Nanocomposites comprised of homogeneously dispersed magnetic iron-oxide nanoparticles and poly(methyl methacrylate)

• Sašo Gyergyek,
• David Pahovnik,
• Ema Žagar,
• Alenka Mertelj,
• Rok Kostanjšek,
• Miloš Beković,
• Marko Jagodič,
• Heinrich Hofmann and
• Darko Makovec

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1613–1622, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.153

• analysis, a small amount of the nanoparticles were isolated from the suspension of NP-PMMA-3 immediately after the polymerization by centrifugation at 20,000g for 20 min. Any free polymer was washed from the sample by dispersing the sediment in acetone, centrifugation at 20,000g for 20 min and discarding

• the supernatant. The dispersion/centrifugation cycle was repeated four times. The isolated NP-PMMA-3 sample was oven dried at 60 °C. Pure PMMA (sPMMA) was prepared by polymerization of the MMA under identical conditions. The bonding of the MMA to RA (RA-MMA) and copolymerization of the RA-MMA with MMA

• probably the result of the depletion layer surrounding the nanoparticles, causing their flocculation to decrease the excluded volume of polymer chains [19][20][21][29]. To test if any of the added compounds stabilize the suspension of NPs in the PMMA polymer solution, the polymerization of MMA was

Optical near-field mapping of plasmonic nanostructures prepared by nanosphere lithography

• Gitanjali Kolhatkar,
• Alexandre Merlen,
• Jiawei Zhang,
• Chahinez Dab,
• Gregory Q. Wallace,
• François Lagugné-Labarthet and
• Andreas Ruediger

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1536–1543, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.144

• with a femtosecond laser, thereby inducing polymerization at the hot spots. In another approach, based on confocal fluorescence microscopy, a dye solution is deposited on the samples, and the higher fluorescence magnitude originating from the hot spots is measured [19]. However, these last four

Heterostuctures of 4-(chloromethyl)phenyltrichlorosilane and 5,10,15,20-tetra(4-pyridyl)-21H,23H-porphine prepared on Si(111) using particle lithography: Nanoscale characterization of the main steps of nanopatterning

• Phillip C. Chambers and
• Jayne C. Garno

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1211–1219, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.112

• matrix of OTS showed minimal areas of nonspecific adsorption. The AFM studies provide insight into the mechanism of the self-polymerization of CMPS as a platform for constructing porphyrin heterostructures. Keywords: atomic force microscopy (AFM); nanostructures; particle lithography; porphyrin; self

• subsequently grew to form multiple layers of CMPS through self-polymerization [37][39]. In a recent report, we have shown that changes in the parameters of temperature and solvent affect the growth of CMPS nanostructures prepared within a matrix film of organosilanes prepared with particle lithography [40]. In

• . The center-to-center spacing of each nanostructure measures 500 nm which matches to the diameter of the original surface mask of Si spheres. The areas with CMPS have self-polymerized to form multilayer nanostructures. The OTS resist confines the multilayer polymerization of CMPS to form within the

Perovskite-structured CaTiO₃ coupled with g-C₃N₄ as a heterojunction photocatalyst for organic pollutant degradation

• Ashish Kumar,
• Christian Schuerings,
• Suneel Kumar,
• Ajay Kumar and
• Venkata Krishnan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 671–685, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.62

• polymerization reaction and was kept at 120 °C for 24 h in an oven to obtain a black mass. The obtained xerogel was grounded into a powder and calcinated at 700 °C for 8 h, finally yielding white-colored CT nanoflakes. Synthesis of g-C3N4 nanosheets The g-C3N4 nanosheets were synthesized by heating dicyandiamide

Single-step process to improve the mechanical properties of carbon nanotube yarn

• Maria Cecilia Evora,
• Xinyi Lu,
• Nitilaksha Hiremath,
• Nam-Goo Kang,
• Kunlun Hong,
• Roberto Uribe,
• Gajanan Bhat and
• Jimmy Mays

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 545–554, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.52

• polyacrylonitrile (PAN) from the literature (Figure 1c). This process relies on the fundamentals of radiation grafting polymerization. The advantage of the process is that an initiator is not required, avoiding the formation of free radicals on the substrate backbone/monomer, contamination and problems with local

