Hexagonal boron nitride: a review of the emerging material platform for single-photon sources and the spin–photon interface

• Stefania Castelletto,
• Faraz A. Inam,
• Shin-ichiro Sato and
• Alberto Boretti

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 740–769, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.61

• with 10 keV gallium ions at a dose of 10−14 C/µm2 with subsequent annealing with argon at 1 Torr and 750 °C for 30 min. The lifetime, brightness, and PL stability of this SPE are similar to those in 2D h-BN, however with a wavelength variation smaller by a factor of five as compared to the SPEs in 2D h

Brome mosaic virus-like particles as siRNA nanocarriers for biomedical purposes

• Alfredo Nuñez-Rivera,
• Pierrick G. J. Fournier,
• Danna L. Arellano,
• Ana G. Rodriguez-Hernandez,
• Rafael Vazquez-Duhalt and
• Ruben D. Cadena-Nava

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 372–382, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.28

• limited because only a small fraction of the administered dose of the drug arrives into the tumors [1][2][3]. This can be attributed, in part, to a series of biological barriers that reduce the drug accumulation in tumors [4] such as sequestration by the mononuclear phagocyte system [5], non-specific

Internalization mechanisms of cell-penetrating peptides

• Ivana Ruseska and
• Andreas Zimmer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 101–123, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.10

• -cyclodextrin (which depletes cell surface associated cholesterol) and macropinocytosis-specific inhibitors (such as cytochalasin D, an inhibitor of F-actin or EIPA, an inhibitor or the Na+/H+ exchange), a dose-dependent reduction of the internalized peptide was observed, which led to the conclusion that TAT

Bombesin receptor-targeted liposomes for enhanced delivery to lung cancer cells

• Mohammad J. Akbar,
• Pâmela C. Lukasewicz Ferreira,
• Melania Giorgetti,
• Leanne Stokes and
• Christopher J. Morris

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2553–2562, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.246

• the purposes of enhanced liposome delivery to lung cancer. Results and Discussion GRPR as a target in lung cancer The functionality of GRPR in SCLC cells was confirmed by Fura-2 studies in which NCI-H345 or NCI-H82 SCLC cell models were exposed to a dose-range of the canonical GRPR agonist peptide

• , Tyr4-Bn. A dose-dependent increase in intracellular calcium release was observed for NCI-H345 but not the GRPR deficient SCLC line, NCI-H82 (Figure 1a,b), as previously reported [17][18]. The physiological role of GRPR includes the stimulation of a mitogenic response after receptor internalisation [19

Mobility of charge carriers in self-assembled monolayers

• Zhihua Fu,
• Tatjana Ladnorg,
• Hartmut Gliemann,
• Alexander Welle,
• Asif Bashir,
• Michael Rohwerder,
• Qiang Zhang,
• Björn Schüpbach,
• Andreas Terfort and
• Christof Wöll

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2449–2458, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.235

• . Time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS) measurements were carried out in a TOF-SIMS 5 device (ION-TOF GmbH, Münster, Germany). The spectrometry was performed in static SIMS mode (primary ion beam dose < 2 × 1011 ions/cm2) with Bi3+ primary ions at 25 keV. Spectra were calibrated on

Deterministic placement of ultra-bright near-infrared color centers in arrays of silicon carbide micropillars

• Stefania Castelletto,
• Abdul Salam Al Atem,
• Faraz Ahmed Inam,
• Hans Jürgen von Bardeleben,
• Sophie Hameau,
• Ahmed Fahad Almutairi,
• Gérard Guillot,
• Shin-ichiro Sato,
• Alberto Boretti and
• Jean Marie Bluet

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2383–2395, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.229

• irradiation dose. In Figure 6c the measured lifetimes of NCVSi emission using a LP at 1319 nm were τ = 1.557 ± 0.006 ns in the pillar and τ = 1.621 ± 0.006 ns in the gap. The values were modeled using a single exponential. These short lifetimes indicate that the NCVSi center can be ideally used as a bright

