Microneedle-based ocular drug delivery systems – recent advances and challenges

• Piotr Gadziński,
• Anna Froelich,
• Monika Wojtyłko,
• Antoni Białek,
• Julia Krysztofiak and
• Tomasz Osmałek

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1167–1184, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.98

• if the needles break and are deposited in the tissue [117][118]. Other non-degradable materials utilized to fabricate microneedles, include metals such as stainless steel [119] and titanium [120], ceramics, such as aluminum oxide [121], or synthetic polymers comprising polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) [122

A cantilever-based, ultrahigh-vacuum, low-temperature scanning probe instrument for multidimensional scanning force microscopy

• Hao Liu,
• Zuned Ahmed,
• Sasa Vranjkovic,
• Manfred Parschau,
• Andrada-Oana Mandru and
• Hans J. Hug

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1120–1140, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.95

• sample holder receiver, which is fixed to the top of the scan piezo tube is manufactured from DISPAL Aluminum 225 [50] to reduce its mass. For the cantilever receiver, which is not scanned but directly mounted to the tubular Mo body of the instrument, Mo is used. Modular wiring design In order to

Recent advances in nanoarchitectures of monocrystalline coordination polymers through confined assembly

• Lingling Xia,
• Qinyue Wang and
• Ming Hu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 763–777, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.67

• single crystals could also serve as templates to derive microporous CoSe2@C, which was used as cathode for aluminum-ion batteries [119]. The connected macropores could facilitate the diffusion of large chloroaluminate anions and provide more exposed active sites, thus, showing excellent rate capacity

• MIL96−PDMS films on shaped aluminum foil. Figure 7b was reprinted with permission from [139], Copyright 2021, American Chemical Society. This content is not subject to CC BY 4.0. c) Optical micrograph and schematic illustration of the evaporation-directed with assembly with periodic cracks. Figure 7c

Fabrication and testing of polymer microneedles for transdermal drug delivery

• Vahid Ebrahiminejad,
• Zahra Faraji Rad,
• Philip D. Prewett and
• Graham J. Davies

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 629–640, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.55

• , using experimental procedures approved by the University of Southern Queensland (USQ) and the University of Queensland (UQ) animal ethics and biosafety committees. The skins were shaved to remove the excess hairs and kept frozen at −20 °C on a flat aluminum surface, then sectioned using a surgical knife

Sodium doping in brookite TiO₂ enhances its photocatalytic activity

• Boxiang Zhuang,
• Honglong Shi,
• Honglei Zhang and
• Zeqian Zhang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 599–609, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.52

• wafer pasted on an aluminum sample holder by a carbon conducting resin. The EDX spectra were acquired from individual morphologies or grains in the samples. Electron diffraction and high-resolution imaging experiments were carried out on a high-resolution transmission electron microscope (JEOL JEM-2100

Ciprofloxacin-loaded dissolving polymeric microneedles as a potential therapeutic for the treatment of S. aureus skin infections

• Sharif Abdelghany,
• Walhan Alshaer,
• Yazan Al Thaher,
• Maram Al Fawares,
• Amal G. Al-Bakri,
• Saja Zuriekat and
• Randa SH. Mansour

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 517–527, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.43

• paperboard wrapped with aluminum foil with the skin surface facing upward. Then, the skin was covered with aluminum foil, kept in zipper plastic bags, and subsequently stored at −70 °C for a maximum period of 6 months. Microneedle dissolution in the skin Prior to use, skin specimens were equilibrated in 1

Design and characterization of polymeric microneedles containing extracts of Brazilian green propolis

• Camila Felix Vecchi,
• Rafaela Said dos Santos,
• Jéssica Bassi da Silva and
• Marcos Luciano Bruschi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 503–516, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.42

• dermis. They were cut into standardized sizes, wrapped in plastic film and aluminum foil, and kept in a freezer. At the time of use, they were thawed at room temperature, and each skin fragment was then placed in a base for the test. Statistical analysis The effects of the amount of P407 and of amount

Electrostatic pull-in application in flexible devices: A review

• Teng Cai,
• Yuming Fang,
• Yingli Fang,
• Ruozhou Li,
• Ying Yu and
• Mingyang Huang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 390–403, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.32

• –switch system as shown in Figure 11. The TEG consists of two aluminum electrodes and a PDMS-insulated diaphragm placed on a fixed electrode. When the TEG is impacted, the switch is opened with the help of the bottom side electrode. The TEG provides a way to solve the problem of high voltage of

Selected properties of Al_xZn_yO thin films prepared by reactive pulsed magnetron sputtering using a two-element Zn/Al target

• Witold Posadowski,
• Artur Wiatrowski,
• Jarosław Domaradzki and
• Michał Mazur

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 344–354, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.29

• many preliminary experiments to find optimum conditions for the deposition of thin films with desired properties. For the deposition of AZO thin films by magnetron sputtering, the most commonly used targets are made of sintered zinc oxide powders and aluminum oxide (ZnO/Al2O3). The optimal percentage

