Functionalized polystyrene nanoparticles as a platform for studying bio–nano interactions

• Cornelia Loos,
• Tatiana Syrovets,
• Anna Musyanovych,
• Volker Mailänder,
• Katharina Landfester,
• G. Ulrich Nienhaus and
• Thomas Simmet

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2403–2412, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.250

• show signs of apoptosis at this time point [41]. These data are in agreement with the previously proposed ‘‘proton-sponge’’ hypothesis, which refers to a continuous activation of the lysosomal proton pump, lysosomal swelling and rupture by particles carrying amino groups on their surface [20][41][50

Imaging the intracellular degradation of biodegradable polymer nanoparticles

• Anne-Kathrin Barthel,
• Martin Dass,
• Melanie Dröge,
• Jens-Michael Cramer,
• Daniela Baumann,
• Markus Urban,
• Katharina Landfester,
• Volker Mailänder and
• Ingo Lieberwirth

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1905–1917, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.201

• with residence time compared to the pristine particles (Figure 8A). However, for the largest residence time (336 h = 14 days), the mean PLLA diameter increased to a value way above the average pristine value. Any explanation for this is highly speculative. Swelling of the PLLA nanoparticles due to the

Experimental techniques for the characterization of carbon nanoparticles – a brief overview

• Wojciech Kempiński,
• Szymon Łoś,
• Mateusz Kempiński and
• Damian Markowski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1760–1766, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.186

• pure ACFs) to 3.33 Å and 3.30 Å for CCl4- and water-filled fibers, respectively. Such significant changes appear due to the so-called quasi-high pressure effect, which appear in confined liquids (e.g., adsorbed inside small pores). This causes swelling of pores of a certain width due to the decrease of

Non-covalent and reversible functionalization of carbon nanotubes

• Antonello Di Crescenzo,
• Valeria Ettorre and
• Antonella Fontana

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1675–1690, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.178

• , makes CNTs bundles precipitation more difficult, dehydrate the CNT interface and reduce water ordering around the CNTs [71] (see Figure 4). Unlikely, in none of our simulations we have observed hydrophilic chains extending and swelling in the aqueous environment. Nevertheless, our simulations considered

Liquid fuel cells

• Grigorii L. Soloveichik

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1399–1418, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.153

• current densities (10 mA/cm2) [91]. The crossover of neat IPA through the SPEEK PEM was about the same as for the 1 M solution due to lower swelling [91]. A similar LFC operating on 2 M IPA at 90 °C exhibited a high OCV (0.86 V) and achieved a peak power density of 128 mW/cm2 [89]. The cell voltage was ca

Surface topography and contact mechanics of dry and wet human skin

• Alexander E. Kovalev,
• Kirstin Dening,
• Bo N. J. Persson and
• Stanislav N. Gorb

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1341–1348, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.147

• cellulose fibers. In fact, cellulose fibers exhibit elastoplastic properties very similar to the stratum corneum: Both absorb water strongly and swell by wetting, both have elastic moduli of the order of 10 MPa in the wet state and of the order of 1 GPa in the dry state [11]. The swelling (and elastic

Model systems for studying cell adhesion and biomimetic actin networks

• Dorothea Brüggemann,
• Johannes P. Frohnmayer and
• Joachim P. Spatz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1193–1202, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.131

• bilayers, which are only 4 nm thick [46]. For the preparation of GUVs several methods exist, amongst which are electroformation on platinum wires or indium tin oxide (ITO) electrodes as well as spontaneous swelling. The specifics of GUVs, their detailed preparation methods and wide ranging applications are

• embedded into GUV membranes either by mixing protein-reconstituted liposomes of 0.1 to 0.2 μm diameter with a lipid-containing oil phase (lipid cosolvent method) [49] or by swelling of a tissue-like giant vesicle film [50]. For the first time, Dezi et al. recently incorporated different transmembrane

• [55]. Sackmann and co-workers later studied GUVs with enclosed actin networks, which were formed by spontaneous swelling in a buffer containing actin monomers. They also observed shape transitions in these model cells following actin polymerisation, but osmotic effects due to the addition of MgCl2

Manipulation of isolated brain nerve terminals by an external magnetic field using D-mannose-coated γ-Fe₂O₃ nano-sized particles and assessment of their effects on glutamate transport

• Tatiana Borisova,
• Natalia Krisanova,
• Arsenii Borуsov,
• Roman Sivko,
• Ludmila Ostapchenko,
• Michal Babic and
• Daniel Horak

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 778–788, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.90

