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

Fatigue crack growth characteristics of Fe and Ni under cyclic loading using a quasi-continuum method

• Ren-Zheng Qiu,
• Yi-Chen Lin and
• Te-Hua Fang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1000–1014, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.93

• studies using MD simulations have only focused on the fatigue fracture mechanisms. The relationship between the loading force and microstructure variation around the crack tip during the fatigue crack growth for BCC-Fe and FCC-Ni in different orientations has rarely been discussed simultaneously. In our

• , with the maximum force being ca. 79 eV/Å. The crack considerably affected the force output during cyclic loading. Figure 3 shows the microstructure evolution around the crack tip of Ni for different moving distances in the first cyclic loading. When the distance reached 2.4 nm, two slips were observed

• holes, followed by the expansion of the crack tip toward the defect area (Figure 3c). Moreover, at a tension distance of 3 nm, where the crack length increased from 44 Å to 131 Å, the crack tip easily grew along the slip orientation of [110] [4][6] (Figure 3d). Next, the microstructure evolution around

Effect of annealing treatments on CeO₂ grown on TiN and Si substrates by atomic layer deposition

• Silvia Vangelista,
• Rossella Piagge,
• Satu Ek and
• Alessio Lamperti

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 890–899, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.83

• deposition process. This result is interpreted in the light of the contributions of different energy components (surface energy and elastic modulus) which act dependently on the substrate properties, such as its nature and structure. Keywords: atomic layer deposition; cerium(IV) oxide (CeO2) microstructure

Facile chemical routes to mesoporous silver substrates for SERS analysis

• Elina A. Tastekova,
• Alexander Y. Polyakov,
• Anastasia E. Goldt,
• Alexander V. Sidorov,
• Alexandra A. Oshmyanskaya,
• Irina V. Sukhorukova,
• Dmitry V. Shtansky,
• Wolgang Grünert and
• Anastasia V. Grigorieva

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 880–889, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.82

• from a 0.1 M silver nitrate solution in the presence of poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP, Mw ≈40000 kDa). The Ag/PVP molar ratio was varied to optimize the phase composition and micromorphology of the product. The microstructure of the products varied with the molar ratio of the reactants (Figure 1a,b). A

• , alternatively, by using NaBH4 mixed with PVP (5 mM PVP concentration). The microstructure of the resulting films was examined by SEM (Figure 2). The XRD data for the reduced films showed only broadened metal silver reflections. For an example, see Figure S3 in Supporting Information File 1. In both the cases

• the reduction of AgI was efficient, leading to mp-Ag/Ag porous films, however the microstructure was different. Both films were mesoporous with an individual grain size in the range of 20–100 nm in length. The average particle diameter for mp-Ag/Ag was 48 ± 12 nm for the sample reduced without PVP

Effect of microtrichia on the interlocking mechanism in the Asian ladybeetle, Harmonia axyridis (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae)

• Jiyu Sun,
• Chao Liu,
• Bharat Bhushan,
• Wei Wu and
• Jin Tong

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 812–823, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.75

• joint at the end of the costal vein is larger and thicker. Figure 2c–j show photographs obtained using ESEM, and Figure 2c–e show the hindwing surface microstructure of the DS and VS along the principal transverse fold. The images show that these microtrichia are sparse around the fold line and vein but

• hindwing of H. axyridis in an unfolded state (a) and a folded state (b). (c) shows the detailed microstructure of the corrugated membrane. (e) and (d) show the microstructural details of the end of the costal vein and its DS and VS, respectively; the microtrichia were sparse around the fold line but were

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

• . Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was employed to observe the microstructure of the as-synthesized ZnO/BiOI heterojunction nanocomposites under the operating voltage of 120 kV on a JEOL-ARM200F device. The surface area and the pore distribution were tested by the nitrogen adsorption–desorption isotherms

Fabrication and photoactivity of ionic liquid–TiO₂ structures for efficient visible-light-induced photocatalytic decomposition of organic pollutants in aqueous phase

• Anna Gołąbiewska,
• Marta Paszkiewicz-Gawron,
• Aleksandra Sadzińska,
• Wojciech Lisowski,
• Ewelina Grabowska,
• Adriana Zaleska-Medynska and
• Justyna Łuczak

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 580–590, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.54

• - and microstructure preparation with novel properties [15]. Especially, their polarity and affinity towards particles and precursors, transport and surface properties seem to be crucial for formation of the protective layer at the particle surface, thus electrosteric, solvation and viscous

