,
• Arne Albrecht and
• Peter Schaaf

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 651–657, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.74

• to fabricate nanoparticles [14][15]. The dewetting of metal films is driven by reducing the surface energy of the film and the interface energy between the film and the substrate, and occurs by diffusion even well below the melting temperature of the film [15]. In addition, alloy nanoparticles can be

• (900 °C) is required for the dewetting on a flat substrate to form particles. Excess local chemical potential can be introduced by the prepatterned structure according to the Gibbs–Thomson relation, Δμ = κ·γ·Ω, where Δμ is the local excess chemical potential, κ the local curvature, γ the surface energy

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

• , which suggests that the thiol molecules are not close-packed, and have some disorder in their arrangement on the surface. The contrast in the lateral-force image shows a friction difference between the gold surface and the EG3 patterns that can be attributed to the surface-energy difference between the

Conducting composite materials from the biopolymer kappa-carrageenan and carbon nanotubes

• Ali Aldalbahi,
• Jin Chu,
• Peter Feng and
• Marc in het Panhuis

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 415–427, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.48

• their high surface energy and van der Waals interactions [3][5][6][7]. To overcome this issue, a diverse range of molecules have been used to aid the dispersion of CNTs in aqueous media, such as surfactants, polymers and biopolymers [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. Well known examples of surfactants

Reduced electron recombination of dye-sensitized solar cells based on TiO₂ spheres consisting of ultrathin nanosheets with [001] facet exposed

• Hongxia Wang,
• Meinan Liu,
• Cheng Yan and
• John Bell

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 378–387, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.44

• crystal facets [4]. It has been reported that the average surface energies of the different facets of anatase TiO2 lie in the order of [001] (0.90 J/m2) > [100] (0.53 J/m2) > [101] (0.44 J/m2) [5]. Apparently, the lowest surface energy of the [101] facet is the most stable surface of the TiO2 material

• . However, with the progress in synthesis techniques, other active facets of TiO2 crystals, such as [001], which is normally unstable due to a higher surface energy, can now be made [6]. In practice, TiO2 material with a large percentage of [001] high-energy surface has shown superior performance in

• nanosheets to realize a minimum surface energy. Some spheres have pits on the surface, which may be due to the insufficient reaction duration. The measurement of the N2 adsorption/desorption isotherms of the TiO2 powder shows that the specific surface area of the TiO2 spheres is 82 m2/g, which is slightly

Models of the interaction of metal tips with insulating surfaces

• Thomas Trevethan,
• Matthew Watkins and
• Alexander L. Shluger

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 329–335, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.37

• ) Energy as a function of cluster Cr tip height above the NaCl(001) surface. (b) Energy as a function of tip height above the MgO(001) surface. Energy as a function of tip height for the W tip interacting with the NaCl(001) surface. Constant-frequency-shift image (Δf = −60 Hz) of the NaCl surface imaged

Dipole-driven self-organization of zwitterionic molecules on alkali halide surfaces

• Laurent Nony,
• Franck Bocquet,
• Franck Para,
• Frédéric Chérioux,
• Eric Duverger,
• Frank Palmino,
• Vincent Luzet and
• Christian Loppacher

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 285–293, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.32

• step edges decorated with MSPS molecules that run along the <110> direction. These polar steps most probably minimize the surface energy as they counterbalance the molecular dipole by presenting oppositely charged ions on the rearranged step edge. Keywords: alkali halide surface; noncontact atomic