Triboelectric nanogenerator based on Teflon/vitamin B1 powder for self-powered humidity sensing

• Liangyi Zhang,
• Huan Li,
• Yiyuan Xie,
• Jing Guo and
• Zhiyuan Zhu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1394–1401, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.123

• -emitting diodes (LEDs) integrated in the TVB-TENG system. The TVB-TENG proposed in this study illustrates a cost-effective method for portable power supply and sensing devices. Keywords: humidity sensor; self-powered system; triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs); triboelectrification; vitamin B1

• ; Introduction Recently, there has been unprecedented advancement in the internet of things (IoT) technology, which includes environmental monitoring and intelligent community applications. Particularly, humidity sensing has been investigated in environmental monitoring, and in other sectors, such as agriculture

• for humidity sensing is hindered by the high costs involved in their complex production and the high facility costs for particular manufacturing process. Thus, intensive research is required for the design of TENGs based on commercially available, cost-effective and feasible materials. Furthermore

An atomic force microscope integrated with a helium ion microscope for correlative nanoscale characterization

• Santiago H. Andany,
• Gregor Hlawacek,
• Stefan Hummel,
• Charlène Brillard,
• Mustafa Kangül and
• Georg E. Fantner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1272–1279, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.111

• integration. Keywords: atomic force microscopy (AFM); combined setup; correlative microscopy; helium ion microscopy (HIM); self-sensing cantilevers; Introduction Shortly after the invention of the atomic force microscope (AFM) in 1986 [1], efforts were made towards combining this scanning probe microscopy

• correlative imaging on electrically insulating samples. In this first attempt, the readout of cantilever deflection was achieved using the electron beam itself. Shortly after, better performing combined setups were described utilizing more conventional self-sensing [5] and optical [6] techniques for the

• seamlessly between the pole piece and the sample. The assembly is made from grade-5 titanium (Ti-6Al-4V) and the three axes of motion are actuated by stack-piezo actuators, offering an achievable scan range of 30 × 30 × 12 µm. The reported AFM uses a self-sensing readout for measuring cantilever deflection

Ultrasensitive detection of cadmium ions using a microcantilever-based piezoresistive sensor for groundwater

• Dinesh Rotake,
• Anand Darji and
• Nitin Kale

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1242–1253, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.108

• disadvantages during operation in water when the refractive index of water changes [30][31]. Many authors have proposed electrode-based approaches for the selective sensing of Cd(II) [32], but the limits of detection were always in the micromolar to nanomolar ranges. Some of the authors used fluorescent [5][33

• it also requires a lab instrument for measurement. We have previously investigated SAMs of homocysteine (HCys) and pyridinedicarboxylic acid (PDCA) for the selective sensing of Hg(II) ions using a portable piezoresistive platform [39][40]. Experimental results confirmed that proposed setup is capable

• of sensing in the picomolar range. In this paper, we have used the previously designed portable piezoresistive platform for the selective capture Cd(II) in the picomolar range. Preliminary results show that the fabricated device has an excellent response within 20–23 minutes with 0.56 ng/mL (2.78 pM

Applications of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles in drug and therapeutic delivery, and biotechnological advancements

• Maria Suciu,
• Corina M. Ionescu,
• Alexandra Ciorita,
• Septimiu C. Tripon,
• Dragos Nica,
• Hani Al-Salami and
• Lucian Barbu-Tudoran

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1092–1109, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.94

• on the environment. Many nanoparticles showed great potential and proved their utility in biology and medicine. There are multiple types of nanoparticles routinely used in biology and related sciences for sensing, targeting or imaging, including quantum dots for fluorescence applications and electron

• been extensively examined regarding biocompatibility, targeted or intended cytotoxicity (ferroptosis), local hyperthermia treatments, photothermal or photodynamic therapy, and MRI. Also, there are increasingly more studies reporting on combinations with in vivo fluorescence imaging, sensing and

Highly sensitive detection of estradiol by a SERS sensor based on TiO₂ covered with gold nanoparticles

• Andrea Brognara,
• Ili F. Mohamad Ali Nasri,
• Beatrice R. Bricchi,
• Andrea Li Bassi,
• Caroline Gauchotte-Lindsay,
• Matteo Ghidelli and
• Nathalie Lidgi-Guigui

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1026–1035, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.87

• (SERS); TiO2 nanostructures; Introduction Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) as a sensing tool requires the optimization of a surface and its functionalization. The surface should provide a good enhancement over a large range of wavelengths, to detect molecules with various fingerprints, while it

Gas-sensing features of nanostructured tellurium thin films

• Dumitru Tsiulyanu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1010–1018, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.85