• immobilized on the MWNT surface and this produces trapped radicals on the surface of the MWNTs. As a result, the trapped radicals on the MWNTs surface act as initiators for graft polymerization of AN on the MWNT surface. On the other hand, the unsaturated C=C from vinyl monomers degrades easily under the

• radiation process. An excess of inhibitor may lead to diffusion through the yarn and the Fe2+ ions may deactivate the free radicals trapped on the MWNT surface. At this point, it should be noted that, to date, there are some previous reports on the use of radiation grafting polymerization to functionalize

Photocatalytic and adsorption properties of TiO₂-pillared montmorillonite obtained by hydrothermally activated intercalation of titanium polyhydroxo complexes

• Mikhail F. Butman,
• Nikolay L. Ovchinnikov,
• Nikita S. Karasev,
• Nataliya E. Kochkina,
• Alexander V. Agafonov and
• Alexandr V. Vinogradov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 364–378, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.36

• hydrothermally treated samples is probably due to the processes of polymerization of the hydroxo complexes mentioned in [25][26] in the interlayer space of MM already at the stage of intercalation. It is interesting to note that the basal distance retains its value both in samples subjected to hydrothermal

• . Conclusion TiO2-pillared MM was obtained by hydrothermally intensified intercalation of titanium polyhydroxo complexes, i.e., products of TiCl4 controlled hydrolysis. The porous structure of the material is thermally stable due to polymerization of titanium polycations and aggregation of pillars in the

Review: Electrostatically actuated nanobeam-based nanoelectromechanical switches – materials solutions and operational conditions

• Liga Jasulaneca,
• Jelena Kosmaca,
• Raimonds Meija,
• Jana Andzane and
• Donats Erts

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 271–300, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.29

Vapor-based polymers: from films to nanostructures

• Meike Koenig and
• Joerg Lahann

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2219–2220, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.221

• poly(p-xylylenes) via the Gorham process, has been of industrial use in the fabrication of isolating or protective coatings in electronics and biomaterials for many years [1][2]. More recently, vapor deposition polymerization has been extended to a broad variety of reactive polymers [3], additionally

• using techniques such as plasma-, initiated-, or oxidative chemical vapor deposition polymerization [4][5]. The reason for the ongoing interest in this research field is that, analogue to the deposition of inorganic coatings by chemical vapor deposition, the deposition of polymer coatings from the vapor

Ester formation at the liquid–solid interface

• Nguyen T. N. Ha,
• Thiruvancheril G. Gopakumar,
• Nguyen D. C. Yen,
• Carola Mende,
• Lars Smykalla,
• Maik Schlesinger,
• Roy Buschbeck,
• Tobias Rüffer,
• Heinrich Lang,
• Michael Mehring and
• Michael Hietschold

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2139–2150, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.213

• imaging in different stages of the reaction has been demonstrated in such cases where the molecular entities changed their appearance due to structural and electronic changes during different reaction steps. Examples for this are the polymerization reaction of brominated copper-2,3,7,8,12,13,17,18

• -octabromo-5,10,15,20-tetraphenylporphyrin (CuTPPBr8) at an Au(111) substrate [2] or the polymerization of 1,3,6,8-tetrabromopyrene on Cu(111) and Au(111) substrates [3]. Characteristic for all these studies is that they are performed at an almost ideal monocrystalline surface in ultra-high vacuum (UHV). On

Advances and challenges in the field of plasma polymer nanoparticles

• Andrei Choukourov,
• Pavel Pleskunov,
• Daniil Nikitin,
• Valerii Titov,
• Artem Shelemin,
• Mykhailo Vaidulych,
• Anna Kuzminova,
• Pavel Solař,
• Jan Hanuš,
• Jaroslav Kousal,
• Ondřej Kylián,
• Danka Slavínská and
• Hynek Biederman

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2002–2014, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.200

• plasma polymerization of volatile monomers or via radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering of conventional polymers. The formation of hydrocarbon, fluorocarbon, silicon- and nitrogen-containing plasma polymer nanoparticles as well as core@shell nanoparticles based on plasma polymers is discussed with a

