Physical constraints lead to parallel evolution of micro- and nanostructures of animal adhesive pads: a review

• Thies H. Büscher and
• Stanislav N. Gorb

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 725–743, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.57

• preparation show that the secretory droplets contain nanodroplets on their surfaces (Figure 8). These results led authors to suggest that the pad secretion is an emulsion consisting of lipoid nanodroplets dispersed in an aqueous liquid. The fluid within the smooth pad contributes to the viscoelastic behaviour

Stability and activity of platinum nanoparticles in the oxygen electroreduction reaction: is size or uniformity of primary importance?

• Kirill O. Paperzh,
• Anastasia A. Alekseenko,
• Vadim A. Volochaev,
• Ilya V. Pankov,
• Olga A. Safronenko and
• Vladimir E. Guterman

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 593–606, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.49

• suspension of Pt/C catalysts (i.e., "catalytic ink"), 900 μL of isopropyl alcohol and 100 μL of a 0.5% aqueous emulsion of Nafion® polymer were added to 6 mg of each sample. Then, the suspension was dispersed with ultrasound for 15 min. Under continuous stirring, an aliquot of “ink” of 6 μL in volume was

The impact of molecular tumor profiling on the design strategies for targeting myeloid leukemia and EGFR/CD44-positive solid tumors

• Nikola Geskovski,
• Nadica Matevska-Geshkovska,
• Simona Dimchevska Sazdovska,
• Marija Glavas Dodov,
• Kristina Mladenovska and
• Katerina Goracinova

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 375–401, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.31

Cardiomyocyte uptake mechanism of a hydroxyapatite nanoparticle mediated gene delivery system

• Hiroaki Komuro,
• Masahiro Yamazoe,
• Kosuke Nozaki,
• Akiko Nagai and
• Tetsuo Sasano

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1685–1692, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.150

• sufficiently studied in cardiomyocytes. The aim of this study was to determine how hydroxyapatite (HAp) nanoparticles contribute to the delivery of plasmid DNA (pDNA) into cardiomyocytes. We fabricated HAp nanoparticles using the water-in-oil (W/O) emulsion method and used these nanoparticles as the delivery

• HAp nanoparticles were prepared using the water-in-oil (W/O) emulsion method. The characterization of the prepared HAp nanoparticles was carried out using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). TEM provided insight into the

• are still many limitations, such as low transfection efficiency and reproducibility, that must be overcome for these methods to be successfully used in clinical applications. We were able to successfully produce HAp nanoparticles with less aggregation using the W/O emulsion method, as shown in a

Phase inversion-based nanoemulsions of medium chain triglyceride as potential drug delivery system for parenteral applications

• Eike Folker Busmann,
• Dailén García Martínez,
• Henrike Lucas and
• Karsten Mäder

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 213–224, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.16

• as the flexibility of the nanoparticles [6][7][8][9]. Shock dilution with ice-cold water during phase inversion of the emulsion gives the opportunity to produce nanocapsules without the use of any potentially toxic organic solvent at low energy cost [10][11]. The choice and the amount of the

• on the particle diameter is illustrated in Figure 6. With the exception of emulsion NE25, all nanoemulsions were stable over the course of eight weeks at the three storage conditions. Only NE25 underwent creaming and coalescence at 40 °C resulting in a significant increase of the particle diameter up

• distributions depending on their lipid:surfactant ratio. Using a nonionic surfactant resulted in an uncharged surface of the emulsion droplets. The nanoemulsion with small particles of 25 nm in diameter showed an slightly increased cytotoxicity in comparison to the barely toxic nanoemulsions with particles of

Microfluidics as tool to prepare size-tunable PLGA nanoparticles with high curcumin encapsulation for efficient mucus penetration

• Nashrawan Lababidi,
• Valentin Sigal,
• Aljoscha Koenneke,
• Konrad Schwarzkopf,
• Andreas Manz and
• Marc Schneider

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2280–2293, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.220

• , relying on PLGA's biodegradability and the fact that it is FDA approved for some products [26][27]. Many different methods have been established to prepare PLGA NPs, such as double emulsion and nanoprecipitation [28][29]. Among many other techniques, nanoprecipitation was adopted very quickly to prepare