• Dumitru Tsiulyanu CIMAN Research Centre of Department of Physics, Technical University, bul. Dacia 41, MD-2060 Chisinau, Moldova 10.3762/bjnano.11.85 Abstract Nanocrystalline and amorphous nanostructured tellurium (Te) thin films were grown and their gas-sensing properties were investigated at

• were interpreted in terms of an increase in disorder (amorphization), leading to an increase in the surface chemical activity of chalcogenides, as well as an increase in the active surface area due to substrate porosity. Keywords: gas-sensing properties; NO2; tellurium thin films; nanocrystalline

• development of thin films in chemical-sensing applications, especially for toxic gas sensing. Szaro [4] pioneered the studies regarding the effects of oxygen and nitrogen, diluted in either dry or wet air, on the electrical properties of Te films. The results showed an increase in the hole concentration

Band tail state related photoluminescence and photoresponse of ZnMgO solid solution nanostructured films

• Vadim Morari,
• Aida Pantazi,
• Nicolai Curmei,
• Vitalie Postolache,
• Emil V. Rusu,
• Marius Enachescu,
• Ion M. Tiginyanu and
• Veaceslav V. Ursaki

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 899–910, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.75

• photodetectors developed on ZnMgO films, including correlations between PL and sensing properties, is in progress in our laboratory, but the results will be published in a separate paper. Conclusion The results of this study demonstrate the preparation of ZnMgO thin films by spin-coating on Si substrates with

Simulations of the 2D self-assembly of tripod-shaped building blocks

• Łukasz Baran,
• Wojciech Rżysko and
• Edyta Słyk

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 884–890, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.73

• problems in the chemical industry such as gas storage, chemical sensing, and drug delivery [1][2][3]. Thus, this field has very recently gained particular interest in both experimental and theoretical studies, which was followed by a vast amount of papers devoted to investigating these phenomena. Thanks to

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

• , quantum computation, and quantum sensing. Their integration in photonic structures such as photonic crystals, microdisks, microring resonators, and nanopillars is essential for their deployment in quantum technologies. While there are currently only two material platforms (diamond and silicon carbide

• applications, such as quantum information science [1], quantum sensing [2], quantum cryptography [3], and quantum computing [4][5]. After the discovery and assessment of their quantum properties, some of these defects became prominent examples of material platforms for quantum photonics [6][7][8][9][10] and

• in diamond is currently the preferred platform for implementing quantum sensing and quantum computing approaches, the recent emergence of other interesting color centers in diamond itself [16][30][31] and in other materials indicates that indeed NV is not optimal for many applications, neither it is

Soybean-derived blue photoluminescent carbon dots

• Shanshan Wang,
• Wei Sun,
• Dong-sheng Yang and
• Fuqian Yang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 606–619, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.48

• wavelength [7], and low cost [8]. CDs have been considered as a group of important nanomaterials with potential applications in nanotechnology [9], electrocatalysis [10], metal-ion detection [2], thermal sensing [11], drug delivery [12], and biosensing and bioimaging [1]. Several methods are available for

Luminescent gold nanoclusters for bioimaging applications

• Nonappa

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 533–546, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.42

• emerged as attractive candidates for sensing, catalysis and bioimaging applications in recent years. For practical use in bioimaging, nanomaterials with high photoluminescence, quantum yield, photostability and large Stokes shifts are needed. While offering high photoluminescence and quantum yield

• optoelectronic properties make them suitable for bioimaging and biosensing applications. In this review, an overview of the sensing of pathogens, and of in vitro and in vivo bioimaging using luminescent gold nanoclusters along with the limitations with selected examples are discussed. Keywords: bioimaging

• complexes primarily rely on chelation of metal ions with carboxylic groups, therefore the diversity of ligand design is limited. The discovery of green fluorescent protein (GFP) led to remarkable progress in bioimaging including protein quantification, tracking, sensing as well as imaging various

Multilayer capsules made of weak polyelectrolytes: a review on the preparation, functionalization and applications in drug delivery

• Varsha Sharma and
• Anandhakumar Sundaramurthy

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 508–532, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.41

• Nanotechnology, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur, Tamil Nadu 603203, India 10.3762/bjnano.11.41 Abstract Multilayer capsules have been of great interest for scientists and medical communities in multidisciplinary fields of research, such as drug delivery, sensing, biomedicine

Nanoarchitectonics: bottom-up creation of functional materials and systems

• Katsuhiko Ariga

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 450–452, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.36

• [14][15], sensing [16][17], catalysis [18], energy [19], environmental [20], devices [21][22], and bio-related [23][24] applications. Accordingly, the goal of the thematic issue “Nanoarchitectonics: bottom-up creation of functional materials and systems” was to collect leading research examples that

Formation of nanoripples on ZnO flat substrates and nanorods by gas cluster ion bombardment