Integration of sharp silicon nitride tips into high-speed SU8 cantilevers in a batch fabrication process

• Nahid Hosseini,
• Matthias Neuenschwander,
• Oliver Peric,
• Santiago H. Andany,
• Jonathan D. Adams and
• Georg E. Fantner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2357–2363, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.226

• so large that it touches the sample, which we have not observed so far. One way to reduce this problem could be adjusting the exposure dose to values not higher than absolutely required. The increased detection bandwidth of the SU8 cantilevers arises from the viscoelastic nature of the SU8 polymer

Atomic force acoustic microscopy reveals the influence of substrate stiffness and topography on cell behavior

• Yan Liu,
• Li Li,
• Xing Chen,
• Ying Wang,
• Meng-Nan Liu,
• Jin Yan,
• Liang Cao,
• Lu Wang and
• Zuo-Bin Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2329–2337, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.223

• topography is determined by both the exposure dose and the development of the SU-8 films. We cultured L929 cells on undeveloped and developed SU-8 surfaces as well as on a reference glass substrate. The structural responses of the L929 cells on the substrate topography were probed using AFAM. A fluorescence

• dose of 1000 μC∙cm−2, which produced the best topography structure. Then the SU-8 films were developed for 1 min using the MicroChem SU-8 developer and dried in air. The resulting developed nanostripe sections are separated by 1.5 μm and have of a width of 500 nm and a deepness of 175 nm. AFAM imaging

• with increasing exposure dose. This could be attributed to the increase of the surface stiffness. To further characterize the elasticity of the substrate the Young’s moduli of the undeveloped arrays were calculated using the Hertzian model. Here, the Young’s modulus measurements were repeated twenty

Microfluidics as tool to prepare size-tunable PLGA nanoparticles with high curcumin encapsulation for efficient mucus penetration

• Nashrawan Lababidi,
• Valentin Sigal,
• Aljoscha Koenneke,
• Konrad Schwarzkopf,
• Andreas Manz and
• Marc Schneider

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2280–2293, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.220

• permeation of the particles through mucus, small particles are required. To ensure proper treatment, it is necessary to reach the target dose; therefore, a high drug loading into the NP carrier is necessary to compensate for their small size in order to reach the target dose. In this study, the encapsulation

Targeted therapeutic effect against the breast cancer cell line MCF-7 with a CuFe₂O₄/silica/cisplatin nanocomposite formulation

• B. Rabindran Jermy,
• Vijaya Ravinayagam,
• Widyan A. Alamoudi,
• Dana Almohazey,
• Hatim Dafalla,
• Lina Hussain Allehaibi,
• Abdulhadi Baykal,
• Muhammet S. Toprak and
• Thirunavukkarasu Somanathan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2217–2228, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.214

• form aggregates, exert variable oxidation states and result in dose-dependent toxicity. Several supports, including silica and carbon, were used to reduce such aggregation. Notably, different types of nanocomposites were reported based on Co, Ni, Mn and Fe over mesoporous carbon capsules [8]. A carbon

• viability (Figure 8 and Table 1). Interestingly, when cisplatin was loaded into CuFe2O4-coated silica nanoparticles (group E), it was still able to significantly reduce the cell viability in a dose dependent manner. At the highest concentration used (0.5 mg/mL), cisplatin/CuFe2O4/HYPS nanoparticles resulted

• for in vitro study. The stoichiometric amount of CuFe2O4/silica nanocomposite. Significance and p values of experimental groups using the highest dose. * p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01; *** p < 0.001; **** p < 0.0001 versus control. N.S. indicates non-significant. EC50 values of the various drug groups used in

Nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond for nanoscale magnetic resonance imaging applications

• Alberto Boretti,
• Lorenzo Rosa,
• Jonathan Blackledge and
• Stefania Castelletto

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2128–2151, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.207

• positive or negative imaging contrast for resolution as fine as cell clusters. The more precise the imaging that is required, the higher is the dose of the contrast medium that is necessary. This poses a question of possible toxicity that must be adequately considered and ultimately constitutes a key

