Nanocellulose: Recent advances and its prospects in environmental remediation

• Katrina Pui Yee Shak,
• Yean Ling Pang and
• Shee Keat Mah

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2479–2498, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.232

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

• sensitivity in detecting lead ions compared to cadmium ions. Keywords: cadmium; electrochemical sensors; heavy metal ions; lead; one-dimensional nanostructures; ZnO; Introduction Today, due to the rapid growth of industry and transport, the issues of environmental pollution by heavy metals, particularly by

• most harmful heavy metals. Its presence is hazardous to the environment, it is toxic and carcinogenic, and it tends to accumulate in living organisms, where it replaces other elements in bones and tissues, and causes long-term poisoning [3][4][5]. That is why the creation of a sensor that could detect

Toward the use of CVD-grown MoS₂ nanosheets as field-emission source

• Geetanjali Deokar,
• Nitul S. Rajput,
• Junjie Li,
• Francis Leonard Deepak,
• Wei Ou-Yang,
• Nicolas Reckinger,
• Carla Bittencourt,
• Jean-Francois Colomer and
• Mustapha Jouiad

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1686–1694, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.160

• technologies such as filtration membranes to remove fouling, heavy metals and chemicals from water by membrane separation as reported elsewhere for graphene nanosheets [26]. To investigate further the NSs growth, cross-section TEM measurements were performed. The general morphologies of the vertically standing

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

• urbanization, which in turn act to increase the level of environmental pollution [1][2][3]. Heavy metals contribute to a significant extent towards environmental pollution because of their toxicity, bio-accumulation and non-biodegradable nature. They also release large quantities of hazardous waste during

• their extraction. Hence, removal of toxic heavy metal ions from wastewater is considered as one of the most important environmental issues worldwide. Among the toxic heavy metals, chromium has been a major environmental concern in wastewater treatment. It exists in various oxidation states starting from

Colorimetric detection of Cu²⁺ based on the formation of peptide–copper complexes on silver nanoparticle surfaces

• Gajanan Sampatrao Ghodake,
• Surendra Krishna Shinde,
• Rijuta Ganesh Saratale,
• Avinash Ashok Kadam,
• Ganesh Dattatraya Saratale,
• Asad Syed,
• Fuad Ameen and
• Dae-Young Kim

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1414–1422, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.134

• Organization. Keywords: absorbance; dispersion; drinking water; rapid detection; UV spectroscopy; Introduction Among heavy metals, copper is particularly interesting because it acts both as a micronutrient essential to life, but also as an environmental contaminant, due to its toxicity to most organisms when

Review on nanoparticles and nanostructured materials: history, sources, toxicity and regulations

• Jaison Jeevanandam,
• Ahmed Barhoum,
• Yen S. Chan,
• Alain Dufresne and
• Michael K. Danquah

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1050–1074, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.98

• human, animal, and plant activities by blocking and scattering the sunlight. The volcanically erupted particles may possess heavy metals that are toxic to humans [69]. The short-term effects of particles from volcanic eruptions include nose, throat, eye and skin irritations and bronchial symptoms, while

• [131][132]. Plant viruses have been found to be nontoxic towards human cells at required dosages for effective administration of the drug load [133][134]. Nanobacteria and nanobes: Generally, bacteria will bind to soluble, toxic heavy metals and precipitate them to their surface, producing metal NPs

Heavy-metal detectors based on modified ferrite nanoparticles

• Urszula Klekotka,
• Ewelina Wińska,
• Elżbieta Zambrzycka-Szelewa,
• Dariusz Satuła and
• Beata Kalska-Szostko

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 762–770, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.69

• (AAS) and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) as comparative techniques. The performed study shows that SA linker appears to be the most effective in the adsorption of heavy metals. Moreover, regarding the influence of the composition of the inorganic core on the detection ability, the most effective ferrite

