Oriented zinc oxide nanorods: A novel saturable absorber for lasers in the near-infrared

• Pavel Loiko,
• Tanujjal Bora,
• Josep Maria Serres,
• Haohai Yu,
• Magdalena Aguiló,
• Francesc Díaz,
• Uwe Griebner,
• Valentin Petrov,
• Xavier Mateos and
• Joydeep Dutta

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2730–2740, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.255

• under ns-laser excitation [23]. This effect was ascribed to the defects promoted by the Mn2+ doping. Some studies revealed reverse saturable absorption (optical limiting) in ZnO thin films and NRs [24]. Zhu et al. studied ultrafast saturable absorption of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) on quartz

Optimization of Mo/Cr bilayer back contacts for thin-film solar cells

• Nima Khoshsirat,
• Fawad Ali,
• Vincent Tiing Tiong,
• Mojtaba Amjadipour,
• Hongxia Wang,
• Mahnaz Shafiei and
• Nunzio Motta

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2700–2707, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.252

• ; bilayer; chromium; DC sputtering; molybdenum; optical reflectance; Introduction Molybdenum (Mo) thin films are widely used as a back contact for photovoltaic devices such as Cu(In1−xGax)S2 (CIGS) and Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) thin-film solar cells. The back contact is the first layer to be deposited and its

• . Conclusion A bilayer of Mo/Cr thin films with robust adhesion and desired electro-optical properties as a back contact in thin-film solar cells was successfully deposited on SLG substrates using DC sputtering. The bottom 10–15 nm thick Cr layer was used to increase the adhesion of the top Mo layer to the

Silicene, germanene and other group IV 2D materials

• Patrick Vogt

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2665–2667, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.248

• beam epitaxy (MBE) [1][2] and at around the same time on zirconium diboride thin films grown on Si(111) substrates by Si segregation through the film [3]. The synthesis of silicene further launched an intensive search for other 2D elemental materials synthesized under ultrahigh vacuum by MBE-like

Impact of the anodization time on the photocatalytic activity of TiO₂ nanotubes

• Jesús A. Díaz-Real,
• Geyla C. Dubed-Bandomo,
• Juan Galindo-de-la-Rosa,
• Luis G. Arriaga,
• Janet Ledesma-García and
• Nicolas Alonso-Vante

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2628–2643, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.244

• sections. XRD The structure and crystallinity of the samples were studied by means of XRD and the diffractograms are presented in Figure 3. The Bragg–Brentano geometry was preferred for our work with thin films. After being thermally treated, all the samples exhibited the typical Bragg positions of anatase

Au–Si plasmonic platforms: synthesis, structure and FDTD simulations

• Anna Gapska,
• Marcin Łapiński,
• Paweł Syty,
• Wojciech Sadowski,
• Józef E. Sienkiewicz and
• Barbara Kościelska

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2599–2608, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.241

• agreement with experimental data obtained in the UV–vis range. Keywords: Au plasmonic platforms; dewetting; eutectic; finite-difference time domain (FDTD); Introduction The evolution of metal thin films into nanostructures under various thermal conditions has been repeatedly studied for many years

• thin films are most often metastable and can dewet or agglomerate with increase of temperature. During annealing of thin films, small fluctuations of the film thickness appear leading to the creation of voids in the film and their subsequent growth. This can happen well below melting temperature of the

• requirement for very small time steps. Results and Discussion Structure and UV–vis absorption The formation of nanostructures from 2.8 nm thick Au thin films, at different annealing temperatures is shown in Figure 2b–g. All films presented in these pictures were annealed for 15 min. For comparison, an SEM

High-temperature magnetism and microstructure of a semiconducting ferromagnetic (GaSb)_1−x(MnSb)_x alloy

• Leonid N. Oveshnikov,
• Elena I. Nekhaeva,
• Alexey V. Kochura,
• Alexander B. Davydov,
• Mikhail A. Shakhov,
• Sergey F. Marenkin,
• Oleg A. Novodvorskii,
• Alexander P. Kuzmenko,
• Alexander L. Vasiliev,
• Boris A. Aronzon and
• Erkki Lahderanta

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2457–2465, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.230