Gold-coated plant virus as computed tomography imaging contrast agent

• Alaa A. A. Aljabali,
• Mazhar S. Al Zoubi,
• Khalid M. Al-Batanyeh,
• Ali Al-Radaideh,
• Mohammad A. Obeid,
• Abeer Al Sharabi,
• Walhan Alshaer,
• Bayan AbuFares,
• Tasnim Al-Zanati,
• Murtaza M. Tambuwala,
• Naveed Akbar and
• David J. Evans

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1983–1993, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.195

• 17.7 wt % of iodine at a dose of 170 mg of iodine per kilogram were able to show an attenuation of 150 HU in the heart [19], 57 HU in the liver and 90 HU in the spleen [20]. The development of AuNPs as imaging agents was invigorated after Hainfeld reported the formulation of a 1.9 nm contrast X-ray

• imaging agent after the injection of rats with 2.7 g gold per kilogram with no observable toxic effects [21]. Cai et al. synthesized AuNPs coated with PEG-2000 with a hydrodynamic radius of 38 nm and a 10 nm core [22] that generated a 100 HU signal in the aorta at a dose of 493 mg of gold per kilogram

• nanoparticles distributed uniformly on the same position as the electron-dense particles in (A); (D) carbon from the biological matrix of the cells. The electron dose is 20e−/Å2 per frame (200 kV, probe current of 691 pA). Top and lower panels represent different magnifications of two independent experiments

Synthesis and potent cytotoxic activity of a novel diosgenin derivative and its phytosomes against lung cancer cells

• Liang Xu,
• Dekang Xu,
• Ziying Li,
• Yu Gao and
• Haijun Chen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1933–1942, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.189

• the blank lipid nanoparticles was first investigated. As shown in Figure 4, P did not show any antiproliferative effects on A549 and PC9 cells, indicating the safety of the carrier material. DiP and P2P showed efficient antiproliferative activity in a dose- and time-dependent manner. DiP and P2P

Engineered superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) for dual-modality imaging of intracranial glioblastoma via EGFRvIII targeting

• Xianping Liu,
• Chengjuan Du,
• Haichun Li,
• Ting Jiang,
• Zimiao Luo,
• Zhiqing Pang,
• Daoying Geng and
• Jun Zhang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1860–1872, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.181

• -EGFRvIII cell inoculation, the glioblastoma-bearing mice were randomly divided into 2 groups (NP and PNP group, n = 4). The accumulation of NPs and PNPs in the tumor tissue of glioblastoma-bearing mice was assessed as formerly described [42]. The mice were injected with Cy7.5-labeled NPs or PNPs at a dose

• divided into two groups (NP and PNP group, n = 4) and were injected with 200 µL of Cy7.5-labeled NPs or PNPs at a dose of 20 mg of Fe/kg via the tail vein. 24 hours after injection, the mice were sacrificed and the brains were collected and dehydrated in 15% and 30% sucrose, embedded and cut into 10 µm

Toxicity and safety study of silver and gold nanoparticles functionalized with cysteine and glutathione

• Barbara Pem,
• Igor M. Pongrac,
• Lea Ulm,
• Ivan Pavičić,
• Valerije Vrček,
• Darija Domazet Jurašin,
• Marija Ljubojević,
• Adela Krivohlavek and
• Ivana Vinković Vrček

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1802–1817, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.175

• results, as presented in Figure 4, demonstrated dose-dependent toxic effects of CYS- and GSH-coated AgNPs, while AuNPs showed no toxicity in the tested concentration range (1–300 mg Au L−1). However, GSH-coated AuNPs decreased cell viability by 20% at a dose of 300 mg Au L−1. The GSH-coated AgNPs

• decreased cell viability by more than 50% at a dose 5 times lower than CYS-coated AgNPs. Ionic silver was the most toxic and destroyed the cells at 10 times higher dose compared to Au3+ (Figure 4a). Evidently, the most lethal tested substance was Ag+ followed by GSH-coated AgNPs. If we compare these results

