Needs and challenges for assessing the environmental impacts of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs)

• Michelle Romero-Franco,
• Hilary A. Godwin,
• Muhammad Bilal and
• Yoram Cohen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 989–1014, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.101

• human exposure via inhalation based on the daily amount of nanomaterial with which a worker comes into contact; (c) the maximum ENM input into the environment during manufacture via wastewater, exhaust gases or solid waste; and (d) the available information on the ENM life cycle. Finally, the score for

Synthesis of graphene–transition metal oxide hybrid nanoparticles and their application in various fields

• Arpita Jana,
• Elke Scheer and
• Sebastian Polarz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 688–714, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.74

Investigation of the photocatalytic efficiency of tantalum alkoxy carboxylate-derived Ta₂O₅ nanoparticles in rhodamine B removal

• Subia Ambreen,
• Mohammad Danish,
• Narendra D. Pandey and
• Ashutosh Pandey

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 604–613, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.65

• water resources has become a major concern. Contamination of water by organic dyes is a threat as these molecules are non-biodegradable and highly toxic. Conventional waste water treatments (to remove solids, organic matter and, sometimes, nutrients from wastewater) such as coarse screening, grit

The cleaner, the greener? Product sustainability assessment of the biomimetic façade paint Lotusan^® in comparison to the conventional façade paint Jumbosil^®

• Florian Antony,
• Rainer Grießhammer,
• Thomas Speck and
• Olga Speck

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 2100–2115, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.200

• both scenarios of our approach no damaged areas emerge throughout the façade paintings service life time, which would require further actions of conservation. Since empty buckets and lids result from each painting, waste treatment of packaging materials had been taken into account. They have been

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

• capacity to deliver a payload to cells and tissues makes nano-HAp a strong candidate to enhance the current effectiveness of disease diagnosis, which was already proved by applying nanoparticles to bioimaging and therapy [3][12]. HAp-based compounds and substances can also play a significant role in waste

A terahertz-vibration to terahertz-radiation converter based on gold nanoobjects: a feasibility study

• Kamil Moldosanov and
• Andrei Postnikov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 983–989, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.90

• objective) waste of the microwave energy, it will “populate” the system with longitudinal phonons, thus enhancing the possibility of scenario (v) and compensating for the “cooling” implied by the latter. Note that this very process came about as the useful one in a different context, in our work on

Synthesis and applications of carbon nanomaterials for energy generation and storage

• Marco Notarianni,
• Jinzhang Liu,
• Kristy Vernon and
• Nunzio Motta

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 149–196, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.17

• around 10,000 nuclear plants over the next 36 years [12]! Apart from the costs of building these nuclear plants, nuclear energy has associated risks and hazards. Nuclear plants are in fact very expensive to build, maintain and protect from attack. Not to mention that the disposal of nuclear waste has

Green and energy-efficient methods for the production of metallic nanoparticles

• Mitra Naghdi,
• Mehrdad Taheran,
• Satinder K. Brar,
• M. Verma,
• R. Y. Surampalli and
• J. R. Valero

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2354–2376, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.243

• global demand to reduce the emission of toxic waste into environment. These sustainable processes should consider 12 major principles of Green Chemistry before putting them into practical effect. These principles are set to minimize the use of toxic reagents and maximize the yield of products [34][116

• ]. Inhibition of waste generation: Prevention of the generation of wastes is preferred to their purification. In this sense, the formation of any unusable by-products or the loss of consumed energy can be taken into account as waste. Each form of waste has its own impacts on the environment depending on its

• , starch and glycerol [130][131][132][133]. Reduction of derivatives: Derivatization processes, such as blocking, protection, and temporary physical or chemical alteration should be limited, since they introduce additional chemicals and increase energy consumption and waste generation [116][118]. In the

Light-powered, artificial molecular pumps: a minimalistic approach

• Giulio Ragazzon,
• Massimo Baroncini,
• Serena Silvi,
• Margherita Venturi and
• Alberto Credi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2096–2104, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.214

• oxidants and reductants. In these cases, the cyclical operation involves the repeated addition of reactants with the concomitant generation of waste products. At some point, this may compromise the integrity of the system unless they are removed, as occurs in natural molecular motors as well as in

Analysis of soil bacteria susceptibility to manufactured nanoparticles via data visualization

• Rong Liu,
• Yuan Ge,
• Patricia A. Holden and
• Yoram Cohen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1635–1651, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.166

• communities and thus may induce profound impacts on terrestrial ecosystems [16][26]. Soil microbial communities, as one of the most abundant and diverse groups of organisms on earth, perform many critical ecosystem functions (e.g., element cycling and waste decomposition) [27][28] and are important biotic

