A new bioinspired method for pressure and flow sensing based on the underwater air-retaining surface of the backswimmer Notonecta

• Matthias Mail,
• Adrian Klein,
• Horst Bleckmann,
• Anke Schmitz,
• Torsten Scherer,
• Peter T. Rühr,
• Goran Lovric,
• Robin Fröhlingsdorf,
• Stanislav N. Gorb and
• Wilhelm Barthlott

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 3039–3047, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.282

• ., for drag reducing ship coatings [5]. Submerged backswimmers are covered with a thin air layer, in particular on their hemelytra (forewings) [4][11][12]. This air layer remains stable over long periods of time under both static and dynamic conditions [4][13][14][15]. To understand the mechanism that

Ternary nanocomposites of reduced graphene oxide, polyaniline and hexaniobate: hierarchical architecture and high polaron formation

• Claudio H. B. Silva,
• Maria Iliut,
• Christopher Muryn,
• Christian Berger,
• Zachary Coldrick,
• Vera R. L. Constantino,
• Marcia L. A. Temperini and
• Aravind Vijayaraghavan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2936–2946, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.272

• applied, for instance, as supercapacitors, sensing materials, solar cells, electrochromic devices, anticorrosion coatings or as materials for carbon dioxide capture [8]. The layered inorganic phase offers a high surface area for PANI deposition and increases its thermal stability with regard to

Layered calcium phenylphosphonate: a hybrid material for a new generation of nanofillers

• Kateřina Kopecká,
• Ludvík Beneš,
• Klára Melánová,
• Vítězslav Zima,
• Petr Knotek and
• Kateřina Zetková

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2906–2915, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.269

• layer is formed by rather hydrophobic phenyl groups, which makes them a suitable material for incorporation into the hydrophobic polymer matrices. An epoxy resin was chosen as a polymer matrix because epoxy resins are widespread and useful in various industrial applications ranging from coatings, to

Low cost tips for tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy fabricated by two-step electrochemical etching of 125 µm diameter gold wires

• Antonino Foti,
• Francesco Barreca,
• Enza Fazio,
• Cristiano D’Andrea,
• Paolo Matteini,
• Onofrio Maria Maragò and
• Pietro Giuseppe Gucciardi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2718–2729, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.254

• tip [29][30]. TERS tips are nowadays produced by the chemical/electrochemical etching of metal wires [31][32][33][34][35], metal coatings of AFM tips [36][37][38], electroless deposition, [39] galvanic displacement [40] or by advanced nanostructuration techniques such as electron beam induced

Friction reduction through biologically inspired scale-like laser surface textures

• Johannes Schneider,
• Vergil Djamiykov and
• Christian Greiner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2561–2572, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.238

• resources. In order to do so, new strategies for optimized tribological systems have to be considered. Among them are the formulation of new lubricants [2][3], novel coatings [4][5][6], a more thorough understanding of the basic materials science principles governing friction and wear of bulk materials [7

Cytotoxicity of doxorubicin-conjugated poly[N-(2-hydroxypropyl)methacrylamide]-modified γ-Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles towards human tumor cells

• Zdeněk Plichta,
• Yulia Kozak,
• Rostyslav Panchuk,
• Viktoria Sokolova,
• Matthias Epple,
• Lesya Kobylinska,
• Pavla Jendelová and
• Daniel Horák

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2533–2545, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.236

• contrast agents have been approved by the regulatory authorities. It is well-known that the in vivo distribution of iron oxide nanoparticles is strongly influenced by their surface coatings. The coating ensures colloidal stability, prevents particles from aggregation, introduces functional groups for

• chemical attachment of target biomolecules, reduces cytotoxicity, and controls particle uptake by the cells [10]. Coatings can be either of low molecular weight, such are carbohydrates and organic acids (ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, tartaric acid, citric acid, succinic acid, bisphosphonic acid), or of

Effect of electrospinning process variables on the size of polymer fibers and bead-on-string structures established with a 2³ factorial design

• Paulina Korycka,
• Adam Mirek,
• Katarzyna Kramek-Romanowska,
• Marcin Grzeczkowicz and
• Dorota Lewińska

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2466–2478, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.231

• among others as: coatings with hydrophobic properties [19], membranes for fog harvesting [20], drug delivery systems with encapsulated therapeutic substances [21]. Therefore, it is fully justified to dedicate a study to the analysis of conditions in which the beads can be optimally obtained. Although a

ZnO-nanostructure-based electrochemical sensor: Effect of nanostructure morphology on the sensing of heavy metal ions

• Marina Krasovska,
• Vjaceslavs Gerbreders,
• Irena Mihailova,
• Andrejs Ogurcovs,
• Eriks Sledevskis,
• Andrejs Gerbreders and
• Pavels Sarajevs