• cytometry, showed dose-dependent cell penetration except for the GSH-AuNPs (Figure S6 in Supporting Information File 1). The highest efficiency of cell uptake was observed for CYS-coated AuNPs. For both CYS- and GSH-coated AgNPs, the uptake was significant only at the highest examined concentration (25 mg

Lipid nanostructures for antioxidant delivery: a comparative preformulation study

• Elisabetta Esposito,
• Maddalena Sguizzato,
• Markus Drechsler,
• Paolo Mariani,
• Federica Carducci,
• Claudio Nastruzzi,
• Giuseppe Valacchi and
• Rita Cortesi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1789–1801, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.174

• suggest that NLC T10-TOC can effectively reduce the induction of cutaneous HO-1, which is a sensor of tissue stress, suggesting the ability of this topical application to prevent CS-induced skin damage. Further studies will be required to investigate the dose and type-dependent manner of action of TOC

Precise local control of liquid crystal pretilt on polymer layers by focused ion beam nanopatterning

• Maxim V. Gorkunov,
• Irina V. Kasyanova,
• Vladimir V. Artemov,
• Alena V. Mamonova and
• Serguei P. Palto

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1691–1697, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.164

• within a raster consisting of up to 4096 × 3536 pixel2 as well as the time spent by the beam on each pixel (the so-called dwell time). According to our previous comparative study [31], a relatively small dose of Ga+ ions is sufficient for the required polymer transformation and we adopt here the same

Direct observation of oxygen-vacancy formation and structural changes in Bi₂WO₆ nanoflakes induced by electron irradiation

• Hong-long Shi,
• Bin Zou,
• Zi-an Li,
• Min-ting Luo and
• Wen-zhong Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1434–1442, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.141

• complex (inset of Figure 3b) consisting of two large nanoflakes each of ca. 140 nm in size, and the specimen was tilted along the [010] zone axis. In order to capture the transition state, the electron beam was spread out to match the large screen of the TEM to reduce the electron dose, and the exposure

Kelvin probe force microscopy of the nanoscale electrical surface potential barrier of metal/semiconductor interfaces in ambient atmosphere

• Petr Knotek,
• Tomáš Plecháček,
• Jan Smolík,
• Petr Kutálek,
• Filip Dvořák,
• Milan Vlček,
• Jiří Navrátil and
• Čestmír Drašar

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1401–1411, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.138

• center of the irradiated area) with respect to the non-irradiated area of the Au layer (Figure 6). It should be noted, that the edges of the irradiated area are topographically elevated and exhibit a decreased surface potential because of the higher electron irradiation dose at the turning points of the

• e-beam. A higher dose led to a higher local temperature, which implies an increased formation of Au alloy and rims. The comparable so-called “Marangoni effect” was observed in laser-irradiated polymers as described by Lyutakov and co-workers [61]. The NIs formed on the thinnest Au (12 nm) exhibited

Fabrication of phase masks from amorphous carbon thin films for electron-beam shaping

• Lukas Grünewald,
• Dagmar Gerthsen and
• Simon Hettler

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1290–1302, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.128

• objective lens are known problems. These effects are expected to only marginally affect the PM performance because of the almost parallel illumination of the PMs leading to a substantially reduced areal electron dose [17][21]. We have developed two different procedures to fabricate aC PMs in this work. The

• × 2048 pixels and a dwell time of 50 ns was used which results in a dose of around 0.2 ions/nm2. Phase-mask patterning In the case of BBs the required thickness profile (Equation 3) was milled with custom FIB routines. These are realized in the form of text files in which the spatial coordinates for the

Enhanced inhibition of influenza virus infection by peptide–noble-metal nanoparticle conjugates

• Zaid K. Alghrair,
• David G. Fernig and
• Bahram Ebrahimi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1038–1047, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.104

• was concentration-dependent (Figure 3). Counting plaques in multiple experiments allowed for the determination of the dose response and the IC50 values. In these experiments the IC50 value of the original FluPep sequence was found to be of the order of 140 pM (Figure 3, inset). This is less potent