• ; nanostructured materials; thin films; Introduction Diluted magnetic semiconductors (DMS) are very promising materials for spintronic devices, because DMS offer the combination of magnetic and semiconducting properties. Currently, the most commonly studied DMS systems are those based on III–V semiconductors

Magnetism and magnetoresistance of single Ni–Cu alloy nanowires

• Andreea Costas,
• Camelia Florica,
• Elena Matei,
• Maria Eugenia Toimil-Molares,
• Ionel Stavarache,
• Andrei Kuncser,
• Victor Kuncser and
• Ionut Enculescu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2345–2355, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.219

• binary systems in several dimensionalities, i.e., the bulk form, thin films and nanowires. Single Ni–Cu alloy nanowires might be seen as case study for a unidimensional soft-magnetic system with arrays of such unidimensional systems attracting wide interest [23][24][25]. The advantage of the single

Block copolymers for designing nanostructured porous coatings

• Roberto Nisticò

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2332–2344, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.218

• an immensely attractive (and multidisciplinary) field of research [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. In particular, nanoscopic-ordered porous architectures in the form of thin films have received great attention in the field of membrane science and micro/nanofluidics, due to the high selectivity

• , beer, and juices) [26], or in the selective removal of bacteria in blood [27]. Porous polymeric coatings possess the advantages of high surface area materials with a well-defined porosity [28][29], easy processability (i.e., to form molded monoliths or thin films) [30][31][32], and the possibility of

• make this solution difficult to apply in thin films or coatings. In the work of Zhang and co-workers [60], a specific PS-b-PEO copolymer containing a cleavable juncture (namely, triphenylmethyl (trityl) ether) between the two blocks PS and PEO was prepared. This solution guarantees that acids under

Lead-free hybrid perovskites for photovoltaics

• Oleksandr Stroyuk

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

Influence of the thickness of an antiferromagnetic IrMn layer on the static and dynamic magnetization of weakly coupled CoFeB/IrMn/CoFeB trilayers

• Deepika Jhajhria,
• Dinesh K. Pandya and
• Sujeet Chaudhary

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2198–2208, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.206

• . Keywords: ferromagnetic resonance; interlayer exchange coupling; magnetic damping; magnetic thin films; spin pumping; Introduction Traditionally, antiferromagnets (AF) are known to play only a static role by pinning adjacent ferromagnetic (FM) layers via exchange bias in spin-valve devices [1]. Recently

• magnetoresistance [7], inverse spin Hall effect [8] and spin Seebeck effect [9][10] have already been reported in AF materials. Transfer of spin angular momentum presents one of the promising ways to control the magnetic properties of FM thin films [11]. However, little is known about spin transport in AF materials

• measurements) in Equation 2 to obtain g and 4πMeff values as fitting parameters [41][44]. The resulting g values in the films (Figure 4b) are comparable to the already reported g-factor values for CoFeB thin films, and the higher values are associated with larger orbital contributions due to the presence of

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

• ][38] reached an efficiencies >4%. This work extends the progress to almost 5%. SEM images of Sb2S3 thin films after crystallization at 265 °C. Direct thermal decomposition of the spin-coated Sb-TU precursor solution leaves the substrate largely uncovered (a). An intermediate slow annealing step at 100

High-throughput synthesis of modified Fresnel zone plate arrays via ion beam lithography

• Kahraman Keskinbora,
• Umut Tunca Sanli,
• Margarita Baluktsian,
• Corinne Grévent,
• Markus Weigand and
• Gisela Schütz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2049–2056, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.194

• transparent substrate followed by direct-write lithography (Figure 1a). The gold thin films were deposited on commercially available amorphous silicon nitride membranes (50 nm thick Si3N4) as described in the experimental section. The ion beam lithography (IBL) was done using a scanning electron microscope

Biomimetic and biodegradable cellulose acetate scaffolds loaded with dexamethasone for bone implants

• Aikaterini-Rafailia Tsiapla,
• Varvara Karagkiozaki,
• Veroniki Bakola,
• Foteini Pappa,
• Panagiota Gkertsiou,
• Eleni Pavlidou and
• Stergios Logothetidis

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1986–1994, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.189

• Aikaterini-Rafailia Tsiapla Varvara Karagkiozaki Veroniki Bakola Foteini Pappa Panagiota Gkertsiou Eleni Pavlidou Stergios Logothetidis Lab for “Thin Films - Nanosystems & Nanometrology”, Nanomedicine Group, Department of Physics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece BL NanoBiomed P.C