• through swelling-activated anion channels, cysteine/glutamate exchange, trans-membrane diffusion and volume-sensitive Cl− channels [19][20][21]. In this set of experiments, the extracellular level and unstimulated release of glutamate from nerve terminals in the presence of D-mannose-coated γ-Fe2O3

Fabrication of carbon nanomembranes by helium ion beam lithography

• Xianghui Zhang,
• Henning Vieker,
• André Beyer and
• Armin Gölzhäuser

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 188–194, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.20

• that an excessive exposure to He+ ions (>4000 µC/cm2) leads to a damage of the CNMs, which is attributed to the swelling of the Au substrate from ion implantation [24]. A complete cross-linking of NBPT SAMs by He+ ion irradiation requires an exposure dose of approximately 850 µC/cm2, which is roughly

Digging gold: keV He⁺ ion interaction with Au

• Vasilisa Veligura,
• Gregor Hlawacek,
• Robin P. Berkelaar,
• Raoul van Gastel,
• Harold J. W. Zandvliet and
• Bene Poelsema

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 453–460, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.53

• swelling of several materials (Er, Nb and Ni) under helium irradiation is compared. The general trend of the expansion is similar to the one described in this work. The initial linear expansion was found to be energy-independent as well. In the work of Terreault et al. [31], the authors studied helium

Directed deposition of silicon nanowires using neopentasilane as precursor and gold as catalyst

• Britta Kämpken,
• Verena Wulf,
• Norbert Auner,
• Marcel Winhold,
• Michael Huth,
• Daniel Rhinow and
• Andreas Terfort

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 535–545, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.62

• deposition of polymer films is microcontact printing [47], which is generally considered advantageous since it is an “additive” method. In this particular case the need for dichloromethane or a similar solvent makes this process unsuitable due to the well-known swelling of the stamp material with these

Micro- and mesoporous solids: From science to application

• Jörg J. Schneider

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 774–775, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.85

• adsorption sites and dynamics, a theoretical understanding, e.g., employing state of the art theoretical modeling techniques, is certainly necessary. The development of synthetic concepts for the formation of two-dimensional, layered, porous structures, e.g., by swelling and delamination followed by film

Dynamics of capillary infiltration of liquids into a highly aligned multi-walled carbon nanotube film

• Sławomir Boncel,
• Krzysztof Z. Walczak and
• Krzysztof K. K. Koziol

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 311–317, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.36

• specify the Hildebrand solubility parameter (δ) as crucial towards convenient three-modal classification: dispersion, swelling or precipitation [15][16][17][18]. For evaluation of wettability of HACNT arrays, an approach based on the direct measurement of contact angle between interfaces of nanotube film

Single-pass Kelvin force microscopy and dC/dZ measurements in the intermittent contact: applications to polymer materials

• Sergei Magonov and
• John Alexander

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 15–27, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.2

• selective swelling of components. Keywords: atomic force microscopy; fluoroalkanes; Kelvin force microscopy; surface potential; Introduction Atomic force microscopy (AFM) applications include high-resolution imaging, probing of local materials properties and compositional mapping of heterogeneous

• compositional mapping of organic materials and polymers. In the intermittent contact operation, proximity of the conducting probe to a sample helps in avoiding screening the sample’s electrical response by a water layer when measurements are performed at high humidity. A selective swelling of individual

• topography and surface potential changes of a thin PMMA film, Figure 7B. The study of swelling of PMMA film by different organic vapors [22] showed that methanol has a strong effect as shown by AFM. Indeed, swelling of PMMA with methanol induced changes not only in topography but also in surface potential

Sensing surface PEGylation with microcantilevers

• Natalija Backmann,
• Natascha Kappeler,
• Thomas Braun,
• François Huber,
• Hans-Peter Lang,
• Christoph Gerber and
• Roderick Y. H. Lim

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2010, 1, 3–13, doi:10.3762/bjnano.1.2

• authors to study the in situ swelling and collapse of poly(methyl methacrylate) brushes, the kinetics of brush formation could not be monitored in real-time. The driving impetus behind this work is to apply microcantilever sensors operated in static mode to study in real-time (1) the kinetic aspects of

• chains into their swelling state. Discussion We have studied the behavior of 20 kDa mPEG–SH “grafted to” Au surfaces using a microcantilever array-based sensor. Consistent with XPS [8], ellipsometry [8][34], QCM [35] and AFM [36] polymer “grafting to” studies, we find that the adsorption profile of mPEG

• -swelling) is described by a reproducible tensile surface stress change with a deflection of ~110–150 nm which equates into a generated stress of ~35–45 mN/m. These results were reproducible with respect to both in situ and external references, as well as surfaces consisting of either bare Au or a Au