• lowest cell volume (Table 2). The surface morphology and microstructure of the IL–TiO2 composites were characterized by SEM. The morphology of four selected samples prepared with different IL concentrations (IL:TBOT molar ratio equal to 1:3 and 1:10) which revealed the highest and the lowest

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

• 100 °C for more than 6 h. They found some improvement in mechanical properties of CNT yarn infiltrated with polymers [43]. Hiremath et al. also concluded the same when they investigated the effect of toluene and polystyrene infiltrated in the microstructure of carbon nanotube yarns [44]. The results

Ultralight super-hydrophobic carbon aerogels based on cellulose nanofibers/poly(vinyl alcohol)/graphene oxide (CNFs/PVA/GO) for highly effective oil–water separation

• Zhaoyang Xu,
• Huan Zhou,
• Sicong Tan,
• Xiangdong Jiang,
• Weibing Wu,
• Jiangtao Shi and
• Peng Chen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 508–519, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.49

• great potential in the treatment of oily wastewater and oil spill cleanups. Results and Discussion Morphology and microstructure of carbon aerogels Figure 1a and 1b show digital photographs of the CNF/PVA/GO aerogel and the CNF/PVA/GO carbon aerogel. After the carbonization treatment, the color of the

• weight (approximately 2817 times its weight) without any deformation, which is attributed to its interconnected 3D microstructure. The density of the carbon aerogel was approximately 18.41 mg cm−3, and the whole aerogel could be placed on the top of a dandelion without causing significant deformation

• (Figure 1d), indicating its low density. The microstructure of the CNF/PVA/GO carbon aerogel was observed by SEM (Figure 2a, 2b, and 2d). As shown in Figure 2a, the CNF/PVA/GO carbon aerogel showed porous and interconnected 3D structures with pore size ranging from 50–75 μm. The carbon skeleton originated

Facile synthesis of ZnFe₂O₄ photocatalysts for decolourization of organic dyes under solar irradiation

• Arjun Behera,
• Debasmita Kandi,
• Sanjit Manohar Majhi,
• Satyabadi Martha and
• Kulamani Parida

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 436–446, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.42

• microstructure of the prepared catalysts were investigated by a TEM-JEOL-2010 200 kV instrument. The electrochemical analysis was carried out using an Ivium potentiostat. Photoelectrochemical (PEC) measurements were performed in a Pyrex electrochemical set up, which includes ZFO samples (deposited on FTO) as

Blister formation during graphite surface oxidation by Hummers’ method

• Olga V. Sinitsyna,
• Georgy B. Meshkov,
• Anastasija V. Grigorieva,
• Alexander A. Antonov,
• Inna G. Grigorieva and
• Igor V. Yaminsky

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 407–414, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.40

• hydrolysis [12]. The change of the shape of the 2D-peak at ≈2700 cm−1 (specifically, an increase in the intensity of the low-frequency part) may be explained by graphene exfoliation from the surface of HAPG [5][13][14]. Microscopic characterization of the surface changes Microstructure of the HAPG surface

• to note that a similar surface relief was observed in [23] for graphene oxide obtained by Hummers’ method. Most likely, graphene oxide inherits the microstructure from an intermediate GIC. Particular attention was paid to regions containing bunches of the cleavage steps (Figure 8). Some steps became

• parallel to the c-axis. We believe that the obtained data are important for understanding the influence of the graphite precursor microstructure on the synthesis processes of GICs and GO, and the morphology of the resulting materials. The present research was focused on the effects of short-term oxidation

BN/Ag hybrid nanomaterials with petal-like surfaces as catalysts and antibacterial agents

• Konstantin L. Firestein,
• Denis V. Leybo,
• Alexander E. Steinman,
• Andrey M. Kovalskii,
• Andrei T. Matveev,
• Anton M. Manakhov,
• Irina V. Sukhorukova,
• Pavel V. Slukin,
• Nadezda K. Fursova,
• Sergey G. Ignatov,
• Dmitri V. Golberg and
• Dmitry V. Shtansky

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 250–261, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.27

• , and then 75 mg of AgNO3 were added to the BN NP/PEG suspension. Next, the mixture was exposed to an UV lamp (185 nm) for 30 min during magnetic stirring, and then washed with distilled water and dried. Structural characterization The microstructure and morphology of the BN/Ag HNMs were studied by

Facile synthesis of silver/silver thiocyanate (Ag@AgSCN) plasmonic nanostructures with enhanced photocatalytic performance

• Xinfu Zhao,
• Dairong Chen,
• Abdul Qayum,
• Bo Chen and
• Xiuling Jiao

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2781–2789, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.277

