Study of silica-based intrinsically emitting nanoparticles produced by an excimer laser

• Imène Reghioua,
• Mattia Fanetti,
• Sylvain Girard,
• Diego Di Francesca,
• Simonpietro Agnello,
• Layla Martin-Samos,
• Marco Cannas,
• Matjaz Valant,
• Melanie Raine,
• Marc Gaillardin,
• Nicolas Richard,
• Philippe Paillet,
• Aziz Boukenter,
• Youcef Ouerdane and
• Antonino Alessi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 211–221, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.19

• , F-91297 Arpajon, France 10.3762/bjnano.10.19 Abstract We report an experimental study demonstrating the feasibility to produce both pure and Ge-doped silica nanoparticles (size ranging from tens up to hundreds of nanometers) using nanosecond pulsed KrF laser ablation of bulk glass. In particular

• , pure silica nanoparticles were produced using a laser pulse energy of 400 mJ on pure silica, whereas Ge-doped nanoparticles were obtained using 33 and 165 mJ per pulse on germanosilicate glass. The difference in the required energy is attributed to the Ge doping, which modifies the optical properties

• of the silica by facilitating energy absorption processes such as multiphoton absorption or by introducing absorbing point defects. Defect generation in bulk pure silica before nanoparticle production starts is also suggested by our results. Regarding the Ge-doped samples, scanning electron

Mechanism of silica–lysozyme composite formation unravelled by in situ fast SAXS

• Tomasz M. Stawski,
• Daniela B. van den Heuvel,
• Rogier Besselink,
• Dominique J. Tobler and
• Liane G. Benning

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 182–197, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.17

• inorganic nanoparticles (NPs) and proteins in aqueous media is of paramount interest for colloid chemistry. In particular, the interactions between silica (SiO2) NPs and lysozyme (LZM) have attracted attention, because LZM is well-known to adsorb strongly to silica NPs, while at the same time preserving its

• scattering (SAXS) and followed the subtle interparticle interactions in solution at a time resolution of 50 ms/frame (20 fps). We show that if the size of silica NPs (ca. 5 nm diameter) is matched by the dimensions of LZM, the evolving scattering patterns contain a unique structure-factor contribution

• : composite; lysozyme; scattering; silica; small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS); Introduction A mechanistic understanding of aggregation in aqueous media leading to the formation of composites of inorganic nanoparticles and proteins is of paramount interest for colloid chemistry, Earth sciences, or the design

Targeting strategies for improving the efficacy of nanomedicine in oncology

• Gonzalo Villaverde and
• Alejandro Baeza

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 168–181, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.16

• there [15]. These nanocapsules were anchored on the surface of mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSN) coated with a lipid bilayer (protocells) enhancing their penetration into 3D tumoral tissue models, which yielded a significant enhancement of the therapeutic efficacy of these nanodevices (Figure 1) [16

pH-mediated control over the mesostructure of ordered mesoporous materials templated by polyion complex micelles

• Emilie Molina,
• Mélody Mathonnat,
• Jason Richard,
• Patrick Lacroix-Desmazes,
• Martin In,
• Philippe Dieudonné,
• Thomas Cacciaguerra,
• Corine Gérardin and
• Nathalie Marcotte

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 144–156, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.14

• Coulomb, UMR 5221 CNRS – Université de Montpellier, 34095 Montpellier, France 10.3762/bjnano.10.14 Abstract Ordered mesoporous silica materials were prepared under different pH conditions by using a silicon alkoxide as a silica source and polyion complex (PIC) micelles as the structure-directing agents

• . PIC micelles were formed by complexation between a weak polyacid-containing double-hydrophilic block copolymer, poly(ethylene oxide)-b-poly(acrylic acid) (PEO-b-PAA), and a weak polybase, oligochitosan-type polyamine. As both the micellization process and the rate of silica condensation are highly

• dependent on pH, the properties of silica mesostructures can be modulated by changing the pH of the reaction medium. Varying the materials synthesis pH from 4.5 to 7.9 led to 2D-hexagonal, wormlike or lamellar mesostructures, with a varying degree of order. The chemical composition of the as-synthesized

