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

• dissolving polymeric microneedles prepared by a two-layer centrifugation method as a potential treatment of skin infections such as cellulitis. The polymers used were polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP). Two formulations were investigated, namely CIP_MN1, composed of 10 mg ciprofloxacin

• techniques. These microneedles are manufactured of polymers incorporated with medicaments and are intended to dissolve completely in the skin, permitting the medicament to be distributed in deeper skin layers to treat local and systemic infections [5]. Previous studies have shown the advantages of dissolving

• microneedles are based on polymers such as PVA, PVP, chitosan, and poly(lactide-co-glycolide) [19]. In our study, polymer-based microneedles were optimized to achieve a formulation that can efficiently penetrate the skin. In this context, microneedles were studied regarding drug content and penetration of

Investigation of electron-induced cross-linking of self-assembled monolayers by scanning tunneling microscopy

• Patrick Stohmann,
• Sascha Koch,
• Yang Yang,
• Christopher David Kaiser,
• Julian Ehrens,
• Jürgen Schnack,
• Niklas Biere,
• Dario Anselmetti,
• Armin Gölzhäuser and
• Xianghui Zhang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 462–471, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.39

• density of the dark spots is estimated to be (2.0 ± 1.0) × 1012 cm−2 and the corresponding area fraction is approximately 3.2%. Analogous to the formation of 2D polymers on a surface or interface [6], the cross-linking could proceed either by step-growth or chain-growth kinetics. In the step-growth

• . Brighter islands of 5–10 nm in size were still visible, separated by darker structures with a branched form, which can be considered remainders of the ordered layer. Many voids can be observed here. Unlike the dynamic free volume pores of polymers, these voids remain stable after multiple STM scans. By

Tubular glassy carbon microneedles with fullerene-like tips for biomedical applications

• Sharali Malik and
• George E. Kostakis

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 455–461, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.38

• most important role in determining the nature of the resulting glassy carbon” [9]. Sharma has also coined the term “polymer-derived carbons” for glassy carbon made by the thermal decomposition of polymers, which accounts for virtually all the glassy carbons found in the literature to date. In this

• article, we have followed the nanoarchitectonics [10] concept to fabricate our glassy carbon material by using methane as building unit and carbon source rather than polymers. There are earlier works on methane pyrolysis in a flow reactor by F. G. Billaud et al. [11] and Z. Bai and co-workers [12]. Bai et

• procedure utilising catalytic methane pyrolysis to fabricate glassy carbon microneedle electrodes for biomedical applications. Results and Discussion Growth of glassy carbon microneedles Previously, glassy carbon microneedles have been made by the pyrolysis of commercially available polymers. The polymer

The role of sulfonate groups and hydrogen bonding in the proton conductivity of two coordination networks

• Ali Javed,
• Felix Steinke,
• Stephan Wöhlbrandt,
• Hana Bunzen,
• Norbert Stock and
• Michael Tiemann

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 437–443, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.36

• materials are currently being discussed as potential alternatives. These include coordination polymers (CPs), covalent organic frameworks (COFs), polyoxometalates (POMs), hydrogen-bonded organic frameworks (HOFs), and mesoporous organosilica materials (MPOs) [3][9][10][11]. In particular, proton-conducting

• coordination polymers (CPs), such as (porous) metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and (non-porous, yet cross-linked) coordination networks [12], may offer alternatives to Nafion because of their structural controllability and high crystallinity [13]. The quest to develop new proton-conducting network materials is

A non-enzymatic electrochemical hydrogen peroxide sensor based on copper oxide nanostructures

• Irena Mihailova,
• Vjaceslavs Gerbreders,
• Marina Krasovska,
• Eriks Sledevskis,
• Valdis Mizers,
• Andrejs Bulanovs and
• Andrejs Ogurcovs

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 424–436, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.35

• electrodes by dip- or drop-coating techniques, using a porous substrate or binder polymers [69][76][77]. However, despite the widespread use and simplicity of this method of electrode preparation, it has a number of significant disadvantages. First, there is the problem of homogenization of the

