Characterization of spherical domains at the polystyrene thin film–water interface

• Khurshid Ahmad,
• Xuezeng Zhao,
• Yunlu Pan and
• Danish Hussain

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 581–590, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.51

• properties of glass [4][5], and for the modification of surface properties [6][7][8] (e.g., hydrophobicity, oleophobicity). The study of the thermal [4], optical [5], mechanical [9][10], and interfacial [6][7][8] properties of thin films is a broader area of interest. Various physical and chemical processes

Nanoscale effects in the characterization of viscoelastic materials with atomic force microscopy: coupling of a quasi-three-dimensional standard linear solid model with in-plane surface interactions

• Santiago D. Solares

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 554–571, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.49

• subject to errors due to changes in material properties. In the case under consideration, the relaxed surface is located at the same position with respect to the cantilever for all simulations labeled with the same cantilever height. However, changes in the surface properties can lead to changes in the

Rigid multipodal platforms for metal surfaces

• Michal Valášek,
• Marcin Lindner and
• Marcel Mayor

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 374–405, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.34

• (Figure 3) and used them for the fabrication of SAMs on gold [88][105]. In this study they particularly focused to reveal the surface properties of various sulfanylmethyl- and methylsulfanylmethyl-terminated tripodal platforms in order to get fairly densely packed, contamination free and homogeneous

Surface coating affects behavior of metallic nanoparticles in a biological environment

• Darija Domazet Jurašin,
• Marija Ćurlin,
• Ivona Capjak,
• Tea Crnković,
• Marija Lovrić,
• Michal Babič,
• Daniel Horák,
• Ivana Vinković Vrček and
• Srećko Gajović

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 246–262, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.23

• collected and thoroughly analyzed data presented in this study will provide further insight into the behavior of AgNPs and SPIONs in complex biological media and the influence of surface properties on their colloidal stability. Furthermore, the obtained results contribute to the understanding of principal

Large area scanning probe microscope in ultra-high vacuum demonstrated for electrostatic force measurements on high-voltage devices

• Urs Gysin,
• Thilo Glatzel,
• Thomas Schmölzer,
• Adolf Schöner,
• Sergey Reshanov,
• Holger Bartolf and
• Ernst Meyer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2485–2497, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.258

• conditions to predict bulk information from measured surface properties. Here we have a complex SiC structure influenced by some surface defects and states within the band gap, which induce a laterally homogeneous downward band bending for p-type and opposite for n-type material. Therefore, Equation 2 can be

Nanoinformatics for environmental health and biomedicine

• Rong Liu and
• Yoram Cohen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2449–2451, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.253

• components calculated from nanoparticle size and surface properties using Kriging estimations [14]. Another contribution reports on the development of models to predict the cytotoxicity of PAMAM dendrimers using molecular descriptors [15]. Nanomaterials that have potential to cause disease (e.g., TiO2

Nanostructured surfaces by supramolecular self-assembly of linear oligosilsesquioxanes with biocompatible side groups

• Maria Nowacka,
• Anna Kowalewska and
• Tomasz Makowski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2377–2387, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.244

• structure of the applied oligomers and primers. Keywords: atomic force microscopy; hydrophilicity; oligosilsesquioxanes; self-assembly; surface; Introduction The modification of surface properties can be used as a versatile tool in materials engineering for biological and medical purposes [1][2][3][4

• surface exceptionally hydrophilic [37][38]. Muscovite mica, chosen as a substrate for the present study, is a layered aluminosilicate [KAl2(Si3AlO10)(OH)2] that exhibits interesting surface properties and chemical specificity. Potassium ions electrostatically bind the alternating aluminosilicate sheets in

• small molecules [49]. They should be simultaneously capable of the formation of surface salts and hydrogen bonds with functional groups in side chains of LPSQ-COOH/X. Consequently, thioglycolic acid (TG), citric acid (CA) and N-acetylcysteine (NAC) were selected and used as primers to modify the surface

Temperature-dependent breakdown of hydrogen peroxide-treated ZnO and TiO₂ nanoparticle agglomerates

• Sinan Sabuncu and
• Mustafa Çulha

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1897–1903, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.193

• degree of the agglomeration is mostly governed by the synthesis method, which defines their surface properties. During the synthesis processes or in subsequent process steps, the agglomeration of primary particles occurs as a result of the weak bonding between NPs. These primary aggregates then form

• demonstrated that the treatment of ZnO NPs with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) affected the surface properties and as a result the cytotoxicity of the ZnO NPs was found to decrease [20]. H2O2 is a powerful oxidizer and it is therefore routinely used in many cleaners and bleaches. Living systems can produce hydrogen

• ]. These studies indicate that hydrogen peroxide treatment not only influences the surface properties of NPs but also changes the band gap of ZnO and TiO2 NPs and shifts the emission wavelength to blue wavelengths. Another study showed that the hydrogen peroxide treatment of TiO2 NPs increases the