• used as precursors for plasma polymerization [43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52]. Depending on the experimental conditions, plasma polymerization can be forced to proceed in a gas phase which results in the formation of NPs of different chemical and physical properties and with different size

• a result of plasma polymerization of n-hexane and hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDSO) [53] or as a result of RF magnetron sputtering of nylon [54] and poly(tetrafluoroethylene) (PTFE) [55]. One can readily judge the diversity of shape and morphology of the NPs with diameters ranging from tens to hundreds

Bi-layer sandwich film for antibacterial catheters

• Gerhard Franz,
• Florian Schamberger,
• Hamideh Heidari Zare,
• Sara Felicitas Bröskamp and
• Dieter Jocham

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1982–2001, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.199

• (Figure 3). Following Gorham, PPX is deposited by thermally cracking the precursor di(parylene N) (DPX) at 700 °C [27][28] (Figure 4). According to Figure 4, the radical polymerization reaction occurs at the two methylene groups in para-position of the benzene ring. This is one of the very rare reactions

• polymerization can be forced back or can even be suppressed by an increase of temperature, if the temperature is raised beyond the so-called ceiling temperature [34]. This is the basis for the construction of a temperature seesaw (Figure 7). It consists of a metallic rail with a semi-circular groove cut, which

• sccm. The monomer is highly diluted with argon (flows between 2 and 4 sccm), approaching epitaxial conditions, i.e., volume polymerization is suppressed to favor surface polymerization (Figure 10). For a flow of 10 sccm argon, the pressure would rise to 156 mTorr, and the residence time in the reactor

Fabrication of carbon nanospheres by the pyrolysis of polyacrylonitrile–poly(methyl methacrylate) core–shell composite nanoparticles

• Dafu Wei,
• Youwei Zhang and
• Jinping Fu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1897–1908, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.190

• nanoparticles. Firstly, PAN–PMMA nanoparticles at high concentration and low surfactant content were controllably synthesized by a two-stage azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN)-initiated semicontinuous emulsion polymerization. The carbon nanospheres were obtained after the PAN core domain was converted into carbon

• –shell nanoparticles; emulsion polymerization; polyacrylonitrile; Introduction Due to their high specific surface area, chemical inertness, good mechanical stability and unique electrical properties, carbon nanospheres have numerous potential applications in nanocomposites [1], gas storage [2], lithium

• efficiency of micellization make the method unappealing to the industrial community. Emulsion polymerization is a facile and efficient route to synthesize polymer particles. By combining the emulsion polymerization with the pyrolysis, the production efficiency of PAN-based carbon nanospheres can be improved

Application of visible-light photosensitization to form alkyl-radical-derived thin films on gold

• Rashanique D. Quarels,
• Xianglin Zhai,
• Neepa Kuruppu,
• Jenny K. Hedlund,
• Ashley A. Ellsworth,
• Amy V. Walker,
• Jayne C. Garno and
• Justin R. Ragains

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1863–1877, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.187

• arenediazonium ion can accept a single electron from a cathode to generate aryl radical and N2 at relatively high potentials. Rapid covalent bonding [11][12][13][14] of aryl radical to surfaces followed by further attachment of radicals to already-grafted arenes results in polymerization and generates dense

(Metallo)porphyrins for potential materials science applications

• Lars Smykalla,
• Carola Mende,
• Michael Fronk,
• Pablo F. Siles,
• Michael Hietschold,
• Georgeta Salvan,
• Dietrich R. T. Zahn,
• Oliver G. Schmidt,
• Tobias Rüffer and
• Heinrich Lang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1786–1800, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.180

• use discrete (metallo)porphyrins for the formation of (sub)monolayers by surface-confined polymerization, of monolayers formed by supramolecular recognition and of thin films formed by sublimation techniques. Selected physical properties of these systems are reported as well. The application potential

• of those ensembles of (metallo)porphyrins in materials science is discussed. Keywords: atomic force microscopy; magneto-optical Kerr effect spectroscopy; scanning tunnelling microscopy and spectroscopy; self-assembly; surface-confined 2D polymerization; transport properties; Review Introduction

• . It would be thus fascinating to create covalently bonded ensembles on surfaces, or, even more challenging, to induce a 2D surface polymerization. Despite the difficulties to control covalent bond formation on surface, a small number of such studies already exist [34][35][36][37][38][39], including

