Molecular nanoarchitectonics: unification of nanotechnology and molecular/materials science

• Katsuhiko Ariga

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 434–453, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.35

• new types of physics and chemistry at the nanoscale could be developed. Furthermore, such conductive polymer wires can be covalently linked to other functional components. Covalent bonding of functional molecules and conductive polymers to synthesize molecular composites at designated positions on a

• intermolecular bond. Such an attempt is a promising approach to realize molecular nanoelectronics using molecule–polymer nanojunctions. Molecular nanoarchitectonics of single molecule heterowires of conducting polymers has also been reported. Sakaguchi et al. realized the synthesis of molecular heterowires by a

• substrate. This process resulted in the formation of heterowires in which the polymer initially formed on the substrate was linked to another type of thiophene polymer that was growing. In this way, nanoarchitectonics of conjugated polymers can be obtained on metal surfaces by multistep electrochemical

Plasmonic nanotechnology for photothermal applications – an evaluation

• A. R. Indhu,
• L. Keerthana and
• Gnanaprakash Dharmalingam

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 380–419, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.33

• cause little damage to adjacent healthy tissues due to extremely localized heating [3]. Generally, the reduction of material dimensions to the nanoscale, such as in graphene, carbon nanotubes (CNT) and polymers, leads to an enhancement of the PT effect due to factors such as improved thermal

Polymer nanoparticles from low-energy nanoemulsions for biomedical applications

• Santiago Grijalvo and
• Carlos Rodriguez-Abreu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 339–350, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.29

• , nanoparticle concentration, surface functionalization, and the type of polymers that can be processed. Keywords: ethyl cellulose; nanoemulsions; nanomedicine; phase inversion composition (PIC) method; PLGA; polymer nanoparticles; polyuria; polyurethane; surfactants; Review 1 Introduction The field of

• the solvent can also be removed by selective diffusion [22]. The emulsion solvent evaporation method enables the use of biocompatible polymers, thermolabile compounds, and low-toxicity surfactants. The nanoparticle size can be tuned by formulation parameters and since the nanoparticles are directly

• solubility of polymers in the used solvents rarely exceeds 10 wt %). Experimental dP/dE ratios are above of those expected if the nanoparticles were to be obtained with a density equal to that of the polymer in the bulk, that is, by applying the formula where mP/mT is the polymer/solvent mass ratio and ρT/ρP

Nanotechnology – a robust tool for fighting the challenges of drug resistance in non-small cell lung cancer

• Filip Gorachinov,
• Fatima Mraiche,
• Diala Alhaj Moustafa,
• Ola Hishari,
• Yomna Ismail,
• Jensa Joseph,
• Maja Simonoska Crcarevska,
• Marija Glavas Dodov,
• Nikola Geskovski and
• Katerina Goracinova

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 240–261, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.23

• such as cyclodextrin, inulin, and chitosan. These polymers are used alone or combined with amphiphilic polymers for core–shell nanoparticles such as the triblock polymer poly(ʟ-lactide)-poly(ethylene glycol)-poly(ʟ-lactide) (PLLA-PEG-PLLA) to increase the stability and decrease the immunogenicity of

• , including lipid nanoparticles for lung targeting or targeting relevant cell types, that is, epithelial cells, endothelial cells, immune cells of the lungs, B cells, and T cells. Data regarding the biodistribution of polymers, polymer lipids, and lipid nanoparticles indicate that the internal and external

Cyclodextrins as eminent constituents in nanoarchitectonics for drug delivery systems

• Makoto Komiyama

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 218–232, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.21

• efficacy of chlorambucil was greatly increased since it remained in the cell for a long time. Furthermore, an anticancer drug and a resistance-suppressing gene were simultaneously delivered for cooperation [91]. For delayed drug release, anionic β-CyD polymers bearing carboxylate residues are useful [92

Antimicrobial and mechanical properties of functionalized textile by nanoarchitectured photoinduced Ag@polymer coating

• Jessica Plé,
• Marine Dabert,
• Helene Lecoq,
• Sophie Hellé,
• Lydie Ploux and
• Lavinia Balan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 95–109, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.11

• reached 250 nm (Figure 5a), compared to 90 nm for the Ag@PEG600DA/PETIA coating (Figure 5b). AgNPs trapped inside the polymers have sizes of 10–30 nm in the case of PEG600DA, while barely reaching 10 nm for PEG600DA/PETIA. Since the PETIA monomer has three reactive groups, the synthesized polymer network