NanoE-Tox: New and in-depth database concerning ecotoxicity of nanomaterials

• Katre Juganson,
• Angela Ivask,
• Irina Blinova,
• Monika Mortimer and
• Anne Kahru

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1788–1804, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.183

• functionalised with different coatings, polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and citrate being the most widely used. A parameter closely related to NP surface properties is surface charge. It has been shown that positively charged ENMs tend to attach to the cellular surface that is negatively charged and these

Synthesis, characterization and in vitro biocompatibility study of Au/TMC/Fe₃O₄ nanocomposites as a promising, nontoxic system for biomedical applications

• Hanieh Shirazi,
• Maryam Daneshpour,
• Soheila Kashanian and
• Kobra Omidfar

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1677–1689, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.170

• . The nanoparticle diameters as evaluated by XRD and DLS analysis are summarized in Table 1. The study of the surface properties of nanoparticles, especially their surface charge in different physicochemical and physiological conditions, is important to understanding their interactions with other

Influence of surface chemical properties on the toxicity of engineered zinc oxide nanoparticles to embryonic zebrafish

• Zitao Zhou,
• Jino Son,
• Bryan Harper,
• Zheng Zhou and
• Stacey Harper

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1568–1579, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.160

• used to calculate the surface properties. Zebrafish mortality at 120 hpf following exposure to: (A) ZnO NPs with and (B) without surface modification. Individual variance for each of the principal components (PCs). Black dots represent the accumulated variance explained by each PC, while the solid line

Influence of gold, silver and gold–silver alloy nanoparticles on germ cell function and embryo development

• Ulrike Taylor,
• Daniela Tiedemann,
• Christoph Rehbock,
• Wilfried A. Kues,
• Stephan Barcikowski and
• Detlef Rath

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 651–664, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.66

• nanoparticles were observed to be toxic to spermatozoa in a concentration dependent manner, in case the nanoparticles possess surface properties that allow direct contact with the sperm plasma membrane. Protein coronas seem to inhibit such contact. Gold nanoparticles also elicited a toxic response on embryos if

Self-assembled anchor layers/polysaccharide coatings on titanium surfaces: a study of functionalization and stability

• Ognen Pop-Georgievski,
• Dana Kubies,
• Josef Zemek,
• Neda Neykova,
• Roman Demianchuk,
• Eliška Mázl Chánová,
• Miroslav Šlouf,
• Milan Houska and
• František Rypáček

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 617–631, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.63

• –6.2 [5][6][7]. Different surface modifications have been proposed to take the advantage of the titanium surface properties and to promote beneficial interactions at tissue–titanium implant interfaces. Established techniques use modifications of the titanium surface morphology and variations in the

Tm-doped TiO₂ and Tm₂Ti₂O₇ pyrochlore nanoparticles: enhancing the photocatalytic activity of rutile with a pyrochlore phase

• Desiré M. De los Santos,
• Javier Navas,
• Teresa Aguilar,
• Antonio Sánchez-Coronilla,
• Concha Fernández-Lorenzo,
• Rodrigo Alcántara,
• Jose Carlos Piñero,
• Ginesa Blanco and
• Joaquín Martín-Calleja

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 605–616, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.62

• scattering, this technique is sensitive to the atomic composition, valence and conduction band electronic properties, surface properties and chemical bonding. The latter allows for the characterization of the structural properties of the lattice traversed by the electron beam and, thus, determination of the

Silica micro/nanospheres for theranostics: from bimodal MRI and fluorescent imaging probes to cancer therapy

• Shanka Walia and
• Amitabha Acharya

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 546–558, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.57

Pulmonary surfactant augments cytotoxicity of silica nanoparticles: Studies on an in vitro air–blood barrier model

• Jennifer Y. Kasper,
• Lisa Feiden,
• Maria I. Hermanns,
• Christoph Bantz,
• Michael Maskos,
• Ronald E. Unger and
• C. James Kirkpatrick

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 517–528, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.54

• . Furthermore, different surface functionalisations (plain-unmodified, amino, carboxylate) of the aSNPs were compared in order to study the impact of chemical surface properties on aSNP cytotoxicity in combination with lung surfactant. The alveolar epithelial cell line A549 was used in mono- and in coculture

• depend on the chemical surface properties of the aSNPs. Reactive silanol groups seem to play a crucial role for an augmented toxicity of aSNPs. The A549 cells in the coculture seem to be more robust towards aSNPs, which might be a result of a higher differentiation and polarization state due the longer

• protective alveolar surfactant lining layer (10–20 nm in thickness), that covers the entire alveolar surface [2]. It has already been shown that regardless of the NP surface properties they will be submerged in the aqueous phase of the alveolar lining layer after crossing the pulmonary surfactant layer [3][4

Conformal SiO₂ coating of sub-100 nm diameter channels of polycarbonate etched ion-track channels by atomic layer deposition

• Nicolas Sobel,
• Christian Hess,
• Manuela Lukas,
• Anne Spende,
• Bernd Stühn,
• M. E. Toimil-Molares and
• Christina Trautmann

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 472–479, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.48