BergaCare SmartLipids: commercial lipophilic active concentrates for improved performance of dermal products

• Florence Olechowski,
• Rainer H. Müller and
• Sung Min Pyo

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2152–2162, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.208

• melting point of the highest melting lipid, then the active agent is dissolved in the lipid melt and the melt containing the active agent is dispersed in a hot aqueous stabilizer solution (surfactant, polymer) of identical temperature by high-speed stirring to form a coarse emulsion. This pre-emulsion is

• sunscreens are normally dissolved in the oil phase of oil/water emulsions. Due to the liquid state of the oil droplets, the evenly and molecularly dispersed sunscreen within the droplets can be released quickly and penetrate into the skin. The release of oxybenzone from an emulsion and SLNs was compared in

Incorporation of doxorubicin in different polymer nanoparticles and their anticancer activity

• Sebastian Pieper,
• Hannah Onafuye,
• Dennis Mulac,
• Jindrich Cinatl Jr.,
• Mark N. Wass,
• Martin Michaelis and
• Klaus Langer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2062–2072, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.201

• solvent displacement and emulsion diffusion approaches and assessed their anticancer efficiency in neuroblastoma cells, including ABCB1-expressing cell lines, in comparison to doxorubicin solution. Results: The resulting nanoparticles covered a size range between 73 and 246 nm. PLGA-PEG nanoparticle

• , opsonisation, and phagocytosis [12]. In previous studies PLA-, PLGA-, PLA-PEG-, and PLGA-PEG-based nanometre-sized drug carriers loaded with or covalently linked to doxorubicin have been prepared by methods including emulsion diffusion, solvent displacement, micelle formation, and film rehydration followed by

• context of efflux-mediated resistance. Since nanoparticles prepared by simple methods have the highest chance of clinical translation, doxorubicin was incorporated into nanoparticles prepared from PLA, PLGA, and PLGA-PEG by emulsion diffusion or solvent displacement approaches, two well-established and

Porous silver-coated pNIPAM-co-AAc hydrogel nanocapsules

• William W. Bryan,
• Riddhiman Medhi,
• Maria D. Marquez,
• Supparesk Rittikulsittichai,
• Michael Tran and
• T. Randall Lee

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1973–1982, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.194

• describes the preparation and characterization of a new type of core–shell nanoparticle in which the structure consists of a hydrogel core encapsulated within a porous silver shell. The thermo-responsive hydrogel cores were prepared by surfactant-free emulsion polymerization of a selected mixture of N

• encapsulation of thermo-responsive pNIPAM-co-AAc hydrogel cores within porous silver nanoshells, and for the purpose of comparison, within a complete nonporous silver nanoshell. We adopt a simple surfactant-free emulsion polymerization (SFEP) technique to grow the initial hydrogel core templates [74][75][76

• -growth method and surfactant-free emulsion polymerization, we demonstrated a reliable synthesis of silver nanocapsules encapsulating thermo-responsive pNIPAM-co-AAc hydrogel cores. The 800 nm silver nanocapsules with a capsule thickness of ≈50 nm were characterized by SEM, TEM, and UV–vis spectroscopy

Lipid nanostructures for antioxidant delivery: a comparative preformulation study

• Elisabetta Esposito,
• Maddalena Sguizzato,
• Markus Drechsler,
• Paolo Mariani,
• Federica Carducci,
• Claudio Nastruzzi,
• Giuseppe Valacchi and
• Rita Cortesi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1789–1801, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.174

• dispersion acronyms and compositions are reported in Table 1 and Table 2. Firstly, an emulsion was obtained adding the poloxamer 188 aqueous phase (4.5/4.75 mL) heated at 80 °C to the molten lipid phase (250/500 mg), followed by mixing at 15000 rpm, at 80 °C for 1 min (IKA T25 digital ultraturrax). Secondly

• , the emulsion was subjected to ultrasound homogenization at 6.75 kHz for 15 min (Microson ultrasonic Cell Disruptor-XL Minisonix) and allowed to cool at 25 °C. Lipid nanoparticle dispersions were stored at room temperature. In the case of drug-loaded nanoparticles, TOC (0.4–0.8% w/w with respect to the

