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Nanocharacterization and Innovation at Nanoscale

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A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Nanotechnology and Applied Nanosciences".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2019) | Viewed by 27305

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Marco Rossi

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Guest Editor

Department of Basic and Applied Sciences for Engineering, Sapienza University of Rome, Via A. Scarpa 16, 00161 Rome, Italy
Interests: electron microscopy; electron diffraction; nanocharacterization; nanotechnology; carbon nanomaterials
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Marco Vittori Antisari

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Guest Editor

NanoItaly Association, 30161 Rome, Italy

Dr. Daniele Passeri

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Guest Editor

Department of Basic and Applied Sciences for Engineering, Sapienza University of Rome, Via A. Scarpa 14, 00161 Rome, Italy
Interests: nanocharacterization; scanning probe microscopy; nanotechnology; nanoscience; atomic force microscopy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

One of the final targets of the lively scientific research in the various fields of nanoscience and nanotechnology is the advancement in the use of nanomaterials, nanocomposites and nanosystems for our everyday life. All the aspects of our 'macro'world may potentially take advantage of applications of nanotechnologies.

NanoInnovation 2018, organized by the Italian Association for Industrial Research and the NanoItaly Association, will take place in Rome on September, 11th-14th 2018 The conference link is via http://www.nanoinnovation.eu/2018/. It is the national meeting place for the wide and multidisciplinary community dealing with the development of nanotechnologies and their integration with other key enabling technologies (KETs), in all application fields.

This Special Issue on “Nanocharacterization and Innovation at Nanoscale” is expected to select excellent papers both from and out of NanoInnovation 2018. We will provide an open discussion platform, where researchers, technologists, managers, entrepreneurs and investors can share experiences, opinions and expectations about the role of nanotechnologies for future innovations.

Topics include, but are not limited to:

(1) Advanced Characterization Techniques for Nanotechnologies and Nanosciences;

TEM characterization and imaging；

X-Ray Microscopy；

Microscopy-based Nanocharacterization Methodologies；

Cryo Electron Microscopy；

Scanning Ion Microscopy；

Scanning Electron Microscopy；

Transmission Electron Microscopy；

Microscopy techniques for industrial needs…

(2) Agri-NanoTechniques;

Nano perspectives in the Agri-Food;

Nanomaterials and Plant Nutrition…

(3) Advanced Scanning Probe Microscopies;

Atomic force microscopy;

Microwave Near-Field Microscopy…

(4) Microfluidics and Biosystems for personalized medicine;

Biosensors and microfluidic devices in life science;

Applications in personalized medicine…

(5) Nanotechnologies for innovative medicine.

New Materials and Nanotechnologies for Innovative therapeutic Approaches;

Materials and Devices for implants and regenerative medicine;

Molecular Biosensors…

We cordially invite you to contribute to this Special Issue. The article may be either original researches or reviews. There is no restriction on its length.

Prof. Dr. Marco Rossi
Dr. Marco Vittori Antisari
Dr. Daniele Passeri
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Applied Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

Construction, building & restoration
Electronics, micro and nanosystems
Energy & environment
Food and agriculture
Innovative and smart textiles
Nano-bio related products
Health & nanomedicine
Nano-materials based innovation
Nanoscale characterization and measurements
Safety and social impacts
Smart manufacturing
Transport, space & aeronautics…

Published Papers (9 papers)

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Research

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8 pages, 1785 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Remarkably Facile Preparation of Superhydrophobic Functionalized Bismuth Trioxide (Bi₂O₃) Coatings

by Tao-tao Liang and Xiao-gang Guo

Appl. Sci. 2019, 9(13), 2653; https://doi.org/10.3390/app9132653 - 29 Jun 2019

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2558

Abstract

Herein, a novel superhydrophobic functionalized nano-Bi₂O₃ coating is designed and fabricated using electrophoretic assembly deposition (EAD) in the optimal suspension of polyethylene glycol, ethanol, acetylacetone, and surface functionalization. The small size (70 nm, nano-scale) of Bi₂O₃ particles and uniform distribution make the target film possessing a promising structure for realizing hydrophobic functionalization. Moreover, the hydrophobicity and stability results indicate that the product has a high-water contact angle (CA) of ca. 167° and is kept almost stable after 180 days exposure in the natural environment. These findings will provide new insight into a better design of superhydrophobic functional coatings via this facile method, holding great promise for future various applications. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanocharacterization and Innovation at Nanoscale)