New micro/mesoporous nanocomposite material from low-cost sources for the efficient removal of aromatic and pathogenic pollutants from water

• Emmanuel I. Unuabonah,
• Robert Nöske,
• Jens Weber,
• Christina Günter and
• Andreas Taubert

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 119–131, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.11

• overcome these issues. When water remediation in developing countries is considered, the price of the materials and not their performance is unfortunately the key aspect to take into account. Current technologies such as activated carbon or silica-based materials are still too expensive for these

• effective, the preparation of these materials still often involves metakaolinization, dealumination, ageing, and autoclave heating for several days [15][16]. In some cases, silica, alumina, and structure-directing agents have to be added to the metakaolin to tune the properties of the resulting materials

• [13][14]. These approaches are less expensive than the use of all-synthetic reagents, such as highly developed silica materials, but they are tedious and still rely on autoclave technology, which is not generally available to the countries in need of these materials. Thus, there is a need for cheap

A novel polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane-modified layered double hydroxide: preparation, characterization and properties

• Xianwei Zhang,
• Zhongzhu Ma,
• Hong Fan,
• Carla Bittencourt,
• Jintao Wan and
• Philippe Dubois

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 3053–3068, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.284

• after modification, which is expected to eventually limit the potential for applications of LDHs in polymer composites. Polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes (POSS) are a class of well-defined nanostructured molecules, which contain a silica cage core and externally attached organic substituents [22

• silica cage, and that these long arms are rearranged under the action of forces arising during the synthetic process and from interlayer surroundings. Furthermore, the interlayer features of OLDH are compared to those of traditional LDHs synthesized in a similar way, and the ratios between intergallery

• presented in Figure 13. The char of the intercalator OCPS exhibits a shrinkage with a very smooth and continuous dense surface in both N2 and air, due to the remarkable surface enrichment effect of silica during heating, which can be proved in the XPS spectra shown in Figure 13a. In the case of NLDH, the

Colloidal chemistry with patchy silica nanoparticles

• Pierre-Etienne Rouet,
• Cyril Chomette,
• Laurent Adumeau,
• Etienne Duguet and
• Serge Ravaine

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2989–2998, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.278

• bonding geometry. We have previously reported that the selective growth of the silica core of binary PS/silica CMs and the subsequent dissolution of the polymeric satellites [19] leads to silica particles with a precise number of dimples. The PS chains which are chemically grafted onto the silica surface

• remain at the bottom of the dimples after the dissolution stage and can be specifically chemically modified providing both enthalpic and entropic characteristics to the patches [20][21]. Here we report the use of these patchy silica nanoparticles with two or four dimples as sp- and sp3-like colloidal

• , i.e., well-calibrated silica nanospheres or core–shell nanoparticles, were obtained according to a seeded-growth protocol [22] and a method using methoxy poly(ethylene glycol)-thiol as a coupling agent [23], respectively. Their surface functionalization with carboxylic acid groups was performed by a

Oriented zinc oxide nanorods: A novel saturable absorber for lasers in the near-infrared

• Pavel Loiko,
• Tanujjal Bora,
• Josep Maria Serres,
• Haohai Yu,
• Magdalena Aguiló,
• Francesc Díaz,
• Uwe Griebner,
• Valentin Petrov,
• Xavier Mateos and
• Joydeep Dutta

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2730–2740, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.255

• based on randomly oriented SWCNTs in a PMMA film (all of them deposited on a 1 mm-thick fused silica substrate), and a commercial transmission-type semiconductor saturable absorber (SESA, for Tm laser). For the Yb laser, the performance of all such nanostructured SAs is modest. In general, this is

Cytotoxicity of doxorubicin-conjugated poly[N-(2-hydroxypropyl)methacrylamide]-modified γ-Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles towards human tumor cells

• Zdeněk Plichta,
• Yulia Kozak,
• Rostyslav Panchuk,
• Viktoria Sokolova,
• Matthias Epple,
• Lesya Kobylinska,
• Pavla Jendelová and
• Daniel Horák