• of aluminum oxide in such targets is approximately 2% [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]. However, in research in which the objective was to obtain films with minimum resistivity, the alumina content was typically varied in the range of 1–6% [8][9][12]. AZO films have also been obtained

Effects of drug concentration and PLGA addition on the properties of electrospun ampicillin trihydrate-loaded PLA nanofibers

• Tuğba Eren Böncü and
• Nurten Ozdemir

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 245–254, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.19

• used in the current study are shown in Table 1 and Table 2 (Electrospinning machine Ne-200, Inovenso, Turkey). The collector covered by a piece of aluminum foil was used for fiber deposition. The deposited fiber mats were dried for 72 h at room temperature and stored in a desiccant until the analysis

Engineered titania nanomaterials in advanced clinical applications

• Padmavati Sahare,
• Paulina Govea Alvarez,
• Juan Manual Sanchez Yanez,
• Gabriel Luna-Bárcenas,
• Samik Chakraborty,
• Sujay Paul and
• Miriam Estevez

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 201–218, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.15

Sputtering onto liquids: a critical review

• Anastasiya Sergievskaya,
• Adrien Chauvin and
• Stephanos Konstantinidis

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 10–53, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.2

• the reactive gas molecules and atoms, ionized or not, present in the plasma leads to the formation of a layer of compound material on the surface of the target. For example, a few nanometers thick layer of AlOx will cover an aluminum (Al) target surface when it is sputtered in an Ar/O2 atmosphere

Plasmon-enhanced photoluminescence from TiO₂ and TeO₂ thin films doped by Eu³⁺ for optoelectronic applications

• Marcin Łapiński,
• Jakub Czubek,
• Katarzyna Drozdowska,
• Anna Synak,
• Wojciech Sadowski and
• Barbara Kościelska

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 1271–1278, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.94

• film. However, a blueshift occurs here due to the electrical properties of aluminum oxide. Additionally, it can be seen, that the position of the minimum of transmission as function of the Al2O3 film thickness. This may be explained by the different permittivity of the layers [34][35][36]. Emission and

Revealing the formation mechanism and band gap tuning of Sb₂S₃ nanoparticles

• Maximilian Joschko,
• Franck Yvan Fotue Wafo,
• Christina Malsi,
• Danilo Kisić,
• Ivana Validžić and
• Christina Graf

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 1021–1033, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.76

• aluminum holder, explaining the detection of these elements. Oxygen may have been detected due to contamination of the sample, the grid, or the holder. Measurement results of the white product obtained by the direct injection of the Sb precursor into oleylamine at 150 °C without the addition of sulfur: (a

Self-assembly of Eucalyptus gunnii wax tubules and pure ß-diketone on HOPG and glass

• Miriam Anna Huth,
• Axel Huth and
• Kerstin Koch

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 939–949, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.70

• specimens with recrystallized structures of wax and ß-diketone were prepared for SEM (Gemini Supra 40VP, Zeiss, Oberkochen, Germany) three days after the evaporation of the solvent. They were fixed on aluminum stubs (Plano, Wetzlar, Germany) with double-sided adhesive tape (Double-sided Tape Universal, Tesa

Nanogenerator-based self-powered sensors for data collection

• Yicheng Shao,
• Maoliang Shen,
• Yuankai Zhou,
• Xin Cui,
• Lijie Li and
• Yan Zhang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 680–693, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.54

• ion triboelectric nanosensor [16]. By adding three ligand molecules to the surface of nanoporous anodic aluminum oxide, the detection sensitivity for Cu2+, Pb2+, and Cr3+ reached 0.005 × 10−6, 0.003 × 10−6, and 0.004 × 10−6 M, respectively. The self-powered tribo-nanosensor generates different output

A review of defect engineering, ion implantation, and nanofabrication using the helium ion microscope

• Frances I. Allen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 633–664, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.52

• silicon substrate supporting an amorphous nanoporous aluminum oxide structure was irradiated with helium ions causing dome-shaped swelling of the substrate and thereby 3D deformation of the supported material, accompanied by enlargement of the nanopores to accommodate the new topography [96]. 3

• responsible for the thinning effect encountered. In a related study, helium ion irradiation of an amorphous nanoporous aluminum oxide sample caused pores to markedly shrink in size, also attributed to ion-induced mass transport [96] (Figure 4b). Further related to mass transport, local helium ion irradiation

Impact of GaAs(100) surface preparation on EQE of AZO/Al₂O₃/p-GaAs photovoltaic structures

• Piotr Caban,
• Rafał Pietruszka,
• Jarosław Kaszewski,
• Monika Ożga,
• Bartłomiej S. Witkowski,
• Krzysztof Kopalko,
• Piotr Kuźmiuk,
• Katarzyna Gwóźdź,
• Ewa Płaczek-Popko,
• Krystyna Lawniczak-Jablonska and
• Marek Godlewski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 578–592, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.48

• the removal of the native oxide layer followed by an adequate surface passivation technique [13] and/or by a proper choice of the dielectric and its deposition method. Regarding the dielectric, the most common ones are aluminum oxide (Al2O3) and hafnium dioxide (HfO2) for which the preferable