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2421–2431, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.227

• , nanostructures of ZnO were synthesized in four different morphologies: nanorods, nanoneedles, nanotubes and nanoplates. To determine the peculiarities of adsorption for each morphology, a series of electrochemical measurements were carried out using these nanostructured ZnO coatings on the working electrodes

• were carried out using these nanostructured ZnO coatings on the working electrodes using aqueous solutions of Pb(NO3)2 and Cd(NO3)2 as analytes with different concentrations. Experimental Design and fabrication of the ZnO nanostructure-based electrochemical sensor Three morphologies of well-aligned one

• that the resulting nanostructured coatings of all three morphologies were dense, homogeneous and of well-controlled shapes (see Figure 2). The X-ray diffraction results revealed that the samples are crystalline with a hexagonal wurtzite structure. All XRD spectra show one dominant diffraction peak

Block copolymers for designing nanostructured porous coatings

• Roberto Nisticò

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2332–2344, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.218

• Roberto Nistico Department of Applied Science and Technology DISAT, Polytechnic of Torino, C.so Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino, Italy 10.3762/bjnano.9.218 Abstract Highly ordered porous coatings find applications in many fields, such as nanotechnology, microfluidics and nanofluidics

• , membrane separation, and sensing. In recent years, there has been great interest regarding the synthesis of isoporous and well-ordered (in)organic coatings for the production of highly selective functional membranes. Among the different strategies that have been proposed to date for preparing these porous

• thin coatings, one simple route involves the use of self-assembled amphiphilic block copolymers either as the porogen (acting as sacrificial templating agents for the production of inorganic architectures) or as a source of the porogen (by self-assembly for the production of polymeric substrates

Performance analysis of rigorous coupled-wave analysis and its integration in a coupled modeling approach for optical simulation of complete heterojunction silicon solar cells

• Ziga Lokar,
• Benjamin Lipovsek,
• Marko Topic and
• Janez Krc

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2315–2329, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.216

• conversion efficiency of solar cells. Such techniques aim to improve the coupling of light into the structure (e.g., antireflective coatings and nanostructures at the front side of solar cells) and the light trapping ability of the structure (e.g., nano- and micrometer size textures for light scattering and

• management coatings. Conclusion In the paper, we have analyzed the RCWA performance in terms of reliability and accuracy of the optical simulation of solar cell structures, in particular for HJ Si solar cells with textures for light management. For efficient simulation of whole HJ Si solar cells, including

Intrinsic ultrasmall nanoscale silicon turns n-/p-type with SiO₂/Si₃N₄-coating

• Dirk König,
• Daniel Hiller,
• Noël Wilck,
• Birger Berghoff,
• Merlin Müller,
• Sangeeta Thakur,
• Giovanni Di Santo,
• Luca Petaccia,
• Joachim Mayer,
• Sean Smith and
• Joachim Knoch

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2255–2264, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.210

• ) in particular at the gate-channel/gate-underlap interface and at the Ni–contact–Si interfaces, both depending on lcon (see Supporting Information File 1). Without the energy shift caused by Si3N4-coatings in source/drain, we obtain substantially higher Schottky-barriers for device II, resulting in

• yield p- (n-) type behaviour by shifting the electronic DOS towards (away from) Evac using ultrathin Si3N4- (SiO2-) coatings. The key parameters for this phenomenon are the electron affinities X of N and O together with their IOB and bond length to Si. Using NEGF device simulations we compared two

Fabrication of photothermally active poly(vinyl alcohol) films with gold nanostars for antibacterial applications

• Mykola Borzenkov,
• Maria Moros,
• Claudia Tortiglione,
• Serena Bertoldi,
• Nicola Contessi,
• Silvia Faré,
• Angelo Taglietti,
• Agnese D’Agostino,
• Piersandro Pallavicini,
• Maddalena Collini and
• Giuseppe Chirico

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2040–2048, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.193

• antibacterial films and coatings. Keywords: antibacterial properties; gold nanostars; photothermal effect; poly(vinyl alcohol) films; Introduction The photothermal properties of non-spherical gold nanoparticles possessing localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) located in NIR range has already been

• (GNSs coated with SH-PEG-OCH3 and SH-PEG-COOH) and on the PVA film without GNSs, as a comparison. The two different GNS coatings were selected to study the possible modification of the mechanical properties of the films induced by the presence of PEGylated GNSs, in particular when coated with PEG

Recent highlights in nanoscale and mesoscale friction

• Andrea Vanossi,
• Dirk Dietzel,
• Andre Schirmeisen,
• Ernst Meyer,
• Rémy Pawlak,
• Thilo Glatzel,
• Marcin Kisiel,
• Shigeki Kawai and
• Nicola Manini