Surface functionalization of 3D-printed plastics via initiated chemical vapor deposition

• Christine Cheng and
• Malancha Gupta

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1629–1636, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.162

• engineering applications [18]. In another example of surface functionalization, Wang et al. reported a method for modifying the surfaces of 3DP structures fabricated via SLA by using a UV-curable resin with an embedded alkyl bromide initiator from which atom transfer radical polymerization was initiated [19

• ][20]. They demonstrated that complex 3D-printed structures could be coated with hydrophobic polymers and various metals. However, this coating technique is limited to photocurable resins into which the polymerization initiator has already been incorporated, which restricts surface modification to only

• to substrates on a cooled stage where polymerization occurs. The molecular weight increases with decreasing substrate temperature and typical molecular weights are in the range of 50,000 to 200,000 [23][24]. The iCVD process is solventless and therefore effects of surface tension are avoided

Oxidative stabilization of polyacrylonitrile nanofibers and carbon nanofibers containing graphene oxide (GO): a spectroscopic and electrochemical study

• İlknur Gergin,
• Ezgi Ismar and
• A. Sezai Sarac

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1616–1628, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.161

• hydrophilicity of the PAN precursor but also catalyze the cyclization of nitrile groups during the stabilization process by forming a ladder structure. In our previous studies, copolymers of AN have been synthesized by free radical polymerization, and electrospun nanofibers were obtained with different AN co

Two-dimensional carbon-based nanocomposites for photocatalytic energy generation and environmental remediation applications

• Suneel Kumar,
• Ashish Kumar,
• Ashish Bahuguna,
• Vipul Sharma and
• Venkata Krishnan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1571–1600, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.159

Parylene C as a versatile dielectric material for organic field-effect transistors

• Tomasz Marszalek,
• Maciej Gazicki-Lipman and
• Jacek Ulanski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1532–1545, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.155

• process, on the other hand, it results in the formation of organic polymers with high molecular weight, whereas typical products of these processes are inorganic materials of either metallic or ceramic nature. Perhaps the most unusual feature of the parylene process is the polymerization mechanism itself

• substrate. Finally, as it has been already stressed above, the polymerization reaction is initiated spontaneously and as such it requires no external initiator/catalyst. This unique feature makes the product uncontaminated with impurities influencing electrical conduction. As far as the termination of the

• reaction is concerned, there is none as long as the growing macromolecules remain under vacuum. The polymerization reaction exhibits a step-growth mechanism with second order kinetics with respect to the active radical sites [26]. Upon exposure to the atmosphere, these radical active centers (sometimes

A nanocomplex of C₆₀ fullerene with cisplatin: design, characterization and toxicity

• Svitlana Prylutska,
• Svitlana Politenkova,
• Kateryna Afanasieva,
• Volodymyr Korolovych,
• Kateryna Bogutska,
• Andriy Sivolob,
• Larysa Skivka,
• Maxim Evstigneev,
• Viktor Kostjukov,
• Yuriy Prylutskyy and
• Uwe Ritter

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1494–1501, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.149

• , USA) at ca. 37 °C. 20 µL of the mixture were used to prepare a microscope slide previously covered with 1% high-melting agarose. After agarose polymerization, the slides were placed in the lysis solution consisting of 2.5 М NaCl, 100 mM ЕDTA, 10 mM Tris-HCl (рН 7.5), and 1% Triton X-100 (Ferak

Cationic PEGylated polycaprolactone nanoparticles carrying post-operation docetaxel for glioma treatment

• Cem Varan and
• Erem Bilensoy

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1446–1456, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.144

• allow targeted drug delivery [14][15][16][17]. Polycaprolactone (PCL) is a synthetic hydrophobic polymer, which is prepared by ring opening polymerization of the monomer ε-caprolactone. It is used as a polymer in preparation of nanoparticles and other drug depot and delivery systems. Moreover, PCL is

Low uptake of silica nanoparticles in Caco-2 intestinal epithelial barriers

• Dong Ye,
• Mattia Bramini,
• Delyan R. Hristov,
• Sha Wan,
• Anna Salvati,
• Christoffer Åberg and
• Kenneth A. Dawson