• composition and surface modification. The aim of the study is to examine the efficiency of adsorption of heavy metals in artificial solutions on doped magnetite nanoparticles (Ca, Co, Mn, Ni) surface-modified with PA, SA, AA, 3-PPA or 16-PHDA linkers. Experimental Reagents and solutions Chemicals used in this

• for the detection of heavy metals. However, the obtained results show that it is not sufficient in every case. Selected results of modified Mn0.5Fe2.5O4 with different linkers and after the detection of Cd2+, Cu2+ or Pb2+ are presented in Figure 4. This core composition was selected as representative

Green synthesis of fluorescent carbon dots from spices for in vitro imaging and tumour cell growth inhibition

• Nagamalai Vasimalai,
• Vânia Vilas-Boas,
• Juan Gallo,
• María de Fátima Cerqueira,
• Mario Menéndez-Miranda,
• José Manuel Costa-Fernández,
• Lorena Diéguez,
• Begoña Espiña and
• María Teresa Fernández-Argüelles

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 530–544, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.51

• graphene quantum dots (GQDs) are emerging as new alternatives due to their excellent properties, including high photoluminescence, low photobleaching, high biocompatibility and low toxicity. C-dots avoid the use of heavy metals present in semiconductor quantum dots, which have raised important health and

Nano-engineered skin mesenchymal stem cells: potential vehicles for tumour-targeted quantum-dot delivery

• Liga Saulite,
• Dominyka Dapkute,
• Karlis Pleiko,
• Ineta Popena,
• Simona Steponkiene,
• Ricardas Rotomskis and
• Una Riekstina

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1218–1230, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.123

• MSCs are potentially safe to use in long-term tumour imaging and cell tracking experiments. Although there is a great deal of concern about the potential hazards of QDs containing heavy metals, the toxicity of QDs is a topic of controversy. The toxicity and ecotoxicity of QDs is studied at various

Treatment of fly ash from power plants using thermal plasma

• Sulaiman Al-Mayman,
• Ibrahim AlShunaifi,
• Abdullah Albeladi,
• Imed Ghiloufi and
• Saud Binjuwair

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1043–1048, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.105

• , Saudi Arabia 10.3762/bjnano.8.105 Abstract Fly ash from power plants is very toxic because it contains heavy metals. In this study fly ash was treated with a thermal plasma. Before their treatment, the fly ash was analyzed by many technics such as X-ray fluorescence, CHN elemental analysis, inductively

• alkaline earth metals (Ba, Ca, and Mg). These metals are added to the fuel oils for the suppression of soot or for corrosion control [2][3]. This fly ash is toxic because it contains a high percentage of heavy metals, such as V and Ni. Furthermore, the landfill of fly ash is expensive and causes several

• environmental problems such as pollution of the soil with organic compounds, leaching of heavy metals and secondary dust generation. Consequently, the treatment of fly ash is an essential process prior to storing it [4]. To treat fly ash many methods have been developed. For example, fly ash was disposed in

Selective detection of Mg²⁺ ions via enhanced fluorescence emission using Au–DNA nanocomposites

• Tanushree Basu,
• Khyati Rana,
• Niranjan Das and
• Bonamali Pal

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 762–771, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.79

• agents [5]. Currently, most of the research activities on Au–DNA nanocomposites (NCs) are in the field of therapeutics, medicine, and gene therapy. For example, in 2014, Li and co-workers reported the detection of the heavy metals Hg2+ and Cu2+ using a DNA–Ag nanocomposite system [6]. They demonstrated

Performance of natural-dye-sensitized solar cells by ZnO nanorod and nanowall enhanced photoelectrodes

• Saif Saadaoui,
• Mohamed Aziz Ben Youssef,
• Moufida Ben Karoui,
• Rached Gharbi,
• Emanuele Smecca,
• Vincenzina Strano,
• Salvo Mirabella,
• Alessandra Alberti and
• Rosaria A. Puglisi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 287–295, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.31