A chemiresistive sensor array based on polyaniline nanocomposites and machine learning classification

• Jiri Kroutil,
• Alexandr Laposa,
• Ali Ahmad,
• Jan Voves,
• Vojtech Povolny,
• Ladislav Klimsa,
• Marina Davydova and
• Miroslav Husak

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 411–423, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.34

• sensing mechanism of nanocomposite layers based on PANI was discussed in [10]. Polyaniline is known as one of the most famous p-type conductive polymers. During the exposure to a reducing gas (NH3), the emeraldine salt form of polyaniline is converted to the emeraldine base form leading to an increase in

Micro- and nanotechnology in biomedical engineering for cartilage tissue regeneration in osteoarthritis

• Zahra Nabizadeh,
• Mahmoud Nasrollahzadeh,
• Hamed Daemi,
• Mohamadreza Baghaban Eslaminejad,
• Ali Akbar Shabani,
• Mehdi Dadashpour,
• Majid Mirmohammadkhani and
• Davood Nasrabadi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 363–389, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.31

• osteochondral defects can be overcome by the versatile and efficient methods developed by TE technologies and will be discussed in detail. 3.1 Development of biomaterials using micro and nanostructures for cartilage TE Since Vacanti et al. reported the application of bioabsorbable artificial polymers as

• purposes is the subject of many studies [19] in which natural polymers, synthetic polymers, or their combination were used to provide a biomimetic microenvironment, which not only includes biological cues, but also provides the desired mechanical properties. The progress in materials science has revealed

• . Nanomaterials are defined by the National Nanotechnology Initiative as manufactured or natural materials that have at least one dimension between 1 and 100 nm [33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46]. Nanomaterials are classified as metals, polymers, or ceramics according to their structure and

Alcohol-perturbed self-assembly of the tobacco mosaic virus coat protein

• Ismael Abu-Baker and
• Amy Szuchmacher Blum

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 355–362, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.30

• assembly of macromolecular components is well-established with many other systems, including lipids, synthetic polymers, and peptides, but has been the subject of few studies with virus-like particles [28][29][30][31]. Lauffer and Shalaby reported that glycine-based molecules promoted the polymerization of

The effect of metal surface nanomorphology on the output performance of a TENG

• Yiru Wang,
• Xin Zhao,
• Yang Liu and
• Wenjun Zhou

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 298–312, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.25

• improve the surface charge density in the contact electrification process, it is necessary to expand the effective contact surface area by surface engineering of micro-/nanoscale structures [44][45][46]. There are various processes for the surface engineering of polymers with micro-/nanoscale structures

Coordination-assembled myricetin nanoarchitectonics for sustainably scavenging free radicals

• Xiaoyan Ma,
• Haoning Gong,
• Kenji Ogino,
• Xuehai Yan and
• Ruirui Xing

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 284–291, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.23

• antioxidant peptides by proteases. The combination of liposomes or polymers with different payload materials has been reported, for example, PEG-modified liposomes loaded with resveratrol, layer-by-layer-coated gelatin nanoparticles, or Gelucire-based solid lipid and polymeric micelles [14][15][16][17][18][19

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

• different properties with many polymers and solvents [1][2][3][4]. Drug-loaded electrospun polymeric nanofibers have many unique properties, such as accelerating healing, controlled drug release, stimulation of cell growth and proliferation due to their similarity to the extracellular matrix, large surface

• area, high encapsulation efficiency, high porosity, and superior mechanical properties [5][6][7]. In our study, FDA-approved polylactic acid (PLA) and poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA), which are frequently preferred polymers in the production of polymeric nanofibers, were used because they are

• focused on drug-free or hydrophilic drug-loaded PLA/PLGA nanofibers produced with different polymers and solvent systems than those in the current study [8][11]. The current study is important since the effects of PLA/PLGA ratios on nanofiber morphology, nanofiber diameter, in vitro drug release, and

Piezoelectric nanogenerator for bio-mechanical strain measurement

• Zafar Javed,
• Lybah Rafiq,
• Muhammad Anwaar Nazeer,
• Saqib Siddiqui,
• Muhammad Babar Ramzan,
• Muhammad Qamar Khan and
• Muhammad Salman Naeem