• adjust specific surface properties such as hydrophilicity or catalytic activity. Conform ALD coatings have been reported for various porous materials including powders [18] and porous membranes such as anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) [19][20][21][22][23][24] and track-etched membranes [25][26][27][28]. For

Strain distribution due to surface domains: a self-consistent approach with respect to surface elasticity

• Javier Fuhr and
• Pierre Müller

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 321–326, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.30

• surface properties are properly considered, the strain field induced by the surface domains may be expressed as the solution of a self-consistent integro-differential equation. Results and Discussion Let us consider (see Figure 1a) a semi-infinite body whose surface contains two domains (two infinite

Oxygen-plasma-modified biomimetic nanofibrous scaffolds for enhanced compatibility of cardiovascular implants

• Anna Maria Pappa,
• Varvara Karagkiozaki,
• Silke Krol,
• Spyros Kassavetis,
• Dimitris Konstantinou,
• Charalampos Pitsalidis,
• Lazaros Tzounis,
• Nikos Pliatsikas and
• Stergios Logothetidis

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 254–262, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.24

• may lead to improved surface properties without affecting the morphology or the mechanical behaviour of the system. In depth nanoindentation measurements were conducted for the scaffolds under optimal conditions to assess the mechanical performance. MTT assay along with imaging techniques were used to

• the O2-plasma did not degrade the mechanical properties of the PCL, in contrary the nanomechanical behavior of the PCL appears to be more homogeneous after the treatment, possibly due to the alternation/homogenization of the PCL surface properties. Cellular performance of the plasma-treated scaffolds

• cytocompatible, oxygen-plasma treatment was used to modify the surface chemistry along with its nanotopography without causing any deterioration of the structure or the integrity of the scaffold and without affecting its mechanical and physical bulk properties. This approach, of controlling the surface

Tailoring the ligand shell for the control of cellular uptake and optical properties of nanocrystals

• Johannes Ostermann,
• Christian Schmidtke,
• Christopher Wolter,
• Jan-Philip Merkl,
• Hauke Kloust and
• Horst Weller

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 232–242, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.22

• based on specific chemical groups like amines, carboxyl and hydroxyl functions [31]. Functional groups are not only useful for typical coupling strategies of biomolecules, but also for the determination of the surface properties of the final nanocontainers. Differently charged particles show different

Synthesis of boron nitride nanotubes and their applications

• Saban Kalay,
• Zehra Yilmaz,
• Ozlem Sen,
• Melis Emanet,
• Emine Kazanc and
• Mustafa Çulha

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 84–102, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.9

• a variety of fields including medicine and biomedical applications. Two approaches to alter the surface properties of BNNTs are commonly employed: one is through covalent attachment of a molecule or molecular structure, and the other involves the physical adsorption of a molecular structure or a

• assess the toxicity of the BNNTs. Similar to CNTs, one of the major problems in toxicity assessment of BNNTs is their low dispersibility in aqueous media, due to their high hydrophobicity. In order to increase the dispersion, either a surfactant or hydrophilic polymer is used to alter the surface

• properties. However, this process adds further uncertainties to the assessment since another material is introduced into the system. For example, polyethylenimine (PEI) is a cytocompatible polymer and principally used for DNA transfection and cell permeabilization. The BNNTs were coated with PEI for

Size-dependent density of zirconia nanoparticles

• Agnieszka Opalinska,
• Iwona Malka,
• Wojciech Dzwolak,
• Tadeusz Chudoba,
• Adam Presz and
• Witold Lojkowski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 27–35, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.4

• as a luminescent material, the luminescence intensity increases with crystallite size [17]. The size and surface properties of NPs are also important for toxicology and health applications. The size of the NPs can influence their distribution in the human body and the mechanism of their penetration

Aquatic versus terrestrial attachment: Water makes a difference

• Petra Ditsche and
• Adam P. Summers

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2424–2439, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.252

• invertebrates [20][21][22][23][24][25], but they also change the surface properties of the primary substrate considerably and by this can affect the attachment forces significantly [26][27]. While biofilms can vary greatly in composition and thickness, they are usually softer than the primary substrate, and

Synthesis and characterization of fluorescence-labelled silica core-shell and noble metal-decorated ceria nanoparticles

• Rudolf Herrmann,
• Markus Rennhak and
• Armin Reller

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2413–2423, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.251

• original non-annealed NP were used for biomedical [46] and uptake studies [47], both articles in this issue. What cannot be avoided must be controlled. Since agglomeration is a question of surface properties, it should be possible to control it by surface-active reagents. Consequently, we tried to

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

• to size or surface properties of nanoparticles. By using polystyrene particles, it is possible to explore the effect of the size, the surface charge, and the hydrophobicity of the particles on cells. These studies show that, although, polystyrene has been claimed to be nontoxic, functionalized

• nonspecific cellular interactions, or by replacement of reactive amine groups with amphiphilic head groups [51]. Nanoparticles manufactured from inert biocompatible polystyrene can be used to explore the effects of different surface properties on various biomedical parameters and enable the rational design of