Green fabrication of lanthanide-doped hydroxide-based phosphors: Y(OH)₃:Eu³⁺ nanoparticles for white light generation

• Tugrul Guner,
• Anilcan Kus,
• Mehmet Ozcan,
• Aziz Genc,
• Hasan Sahin and
• Mustafa M. Demir

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1200–1210, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.119

• methods have been widely used such as sol–gel, hydrothermal, combustion, emulsion, and precipitation methods [31][32][33][34]. Among those, the sol–gel and co-precipitation methods are, in general, slow and usually involve additional steps. On the other hand, there is a huge waste of organic solvents

• during the emulsion process, which makes this method inefficient in terms of cost and toxicity [35]. Therefore, facile synthesis methods involving water-based reactions at ambient conditions are needed for phosphor fabrication. In this study, a promising strategy has been introduced in order to meet

Serum type and concentration both affect the protein-corona composition of PLGA nanoparticles

• Katrin Partikel,
• Robin Korte,
• Dennis Mulac,
• Hans-Ulrich Humpf and
• Klaus Langer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1002–1015, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.101

• of the protein corona with increasing serum concentration Nanoparticles (NPs) of the present study are based on the biodegradable polymer PLGA stabilized with poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and were prepared by an emulsion diffusion method [19]. Incorporation of Lumogen® Red led to fluorescent labeled NPs

• emulsified using a high-speed homogenizer (Ultra-Turrax®, S25NK-10G, IKA, Staufen, Germany) at 21,000 rpm for 30 min. The resulting pre-emulsion was poured into 6 mL of PVA solution (2%, w/w) and stirred overnight at room temperature to remove the organic phase. Finally, the NPs were purified by three steps

Ceria/polymer nanocontainers for high-performance encapsulation of fluorophores

• Kartheek Katta,
• Dmitry Busko,
• Yuri Avlasevich,
• Katharina Landfester,
• Stanislav Baluschev and
• Rafael Muñoz-Espí

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 522–530, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.53

• initiator V59 (100 mg). The two phases were mixed and pre-emulsified by stirring at 1000 rpm for 1 h. The emulsion was prepared by ultrasonication (Branson Digital Sonifier 450-D; 1/2″ tip, 90% intensity, 2 min) while cooling in an ice-water bath to avoid polymerization due to heating. The polymerization

Pull-off and friction forces of micropatterned elastomers on soft substrates: the effects of pattern length scale and stiffness

• Peter van Assenbergh,
• Marike Fokker,
• Julian Langowski,
• Jan van Esch,
• Marleen Kamperman and
• Dimitra Dodou

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 79–94, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.8

• particles: Carboxylated polystyrene (PS) particles with a sub-microscale diameter were synthesized in a single-step surfactant-free emulsion polymerization, according to Appel et al. [42]. The particles were washed by centrifugation three times in ethanol and three times in water. The particles were

Colloidal chemistry with patchy silica nanoparticles

• Pierre-Etienne Rouet,
• Cyril Chomette,
• Laurent Adumeau,
• Etienne Duguet and
• Serge Ravaine

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2989–2998, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.278

• Ravensteijn has also reported asymmetric dumbbell-like particles, i.e., with two nodules of different chemical compositions, obtained through a phase separation process during the styrene emulsion polymerization seeded with cross-linked polystyrene (PS) particles coated with a thin layer of poly(vinylbenzyl

• of a central silica core and two or four PS nodules were prepared by the seeded-growth emulsion polymerization of styrene, according to an already published procedure [24]. The regrowth of the silica cores of the multipods, the subsequent dissolution of the PS nodules to create dimpled particles and

• by two or four PS satellite nodules, by seeded-growth emulsion polymerization of styrene, according to a procedure we published previously [24]. We used two batches of silica seeds with diameters of 48 and 53 nm, respectively, previously surface-modified with MMS or MPS (0.5 molecules per square

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

• indicated in the formation of a 2D interface layer which included Ni–O–Si bonds on the surface of the mesoporous silicate. It was found that the composite system prepared by cryotreatment of the emulsion showed a higher hydro-desulfurization catalytic activity by several orders of magnitude as compared to