• complete the reaction [2][10]. Different high-raked commercial dyes, such as N719 or N3, have been widely studied in the literature and their performance has been proven. Because these organometallic dyes contain environmental pollutants, such as heavy metals [6], recent studies have focused on finding a

Comparison of four functionalization methods of gold nanoparticles for enhancing the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)

• Paula Ciaurriz,
• Fátima Fernández,
• Edurne Tellechea,
• Jose F. Moran and
• Aaron C. Asensio

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 244–253, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.27

• . With this methodology, it is possible to diagnose illness, allergies, alimentary fraud, and even to detect small molecules such as toxins, pesticides, heavy metals, etc. For this reason, any procedures that improve the detection limit, sensitivity or reduce the analysis time could have an important

Facile fabrication of luminescent organic dots by thermolysis of citric acid in urea melt, and their use for cell staining and polyelectrolyte microcapsule labelling

• Nadezhda M. Zholobak,
• Anton L. Popov,
• Alexander B. Shcherbakov,
• Nelly R. Popova,
• Mykhailo M. Guzyk,
• Valeriy P. Antonovich,
• Alla V. Yegorova,
• Yuliya V. Scrypynets,
• Inna I. Leonenko,
• Alexander Ye. Baranchikov and
• Vladimir K. Ivanov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1905–1917, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.182

• crystals (quantum dots, Q-dots) are a good alternative to common fluorescent dyes in a variety of biomedical applications, mainly due to their high photostability and relatively large Stokes shift [1][2][3], but Q-dots typically contain heavy metals (lead, cadmium) and chalcogens (selenium, tellurium

Monolayer graphene/SiC Schottky barrier diodes with improved barrier height uniformity as a sensing platform for the detection of heavy metals

• Ivan Shtepliuk,
• Jens Eriksson,
• Volodymyr Khranovskyy,
• Tihomir Iakimov,
• Anita Lloyd Spetz and
• Rositsa Yakimova

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1800–1814, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.173

• behaviour and a good quality of ohmic palladium–graphene contacts. Keeping in mind the strong sensitivity of graphene to analytes we propose the possibility to use the graphene/SiC Schottky diode as a sensing platform for the recognition of toxic heavy metals. Using density functional theory (DFT

• ) calculations we gain insight into the nature of the interaction of cadmium, mercury and lead with graphene as well as estimate the work function and the Schottky barrier height of the graphene/SiC structure before and after applying heavy metals to the sensing material. A shift of the I–V characteristics of

• the graphene/SiC-based sensor has been proposed as an indicator of presence of the heavy metals. Since the calculations suggested the strongest charge transfer between Pb and graphene, the proposed sensing platform was characterized by good selectivity towards lead atoms and slight interferences from

Hydrophilic silver nanoparticles with tunable optical properties: application for the detection of heavy metals in water

• Paolo Prosposito,
• Federico Mochi,
• Erica Ciotta,
• Mauro Casalboni,
• Fabio De Matteis,
• Iole Venditti,
• Laura Fontana,
• Giovanna Testa and
• Ilaria Fratoddi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1654–1661, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.157

Influence of hydrothermal synthesis parameters on the properties of hydroxyapatite nanoparticles

• Sylwia Kuśnieruk,
• Jacek Wojnarowicz,
• Agnieszka Chodara,
• Tadeusz Chudoba,
• Stanislaw Gierlotka and
• Witold Lojkowski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1586–1601, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.153

• management and catalyst production [13][14] because of HAp’s high sorption activity to numerous ions including several heavy metals and radionuclides [15]. A model compound reflecting bone mineral phase is a nonstoichiometric hydroxyapatite with a molar ratio different than 1.67. Nevertheless, regarding

Development of adsorptive membranes by confinement of activated biochar into electrospun nanofibers

• Mehrdad Taheran,
• Mitra Naghdi,
• Satinder K. Brar,
• Emile Knystautas,
• Mausam Verma,
• Rao. Y. Surampalli and
• Jose. R. Valero