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2533–2545, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.236

• high molecular weight, such as silica, chitosan, poly(amino acids), poly(acrylic acid), hyaluronic acid, alginic acid, poly(vinyl alcohol), polyethylenimine, dextran, or poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) [10][11][12]. The latter one is known to escape recognition by reticuloendothelial system prolonging thus

Non-agglomerated silicon–organic nanoparticles and their nanocomplexes with oligonucleotides: synthesis and properties

• Asya S. Levina,
• Marina N. Repkova,
• Nadezhda V. Shikina,
• Zinfer R. Ismagilov,
• Svetlana A. Yashnik,
• Dmitrii V. Semenov,
• Yulia I. Savinovskaya,
• Natalia A. Mazurkova,
• Inna A. Pyshnaya and
• Valentina F. Zarytova

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2516–2525, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.234

• "Vector", Koltsovo, Novosibirsk region, 630559, Russia 10.3762/bjnano.9.234 Abstract The development of efficient and convenient systems for the delivery of nucleic-acid-based drugs into cells is an urgent task. А promising approach is the use of various nanoparticles. Silica nanoparticles can be used as

• formation of TiO2·PL–DNA nanocomposites [1][2]. Silica nanoparticles can also be used as vehicles to deliver nucleic acid fragments into cells [3][4]. SiO2 nanoparticles bearing amino groups on the surface were shown to bind plasmid DNA, allowing the nanoparticles to penetration into cells, and even nuclei

• known to degrade to orthosilicic acid, Si(OH)4, which is found in almost all human tissues and effectively excreted through the urine [9]. Organically modified silica nanoparticles are known for their low toxicity and biocompatibility and can be used for targeted imaging and therapy [10][11]. The

Enhanced antineoplastic/therapeutic efficacy using 5-fluorouracil-loaded calcium phosphate nanoparticles

• Shanid Mohiyuddin,
• Saba Naqvi and
• Gopinath Packirisamy

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2499–2515, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.233

• both in vitro and in vivo studies [5]. Gold nanoparticles conjugated with a trans-activating transcriptional activator (TAT) peptide modification encapsulated with the drug doxorubicin showed enhanced toxicity in brain cancer models [6]. Further, mesoporous silica nanoparticles were successfully used

• for hepatoma targeted delivery of docetaxel with lactose as the targeting molecule [7]. Curcumin-loaded organically modified silica nanoparticles (ORMOSIL) were studied to check the potential anticancer property of ORMOSIL nanocarriers [8]. However, in some instances, after nanoparticle formation, the

• the bulk. Thus metal-based NPs applied to biomedical applications could contradict the success of disease prognosis and treatment. Upon synthesis via solvent-extraction or calcination procedures, mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) were found to inhibit cellular respiration [10] in the in vivo

Droplet-based synthesis of homogeneous magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles

• Christian D. Ahrberg,
• Ji Wook Choi and
• Bong Geun Chung

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2413–2420, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.226

• have been synthesized in pinched flow microfluidic geometries, such as fluorescent silica particles [13], or titanium dioxide particles [27]. For these applications, the microfluidic devices were made from poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) following a soft-lithography fabrication method [28][29], or made

• tubing using a small syringe needle. Two 5 cm long pieces of fused silica capillary (inner diameter = 100 µm, outer diameter = 360 µm, Supelco, USA) were inserted into the hole and arranged so that the two ends formed a 90° angle in the middle of the Tygon tubing. The holes were sealed with small amount

• solution was an aqueous solution of 4 M ammonia (Alfa Aesar, USA). The solutions were separately injected through the two fused silica capillaries of the droplet generator using syringe pumps with identical flowrates. Mineral oil (M5904, Sigma-Aldrich USA) with 0.075 vol % Triton X-100 (Samchun Chemical

SERS active Ag–SiO₂ nanoparticles obtained by laser ablation of silver in colloidal silica

• Cristina Gellini,
• Francesco Muniz-Miranda,
• Alfonso Pedone and
• Maurizio Muniz-Miranda