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 192–200, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.14

• fluoride (PVDF) and other piezoelectric polymers are used in the form of fibers, filaments, and composites. In this research, PVDF nanofibers were developed and integrated onto a knitted fabric to fabricate a piezoelectric device for human body angle monitoring. Scanning electron microscopy and X-ray

• last couple of years. Textile-based sensors, being flexible, are easy to fit in a garment and create no barrier to the wearer. Nowadays, wearable sensors based on conductive threads and conductive polymers are capable of measuring vital signs of the human body [4][5]. Tognetti et al. [6] designed and

A comprehensive review on electrospun nanohybrid membranes for wastewater treatment

• Senuri Kumarage,
• Imalka Munaweera and
• Nilwala Kottegoda

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 137–159, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.10

• provides the manufacturers with membranes of nanometer-scale fibers with high surface area to volume ratio. Also, the low start-up cost, the applicability to a wide range of polymers, the ability to deposit fibers on desired substrates such as metal, glass, microfibrous mats and membranes, and the simple

• polymers have shown a considerable enhancement of their properties and performances when compared to the as-spun fiber membranes [3][4]. The versatility of electrospinning has allowed for the fabrication of many synthetic and natural polymer membranes [5], and ceramic nanofibers as well [6]. The most

• common synthetic polymer membranes such as polycaprolactone (PCL), polyacrylonitrile (PAN), polyacrylic acid (PAA), polysulfones (PSF), polyimides (PI), polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), polystyrene (PS), polyethylene oxide (PEO), poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) and natural polymers such as gelatin, keratin

A photonic crystal material for the online detection of nonpolar hydrocarbon vapors

• Evgenii S. Bolshakov,
• Aleksander V. Ivanov,
• Andrei A. Kozlov,
• Anton S. Aksenov,
• Elena V. Isanbaeva,
• Sergei E. Kushnir,
• Aleksei D. Yapryntsev,
• Aleksander E. Baranchikov and
• Yury A. Zolotov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 127–136, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.9

• ) formation of a sensitive polymer matrix, (b) impregnation of the reagent, (c) immobilization of the reagent and (d) preparation of the sensor elements from molecularly imprinted polymers. Organic solvents are usually detected by using polymer matrix sensors (Table 1) through matrix interaction [7][8][9][15

• ) [5][6][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27]. The development of a sensor device with molecularly imprinted polymers allows for the determination of organic compounds (nicotinamide, sulfonamides, bisphenol A and diethylstilbestrol) with a more complex structure [12][13][28][29]. The color shift (blueshift

• filling of the structure, the structural heterogeneity within a volume, the presence of foreign chemical substances and the size variation of the matrix and particles during the chemical analysis process. However, one cannot ignore sensors based on molecularly imprinted polymers for the selective

Tin dioxide nanomaterial-based photocatalysts for nitrogen oxide oxidation: a review

• Viet Van Pham,
• Hong-Huy Tran,
• Thao Kim Truong and
• Thi Minh Cao

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 96–113, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.7

• TiO2 and BiOBr, recent works reported the successful combination of SnO2 nanomaterials with conjugated polymers such as graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) and polyaniline (PANI), yielding metal-free visible-light-driven photocatalysts for addressing NO gas pollution. Such combinations hold great

Theranostic potential of self-luminescent branched polyethyleneimine-coated superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles

• Rouhollah Khodadust,
• Ozlem Unal and
• Havva Yagci Acar

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 82–95, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.6

• sodium; superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles; Introduction Luminescent materials are of great interest in biotechnology and medicine since they can be utilized in sensors, labelling, and imaging [1][2][3][4][5]. Luminescent proteins, luminescent synthetic polymers, and quantum dots are the most

• popular luminescent materials with advantages and disadvantages [6][7][8][9][10]. Luminescent polymers are either π-conjugated systems with delocalized electrons or polymers with conjugated fluorophores as pendant or end groups [11][12][13]. Conjugated polymers usually suffer from insolubility, which