Thermal energy storage – overview and specific insight into nitrate salts for sensible and latent heat storage

• Nicole Pfleger,
• Thomas Bauer,
• Claudia Martin,
• Markus Eck and
• Antje Wörner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1487–1497, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.154

• demand of conventional energy sources for two reasons: First, they prevent the mismatch between the energy supply and the power demand when generating electricity from renewable energy sources. Second, utilization of waste heat in industrial processes by thermal energy storage reduces the final energy

• ®. Cofalit® is manufactured by the INERTAM Company in France and is produced by high-temperature plasma treatment (1500 °C) of asbestos-containing waste called ACW. Cofalit® is a calcium magnesium iron alumina-silicate [26]. The thermophysical properties meet the required criteria of potential filler

• calcium silicate was formed on the surface of the Cofalit® ceramic. Ortega [27] investigated another industrial waste product as potential filler material in hot air, synthetic oil and molten salt: Two electric arc furnace slags from two different steel manufactures in Spain. The slags are in direct

Natural and artificial binders of polyriboadenylic acid and their effect on RNA structure

• Giovanni N. Roviello,
• Domenica Musumeci,
• Valentina Roviello,
• Marina Pirtskhalava,
• Alexander Egoyan and
• Merab Mirtskhulava

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1338–1347, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.138

• designing new drugs aimed to modulate mRNA functions. In particular, it was shown that benzopyrene-like molecules, which are formed after combustion of unsorted waste or fuels such as kerosene and naphtha, are able to covalently bind poly(rA) with affinity higher than poly(dA) DNA [66]. Also the work of

High photocatalytic activity of V-doped SrTiO₃ porous nanofibers produced from a combined electrospinning and thermal diffusion process

• Panpan Jing,
• Wei Lan,
• Qing Su and
• Erqing Xie

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1281–1286, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.132

• photocatalytic reaction. Accordingly, the V-doped SrTiO3 porous nanofibers could be a promising candidate for the clean-up of industrial waste water. In this work, it is suggested that there are three main contributors to the remarkable photocatalytic performance of V-doped SrTiO3 porous nanofibers. Firstly, the

Simulation tool for assessing the release and environmental distribution of nanomaterials

• Haoyang Haven Liu,
• Muhammad Bilal,
• Anastasiya Lazareva,
• Arturo Keller and
• Yoram Cohen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 938–951, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.97

• release into the environment. LCIA approaches are based on ENM production rates and empirical transfer coefficients that quantify the fraction of mass transferred between compartments (including technical compartments, such as waste processing facilities, as well as environmental compartments, such as air

• , cosmetics, electronics, catalysts), waste processing facilities (i.e., technical compartments), and eventually environmental compartments (Figure 3) [7][17]. Transfer coefficients, which are dependent on the ENM type, ENM application, and region under consideration [7][17], then serve to quantify the

• the USA. Similarly, it has been reported that in Switzerland, biosolids are not applied to soil, and are instead processed in waste incineration plants [17]. The compartmental concentrations of CeO2 for the 12 countries were estimated via MendNano using the release rate estimates shown in Figure 12

Multifunctional layered magnetic composites

• Maria Siglreitmeier,
• Baohu Wu,
• Tina Kollmann,
• Martin Neubauer,
• Gergely Nagy,
• Dietmar Schwahn,
• Vitaliy Pipich,
• Damien Faivre,
• Dirk Zahn,
• Andreas Fery and
• Helmut Cölfen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 134–148, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.13

• in aqueous solution by using empirical force fields [44][45][63][64]. Investigation of biologically designed metal-specific chelators for potential metal recovery and waste remediation applications [65], and the Kawska–Zahn docking procedure were described previously [43]. Along this line, ion

Manganese oxide phases and morphologies: A study on calcination temperature and atmospheric dependence

• Matthias Augustin,
• Daniela Fenske,
• Ingo Bardenhagen,
• Anne Westphal,
• Martin Knipper,
• Thorsten Plaggenborg,
• Joanna Kolny-Olesiak and
• Jürgen Parisi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 47–59, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.6

• especially useful for application as molecular sieves and absorbents for the removal of toxic species from waste gases such as carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxide [6][7][8]. Additionally, manganese oxide structures exhibiting oxygen vacancies provide additional active sites for reduction and oxidation

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

• laboratory needs [4]. The number of polystyrene applications has steadily grown over the past 20 years. Although polystyrene can be recycled, only a small portion of the produced polystyrene is actually recycled. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Municipal Solid Waste statistics of 2005