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2396–2404, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.224

• , 41125 Modena, Italy Center for Molecular Modeling, Ghent University, Technologiepark 903, 9052 Zwijnaarde, Belgium 10.3762/bjnano.9.224 Abstract Highly stable Ag–SiO2 nanoparticle composites were first obtained by laser ablation of a silver target in an aqueous colloidal dispersion of silica and

• computational DFT approach provided evidence of ligand adsorption on positively charged adatoms of the silver nanostructured surface, in a very similar way to the metal/molecule interaction occurring in the corresponding Ag(I) coordination compound. Keywords: 2,2’-bipyridine; DFT; laser ablation; silica

• ; silver; Introduction Silica nanoparticles in an aqueous suspension are known to be inert and dispersible – properties which can be quite useful in the preparation of colloidal nanocomposites with silver. For this reason, there are a significant number of studies in the literature on colloidal substrates

Block copolymers for designing nanostructured porous coatings

• Roberto Nisticò

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2332–2344, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.218

• ) parts linked together by chemical bonds [101]. Analogous to surfactants, even amphiphilic block copolymers (such as the PS-b-PEO ones) can be used as templating agents [4]. As reported by Yu and co-workers [102], PS-b-PEO copolymers were used for the production of mesoporous silica films where a cubic

• close-packed spherical system was obtained by solvent evaporation induced self-assembly (EISA) process. Different pore sizes can be obtained by changing the block length in the soft templates. By coupling the spin-coating deposition technique with the soft-templating approach, mesoporous silica coatings

• minimization of the surface free energy [104]. Analogously as for silica, even titania can be produced with closed spherical pores within the oxidic structures by using high molecular weight PS-b-PEO copolymers (as shown in Figure 6) [105]. Organic–inorganic PS-b-PEO/TiO2 hybrid nanostructured coatings can

Two-dimensional photonic crystals increasing vertical light emission from Si nanocrystal-rich thin layers

• Lukáš Ondič,
• Marian Varga,
• Ivan Pelant,
• Alexander Kromka,
• Karel Hruška and
• Robert G. Elliman

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2287–2296, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.213

• good qualitative agreement with the measured ones. Fabrication of the samples Firstly, SiNC-rich layers were fabricated by Si ion implantation into a polished silica substrate followed by thermal annealing at 1100 °C (for details see [28]). An implant energy of 400 keV with an implant fluence of 1

Filling nanopipettes with apertures smaller than 50 nm: dynamic microdistillation

• Evelyne Salançon and
• Bernard Tinland

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2181–2187, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.204

• . Results and Discussion Quartz capillaries, being of pure silica, have certain intrinsic properties (low dielectric constant, low loss factor, high volume resistivity, strength and chemical purity) that make them appropriate for the reproducible electrical measurements described below. Notably, they

• nanopipette reliably usable in any experimental application. Experimental Nanopipette fabrication The capillaries used are pure silica tubes (quartz tubes) from Sutter (HERAEUS HSQ300) with 1 mm outer diameter and inner diameters of 300, 500 or 700 µm. Due to their high melting temperature, they are pulled

Electrospun one-dimensional nanostructures: a new horizon for gas sensing materials

• Muhammad Imran,
• Nunzio Motta and
• Mahnaz Shafiei

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2128–2170, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.202

• by co-electrospinning a poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP) solution containing a titanium alkoxide (Ti(OiPr)4) and mineral oil. The mineral oil is removed at a later stage by calcination. In the same way, the interior of a hollow fiber is decorated by oil-dispersible nanoparticles using a silica capillary

Defect formation in multiwalled carbon nanotubes under low-energy He and Ne ion irradiation

• Santhana Eswara,
• Jean-Nicolas Audinot,
• Brahime El Adib,
• Maël Guennou,
• Tom Wirtz and
• Patrick Philipp

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1951–1963, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.186

• improved mechanical properties which is similar to the one of collagen found in nature [7]. Vacancy formation and interconnections forming between CNTs have also been observed in molecular dynamics (MD) simulations during the irradiation of SWCNTs supported by silica [8]. MD simulations have been used to