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1396–1406, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.141

• for 1 h before being transferred to pure Epon and embedded at 37 °C for 2 h. The final polymerization was carried out at 65 °C for 24 h. With a reported approach [16], ultrathin sections of 80 nm, obtained with a diamond knife using an ultramicrotome Leica U6, were mounted on copper grids, and stained

Micro- and nano-surface structures based on vapor-deposited polymers

• Hsien-Yeh Chen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1366–1374, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.138

• uniformity with reduced array-to-array variation [19]. Vapor-phased plasma polymerization to prepare polyacrylic acid has also used to pattern and functionalize microfluidic devices based on wet and dry etching techniques [20]. Combining plasma polymerization and lithographical processes has also been used

• polymerization/deposition has the advantage of conformal coverage of substrates, the vapor-phase polymers are freely accessible to deposit on micro- and nano-structured surfaces, curved surfaces, confined microfluidic channels, 3D structures, and substrates with complex geometry [3][31][32]. Although an

• polymerization chamber to form a multi-phasic reactive species (monomer vapors). The copolymerization processes spontaneously occur when the multicomponent copolymer coatings form on substrates [41][46][47]. A wide range of functionalities was demonstrated: combinations of active esters, carbonyls, amino groups

Miniemulsion copolymerization of (meth)acrylates in the presence of functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotubes for reinforced coating applications

• Bertha T. Pérez-Martínez,
• Lorena Farías-Cepeda,
• Víctor M. Ovando-Medina,
• José M. Asua,
• Lucero Rosales-Marines and
• Radmila Tomovska

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1328–1337, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.134

• with modified multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were synthesized by in situ miniemulsion polymerization. The MWCNTs were pretreated by an air sonication process and stabilized by polyvinylpyrrolidone. The presence of the MWCNTs had no significant effect on the polymerization kinetics, but strongly

• ; miniemulsion polymerization; multiwalled carbon nanotubes; Introduction Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are hollow, fiber-like materials, with a diameter on the nanometer scale and a relatively long length on the micrometer scale, resulting in a very high aspect ratio material. Two types of CNTs exist, those made of

• technology (blends of latexes and CNT dispersions) [13][14][15][16][17], and in situ polymerization [8][12][18][19][20][21]. In situ polymerization can be performed in solution, bulk and in dispersed media. Polymerization in dispersed media allows a relatively easy control of the reactor temperature (which

Oxidative chemical vapor deposition of polyaniline thin films

• Yuriy Y. Smolin,
• Masoud Soroush and
• Kenneth K. S. Lau

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1266–1276, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.128

• temperature of 90 °C is needed to minimize the formation of oligomers during polymerization. Lower substrate temperatures, such as 25 °C, lead to a film that mostly includes oligomers. Increasing the oxidant flowrate to nearly match the monomer flowrate favors the deposition of PANI in the emeraldine state

• polymerization and coating technique, which has previously been used to deposit thin and ultrathin conducting polymer films, including polypyrrole, polythiophene (PTh), and poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT), without the limitations of solvent-based techniques [17]. The oCVD process provides better control

• inert carrier to help transport the oxidant and as a diluent to help control polymerization reactions. The monomer and oxidant are delivered in separate quarter-inch stainless-steel tubes to isolate the reactants prior to entering the reaction chamber and minimize polymerization and blockage in the gas

Nanotopographical control of surfaces using chemical vapor deposition processes

• Meike Koenig and
• Joerg Lahann

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1250–1256, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.126

• achieved via various vapor deposition strategies, for instance, using masks, exploiting surface properties that lead to spatially selective deposition, via the use of additional porogens or by employing oblique angle polymerization deposition. Here, we provide a concise review of these studies. Keywords

• : polymer coatings; polymer structures; structured coatings; vapor deposition polymerization; Review Introduction Polymer coatings have wide-spread applications, from electronics [1], to sensor systems [2] to biotechnology [3]. The ability to spatially control the surface properties in order to further

• deposition of poly(p-xylylenes) (PPX), as well as plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition polymerization, both of which offer many advantages over solution-based deposition methods [4]. Since no solvents are involved, no wetting problems or problems with solvent residues arise, which can potentially