• , solid non-recycled polystyrene waste amounted to almost 2.6 million tons alone in the USA [5]. Even though it has been reported that the Actinobacteria strain Rhodococcus ruber may degrade a thin film of polystyrene, the rate of polystyrene degradation with 0.04 to 0.57% during several weeks in soil are

Synthesis of radioactively labelled CdSe/CdS/ZnS quantum dots for in vivo experiments

• Gordon M. Stachowski,
• Christoph Bauer,
• Christian Waurisch,
• Denise Bargheer,
• Peter Nielsen,
• Jörg Heeren,
• Stephen G. Hickey and
• Alexander Eychmüller

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2383–2387, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.247

• in the whole body or in ex vivo samples by γ-counting. However, the synthesis of radioactively labelled QDs is not trivial since the coating process must be completely adapted, and material availability, security and avoidance of radioactive waste must be considered. In this contribution, the coating

• must take into account the handling under typical chemical laboratory conditions with respect to both the safety aspects and material availability. Moreover, the common chemical laboratory synthesis batch size must be scaled down to avoid excessive radioactive waste while ensuring a statistically

• decay does not appear to influence the PL intensity to any great extent. By quantification of the radioactivity of the 65Zn-containing QDs it was found that only 50% of the original 65Zn was detected in the cleaned QD solution, the rest being accounted for by the waste reaction and purification solution

Carbon nano-onions (multi-layer fullerenes): chemistry and applications

• Juergen Bartelmess and
• Silvia Giordani

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1980–1998, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.207

• using large, defect rich CNOs, synthesized from wood waste, for imaging the life cycle of D. melanogaster (Figure 5) [17]. The authors claim that solubility in water was achieved by the presence of a large number of carboxylate groups on the CNO surface that originate from the production process. These

Synthesis of hydrophobic photoluminescent carbon nanodots by using L-tyrosine and citric acid through a thermal oxidation route

• Venkatesh Gude

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1513–1522, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.164

• as heterogeneous graphene quantum dots (GQDs) [15]. Many research groups developed synthetic routes to obtain CNDs without using surface passivating agents, by using natural resources like candle soot [6], orange juice [7], banana juice [16], ground soybeans [17], waste paper [18], and paper ash [19

Liquid fuel cells

• Grigorii L. Soloveichik

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

• , and formate salts are non-hazardous and easy to transport. However, the reaction (Equation 17) generates alkaline metal carbonates as a waste, which decreases the attractiveness of this approach. The mixture of formic acid and formate was proposed as a fuel for a direct fuel cell [144]. In the

DFT study of binding and electron transfer from colorless aromatic pollutants to a TiO₂ nanocluster: Application to photocatalytic degradation under visible light irradiation

• Corneliu I. Oprea,
• Petre Panait and
• Mihai A. Gîrţu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1016–1030, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.115

• ; density functional theory; photocatalytic degradation; titanium dioxide; visible light irradiation; Introduction Titania, TiO2, has been widely used as photocatalyst for environmental applications [1][2][3][4][5][6], particularly for waste water purification. Due to its large band gap TiO2 absorbs only

Enhanced photocatalytic activity of Ag–ZnO hybrid plasmonic nanostructures prepared by a facile wet chemical method

• Sini Kuriakose,
• Vandana Choudhary,
• Biswarup Satpati and
• Satyabrata Mohapatra

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 639–650, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.75

• photocatalytic degradation efficiency, which has been found to increase with the extent of Ag nanoparticle loading. Keywords: Ag–ZnO; hybrid plasmonic nanostructures; photocatalysis; Introduction The removal of hazardous materials such as dyes and organic compounds from waste water has attracted ever

Design criteria for stable Pt/C fuel cell catalysts

• Josef C. Meier,
• Carolina Galeano,
• Ioannis Katsounaros,
• Jonathon Witte,
• Hans J. Bongard,
• Angel A. Topalov,
• Claudio Baldizzone,
• Stefano Mezzavilla,
• Ferdi Schüth and
• Karl J. J. Mayrhofer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 44–67, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.5

Structural, optical and photocatalytic properties of flower-like ZnO nanostructures prepared by a facile wet chemical method

• Sini Kuriakose,
• Neha Bhardwaj,
• Jaspal Singh,
• Biswarup Satpati and
• Satyabrata Mohapatra

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 763–770, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.87

• treatment, these azo dyes may generate carcinogenic compounds such as aromatic amines. Because of this, purification and detoxification of industrial waste water has been one of the major challenges. Several methods such as adsorption, filtration, sedimentation and photocatalysis are used for the removal of