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16 pages, 3273 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Enhancing the Viscoelastic Performance of Carbon Fiber Composites by Incorporating CNTs and ZnO Nanofillers

by Suma Ayyagari and Marwan Al-Haik

Appl. Sci. 2019, 9(11), 2281; https://doi.org/10.3390/app9112281 - 03 Jun 2019

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3227

Abstract

Carbon fiber reinforced plastic composites (CFRPs) possess superior elastic mechanical properties. However, CFRPs lack sufficient viscoelastic performance, such as damping and creep resistance. In an effort to improve these properties, in this study, hybrid multiscale composites with various combinations of zinc oxide nanorods (ZnO) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were deposited at the interface of carbon fiber laminae. The viscoelastic properties of the corresponding composites were characterized via dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) during both temperature and frequency sweeps. The creep activation energy for each composite configuration was also calculated. The DMA temperature sweep analysis reported that the composite incorporating both ZnO and CNTs exhibited the highest improvements in all viscoelastic properties. This composite also attained better creep resistance, evident by the highest activation energy. The DMA frequency sweep analysis revealed that composites incorporating a single nanofiller improves the viscoelastic properties more than the combined nanofiller composite. Despite these improvements in the viscoelastic properties, the non-uniform dispersion and agglomerations of the nanofillers affected some of the elastic properties negatively, such as the storage modulus. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanocharacterization and Innovation at Nanoscale)

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13 pages, 6577 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Spinning Disk Reactor Technique for the Synthesis of Nanometric Sulfur TiO₂Core–Shell Powder for Lithium Batteries

by Alessandro Dell’Era, Francesca A. Scaramuzzo, Marco Stoller, Carla Lupi, Marco Rossi, Daniele Passeri and Mauro Pasquali

Appl. Sci. 2019, 9(9), 1913; https://doi.org/10.3390/app9091913 - 09 May 2019

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2758

Abstract

Sulfur/lithium battery performances are strictly related to the morphology and nanostructure of sulfur particles. In this work, a comparison of the morphological characteristics and electrochemical properties of electrodes based on colloidal sulfur (CS) obtained by means of traditional chemical precipitation from aqueous solution and via spinning disk reactor (SDR) has been performed. In particular, through the SDR technique and by using different fluid dynamic conditions, it was possible to obtain monodisperse and nanometricsulfurparticles with higher electrochemical performances when used as the cathodic active material in lithium batteries. Moreover, a method to produce core–shell nanoparticles with sulfur and titanium dioxide, starting from a colloidal sulfur (S8) solution and produced by SDR, has been performed, obtaining good electrochemical results. In particular, the nanometric sulfur powder produced by the SDR technique showed a capacity higher than CS after 100 cycles, even if the capacity decreased rapidly in both cases. Instead, considering the core–shell S–TiO₂ material, the nanostructured electrode allowed a wide use of active material and a reduced capacity decay during cycling. Specifically, the material showed an initial capacity of 1395 mAh/g, i.e., representing 83% of the theoretical value, which decreased during operation up to 450 mAh/g after about 30 cycles. Then, the material capacity remained unchanged and no substantial loss of capacity was recorded up to 100th cycle. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanocharacterization and Innovation at Nanoscale)