• Xiaomei Zeng,
• Vasiliy Pelenovich,
• Bin Xing,
• Rakhim Rakhimov,
• Wenbin Zuo,
• Alexander Tolstogouzov,
• Chuansheng Liu,
• Dejun Fu and
• Xiangheng Xiao

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 383–390, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.29

• of semiconductor quantum dots [2]. Arrays of metallic nanoparticles or nanowires aligned on dielectric surfaces with nanoripples are ideal for research on plasmonics [3]. Ag nanoparticle arrays created on rippled silicon surfaces have demonstrated excellent sensing of molecules through surface

• , suggesting a small influence of the sort of material or the crystal orientation of the substrate on the ripple formation. Recently, Saleem et al. have proposed to use the nanoripple structures formed by GCIB for plasmonic and biomolecular sensing applications [16][17]. In all above-mentioned studies planar

• discussed. The results obtained in this study are of interest in the application of ZnO nanostructures for, e.g., gas sensing, solar cells, or field emitters, where controlled surface morphologies are required. Experimental We have grown ZnO nanorods on Si(100) substrates (HF-Kejing Materials Technology Co

Poly(1-vinylimidazole) polyplexes as novel therapeutic gene carriers for lung cancer therapy

• Gayathri Kandasamy,
• Elena N. Danilovtseva,
• Vadim V. Annenkov and
• Uma Maheswari Krishnan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 354–369, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.26

• and the enzyme glucose oxidase for glucose-sensing applications [11]. A hydrogel of xanthan gum and poly(1-vinylimidazole) was recently explored for protein encapsulation and delivery. The system exerted no toxic effects on cells and maintained the functionality of the protein [12]. A pyrrole

Using gold nanoparticles to detect single-nucleotide polymorphisms: toward liquid biopsy

• María Sanromán Iglesias and
• Marek Grzelczak

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 263–284, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.20

• the use of emergent nanomaterials. Over the last decade, a number of novel and optically active nanomaterials involving semiconductor or metal nanocrystals enabled the development of sensing devices with rather simple transduction mechanisms [3]. For example, the aggregation-induced color change of a

• solution containing plasmonic nanoparticles (from red to blue) in the presence of molecules offers an excellent tool for colorimetric sensing without the need of using advanced techniques. Similarly, selective fluorescence quenching of organic dyes or semiconducting nanoparticles by plasmonic nanoparticles

• identification of indicators for disease recurrence and progression and the evaluation of a given treatment in nearly real-time. In the context of the present review, the early-stage diagnosis of cancer by novel sensing devices is prioritized in the subsequent discussion. Circulating tumor DNA and single

Molecular architectonics of DNA for functional nanoarchitectures

• Debasis Ghosh,
• Lakshmi P. Datta and
• Thimmaiah Govindaraju

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 124–140, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.11

• geometries, patterns, or crystals that facilitate the positional assembly of nanoparticles along the DNA nanostructures [42]. The dynamic DNA nanotechnology includes DNA nanomachines with potential applications ranging from sensing to delivery and robotics [43]. Inspired by the complementary base pairing

• condition, and therefore monitoring physiological pH values with high sensitivity is required. Our group designed a molecular beacon (LMB) DNA device appended with a FRET pair as pH sensing probe in cells [19]. The remarkable feature of the LMB probe was the structural transition from a closed (molecular

• altered the FRET response, which was exploited for sensing of acidic pH (3–5.5) with a low step size (0.2–0.3) within synthetic vesicles that mimicked the intracellular environment. The in cellulo study in HeLa cells demonstrated the efficient cellular uptake of the DNA device without the need for a

A review of demodulation techniques for multifrequency atomic force microscopy

• David M. Harcombe,
• Michael G. Ruppert and
• Andrew J. Fleming

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 76–91, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.8

• sensing the interaction between a sharp microcantilever probe and the sample [2]. Initial operation was in constant-force contact-mode, where a static deflection is maintained through a constant contact force [3]. In dynamic imaging modes [4], the cantilever is driven at, or near, a resonance frequency

Advanced hybrid nanomaterials

• Andreas Taubert,
• Fabrice Leroux,
• Pierre Rabu and
• Verónica de Zea Bermudez

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2563–2567, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.247

• for sensing or corrosion protection. To understand composite formation of a complex hybrid assembly, high quality characterization is paramount. An example is small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), which was used in the work “Mechanism of silica–lysozyme composite formation unraveled by in situ fast

Plasmonic nanosensor based on multiple independently tunable Fano resonances

• Lin Cheng,
• Zelong Wang,
• Xiaodong He and
• Pengfei Cao

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2527–2537, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.243

• Fano resonance is preferable to create an excellent plasmonic sensor with ultrahigh performance. However, such attempts to date lack the utilization of various resonators to generate multiple Fano peaks/dips at an arbitrary defined position for practical multi-sensing applications. In this paper, we