• visible-light irradiation. In addition to the microstructure and high specific surface area, the enhanced photocatalytic activity was mainly caused by the surface plasmon resonance of Ag nanoparticles, and the high stability of AgSCN resulted in the long-term stability of the photocatalyst product

• 84% oxytetracycline was degraded in 60 min in the fifth cycle, and the efficiency was almost the same as for the first cycle. Further investigations revealed that after five cyclic experiments, the microstructure of Ag@AgSCN had no obvious changes except a somewhat smoother Ag@AgSCN nanostructure

• comparison, the pure AgSCN nanomaterial (labeled as M0) was also prepared using the same procedure as preparing AgSCN with a small amount of Ag except the addition of N2H4·H2O. Characterization The morphology and microstructure of the samples were characterized using a field-emission scanning electron

CdSe nanorod/TiO₂ nanoparticle heterojunctions with enhanced solar- and visible-light photocatalytic activity

• Fakher Laatar,
• Hatem Moussa,
• Halima Alem,
• Lavinia Balan,
• Emilien Girot,
• Ghouti Medjahdi,
• Hatem Ezzaouia and
• Raphaël Schneider

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2741–2752, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.273

• injection from CdSe to TiO2. The microstructure of CdSe NRs and CdSe/TiO2 composites was first characterized by SEM (Figure S1, Supporting Information File 1). The small CdSe NRs were found to be strongly associated to each other to form larger particles with sizes varying between 1 and 4 µm. The associated

Dry adhesives from carbon nanofibers grown in an open ethanol flame

• Christian Lutz,
• Julia Syurik,
• C. N. Shyam Kumar,
• Christian Kübel,
• Michael Bruns and
• Hendrik Hölscher

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2719–2728, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.271

• Christian Lutz Julia Syurik C. N. Shyam Kumar Christian Kubel Michael Bruns Hendrik Holscher Institute of Microstructure Technology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, 76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany Department of Materials and Earth Sciences

Surfactant-induced enhancement of droplet adhesion in superhydrophobic soybean (Glycine max L.) leaves

• Oliver Hagedorn,
• Ingo Fleute-Schlachter,
• Hans Georg Mainx,
• Viktoria Zeisler-Diehl and
• Kerstin Koch

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2345–2356, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.234

• and five variations of nonionic surfactants) have been investigated. The leaf surface structures show a hierarchical organization, built up by convex epidermal cells (microstructure) and superimposed epicuticular platelet-shaped wax crystals (micro- to nanostructure). Chemical analysis of the

• requires further investigation. The results presented herein on the soybean surface microstructure, chemistry and wettability provide important information for the further development of more target specific formulations used for the improvement of foliar uptake of nutrients and for the increase in the

Hydrothermal synthesis of ZnO quantum dot/KNb₃O₈ nanosheet photocatalysts for reducing carbon dioxide to methanol

• Xiao Shao,
• Weiyue Xin and
• Xiaohong Yin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2264–2270, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.226

• ]. KNb3O8, a well-known layered niobate, has an orthorhombic crystal structure that consists of negatively charged sheets and is linked by NbO6 octahedral units and K+ ions between the sheets [14]. Its unique microstructure has aroused researchers' interest. Traditionally, KNb3O8 was synthesized by a solid

• were characterized with a powder X-ray diffraction instrument (XRD, D/Max–2500, Rigaku). The morphology and microstructure were examined by scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM, JEOL–JSM 700F). The chemical composition was characterized using energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). TEM and HRTEM

In situ controlled rapid growth of novel high activity TiB₂/(TiB₂–TiN) hierarchical/heterostructured nanocomposites

• Jilin Wang,
• Hejie Liao,
• Yuchun Ji,
• Fei Long,
• Yunle Gu,
• Zhengguang Zou,
• Weimin Wang and
• Zhengyi Fu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2116–2125, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.211

• , microstructure and chemical activity of the as-synthesized products were investigated in detail by various characterization methods. In addition, further comparative experiments were carried out to study the relation between the endothermic reaction rate and the morphology/microstructure/composition of the

• to 30 nm. In order to further determine the internal microstructure and phase constitution of the as-synthesized samples, the high-resolution transition electron microscopy (HRTEM) (Figure 2d,f) and selected-area electron diffraction (SAED) (Figure 2e,g) analysis of the tapered nanorods and grains

• morphologies of samples (Figure 3k,l). It is likely that the reaction was incomplete, which then caused the generation of impurities and/or byproducts [9][10]. Given the above-mentioned comparative experimental analysis results, it could be shown that the morphology, particle size, microstructure and purity of

