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

• in Figure 2, the working mechanism of TVB-TENG is based on contact triboelectrification and electrostatic induction. First, when the device is externally compressed, electrons are transferred from the B1 vitamin membrane to the Teflon membrane. The contact surface between the vitamin B1 membrane and

• the Teflon membrane is separated in the absence of an external force. There is a positive charge transfer from the conductive copper foil tape at the bottom of the TVB-TENG, to the conductive copper foil tape at the top, leading to an electric field equilibrium due to electrostatic induction. As a

Transient coating of γ-Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles with glutamate for its delivery to and removal from brain nerve terminals

• Konstantin Paliienko,
• Artem Pastukhov,
• Michal Babič,
• Daniel Horák,
• Olga Vasylchenko and
• Tatiana Borisova

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1381–1393, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.122

• membrane Na+-dependent glutamate transporters is responsible for the maintenance of the extracellular glutamate concentration. The transporters use Na+/K+ electrochemical gradients across the plasma membrane to accomplish glutamate transport. Glutamate is a potential growth factor in tumor development. The

• and the membrane potential of nerve terminals. Six animals were used for blood plasma preparation. Isolation of nerve terminals (synaptosomes) from rat cortex The cortex zone of the rat brain was rapidly removed and homogenized in ice-cold 0.32 M sucrose, 5 mM HEPES-NaOH, pH 7.4 and 0.2 mM EDTA. The

• 10,000g for 20 s. Radioactivity was measured in supernatant aliquots of 100 µL using liquid scintillation counting and was expressed as a percentage of the total ʟ-[14C]glutamate incorporated into the nerve terminals [24]. Membrane potential of nerve terminals in the presence of γ-Fe2O3 nanoparticles The

Photothermally active nanoparticles as a promising tool for eliminating bacteria and biofilms

• Mykola Borzenkov,
• Piersandro Pallavicini,
• Angelo Taglietti,
• Laura D’Alfonso,
• Maddalena Collini and
• Giuseppe Chirico

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1134–1146, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.98

• gold nanoparticle aggregation was implemented [54]. According to this strategy, the spherical nanoparticles, with a typical localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) absorption at 520 nm, aggregated in situ at the surface of the bacterial membrane. The gold nanoparticle aggregation induced a change in

• of Ag+ and by the so-called nanomechanical effect (i.e., a disruptive phenomenon that is generated by the high NP surface energy at the bacterial membrane) [69]. A reproducible synthetic method was developed to grow anisotropic silver nanoplates on glass with a LSPR absorption tunable in the NIR

• plasmonic MoO3−x nanosheets were designed to be a highly efficient NIR-driven antibacterial agent [100]. This approach enhanced the nanocube antibacterial activity towards E. coli and S. aureus upon NIR light irradiation due to the local temperature increase, release of silver ions and bacterial membrane

Thermophoretic tweezers for single nanoparticle manipulation

• Jošt Stergar and
• Natan Osterman

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1126–1133, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.97

• thermophoresis and fluid flow can be used to highly concentrate (trap) nanoparticles and molecules [24][25]. Suspended biological cells can be easily thermophoretically manipulated by harnessing the permittivity gradient in the electric double layer of the charged surface of the cell membrane [26]. Optical

Gram-scale synthesis of splat-shaped Ag–TiO₂ nanocomposites for enhanced antimicrobial properties

• Mohammad Jaber,
• Asim Mushtaq,
• Kebiao Zhang,
• Jindan Wu,
• Dandan Luo,
• Zihan Yi,
• M. Zubair Iqbal and
• Xiangdong Kong

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1119–1125, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.96

• the Gram-positive bacteria S. aureus. During the incubation with Ag–TiO2 nanocomposites, the silver ions were released from the NCs and gradually diffused out in the seeded agar. Then, the silver ions attached to the bacterial membrane, damaging the proteins and inactivating the bacteria metabolism

Atomic layer deposition for efficient oxygen evolution reaction at Pt/Ir catalyst layers

• Stefanie Schlicht,
• Korcan Percin,
• Stefanie Kriescher,
• André Hofer,
• Claudia Weidlich,
• Matthias Wessling and
• Julien Bachmann

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 952–959, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.79

• conditions. For example, in vanadium–air redox flow batteries the crossover of vanadium ions through the ion exchange membrane renders the electrolyte even more corrosive. To simulate electrode ageing under accelerated conditions, we study the activity loss of catalyst-coated electrodes after soaking for one

• not this activity gain remains as large in the membrane-electrode assemblies (MEAs) of full devices depends on the accessibility of the nanostructured surface to the polyelectrolyte. Furthermore, for application to regenerative fuel cells the studies will have to be repeated for the ORR and expanded

A 3D-polyphenylalanine network inside porous alumina: Synthesis and characterization of an inorganic–organic composite membrane

• Jonathan Stott and
• Jörg J. Schneider

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 938–951, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.78

• ) in porous alumina membranes (ALOX-membranes) with respect to different solvent mixtures (tetrahydrofuran (THF) and dichloromethane (DCM)). It was found that increasing the volume fraction of DCM leads to an increasing amount of fibrillar polymer structures within the porous ALOX-membrane. A three

• polymer functionalization schemes for reversed-phase solid phase extraction applications. The adsorption capability of the functionalized composite membrane was increased from 16.7% to 38.1% compared to the native ALOX-membrane. Keywords: alumina; composite membrane; polymer-based sorbent

• many fields such as membrane separation [1][2][3][4][5] or adsorbent materials [1][6][7][8]. The combination of inorganic porous supports (such as alumina and a variety of synthetic polypeptides) that can be grafted onto such surfaces is also promising, especially with respect to medical and analytical