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1556–1563, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.149

• ) that are produced by electrospinning can impact the performance of separation technologies because of their high surface to volume ratio, the tunability of pore sizes and the ease of functionalization [9]. Adsorptive NFMs can be used for removal of heavy metals, organic compounds, microorganisms and

• atrazine from water [10]. Kampalanonwat and Supaphol and also Neghlani et al. used aminated polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofibers to remove heavy metals from water and achieved up to 150 mg/g adsorption capacity for copper [11][12]. Haider and Park fabricated chitosan nanofibers to take advantage of its

• Solutions Inc., 2300, rue Jean-Perrin, Québec, Québec G2C 1T9, Canada Department of Civil Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, N104 SEC PO Box 886105, Lincoln, NE 68588-6105, USA 10.3762/bjnano.7.149 Abstract Adsorptive membranes have many applications in removal of contaminants, such as heavy

The cell-type specific uptake of polymer-coated or micelle-embedded QDs and SPIOs does not provoke an acute pro-inflammatory response in the liver

• Markus Heine,
• Alexander Bartelt,
• Oliver T. Bruns,
• Denise Bargheer,
• Artur Giemsa,
• Barbara Freund,
• Ludger Scheja,
• Christian Waurisch,
• Alexander Eychmüller,
• Rudolph Reimer,
• Horst Weller,
• Peter Nielsen and
• Joerg Heeren

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1432–1440, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.155

• metals such as cadmium released from QDs or iron released from SPIOs did not acutely influence the inflammatory status of the liver. However, specific target cells can be of transient relevance and heavy metals released after QDs or SPIOs uptake may traverse through different target cell types in a time

• demonstrating effective ablation of Kupffer cells in our system (Figure 6A). Furthermore, consecutive injections of pure lipid micelles or micelles containing either QDs or SPIOs in the presence or absence of Kupffer cells had no acute influence on TNFα or Cxcl10 expression (Figure 6B, C) indicating that heavy

Direct nanoscale observations of the coupled dissolution of calcite and dolomite and the precipitation of gypsum

• Francesco G. Offeddu,
• Jordi Cama,
• Josep M. Soler and
• Christine V. Putnis

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1245–1253, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.138

• and precipitation of gypsum is relevant in environmental settings, such as the treatment of acid mine drainage (AMD), geological CO2 sequestration and monument preservation. The use of limestone (calcite) in the treatment of AMD with elevated concentrations of heavy metals and sulfate is common [1][2

Pyrite nanoparticles as a Fenton-like reagent for in situ remediation of organic pollutants

• Carolina Gil-Lozano,
• Elisabeth Losa-Adams,
• Alfonso F.-Dávila and
• Luis Gago-Duport

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 855–864, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.97

• alternative to conventional Fenton procedures for use in wastewater treatment, avoiding the potential risks caused by the release of heavy metals upon dissolution of natural pyrites. Keywords: copper phthalocyanine; Fenton-like reagent; hydrogen peroxide; nanoparticles; pyrite; Introduction There has been

Nanostructure sensitization of transition metal oxides for visible-light photocatalysis

• Hongjun Chen and
• Lianzhou Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 696–710, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.82

• dramatically improves their visible-light photocatalytic abilities. Yet, this method also has some inherent shortcomings. One drawback is that most quantum dots are composed of heavy metals like Cd and Pb, which gives rise to environmental concerns. The other one is the photoelectrochemical stability of

A nano-graphite cold cathode for an energy-efficient cathodoluminescent light source

• Alexander N. Obraztsov,
• Victor I. Kleshch and
• Elena A. Smolnikova

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 493–500, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.58

• principles of nature, the energy efficient generation of light requires the usage of extremely toxic materials (mercury, heavy metals and others). This leads to the necessity of expensive and laborious efforts to dispose of the mercury-based fluorescent devices and the semiconductor-based light emitting