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1995–2014, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.190

• technological impact. For example, the treatment of surfaces with molecular layers can have beneficial effects as it is well known from PTFE-coated surfaces. There is a need of alternative coatings for modern touch screens to prevent fingerprints and other contaminants. Surfaces for medical applications are

Biomimetic and biodegradable cellulose acetate scaffolds loaded with dexamethasone for bone implants

• Aikaterini-Rafailia Tsiapla,
• Varvara Karagkiozaki,
• Veroniki Bakola,
• Foteini Pappa,
• Panagiota Gkertsiou,
• Eleni Pavlidou and
• Stergios Logothetidis

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1986–1994, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.189

• are placed as coatings in medical devices in order to enhance the biocompatibility [2][3][4]. One technique to produce such coatings is electrospinning, which yields long micro- and nanofibers [5]. More specifically, physical and synthetic polymeric fibers of 30–20000 nm in length are produced by

• is created [23]. Grounded aluminum foils, glass substrates and also coatings for orthopaedic pins were used as collectors to carry out the necessary studies. Drug-release kinetics and degradation study of scaffolds Degradation study was carried out in order to evaluate the mass loss of polymer and

Synthesis of hafnium nanoparticles and hafnium nanoparticle films by gas condensation and energetic deposition

• Irini Michelakaki,
• Nikos Boukos,
• Dimitrios A. Dragatogiannis,
• Spyros Stathopoulos,
• Costas A. Charitidis and
• Dimitris Tsoukalas

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1868–1880, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.179

• fragile coatings that tend to fracture under small loads, making them in many cases unsuitable for industrial use. Mechanical reinforcement is necessary to improve mechanical stability. Some proposed methods in this direction are calcination [28], atomic layer deposition [29], hydrothermal treatment [30

• undergone mechanical reinforcement with other techniques [29][30]. We believe it is porosity and strength of the bonding between the grains that affect the mechanical properties of the films. In the case of Vs = 0 kV, fragile NP coatings with poor mechanical properties are formed due to the weak adhesive

Friction force microscopy of tribochemistry and interfacial ageing for the SiO_x/Si/Au system

• Christiane Petzold,
• Marcus Koch and
• Roland Bennewitz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1647–1658, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.157

• wear rate was found for the tips that had been in contact with reactive Si(100). Material transfer was found in one case, for the activated SiOx/Si tip after sliding on Au(111) (Figure 6d). The coatings of the Au/Si tips that were slid against reactive or oxidized Si(100) had a sharp border (Figure 6b

Surface characterization of nanoparticles using near-field light scattering

• Eunsoo Yoo,
• Yizhong Liu,
• Chukwuazam A. Nwasike,
• Sebastian R. Freeman,
• Brian C. DiPaolo,
• Bernardo Cordovez and
• Amber L. Doiron

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1228–1238, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.114

• microscope is efficient in characterization of polymer-coated nanoparticles. However, due to the fact that the nanoparticle scattering intensity depends on the dielectric constant of the material, multicomponent particle coatings, especially those on metallic or metal oxide materials such as those studied

• moderately spherical, with an average diameter of 18 ± 2 nm (n = 20) for uncoated SPIOs, 30 ± 6 nm (n = 20) for PEG-SPIOs, and 39 ± 5 nm (n = 20) for IPC-SPIOs. There was a gradual increase in size with the addition of the polymer coatings on the SPIOs. Hydrodynamic diameter and zeta potential of

Electrodeposition of reduced graphene oxide with chitosan based on the coordination deposition method

• Mingyang Liu,
• Yanjun Chen,
• Chaoran Qin,
• Zheng Zhang,
• Shuai Ma,
• Xiuru Cai,
• Xueqian Li and
• Yifeng Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1200–1210, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.111

• controlled creation of rGO/chitosan nanocomposite coatings and films of different shapes and thickness. It also introduces a new method of creating films, as they can be peeled completely from the electrodes. Moreover, this method allows for a rGO/chitosan film to be deposited directly onto an electrode

• promising for uses in surface coatings, sensors and metallic biomaterials, however, to date little attention has been paid to this coordination electrodeposition method. A feature of the chitosan electrodeposition method is that it enables a controllable means to assemble nanoparticles (e.g., silver

• nanoparticles, carbon nanotubes, manganese oxides nanoparticles, and carbon dots) on electrodes through codeposition with chitosan, which offers attractive applications in antimicrobial coatings, biosensors, microbial fuel cells, and energy storage materials [14][15][16][17][18]. Among the studies on the

Review on nanoparticles and nanostructured materials: history, sources, toxicity and regulations