• corresponding growth inhibition zone. Results are expressed as mean inhibition area ± standard deviation (SD). The mean area of the samples was 112 ± 7 mm2. Cotton textile coated with Ag@PEG600DA (a), Ag@PEG600DA/PETIA (1:1) (b) and inserted images of PEG600DA and PEG600DA/PETIA polymers without AgNPs. UV–vis

Liquid phase exfoliation of talc: effect of the medium on flake size and shape

• Samuel M. Sousa,
• Helane L. O. Morais,
• Joyce C. C. Santos,
• Ana Paula M. Barboza,
• Bernardo R. A. Neves,
• Elisângela S. Pinto and
• Mariana C. Prado

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 68–78, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.8

• flexural rigidity is about three times that of graphene but it can be bent to small curvatures without fracturing. These properties make nanoscale talc a promising candidate for the application [14][15][18] as reinforcement for polymers and other composites, including biocompatible materials, and van der

Solvent-induced assembly of mono- and divalent silica nanoparticles

• Bin Liu,
• Etienne Duguet and
• Serge Ravaine

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 52–60, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.6

• assembly into colloidal polymers was recently reported [29][30]. Indeed, we previously showed that 2-PSN, which exhibit a disk-like morphology with a diameter of 190 nm, formed chains as long as 6 µm (Figure 6a, bottom row) when 30 vol % of salty water was added into the NP dispersion in THF. As a result

Induced electric conductivity in organic polymers

• Konstantin Y. Arutyunov,
• Anatoli S. Gurski,
• Vladimir V. Artemov,
• Alexander L. Vasiliev,
• Azat R. Yusupov,
• Danfis D. Karamov and
• Alexei N. Lachinov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1551–1557, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.128

• , Ufa, Russia Institute of Molecule and Crystal Physics UFRC RAS, 450054, Ufa, Russia 10.3762/bjnano.13.128 Abstract Poly(diphenylene phthalide) (PDP) belongs to the class of carbocyclic organic electroactive polymers, which exhibits electric conductive properties when an external electric field and/or

• ; thin films; Introduction Most polymers can be classified as organic dielectrics. However, there exists a specific class of polymers, typically characterized by the existence of conjugated π-bonds, which enable delocalization of electrons leading to electric conductivity in the ground state of the

• system. Relatively recently it was found that finite electric current can pass also through non-conjugated polymers. In the ground state they are wide-band dielectrics, but can exhibit high electric conductivity under the influence of such external parameters as mechanical stress and/or electric field [1

Frequency-dependent nanomechanical profiling for medical diagnosis

• Santiago D. Solares and
• Alexander X. Cartagena-Rivera

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1483–1489, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.122

• chemical characterization of surfaces ranging from semiconductors and metals to polymers and biological materials [1][2][3][4][5]. In particular, a variety of mechanical property measurement methods have been developed, although most of them are restricted to relatively simple physical descriptions, such

• been used in corporate or corporate-funded research for the characterization of polymers, semiconductors and other materials [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29]. It is also well known that we owe the invention of the AFM to scientists at IBM [1]). The slow adoption of AFM methods in broad-impact

Orally administered docetaxel-loaded chitosan-decorated cationic PLGA nanoparticles for intestinal tumors: formulation, comprehensive in vitro characterization, and release kinetics

• Sedat Ünal,
• Osman Doğan and
• Yeşim Aktaş

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1393–1407, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.115

• colonic microflora. It has been reported that nanoparticles prepared with polymers such as chitosan, whose surface charge is positive, remain longer in the mucus due to electrostatic interaction with the negative charge of the aqueous mucin layer [15][29][30][31]. Docetaxel (DCX) is obtained semi

Studies of probe tip materials by atomic force microscopy: a review

• Ke Xu and
• Yuzhe Liu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1256–1267, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.104

• , dimethoate, and phorate were broken. The hydrolysis products contain sulfhydryl groups that bind to the silver atoms on the surface of the silver nanoclusters. The formation of non-fluorescent polymers resulted in a significant quenching of the fluorescence of the silver nanoclusters. Cu2+ effectively

• conductive coatings and regenerated broken tips. The Pt/Ir cantilever was modified with small bundles of SWCNTs by a manual attachment process and fixed using a conductive Pt pad. AFM images of the current and topography of the nanomaterial samples and non-homogeneous polymers were collected using this type

Role of titanium and organic precursors in molecular layer deposition of “titanicone” hybrid materials

• Arbresha Muriqi and
• Michael Nolan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1240–1255, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.103

• ALD, in MLD the deposition chemistry can be extended by including organic precursors, leading to the deposition of hybrid organic–inorganic MLD films [3][9]. Two organic precursors can also be employed to deposit pure organic MLD films, such as polymers [10][11][12]. Similar to ALD, MLD enables the