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8 pages, 4951 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Comparative Study on the Effects of Passivation Methods on the Carrier Lifetime of RIE and MACE Silicon Micropillars

by Amal Kabalan

Appl. Sci. 2019, 9(9), 1804; https://doi.org/10.3390/app9091804 - 30 Apr 2019

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2688

Abstract

Silicon micropillars have been suggested as one of the techniques for improving the efficiency of devices. Fabrication of micropillars has been done in several ways—Metal Assisted Chemical Etching (MACE) and Reactive Ion Etching (RIE) being the most popular techniques. These techniques include etching through the surface which results in surface damage that affects the carrier lifetime. This paper presents a study that compares the carrier lifetime of micropillars fabricated using RIE and MACE methods. It also looks at increasing carrier lifetime by surface treatment using three main approaches: surface passivation by depositing Al₂O₃, surface passivation by depositing SiO₂/SiN, and surface passivation by etching using KOH and Hydrofluoric Nitric Acetic (HNA) solution. It was concluded that passivating with SiO₂ and SiN results in the highest carrier lifetime on the MACE and RIE pillars. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanocharacterization and Innovation at Nanoscale)

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13 pages, 2624 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Establishment of a Standard Method for Boundary Slip Measurement on Smooth Surfaces Based on AFM

by Lei Chen, Xuezeng Zhao and Yunlu Pan

Appl. Sci. 2019, 9(7), 1453; https://doi.org/10.3390/app9071453 - 07 Apr 2019

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2574

Abstract

Typically, it is difficult to analyze and design a micro/nanofluid system, and the design process cannot follow the traditional law of hydrodynamics. The boundary condition is very important in the applications of a micro/nanofluid system. The existence of boundary slip can reduce the hydrodynamic resistance and enhance fluid flow. How to accurately determine the dynamic boundary conditions is increasingly concerned by researchers. Atomic force microscope (AFM) is proven to be the most advanced experimental instrument for studying the characteristics of the surface and the interaction interface. Most studies on the application of atomic force microscopy to the measurement of the boundary slip do not describe a systematic standard process, leading to many differences in the measurement results. In this paper, a standard process of measuring slip on smooth and flat surfaces is developed, including the data processing methods that minimize the interference factors in the original data as well as simplify the data expression. Thus, the boundary slip can be obtained more easily and accurately. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanocharacterization and Innovation at Nanoscale)

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15 pages, 12189 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

An Interdisciplinary Approach to the Nanomanipulation of SiO₂ Nanoparticles: Design, Fabrication and Feasibility

by Igor Luisetto, Simonetta Tuti, Eleonora Marconi, Andrea Veroli, Alessio Buzzin, Giampiero De Cesare, Stefano Natali, Matteo Verotti, Ennio Giovine and Nicola Pio Belfiore

Appl. Sci. 2018, 8(12), 2645; https://doi.org/10.3390/app8122645 - 17 Dec 2018

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 2791

Abstract

Although some recent developments in nanotechnology made the prospects of a direct mechanical manipulation of micro- or nano-objects quite realistic, there are still several concerns and difficulties that affect such an endeavor. This is probably due to the large base of knowledge that is necessary to approach the problem of handling a nano-object by means of a nano- or micro-device. Therefore, any progress in this field is possible only by means of an integrated and interdisciplinary approach, which takes into account different aspects of the phenomenon. During the actual pioneering phase, there is a certain convenience in handling nano-objects that: (a) have peculiar known characteristics; (b) are easily recognizable, and (c) are interesting to the scientific community. This paper presents the interdisciplinary activities that were necessary to set up an experiment where specifically synthesized SiO₂ particles came in contact with the tips of specifically-designed and -fabricated nanomanipulators. SiO₂ mesoporous nanoparticles (KCC-1), having a peculiar dendritic structure, have been selected as a suitable nano-object because of the possibility to easily modulate their morphology. The expected contact force has been also calculated by means of Finite Element Analysis (FEA) electro-mechanical simulations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanocharacterization and Innovation at Nanoscale)

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10 pages, 4896 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Deeper Insight on the Stability of Water-Induced Reconstruction of Anatase (001) Surface

by Giuseppe Zollo and Eugenio Vitale

Appl. Sci. 2018, 8(12), 2522; https://doi.org/10.3390/app8122522 - 06 Dec 2018

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2678

Abstract

TiO

_{2}

anatase (001) surface has been indicated for many years as a potential system for water dissociation and hydrogen production. Surface reconstruction periodicity of TiO

_{2}

anatase (001) in water is revised on the basis of the new water induced reconstruction model [...] Read more.