Optimisation of purification techniques for the preparation of large-volume aqueous solar nanoparticle inks for organic photovoltaics

• Furqan Almyahi,
• Thomas R. Andersen,
• Nathan A. Cooling,
• Natalie P. Holmes,
• Matthew J. Griffith,
• Krishna Feron,
• Xiaojing Zhou,
• Warwick J. Belcher and
• Paul C. Dastoor

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 649–659, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.60

• industrial potential of this method. Method 2: The mini-emulsion method: This method involves ultrasonic mixing of the two-phase organic–aqueous system in the presence of a surfactant, which is commonly sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), to produce the mini-emulsion [10]. The presence of free (unbound) SDS in the

• supplied by Vivaproducts and Sartorius, respectively, each equipped with a poly(ethersulfone) (PES) membrane with a cut-off at 10 kDa (MWCO). A Hielscher ultrasound type UIP1000hdT (1000 W, 20 kHz) with a 22 mm diameter sonotrode was used to prepare the mini-emulsion for large-volume nanoparticle inks

• . Layer thicknesses were measured by a KLA–Tencor Alpha step 500 surface profilometer. Preparation of aqueous solar nanoparticle inks In accordance with the modified mini-emulsion process [10][11], the formulation of ASNP inks based on P3HT:ICxA (1:0.8) in large batch (100 mL) comprised several procedural

Temperature-tunable lasing from dye-doped chiral microdroplets encapsulated in a thin polymeric film

• Gia Petriashvili,
• Mauro Daniel Luigi Bruno,
• Maria Penelope De Santo and
• Riccardo Barberi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 379–383, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.37

• many applications in the field of sensors or tunable photonics. Several techniques can be used to obtain small microresonators as, for example, dispersing a liquid crystal inside an immiscible isotropic fluid to create an emulsion. Recently, the possibility to obtain a thin free-standing film starting

• from an emulsion having a mixture of water and polyvinyl alcohol as isotropic matrix has been reported. After the water evaporation, a polymeric film in which the microdroplets are encapsulated has been obtained. Bragg-type laser emission has been recorded from the emulsion as well as from the thin

• that the laser emission tuning can be obtained preparing the CLC mixture by using a chiral dopant with temperature-dependent solubility. For both emulsion and thin film form, the laser emission wavelength can be tuned. In particular, laser emission from the thin film is tuned over a range of about 40

Fabrication of carbon nanospheres by the pyrolysis of polyacrylonitrile–poly(methyl methacrylate) core–shell composite nanoparticles

• Dafu Wei,
• Youwei Zhang and
• Jinping Fu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1897–1908, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.190

• nanoparticles. Firstly, PAN–PMMA nanoparticles at high concentration and low surfactant content were controllably synthesized by a two-stage azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN)-initiated semicontinuous emulsion polymerization. The carbon nanospheres were obtained after the PAN core domain was converted into carbon

• –shell nanoparticles; emulsion polymerization; polyacrylonitrile; Introduction Due to their high specific surface area, chemical inertness, good mechanical stability and unique electrical properties, carbon nanospheres have numerous potential applications in nanocomposites [1], gas storage [2], lithium

• efficiency of micellization make the method unappealing to the industrial community. Emulsion polymerization is a facile and efficient route to synthesize polymer particles. By combining the emulsion polymerization with the pyrolysis, the production efficiency of PAN-based carbon nanospheres can be improved

Cationic PEGylated polycaprolactone nanoparticles carrying post-operation docetaxel for glioma treatment

• Cem Varan and
• Erem Bilensoy

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1446–1456, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.144

• obtain smaller, monodisperse nanoparticles with favorable stability. Three different preparation techniques, emulsion/solvent evaporation, double emulsion and nanoprecipitation, were used to prepare PCL or mePEG-PCL nanoparticles. As seen in Table 1, the mean diameter of PCL nanoparticles was found to be

• 160–350 nm. It was clearly shown that the preparation technique significantly affects the particle size (p < 0.05). In addition, the polydispersity index of the PCL nanoparticles also depends on the preparation technique, directly. Studies showed that PCL nanoparticles which were prepared by emulsion