Synthesis of a MnO₂/Fe₃O₄/diatomite nanocomposite as an efficient heterogeneous Fenton-like catalyst for methylene blue degradation

• Zishun Li,
• Xuekun Tang,
• Kun Liu,
• Jing Huang,
• Yueyang Xu,
• Qian Peng and
• Minlin Ao

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1940–1950, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.185

• silica. Hence, diatomite offers a high specific surface area, a mesoporous structure and superior physicochemical stabilities. Due to the above advantages, together with the abundant reserves, low price and eco-friendly nature, diatomite is a promising support material for catalyst nanoparticles in

SO₂ gas adsorption on carbon nanomaterials: a comparative study

• Deepu J. Babu,
• Divya Puthusseri,
• Frank G. Kühl,
• Sherif Okeil,
• Michael Bruns,
• Manfred Hampe and
• Jörg J. Schneider

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1782–1792, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.169

• , e.g., for flue gas scrubbing applications. These include, but are not limited to, various zeolites [3][4], metal-organic frameworks [5][6][7][8], mesoporous silica [9][10][11] and carbon nanomaterials [12][13][14][15]. Due to its higher stability against moisture and corrosive gases (typical flue gas

Toward the use of CVD-grown MoS₂ nanosheets as field-emission source

• Geetanjali Deokar,
• Nitul S. Rajput,
• Junjie Li,
• Francis Leonard Deepak,
• Wei Ou-Yang,
• Nicolas Reckinger,
• Carla Bittencourt,
• Jean-Francois Colomer and
• Mustapha Jouiad

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1686–1694, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.160

• overnight, the silica layer was removed, freeing the PMMA/MoS2 film from the growth substrate (SiO2/Si). The sample was subsequently transferred to deionized water to rinse the chemical etchants. Then, the desired substrate (here, FTO) was used to lift the PMMA/MoS2 out of the water. The sample was then

Friction force microscopy of tribochemistry and interfacial ageing for the SiO_x/Si/Au system

• Christiane Petzold,
• Marcus Koch and
• Roland Bennewitz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1647–1658, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.157

• ultra-sharp tip is scanned across the surface line by line probing a square frame. Lateral forces acting on the sliding contact are determined as deflection of a cantilever spring holding the tip. Single-asperity contact ageing between silica tip and surface has been directly observed in ambient

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

• was successfully overcome by using polymer-grafted nanoparticles (magnetic and silica), i.e., composite nanoparticles that were mixed with the polymer, usually in the solution [10][22][23][24]. Critical factors that influence the state of dispersion of polymer-grafted nanoparticles in nanocomposites

Correlative electrochemical strain and scanning electron microscopy for local characterization of the solid state electrolyte Li_1.3Al_0.3Ti_1.7(PO₄)₃

• Nino Schön,
• Deniz Cihan Gunduz,
• Shicheng Yu,
• Hermann Tempel,
• Roland Schierholz and
• Florian Hausen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1564–1572, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.148

• ground for 10 to 15 minutes at 150 rpm. This was followed by polishing the samples for 4 to 8 minutes at 300 rpm in four steps. In the first two steps, a diamond suspension with 3 µm and 2 µm particles was used. Finally, two finishing steps were performed with a 0.2 µm silica suspension and a 0.05 µm

Formation mechanisms of boron oxide films fabricated by large-area electron beam-induced deposition of trimethyl borate

• Aiden A. Martin and
• Philip J. Depond

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1282–1287, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.120

• structural properties similar to those of tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS, Si(C2H5O)4), which has been well characterized as a precursor for EBID of silica films [14]. TMB has previously been used for boron doping of SiO2 [15] and diamond [16], and the deposition of BCN fibres [17], BN nanotubes [18] and BN

• substrate temperatures between 26 and 405 °C. The deposition rate decreases rapidly with increasing substrate temperature, with TMB not undergoing activated chemisorption from the gas phase in stark contrast to the alkoxide-based silica precursor molecule TEOS. The morphology and composition of deposited