• limits their processability and hence medical use [13][14]. However, in recent years, amine-containing branched polymers such as polyethyleneimine (PEI) [15][16][17][18][19] and dendrimers such as polyamidoamine (PAMAM) [20][21][22][23][24] are reported as weakly blue luminescing organic materials. The

Nanoscale friction and wear of a polymer coated with graphene

• Robin Vacher and
• Astrid S. de Wijn

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 63–73, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.4

• Robin Vacher Astrid S. de Wijn Corrosion and tribology, SINTEF, Richard Birkelands vei 2B, 7034 Trondheim, Norway Institutt for maskinteknikk og produksjon, NTNU, Richard Birkelands vei 2B, 7034 Trondheim, Norway 10.3762/bjnano.13.4 Abstract Friction and wear of polymers at the nanoscale is a

• [5][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]. The effect of graphene coatings and their ability to protect against wear depend on the substrate underneath. So far, they have been studied almost exclusively on metals [20][21]. The tribological properties of polymers coated with graphene have barely

• layers of graphene oxide and polyethylenimine. The authors showed that a transfer film of graphene on the polymer leads to lower friction. While to our knowledge there have been no numerical studies of friction on graphene-coated polymers, the graphene–polymer interface has been studied. Rissanou et al

Biocompatibility and cytotoxicity in vitro of surface-functionalized drug-loaded spinel ferrite nanoparticles

• Sadaf Mushtaq,
• Khuram Shahzad,
• Tariq Saeed,
• Anwar Ul-Hamid,
• Bilal Haider Abbasi,
• Nafees Ahmad,
• Waqas Khalid,
• Muhammad Atif,
• Zulqurnain Ali and
• Rashda Abbasi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 1339–1364, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.99

• showed viability up to 80%, indicating excellent biocompatibility of amphiphilic polymers at a lower dose in vitro. IC50 concentrations of functionalized MFe2O4 NPs in cancer cells To determine IC50 concentrations of drug-loaded NPs and their effect on the metabolic activity of HepG2 and HT144 cells, MTT

• interaction between NPs a plasma membrane associated proteins [55]. In addition, the charge of polymeric coatings also governs NP uptake by cells. Positively charged polymers have been reported to enhance genotoxicity due to better internalization of NPs via the plasma membrane (electrostatic interaction) and

Enhancement of the piezoelectric coefficient in PVDF-TrFe/CoFe₂O₄ nanocomposites through DC magnetic poling

• Marco Fortunato,
• Alessio Tamburrano,
• Maria Paola Bracciale,
• Maria Laura Santarelli and
• Maria Sabrina Sarto

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 1262–1270, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.93

• the development of energy harvesters and sensors. Among the piezoelectric materials, special attention has been paid to electroactive polymers such as poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) and its copolymer poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-trifluoroethylene) (PVDF-TrFe), which is one of the most extensively

• investigated piezoelectric polymers, due to the high β phase content resulting from specific curing or processing conditions. However, to obtain a high piezoelectric coefficient (d33) alignment of the β phase domains is needed, which is usually reached through applying a high electric field at moderate

• constant and good piezoelectric properties suitable for the fabrication of flexible piezoelectric nanogenerators [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. One of the most extensively investigated piezoelectric polymers is poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF). This polymer has attracted a lot of interest due to its excellent

Electrical, electrochemical and structural studies of a chlorine-derived ionic liquid-based polymer gel electrolyte

• Ashish Gupta,
• Amrita Jain,
• Manju Kumari and
• Santosh K. Tripathi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 1252–1261, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.92

• to a pure polymer, which indicates that the ionic liquid and the liquid electrolytes have good compatibility with each other. The different parameters such as d-spacing, crystallite size/Scherrer length (l), relative peak intensity of the polymers, pure salt content, polymer/ionic liquid blend, and

• tabulated in Table 2. Dielectric studies are some of the most important techniques to understand the effect of plasticizers, blending of polymers, inter-/intramolecular interactions, their transport mechanism, and relaxation behavior at a molecular level. Figure 6a and Figure 6b show the dielectric constant