• for aluminum-doped zinc oxide). Experimental GaAs surface treatment We used lightly Zn-doped GaAs single-crystal (100) wafer (p = 6.8 × 1016 cm−3, ρ = 3.2 × 10−1 Ω·cm, μ ≤ 225 cm2/Vs, d = 400 μm) (fabricated at the Institute of Electronic Materials Technology, ITME) as the substrate. Before starting

• passivation layer in the first few ALD cycles. By applying ALD, we were able to create both Al2O3 and AZO layers in a single ALD process conducted at 160 °C. Aluminum oxide was deposited within five cycles of (trimethylaluminum/Al(CH3)3, TMA, CAS:75-24-1) and H2O precursor supply while AZO required 10 multi

On the stability of microwave-fabricated SERS substrates – chemical and morphological considerations

• Limin Wang,
• Aisha Adebola Womiloju,
• Christiane Höppener,
• Ulrich S. Schubert and
• Stephanie Hoeppener

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 541–551, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.44

• solution. Subsequently, the microwave vial was capped with an aluminum crimp cap and a Teflon septum seal and was subjected to microwave irradiation. The microwave was set to operate at a constant irradiation power of 300 W. According to our previous investigations of the process parameters, the synthesis

Determination of elastic moduli of elastic–plastic microspherical materials using nanoindentation simulation without mechanical polishing

• Hongzhou Li and
• Jialian Chen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 213–221, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.17

• aluminum, respectively (low-density polyethylene with E = 1.37 GPa, σy = 20 MPa, and E/σy ≈ 69; aluminum with E = 70 GPa, σy = 228 MPa, and E/σy ≈ 307). Figure 2 shows curves of the microsphere with 11.5 µm radius being indented to different depths by a rigid conical indenter to produce different maximum

ZnO and MXenes as electrode materials for supercapacitor devices

• Ameen Uddin Ammar,
• Ipek Deniz Yildirim,
• Feray Bakan and
• Emre Erdem

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 49–57, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.4

• biocompatibility, photothermal efficiency, low Seebeck coefficient, as well as good conductivity. They synthesized tantalum carbide MXene sheets from a tantalum aluminum carbide (Ta4AlC3) MAX phase through etching the intermediate aluminium with the aid of hydrofluoric acid (HF). Analysis of the synthesized

• structures with a hexagonal crystal lattice. Because the aluminum was removed, there is no visible Raman vibration. Moreover, CV, chronopotentiometry (CP), and EIS were used to test the electrochemical behavior of the synthesized tantalum carbide MXenes. In 0.1 M sulfuric acid (H2SO4) as electrolyte, a

Seebeck coefficient of silicon nanowire forests doped by thermal diffusion

• Shaimaa Elyamny,
• Elisabetta Dimaggio and
• Giovanni Pennelli

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1707–1713, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.153

• is squeezed between two aluminum blocks maintained at different temperatures TH = THot and TC = TCold. Given the surface A of the sample, the squeezing pressure has been set to 20 MPa for all measured samples. A third block THRef is maintained at the same temperature as TH (within ±0.1°), so that the

• the evaluation of the Seebeck coefficient S. Simultaneously to the measurement of the thermal resistance of each sample, the voltage between the aluminum blocks TH and TC has been measured (Seebeck voltage Vseebeck for TH − TC). However, the temperature difference ΔT = TH − TC includes also the

Fabrication of nano/microstructures for SERS substrates using an electrochemical method

• Jingran Zhang,
• Tianqi Jia,
• Xiaoping Li,
• Junjie Yang,
• Zhengkai Li,
• Guangfeng Shi,
• Xinming Zhang and
• Zuobin Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1568–1576, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.139

• in KCl solution. In this study, the Raman intensity of R6G (2 × 10−6 mol·L−1) on the Ag substrate was larger with subsequent drying treatment than without. Anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) has been used as a mask to fabricate nanodot SERS substrates [40][41][42][43]. Using an AAO mask, Han et al. [41

One-step synthesis of carbon-supported electrocatalysts

• Sebastian Tigges,
• Nicolas Wöhrl,
• Ivan Radev,
• Ulrich Hagemann,
• Markus Heidelmann,
• Thai Binh Nguyen,
• Stanislav Gorelkov,
• Stephan Schulz and
• Axel Lorke

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1419–1431, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.126

• the plasma system, synthesis, and characterization methods are given in a recent publication on the growth of Al/CNW hybrid materials from aluminum acetylacetonate [17]. Synthesis The deposition experiments are performed in an inductively coupled plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition system

An atomic force microscope integrated with a helium ion microscope for correlative nanoscale characterization

• Santiago H. Andany,
• Gregor Hlawacek,
• Stefan Hummel,
• Charlène Brillard,
• Mustafa Kangül and
• Georg E. Fantner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1272–1279, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.111

• probes with boron-doped 1 kΩ sensing elements, connected in a Wheatstone bridge configuration with aluminum tracks [20][21] and with single crystal diamond (SCD) tips that are commercially available (SCL-SensorTech Fabrication GMBH, Vienna, Austria). The SCD tips (tip radius below 15 nm, height 12–16 µm