Magnetic properties of optimized cobalt nanospheres grown by focused electron beam induced deposition (FEBID) on cantilever tips

• Soraya Sangiao,
• César Magén,
• Darius Mofakhami,
• Grégoire de Loubens and
• José María De Teresa

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2106–2115, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.210

• (smaller than 100 nm) with high metal content. Another strategy to increase the metal content and/or change the microstructure arises in the application of post-growth purification steps [37][38][39]. In order to avoid the surface oxidation of the magnetic nanostructures, the use of protective shells has

Systematic control of α-Fe₂O₃ crystal growth direction for improved electrochemical performance of lithium-ion battery anodes

• Nan Shen,
• Miriam Keppeler,
• Barbara Stiaszny,
• Holger Hain,
• Filippo Maglia and
• Madhavi Srinivasan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2032–2044, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.204

• -methylethylenediamine (95%, Sigma-Aldrich) instead of 1,2-diaminopropane. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis was performed on a Shimadzu XRD-6000 diffractometer operating at 40 kV and 40 mA using Cu Kα radiation (λ = 0.154 nm) with a copper target and a nickel filter. The surface morphology and microstructure of the

Growth and characterization of textured well-faceted ZnO on planar Si(100), planar Si(111), and textured Si(100) substrates for solar cell applications

• Chin-Yi Tsai,
• Jyong-Di Lai,
• Shih-Wei Feng,
• Chien-Jung Huang,
• Chien-Hsun Chen,
• Fann-Wei Yang,
• Hsiang-Chen Wang and
• Li-Wei Tu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1939–1945, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.194

• , leading to a variety of structural morphologies [12]. The relationship between microstructure and crystal growth orientation of ZnO grown on silicon substrates is schematically illustrated in Figure 2 [12]. Here, the ZnO grains reveal a polygon structure for the c-axis parallel to the substrate, ridge

• ZnO(002) grains show pyramid-like structures on the surface. For the ZnOt(100) sample, the dominant ZnO(101) grains show pyramidal tips without the hexagonal cylinder on the surface. The microstructure and crystal growth orientation of ZnO grown on different silicon substrates can be explained by the

• and cathode luminescence results were acquired by the use of a Gatan monoCL3 spectrometer in a JEOL JSM 7000F SEM system. (a) XRD and (b) grain percentages obtained from integration of the intensity of the XRD peaks of the samples ZnOp(100), ZnOp(111), and ZnOt(100). Microstructure and crystal growth

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

• , although PAN-based carbon nanospheres and microspheres were reported to be fabricated by pyrolysis of various precursors [23][31][33][34][35], their detailed microstructure, including the elemental composition, crystalline structure, structure ordering and porous configuration, have not yet been reported

• diameter (120 ± 13 nm) larger than that of the original untreated ones (105 ± 20 nm). SEM images SEM was also used to observe the microstructure of various nanoparticles. As shown in Figure 5a, the original PAN nanoparticles look like “preserved plums” with shriveled surfaces. In contrast, the surfaces of

Optical techniques for cervical neoplasia detection

• Tatiana Novikova

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1844–1862, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.186

• the OCT image as unstructured homogeneous highly backscattering region with a complete loss of layered tissue architecture (Figure 12c). The basement membrane is broken and the microstructure of the tissue is no longer preserved. Studies on using OCT for the detection of CIN and invasive carcinomas

Nanotribological behavior of deep cryogenically treated martensitic stainless steel

• Germán Prieto,
• Konstantinos D. Bakoglidis,
• Walter R. Tuckart and
• Esteban Broitman

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1760–1768, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.177

• characterization SEM micrographs of the specimens after the heat treatments are shown in Figure 3. It can be seen that in both cases the microstructure consisted of a martensitic matrix with precipitated globular carbides. The application of the cryogenic treatment generated a strong reduction in the size of

Effect of the fluorination technique on the surface-fluorination patterning of double-walled carbon nanotubes

• Lyubov G. Bulusheva,
• Yuliya V. Fedoseeva,
• Emmanuel Flahaut,
• Jérémy Rio,
• Christopher P. Ewels,
• Victor O. Koroteev,
• Gregory Van Lier,
• Denis V. Vyalikh and
• Alexander V. Okotrub

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1688–1698, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.169

• -fluorinated inner shells of DWCNTs. TEM analysis of the pristine and fluorinated DWCNTs revealed a different effect of the used treatments on the sample microstructure (Figure 2). The CCVD synthesis produces DWCNTs gathering into ropes with an average size of ca. 20 nm. After treatment with BrF3 or F2, this