Roll-to-roll fabrication of superhydrophobic pads covered with nanofur for the efficient clean-up of oil spills

• Patrick Weiser,
• Robin Kietz,
• Marc Schneider,
• Matthias Worgull and
• Hendrik Hölscher

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1228–1239, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.102

• sandblasted steel-plates as mold inserts. It is an interesting feature of this procedure that a surface with nanostructures is realized without elaborate and costly lithography. Nanofur can be hot-pulled from several types of polymers [16]. Nonetheless, the surface area per process step is limited to some

• mechanical stability of nanofur during hot pulling is sufficient, and the sacrificial layer is not needed. Future research might show how other polymers, especially biodegradable ones, can be hot-pulled in a R2R process. Furthermore, it might be possible to produce thin nanofur without sacrificial layer

Design of surface nanostructures for chirality sensing based on quartz crystal microbalance

• Yinglin Ma,
• Xiangyun Xiao and
• Qingmin Ji

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1201–1219, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.100

• layers, composed of biomolecules, polymers, supramolecular assemblies, and functional organic hybrids have been successfully constructed on the surface of QCM electrodes. According to frequency shifts of QCM upon adsorption, detection efficiencies of various selectors for chiral analytes could be

• blocking layer between R-Nap and BSA. This suggested that this stronger interaction with R-Nap rather than with S-Nap should arise from different steric hindrance effects between BSA and R/S-Nap. The result was consistent with the QCM measurements. Polymer-based films for chirality sensing Polymers have

• . synthesized serine derivatives based on homochiral coordination polymers (HCPs) of (ʟ)/(ᴅ)-SA-Cd and used them as enantioselective sensors toward guest enantiomers [37]. According to QCM measurements, the enantioselective factor values for lactic acid, menthol, valinol, and ʟ-phenylethylamine (PEA) were 1.72

Application of nanoarchitectonics in moist-electric generation

• Jia-Cheng Feng and
• Hong Xia

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1185–1200, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.99

• available in MEGs, such as polymers, proteins, and natural fibers, poly(4-vinylphenol) (PVP) [75], polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) [76][77], fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP) [21], and polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF). These materials show good performance in the application of hydropower conversion. In addition

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

• ], polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) [123], and polymethacrylates [118][124][125]. Among the biodegradable materials, carbohydrates, including maltose [126], trehalose [127], and sucrose [128], are frequently mentioned. Moreover, biodegradable polymers such as poly(lactic acid) (PLA) [129], poly(glycolic acid) (PGA

• ) [130], and poly(lactic-co-glycolic)acid (PLGA) [131] are widely investigated as microneedle materials. Among them, there are hydrogel-forming agents swelling upon the contact with interstitial fluid in the skin during microneedle application. These polymers include poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate

Recent advances in green carbon dots (2015–2022): synthesis, metal ion sensing, and biological applications

• Aisha Kanwal,
• Naheed Bibi,
• Sajjad Hyder,
• Arif Muhammad,
• Hao Ren,
• Jiangtao Liu and
• Zhongli Lei

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1068–1107, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.93

• synthesis of carbon dots Green synthesis of CDs mainly utilizes biomass. Biomass synthesis makes use of natural raw materials (organisms, waste material, protein products, or natural polymers), instead of reaction precursors usually used in the traditional methods, and also requires external energy supply

• materials, are summarized in Table 4. Natural polymer-based CDs Numerous natural polymers, including proteins and polysaccharides, have been used to obtain CDs (Table 5). Chen and co-workers used starch as a source to synthesize graphene quantum dots (CDs) via a one-pot hydrothermal method. They also

• for the bright blue fluorescence of CDs synthesized using citric acid and EDA. It has been established that the CDs are a mixture of IPCA, polymers, and carbon cores [132]. Essner and co-workers carried out the synthesis of CDs using citric acid (paired with urea or ethylenediamine as a nitrogen

Biomimetic chitosan with biocomposite nanomaterials for bone tissue repair and regeneration

• Se-Kwon Kim,
• Sesha Subramanian Murugan,
• Pandurang Appana Dalavi,
• Sebanti Gupta,
• Sukumaran Anil,
• Gi Hun Seong and
• Jayachandran Venkatesan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1051–1067, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.92

• materials should be in the form of inorganic and organic composites. To mimic the inorganic portion, researchers have tried to utilize calcium phosphate materials due to their similarity to the native tissue. To mimic the organic portion of the bone, several materials including polymers, proteins, and