• Jaison Jeevanandam,
• Ahmed Barhoum,
• Yen S. Chan,
• Alain Dufresne and
• Michael K. Danquah

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1050–1074, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.98

• . Animals and small insects utilize nanostructures for their protection from predatory organisms as well as in their lightweight wings via nanowax coatings. Similarly, humans also possess organs that are primarily contructed by nanostructures, such as bones. Antibodies, enzymes and other secretions that are

• ][201]. These superhydrophobic materials were useful in applications such as water treatment [202][203], wettability switchers [204][205], smart actuators [206], transparent coatings and electrodes [207][208][209]. Nanoparticles and nanostructures in insects Insect wing membranes are comprised of

Single-crystalline FeCo nanoparticle-filled carbon nanotubes: synthesis, structural characterization and magnetic properties

• Rasha Ghunaim,
• Maik Scholz,
• Christine Damm,
• Bernd Rellinghaus,
• Rüdiger Klingeler,
• Bernd Büchner,
• Michael Mertig and
• Silke Hampel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1024–1034, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.95

• coatings, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been introduced as a protective shell due to their high stability in different chemical and physical environments such as acidic, basic, high temperature and pressurized conditions [33][34][35][36]. CNTs can also act as a template to control the size and morphology of

Cyclodextrin inhibits zinc corrosion by destabilizing point defect formation in the oxide layer

• Abdulrahman Altin,
• Maciej Krzywiecki,
• Adnan Sarfraz,
• Cigdem Toparli,
• Claudius Laska,
• Philipp Kerger,
• Aleksandar Zeradjanin,
• Karl J. J. Mayrhofer,
• Michael Rohwerder and
• Andreas Erbe

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 936–944, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.86

• ) compounds, and environmentally friendly alternatives are needed [2][7]. Control experiments in a recent work on encapsulating poorly water soluble organic corrosion inhibitors in the cyclic oligosaccharide β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) for incorporation into model polymer coatings on zinc led to the surprising

Bioinspired self-healing materials: lessons from nature

• Joseph C. Cremaldi and
• Bharat Bhushan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 907–935, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.85

• were identified: reversible muscle control, clotting, cellular response, layering, protective surfaces, vascular networks or capsules, exposure, and replenishable functional coatings. Then the relationship between these mechanisms, nature’s best (evolutionary) methods of mitigating and healing damage

• avenues of insight and research into self-healing materials. Keywords: animals; biomimetics, bioinspired; capsules; functional coatings; healing mechanisms; plants; protective surfaces; self-healing; vascular systems; Review Introduction The ability to heal is intrinsic to all multicellular organisms

• functionality to their surfaces to accomplish complex tasks without the need for movement. These replenishable surface layers consist of combinations of hierarchical morphology and/or chemistry to create different wetting behaviors and are referred to as functional coatings. In the well-known case of the lotus

Comparative study of antibacterial properties of polystyrene films with TiO_x and Cu nanoparticles fabricated using cluster beam technique

• Vladimir N. Popok,
• Cesarino M. Jeppesen,
• Peter Fojan,
• Anna Kuzminova,
• Jan Hanuš and
• Ondřej Kylián

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 861–869, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.80

• Antibacterial coatings were prepared by deposition of Ti and Cu nanoparticles from cluster beams on polystyrene films followed by thermal annealing above the glass transition temperature. Ti clusters are oxidized in three different ways: by long-term exposure to ambient atmosphere, by plasma-enhanced oxidation

• agents does not require UV light but the use leads to gradual decrease of efficiency. On the other hand, these coatings would be cheaper and easier to apply. Comparison of bactericidal efficiency is found to be lower for our supported NPs compared to standard tests using NPs in solutions. Thus, more

Facile synthesis of a ZnO–BiOI p–n nano-heterojunction with excellent visible-light photocatalytic activity

• Mengyuan Zhang,
• Jiaqian Qin,
• Pengfei Yu,
• Bing Zhang,
• Mingzhen Ma,
• Xinyu Zhang and
• Riping Liu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 789–800, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.72

• (grant E2016203376). JQ would like to acknowledge the support from the Thai Government Budget (2017), Chulalongkorn University (GB_B_60_114_62_03), Ratchadapisek Sompoch Endowment Fund, Chulalongkorn University, granted to the Surface Coatings Technology for Metals and Materials Research Unit (GRU 60-001

Cyclodextrin-assisted synthesis of tailored mesoporous silica nanoparticles

• Fuat Topuz and
• Tamer Uyar

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 693–703, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.64

• /bjnano.9.64 Abstract Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) have sparked considerable interest in drug/gene delivery, catalysis, adsorption, separation, sensing, antireflection coatings and bioimaging because of their tunable structural properties. The shape, size and pore structure of MSNs are greatly