Self-assembly of amino acids toward functional biomaterials

• Huan Ren,
• Lifang Wu,
• Lina Tan,
• Yanni Bao,
• Yuchen Ma,
• Yong Jin and
• Qianli Zou

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 1140–1150, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.85

• polymers to enhance, repair, or replace diseased, damaged, or defective tissue [2]. A few examples are tooth repair, peripheral nerve regeneration, nerve tissue engineering, bone and joint replacement and repair, and regeneration of bone defects, biological scaffolds, and wound healing [3][4][5][6][7][8

Open-loop amplitude-modulation Kelvin probe force microscopy operated in single-pass PeakForce tapping mode

• Gheorghe Stan and
• Pradeep Namboodiri

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 1115–1126, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.83

• structures including metals [1], semiconductors [2][3][4], dielectrics [5][6][7], photovoltaics [8][9][10], polymers [11][12][13], ferroelectrics [14][15][16], and biological samples [17][18][19]. Technical descriptions and applications of KPFM methods for nanoscale material property characterizations are

Assessment of the optical and electrical properties of light-emitting diodes containing carbon-based nanostructures and plasmonic nanoparticles: a review

• Keshav Nagpal,
• Erwan Rauwel,
• Frédérique Ducroquet and
• Protima Rauwel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 1078–1092, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.80

• leverage over inorganic LED in display applications. Organic light-emitting diodes (OLED) consist of photoactive polymers, such as PPV and MEH-PPV that can be deposited as highly ordered crystalline thin films [15][16]. Despite several advantages, OLED have certain drawbacks, such as lower lifetime, high

• 44% compared to 90% of ITO. A higher transmittance is nonetheless possible by optimizing the interface between HTL and SWNT via a parylene layer, which tends to increase the transparency of SWNT. Table 2 lists the polymers and their acronyms mentioned in this study. The anode can be supplemented with

• graphene oxide is required based on the device configuration. Shi et al. obtained similar results with an excellent luminance of 53000 cd/m2, demonstrating its explicit applicability in flexible OLED [64]. Combinations of graphene oxide with polymers and metal oxides have also been evaluated. Lin et al

Use of nanosystems to improve the anticancer effects of curcumin

• Andrea M. Araya-Sibaja,
• Norma J. Salazar-López,
• Krissia Wilhelm Romero,
• José R. Vega-Baudrit,
• J. Abraham Domínguez-Avila,
• Carlos A. Velázquez Contreras,
• Ramón E. Robles-Zepeda,
• Mirtha Navarro-Hoyos and
• Gustavo A. González-Aguilar

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 1047–1062, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.78

• results have been obtained in glutathione-sensitive PEGylated CUR prodrug nanomicelles [76]. Polymeric nanoparticles (PNP). Polymeric nanoparticles are solid colloids with a size of up to 1000 nm; the drug is loaded into the polymeric matrix, preferably using biodegradable polymers [77][78]. If the drug

• constituted by lipophilic and hydrophilic polymers which contribute to increase their systemic mobility and residence time [86]. The advantages of this hybrid system include high encapsulation efficiency, well-defined release kinetics, well-tolerated serum stability, and well-triggered tissue, cellular, and

An overview of microneedle applications, materials, and fabrication methods

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

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 1034–1046, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.77

• feature sizes are fabricated using the tools of the microelectronics industry from metals, silicon, and polymers. Various types of subtractive and additive manufacturing processes have been used to manufacture microneedles, but the development of microneedle-based systems using conventional subtractive

• range of medical applications. However, the delivery of therapeutic agents by dissolving or coated microneedles has encountered problems, such as heating of carbohydrates and polymers, which can cause drug breakdown during moulding of microneedles at raised temperatures [36]. Research to overcome these

• issues has included fabrication of microneedles from aqueous mixtures of amylopectin and carboxymethylcellulose, rather than molten polymers, which helps to preserve the stability of the incorporated drug [37]. Accurate coating of microneedles is another challenge, but degradable or coated microneedles