• and physically comparable microenvironment to that of the natural extracellular matrix, containing healing and stimulating components necessary for bone repair, making them a potential option for bone tissue regeneration. As carbon nanotubes are combined with natural polymers, such as chitosan and

• collagen, they develop an interlinked molecular framework with load-bearing applications and have superior mechanical qualities and biological advantages [57]. A further study reported that carbon nanotubes combined with synthetic polymers of poly-ʟ-lactide acid, polylactic acid

Analytical and numerical design of a hybrid Fabry–Perot plano-concave microcavity for hexagonal boron nitride

• Felipe Ortiz-Huerta and
• Karina Garay-Palmett

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1030–1037, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.90

• a SPE (i.e., in-plane dipole) hosted by a 2D hBN layer inside the hybrid plano-concave microcavity. Keywords: Fabry–Perot; hBN; microcavities; plano-concave; polymers; Introduction Pure and indistinguishable SPEs are key components needed for their application in upcoming quantum technologies [1

• microcavities [8], microdisk resonators [9], and photonic crystals [10][11] have been designed and built around color centers in hBN to increase its spontaneous emission by means of Purcell effect. An alternative and low-cost approach to build photonic structures uses polymers to embed different types of SPEs

Bioselectivity of silk protein-based materials and their bio-inspired applications

• Hendrik Bargel,
• Vanessa T. Trossmann,
• Christoph Sommer and
• Thomas Scheibel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 902–921, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.81

• [97], and peptide isomers known as peptoids, (oligo N-substituted glycines) [98]. In addition, the transfer of the general molecular structure of AMPs/HDPs has led to peptide-mimicking polymers and surface-engineered polymeric-brush-tethered AMPs. These approaches are promising for establishing

Optimizing PMMA solutions to suppress contamination in the transfer of CVD graphene for batch production

• Chun-Da Liao,
• Andrea Capasso,
• Tiago Queirós,
• Telma Domingues,
• Fatima Cerqueira,
• Nicoleta Nicoara,
• Jérôme Borme,
• Paulo Freitas and
• Pedro Alpuim

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 796–806, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.70

• ., Cu or Ni) to the desired target substrate (e.g., SiO2/Si, glass, or flexible polymers) often introduces inconsistencies among devices [10]. Various approaches have been developed to address this issue and establish a reproducible transfer process [11][12][13][14][15][16][17]. Among the many, the poly

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

• Lingling Xia Qinyue Wang Ming Hu Engineering Research Center for Nanophotonics and Advanced Instrument (MOE), School of Physics and Electronic Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, China 10.3762/bjnano.13.67 Abstract Various kinds of monocrystalline coordination polymers are

• available thanks to the rapid development of related synthetic strategies. The intrinsic properties of coordination polymers have been carefully investigated on the basis of the available monocrystalline samples. Regarding the great potential of coordination polymers in various fields, it becomes important

• to tailor the properties of coordination polymers to meet practical requirements, which sometimes cannot be achieved through molecular/crystal engineering. Nanoarchitectonics offer unique opportunities to manipulate the properties of materials through integration of the monocrystalline building

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

• manufacturing processes for MNs is of considerable interest. This study reports a simple fabrication process for thermoplastic MNs from cycloolefin polymers (COP) using hot embossing on polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) soft molds. COP has gained interest due to its high molding performance and low cost. The resin

• setting. Keywords: hot embossing; microneedles; penetration efficiency; thermoplastic polymers; two-photon polymerization; Introduction During the past two decades, MN devices have become a promising tool for transdermal drug delivery, vaccination, and point-of-care diagnostics [1][2]. MNs are a

• classified into solid, hollow, coated, hydrogel-forming, and dissolvable types, which depending on the specific medical applications [12][13], are fabricated using silicon, metal, ceramic, silica glass, carbohydrate, and polymers [7][14]. In recent years, polymeric MNs have gained a lot of interest due to

Influence of thickness and morphology of MoS₂ on the performance of counter electrodes in dye-sensitized solar cells

• Lam Thuy Thi Mai,
• Hai Viet Le,
• Ngan Kim Thi Nguyen,
• Van La Tran Pham,
• Thu Anh Thi Nguyen,
• Nguyen Thanh Le Huynh and
• Hoang Thai Nguyen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 528–537, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.44

• DSSCs, which has led researchers to explore efficient cathode materials for DSSCs beyond platinum. To date, Pt replacement materials are divided into three categories, namely carbonaceous materials [2][3][4][5], conductive polymers [5], and transition metal compounds [6][7][8]. Transition metal