Synthesis of hafnium nanoparticles and hafnium nanoparticle films by gas condensation and energetic deposition

• Irini Michelakaki,
• Nikos Boukos,
• Dimitrios A. Dragatogiannis,
• Spyros Stathopoulos,
• Costas A. Charitidis and
• Dimitris Tsoukalas

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1868–1880, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.179

• study the fabrication and characterization of hafnium nanoparticles and hafnium nanoparticle thin films. Hafnium nanoparticles were grown in vacuum by magnetron-sputtering inert-gas condensation. The as deposited nanoparticles have a hexagonal close-packed crystal structure, they possess truncated

• hexagonal biprism shape and are prone to surface oxidation when exposed to ambient air forming core–shell Hf/HfO2 structures. Hafnium nanoparticle thin films were formed through energetic nanoparticle deposition. This technique allows for the control of the energy of charged nanoparticles during vacuum

• deposition. The structural and nanomechanical properties of the nanoparticle thin films were investigated as a function of the kinetic energy of the nanoparticles. The results reveal that by proper adjustment of the nanoparticle energy, hexagonal close-packed porous nanoparticle thin films with good

Increasing the performance of a superconducting spin valve using a Heusler alloy

• Andrey A. Kamashev,
• Aidar A. Validov,
• Joachim Schumann,
• Vladislav Kataev,
• Bernd Büchner,
• Yakov V. Fominov and
• Ilgiz A. Garifullin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1764–1769, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.167

• and F2. Later, another construction based on three-layer thin films F1/S/F2 was proposed also theoretically [3][4]. According to the above theories, for the parallel (P) configuration of M1 and M2 the transition temperature should be always smaller than for the antiparallel (AP) orientation of the

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

• variable lattice parameters. Keywords: antidot arrays; atomic layer deposition; focused ion beam; magnetic properties; thermal reduction; Introduction Magnetic antidots, magnetic thin films with periodic arrays of holes, are currently an important topic for both the fundamental understanding of low

• [23] and colloidal [24] lithography, porous anodic alumina [25][26], block copolymer templates [27], nanochannel glass [28] and focused ion beam (FIB) patterning [29][30]. Recently, we have proposed the fabrication of disordered antidot arrays through the thermal reduction of thin films synthesized by

• been performed using a Bruker Dimension Icon microscope operating in non-contact mode and commercial AFM probes (Nanosensors, type PPP-FM), while scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images have been obtained using a Zeiss EVO MA10 microscope. The thickness of the thin films was determined using an alpha

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

• internal electric field distribution and photocarrier recombination mechanisms in polycrystalline perovskite thin films [6][7]. However, considering the results of earlier works shows that it is sometimes difficult to draw definitive conclusions about the detrimental (or beneficial) impact of the GBs on

• halide perovskite thin films remains a difficult task. Over the last few years single crystals [11][12] have constituted an interesting alternative for basic research on hybrid perovskites. Thanks to the absence of grain boundaries (and noncrystalline domains) they can be advantageously used to probe the

• illumination state [16]. However, one can arguably invoke the existence of artefacts prone to affect this kind of measurement [17]. In recent work, Zhou et al. carried out a comprehensive series of experiments on MAPbI3 single crystals (and thin films), providing strong evidence that the height changes probed

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

• suitable for use in environmental related fields such as air and water treatment and self-cleaning surfaces. In this work, titania thin films and powders were prepared by a particulate sol–gel route, using titanium tetrachloride (TiCl4) as a precursor. Afterwards, the prepared sols were doped with nitrogen

• (ammonium nitrate, urea), sulfur (thiourea) and platinum (chloroplatinic acid), coated onto glass substrates by dip-coating, and thermally treated in a muffle furnace to promote crystallization. The resulting thin films were then characterized by various techniques (i.e., TGA-DSC-MS, XRD, BET, XPS, SEM

• , band gap measurements). The photocatalytic activity of the prepared thin films was determined by measuring the degradation rate of plasmocorinth B (PB), an organic pigment used in the textile industry, which can pose an environmental risk when expelled into wastewater. A kinetic model for adsorption