• -PCL (p < 0.05). The preparation method had a similar effect on mePEG-PCL nanoparticles as well. The double emulsion method yielded the largest particle size and polydispersity index for blank PCL and mePEG-PCL nanoparticles. The double emulsion method involves two emulsification steps. For this reason

Miniemulsion copolymerization of (meth)acrylates in the presence of functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotubes for reinforced coating applications

• Bertha T. Pérez-Martínez,
• Lorena Farías-Cepeda,
• Víctor M. Ovando-Medina,
• José M. Asua,
• Lucero Rosales-Marines and
• Radmila Tomovska

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1328–1337, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.134

• are placed in the interstitial sites between the polymer nanoparticles, which hinders CNT aggregation in the film. Emulsion polymerization is the most frequently used waterborne polymerization process in industry [22][23][24][25][26]. However, especially for hybrid systems that contain an additional

• grafted onto either the PVP or the surface of MWCNTs, as it has been reported in the emulsion polymerization of styrene initiated with KPS in the presence of MWCNTs [40] and in the emulsion polymerization of MMA/BA with graphene filler [41]. The second reason for such a high gel content may be the H

Structural and tribometric characterization of biomimetically inspired synthetic "insect adhesives"

• Matthias W. Speidel,
• Malte Kleemeier,
• Andreas Hartwig,
• Klaus Rischka,
• Angelika Ellermann,
• Rolf Daniels and
• Oliver Betz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 45–63, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.6

• the second generation emulsions) were comparatively low. Differences in shear performance were related to the chemical composition and emulsion structure. Conclusion: By varying their chemical composition, synthetic heterogeneous adhesive emulsions can be adjusted to have diverse consistencies and are

• able to mimic certain rheological and tribological properties of natural tarsal insect adhesives. Keywords: adhesion; bionics; emulsion; friction; insects; Introduction During evolution, insects have developed the ability to move vertically and upside-down on various kinds of surface, a feat that has

• have revealed that they form heterogeneous (emulsion-like) mixtures of aliphatic lipids, carbohydrates and proteins [4][15][16][17][18][19]. Adhesive secretions may form both oil-in-water (o/w) [20][21][22] or water-in-oil (w/o) emulsions [14][23]. Possible functional advantages lie in (i) their

The cleaner, the greener? Product sustainability assessment of the biomimetic façade paint Lotusan^® in comparison to the conventional façade paint Jumbosil^®

• Florian Antony,
• Rainer Grießhammer,
• Thomas Speck and
• Olga Speck

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 2100–2115, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.200

• manufacturers (VdL), Lotusan® consists of an emulsion of polyoxysiloxane, polymer dispersion, titanium dioxide, silicon dioxide, water and additives [31]. According to the technical bulletin [32], Lotusan® is characterized by a density of 1.4–1.6 g/mL, and is highly permeable to carbon dioxide and water vapour

Intercalation and structural aspects of macroRAFT agents into MgAl layered double hydroxides

• Dessislava Kostadinova,
• Ana Cenacchi Pereira,
• Muriel Lansalot,
• Franck D’Agosto,
• Elodie Bourgeat-Lami,
• Fabrice Leroux,
• Christine Taviot-Guého,
• Sylvian Cadars and
• Vanessa Prevot

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 2000–2012, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.191

• using an emulsion polymerization process [49]. Experimental Magnesium and aluminium nitrate salts, Mg(NO3)2·6H2O and Al(NO3)3·9H2O were of analytical grade (Acros Organics, Merck). Acrylic acid (AA, Aldrich, 99%), n-butyl acrylate (BA, 99%, stabilized, Acros Organics), 1,4-dioxane (Sigma-Aldrich, puriss

Influence of ambient humidity on the attachment ability of ladybird beetles (Coccinella septempunctata)

• Lars Heepe,
• Jonas O. Wolff and
• Stanislav N. Gorb

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1322–1329, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.123

• micro-emulsion of water and oil, with varying fractions of substances [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31]. The mixture of both polar and non-polar substances presumably helps to wet both hydrophobic and hydrophilic surfaces building a fluid meniscus between the seta and the substrate to yield high