• was due to one infective virus particle was met. Stability of gold nanoparticles to DTT ligand exchange. (A) UV–vis spectra of mixed-matrix-capped gold nanoparticles and mixed-matrix-capped gold nanoparticles incorporating 5% (mol/mol) FluPep ligand in PBS. Time- and dose-dependence of DTT ligand

• in PBS. Time and dose-dependence of DTT ligand exchange for (B) mixed-matrix silver nanoparticles and (C) silver nanoparticles incorporating different molar fractions of FluPep ligand. Results are the mean ± SD (n = 3). Purification of FluPep ligand-functionalised silver nanoparticles by CM-Sepharose

Serum type and concentration both affect the protein-corona composition of PLGA nanoparticles

• Katrin Partikel,
• Robin Korte,
• Dennis Mulac,
• Hans-Ulrich Humpf and
• Klaus Langer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1002–1015, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.101

• -affinity proteins, for example immunoglobulins, facilitate phagocytosis by cells of the mononuclear phagocyte system (MPS) [26]. Furthermore, one has to consider that the ratio between NP surface and protein concentration is closely related to the administration route and dose [27]. As a result

Effects of gold and PCL- or PLLA-coated silica nanoparticles on brain endothelial cells and the blood–brain barrier

• Aniela Bittner,
• Angélique D. Ducray,
• Hans Rudolf Widmer,
• Michael H. Stoffel and
• Meike Mevissen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 941–954, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.95

• inflammation and apoptosis via connection to the NF-κB pathway [22]. Size- and dose-dependent cytotoxicity and disruption of the BBB after exposure to SiO2 particles were shown in a human model and confirmed in vivo [23]. Integrity and function of the BBB of primary porcine brain microvascular ECs (PBECs) in

The systemic effect of PEG-nGO-induced oxidative stress in vivo in a rodent model

• Qura Tul Ain,
• Samina Hyder Haq,
• Abeer Alshammari,
• Moudhi Abdullah Al-Mutlaq and
• Muhammad Naeem Anjum

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 901–911, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.91

• , namely lipid peroxides, as well as antioxidant agents, including catalase, superoxide dismutase, glutathione, and glutathione S-transferase was conducted. A comparison at different intervals of time after the administration of a dose (5 mg/kg) of PEG-nGO was carried out. An increase in free radicals and

• the average size distribution of nGO and PEG-nGO, respectively. In vivo assays The number of free radicals produced by a dose of PEG-nGO was estimated by the comparative levels of lipid peroxides present in the control and treated groups. The level of lipid peroxides and free radical scavengers are

• Zhang and co-workers [29]. Biocompatibility of nGO was achieved by coating with polyethylene glycol (PEG). Then, a single dose (5 mg/kg) of synthesized PEG-nGO was administered to groups of groups of six mice. The dosage was found to be optimum in previous studies [28][29]. The animals were dissected

Polydopamine-coated Au nanorods for targeted fluorescent cell imaging and photothermal therapy

• Boris N. Khlebtsov,
• Andrey M. Burov,
• Timofey E. Pylaev and
• Nikolai G. Khlebtsov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 794–803, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.79

• nonspecific uptake. To understand the safe dose of PEG-coated and folate-functionalized polydopamine-encapsulated AuNRs, we investigated their biocompatibility by a standard resazurin-based cytotoxic assay. Both folate-functionalized and PEG-coated nanocomposites incubated with HeLa cells during 24 and 48 h

• nanoparticles compared with PEG-coated particles. HeLa (F+) and HEK 293 (F−) cells were incubated with AuNR-PDA-R123-folate and AuNR-PDA-R123-PEG at a nanoparticle dose of 1010 mL−1 for 2 h. Fluorescent images of randomly selected cells under 488 nm light excitation were obtained using a Leica DM 2500

• ) dyes, coloring live cells in green and apoptotic cells in red (Figure 4B–D). To quantify the efficiency of treatment the cell viability was estimated by using the resazurin assay. After irradiation with the NIR laser for 200 s, HeLa cells treated with AuNR-PDA-R123-folate exhibited a dose-dependent