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

• all-solid-state microbatteries (ASB). Being based on solid-state ionic processes in thin films, these new energy storage devices require adequate materials analysis techniques to study ionic and electronic phenomena. This is key to facilitate their commercial introduction. For example, in the case of

• processes in the thin films, at their interfaces and the combined electronic–ionic transport. It goes without saying that in sub-micrometer films thickness, the nanoionic properties of the system become more dominant and, similarly, the interfaces between layers represent a higher (compared to bulk) volume

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

• broad overview of all available techniques and approaches [11]. Here, we focus on the Si NC growth via phase separation of PECVD-deposited, P- or B-doped silicon-rich oxide thin films via annealing at high temperatures. Additionally, we focus on comparatively lowly doped samples (on the order of 0.1–1

Disorder-induced suppression of the zero-bias conductance peak splitting in topological superconducting nanowires

• Jun-Tong Ren,
• Hai-Feng Lü,
• Sha-Sha Ke,
• Yong Guo and
• Huai-Wu Zhang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1358–1369, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.128

• Jun-Tong Ren Hai-Feng Lu Sha-Sha Ke Yong Guo Huai-Wu Zhang State Key Laboratory of Electronic Thin Films and Integrated Devices and School of Physical Electronics, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 610054, China Department of Physics and State Key Laboratory of Low

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

• absorbers, and high-temperature and chemically resistant ceramics. In this article, the first investigation into the deposition of boron-based material via electron beam-induced deposition (EBID) is reported. Thin films were deposited using a novel, large-area EBID system that is shown to deposit material

• thin films [19][20]. Thin films were prepared using a novel, large-area deposition system designed for the directed deposition of macroscopic features using the EBID process. Deposition mechanisms of boron oxide from TMB precursor were determined from the thin-film deposition rate and stoichiometry as

Heterostuctures of 4-(chloromethyl)phenyltrichlorosilane and 5,10,15,20-tetra(4-pyridyl)-21H,23H-porphine prepared on Si(111) using particle lithography: Nanoscale characterization of the main steps of nanopatterning

• Phillip C. Chambers and
• Jayne C. Garno

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1211–1219, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.112

• provides a way to produce millions of nanostructures with reproducible shapes, sizes and arrangements with organic thin films [25][26]. Particle lithography is also commonly referred to as nanosphere lithography (NSL) [27] and has been used to generate patterns of organic polymers [25][28][29][30][31

• ], nanoparticles [32][33][34][35] and inorganic materials [36]. Experimental parameters such as the environmental conditions and solvent choice affect the density of organosilane thin films [37][38]. A model was proposed for the self-assembly of CMPS nanostructures formed within areas of nanoholes which

Field-controlled ultrafast magnetization dynamics in two-dimensional nanoscale ferromagnetic antidot arrays

• Anulekha De,
• Sucheta Mondal,
• Sourav Sahoo,
• Saswati Barman,
• Yoshichika Otani,
• Rajib Kumar Mitra and
• Anjan Barman

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1123–1134, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.104

• research on reconfigurable MCs, which act as a media for standing and propagating spin waves (SWs) in the GHz frequency regime. Ferromagnetic antidot lattices (magnetic thin films with periodic non-magnetic inclusions or embedded holes) have emerged as one of the strongest candidates for reconfigurable

P3HT:PCBM blend films phase diagram on the base of variable-temperature spectroscopic ellipsometry

• Barbara Hajduk,
• Henryk Bednarski,
• Bożena Jarząbek,
• Henryk Janeczek and
• Paweł Nitschke

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1108–1115, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.102

• temperature changes. Characteristic temperatures determined from the slope changes of the Δ(T) plot appeared to be very good guess values for the phase transition temperatures. Keywords: non-linear optics; organic semiconductors; spectroscopic ellipsometry; theoretical modeling; thin films; Introduction The

• post-deposition treatments, e.g., heat treatment [20][21]. One large branch of studies on OPV devices based on thin films of polymer:fullerene blend active layers deals with the optimization of their power conversion efficiency by applying thermal annealing [8]. Remarkably, it has been proven that the

• spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE). Moreover, with both techniques they detected two Tg transitions in thin films of P3HT:PCBM for a certain range of PCBM content. SE is a non-destructive and very sensitive technique for thin films investigations [23][24][25]. Generally, ellipsometry measures a change in the