TiO

_{2}

anatase (001) surface has been indicated for many years as a potential system for water dissociation and hydrogen production. Surface reconstruction periodicity of TiO

_{2}

anatase (001) in water is revised on the basis of the new water induced reconstruction model that accounts for dissociative water adsorption in the first monolayer and self-assembling of surface hydroxyls. The study has been performed in the context of first principles total energy calculations on the basis of state of the art Density Functional Theory. Different surface periodical structures have been studied and compared in terms of residual surface stress and surface reactivity. While a preference seems to emerge for the (2 × 3) surface reconstruction, there are indications that this configuration might not occur spontaneously in bulk water. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanocharacterization and Innovation at Nanoscale)

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11 pages, 4520 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Effect of Production Parameters of Oxide Layers on Their Nanostructure, Nanomorphology, and Surface Free Energy

by Władysław Skoneczny, Mateusz Niedźwiedź and Marek Bara

Appl. Sci. 2018, 8(11), 2251; https://doi.org/10.3390/app8112251 - 15 Nov 2018

Cited by 15 | Viewed by 2288

Abstract

Nanotechnology is currently a very promising field of materials science. One of the most recent directions of research in this field is the nanotechnology of the upper layers for applications in engineering kinematic systems. The paper presents the influence of the production parameters of Al₂O₃ oxide layers on an EN AW-5251 aluminum alloy substrate on the nanostructure, nanomorphology of these layers, and their energy condition. The energy level was determined on the basis of Surface-Free Energy (SFE), determined from wettability (contact) angle measurements using the Owens-Wendt method. Using systematic scanning, the geometric structure of the surface (SGS) was determined for the produced layers. By means of a scanning electron microscope (SEM), the surface morphology and structure, and the chemical composition of the layers (EDS) were analyzed. Computer analysis of the surface nanoporosity was performed by means of the ImageJ 1.50i program. It was noted in the investigations that the oxide layer production parameters induce changes in the surface free energy of the layers. Changes in the nanomorphology of the upper layers were also observed, depending on the anodizing parameters. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanocharacterization and Innovation at Nanoscale)

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Review

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16 pages, 4788 KiB

Open AccessReview

A Brief Review on the Recent Experimental Advances in Thermal Rectification at the Nanoscale

by Hexin Liu, Haidong Wang and Xing Zhang

Appl. Sci. 2019, 9(2), 344; https://doi.org/10.3390/app9020344 - 19 Jan 2019

Cited by 23 | Viewed by 4956

Abstract

The concept of thermal rectification was put forward decades ago. It is a phenomenon in which the heat flux along one direction varies as the sign of temperature gradient changes. In bulk materials, thermal rectification has been realized at contact interfaces by manufacturing asymmetric effective contact areas, electron transport, temperature dependence of thermal conductivity and so on. The mechanism of thermal rectification has been studied intensively by using both experimental and theoretical methods. In recent years, with the rapid development of nanoscience and technology, the active control and management of heat transport at the nanoscale has become an important task and has attracted much attention. As the most fundamental component, the development and utilization of a nanothermal rectifier is the key technology. Although many research papers have been published in this field, due to the significant challenge in manufacturing asymmetric nanostructures, most of the publications are focused on molecular dynamics simulation and theoretical analysis. Great effort is urgently required in the experimental realization of thermal rectification at the nanoscale, laying a solid foundation for computation and theoretical modeling. The aim of this brief review is to introduce the most recent experimental advances in thermal rectification at the nanoscale and discuss the physical mechanisms. The new nanotechnology and method can be used to improve our ability to further design and produce efficient thermal devices with a high rectification ratio. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanocharacterization and Innovation at Nanoscale)

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