• by the right and bottom parts of cavity1. This kind of multiple use of the cavity can effectively decrease the size of the structure. Subsequently, we investigated the features of cavity2 and cavity3 on sensing performance. Figure 6a shows the relation between r1 and the transmission spectra. When

• sensitivity and FOM. Although, the FOM value is less than the outstanding values in previous reports, it is worth noting that our structure has the best independent tunability among the structures. It is worth noting that this structure not only displays excellent performance in refractive index sensing, but

Synthesis and acetone sensing properties of ZnFe₂O₄/rGO gas sensors

• Kaidi Wu,
• Yifan Luo,
• Ying Li and
• Chao Zhang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2516–2526, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.242

• about 600–1000 nm. The gas sensing test revealed that the introduction of rGO improved the performance of the sensing of acetone to low concentration, and the ZnFe2O4/rGO composite gas sensor containing 0.5 wt % of rGO exhibited a high sensitivity in sensing test using 0.8–100 ppm acetone at 200 °C. The

• , it may be possible to diagnose diabetes using a nondestructive testing technology based on sensing acetone. Thus, it is necessary to develop novel micro/nanomaterials, which can be applied as high-performance gas sensors to detect acetone at low concentration or to monitor variations of its

• concentration. Due to their excellent properties and cost efficiency, gas sensors based on metal oxide semiconductors, such as ZnO [5], SnO2 [6], WO3 [7], TiO2 [8], Er-SnO2 [9], Au-In2O3 [10], GO-WO3 [11] and Ni-SnO2/G [12] have been widely studied until now. However, their sensing properties regarding low

Evaluation of click chemistry microarrays for immunosensing of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP)

• Seyed Mohammad Mahdi Dadfar,
• Sylwia Sekula-Neuner,
• Vanessa Trouillet,
• Hui-Yu Liu,
• Ravi Kumar,
• Annie K. Powell and
• Michael Hirtz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2505–2515, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.241

• –maleimide or biotin–DBCO for the second class and biotin–amine or biotin–thiol for the third class). The anti-AFP antibody was immobilized on the surfaces via a biotin–streptavidin–biotin sandwich technique. To evaluate the sensing performance of the differently prepared surfaces, fluorescently labeled AFP

• the results of the fluorescence analysis, an incubation of samples of either route 3 or 5 at 37 °C for 20 min was determined to offer an optimal performance. Evaluation of sensitivity To further elucidate the capability of the approach for sensing applications, a sensitivity curve for one of the

Label-free highly sensitive probe detection with novel hierarchical SERS substrates fabricated by nanoindentation and chemical reaction methods

• Jingran Zhang,
• Tianqi Jia,
• Yongda Yan,
• Li Wang,
• Peng Miao,
• Yimin Han,
• Xinming Zhang,
• Guangfeng Shi,
• Yanquan Geng,
• Zhankun Weng,
• Daniel Laipple and
• Zuobin Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2483–2496, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.239

• -field intensity. The size, shape, and interparticle spacing of the nanoparticles or nanostructures influences the LSPR. A series of metals including Au, Cu and Ag are useful in ultra-trace biological or chemical sensing and have shown great potential to obtain surface enhancement. Thus, many different

Multiple Fano resonances with flexible tunablity based on symmetry-breaking resonators

• Xiao bin Ren,
• Kun Ren,
• Ying Zhang,
• Cheng guo Ming and
• Qun Han

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2459–2467, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.236

• , such as self-reference and multichannel sensing [25][26]. The generation of multiple Fano resonances is attributed to the existence of multiple discrete states. In most of the published papers, high-order modes are excited in the same cavity [23][28]. Discrete states are provided by different modes

Coating of upconversion nanoparticles with silica nanoshells of 5–250 nm thickness

• Cynthia Kembuan,
• Maysoon Saleh,
• Bastian Rühle,
• Ute Resch-Genger and
• Christina Graf

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2410–2421, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.231

• + upconversion nanoparticles (UCNP) is presented. The concept enables the precise adjustment of shell thicknesses for the preparation of thick-shelled nanoparticles for applications in plasmonics and sensing. First, an initial 5–11 nm thick shell is grown onto the UCNPs in a reverse microemulsion. This is

• be similarly necessary for applications in plasmonics or chemical sensing [20][21]. One of the most versatile ways to protect the surface of NP, making hydrophobic particle surfaces hydrophilic and simultaneously providing functional groups for subsequent covalent attachment of, e.g., biomolecules

• microemulsion technique in 2008 [42][43]. However, for certain applications such as sensing and plasmonics, a thicker silica shell is desired that can be loaded with sensor molecules or used as spacer for the plasmonic enhancement of the emission of UCNPs by gold or silver shells [45]. Moreover, since UCNPs can