Key for crossing the BBB with nanoparticles: the rational design

• Sonia M. Lombardo,
• Marc Schneider,
• Akif E. Türeli and
• Nazende Günday Türeli

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 866–883, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.72

• -vesicular bodies merge directly with the basolateral membrane or if they release their cargo in basolateral endosomes that subsequently merge with the basolateral membrane. However, it has been shown that brain endothelial cells generate microvesicles that are released toward the brain [43]. Adsorptive

• high, leading to similar transcytosis efficiency as RMT [45][46]. AMT occurs through electrostatic interaction between a positively charged molecule, protein or peptide and the negatively charged luminal membrane of the brain endothelial cells. This process depends on energy, time and concentration and

• , resulting in an overall net positive charge [108][126]. CPPs are able to enhance membrane penetration and cell internalization of their conjugated cargo in a large variety of cells, through pathways not always well known [126][127]. In the case of BBB crossing, their positive charge might induce their

Transition from freestanding SnO₂ nanowires to laterally aligned nanowires with a simulation-based experimental design

• Jasmin-Clara Bürger,
• Sebastian Gutsch and
• Margit Zacharias

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 843–853, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.69

• remove residual water and oxygen from the process atmosphere. To reach the respective process pressure, 40 sccm Ar was introduced into the system. After reaching the process pressure, the Ar flow was regulated to 25 sccm. For maintaining the process pressure, a membrane pump was used. Meanwhile, the tube

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

Preparation, characterization and photocatalytic performance of heterostructured CuO–ZnO-loaded composite nanofiber membranes

• Wei Fang,
• Liang Yu and
• Lan Xu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 631–650, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.50

• protection. Water pollution with organic dyes (such as congo red, methylene blue, and methyl orange) is becoming a major environmental problem. Therefore, water purification technologies, such as photocatalytic purification, electrochemical oxidation, membrane filtration, ozonation, and chlorination

• )2 in the membrane were in contact with water vapor and directly decomposed to form CuO, ZnO and evaporated acetic acid. All reactions were carried out under heating conditions, such as heat treatment and hydrothermal synthesis. The whole process can be described by the following equations [16]. or

Adsorptive removal of bulky dye molecules from water with mesoporous polyaniline-derived carbon

• Hyung Jun An,
• Jong Min Park,
• Nazmul Abedin Khan and
• Sung Hwa Jhung

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 597–605, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.47

• membrane separation [2][6][7]. However, these techniques are not very satisfactory for applications on a large scale. For example, dyes are very resistant against degradation by catalysis, with a common example given by the stable characteristics of dyes under even sunlight. Recently, adsorption has been

Examination of the relationship between viscoelastic properties and the invasion of ovarian cancer cells by atomic force microscopy

• Mengdan Chen,
• Jinshu Zeng,
• Weiwei Ruan,
• Zhenghong Zhang,
• Yuhua Wang,
• Shusen Xie,
• Zhengchao Wang and
• Hongqin Yang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 568–582, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.45

• specific acetylation, potentiating the membrane elasticity of ovarian cancer cells, and HBO1 mRNA expression were significantly higher in OVCAR-3 cells than in the HOSEpiC control [33]. The different roles of lamin A and lamin C were also elucidated in the metastasis of ovarian cancer cells HO-8910 and

• an important factor determining the mechanical properties of cells [50]. Some researchers have shown that alterations in the cytoskeletal structure or functional defects of cells are associated with the ability of tumor cells to proliferate [51]. The actin filaments on the cell membrane can affect

• cells was analyzed by cell culture insert (Corning, 8.0 μm pore size) coated with a PET membrane according to the instructions of the manufacturer. A total of 1 × 104 cells suspended in 500 µL serum-free medium was loaded into the upper chambers, and the bottom chamber was filled with 500 μL medium

Luminescent gold nanoclusters for bioimaging applications

• Nonappa

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

• ). The Au-MUDA-NLS NCs were easily internalized and distributed in the nucleus when studied using HeLa cell lines (Figure 4A). The intracellular and nuclear distribution was studied using a membrane dye WGA-Alexa 594 and a nuclear dye, SYTO59. This suggested that Au-MUDA-NLS NCs were well distributed in

• labeling and imaging using AuNCs. A) HeLa cells were treated with (a, b) Au-MUDA NCs and (e, f) Au-MUDA-NLS NCs for 1.5 h. The left panel shows the one-color image. The right panel shows the two-color colocalization image of HeLa cells incubated with Au-MUDA-NLS NCs and counterstained with membrane dye WGA

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

Preparation and in vivo evaluation of glyco-gold nanoparticles carrying synthetic mycobacterial hexaarabinofuranoside

• Gennady L. Burygin,
• Polina I. Abronina,
• Nikita M. Podvalnyy,
• Sergey A. Staroverov,
• Leonid O. Kononov and
• Lev A. Dykman

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 480–493, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.39

• polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membrane (Figure 5). Ara6 glycoside 1 (with a short spacer aglycon) was detected by antisera against both Ara6C2NH2-GNPs 3 and Ara6C2EG7NH2-GNPs 4. This means that there was a serological cross-reaction for the obtained antisera against Ara6-GNPs 3 and 4. Remarkably, both antisera

• specific antibodies by the dot assay. Lack of interaction between glycoside 2 and the obtained antisera in the dot assay is apparently related to the desorption of glycoside 2 with the much more hydrophilic spacer aglycon from the PVDF membrane during the assay. This explanation is further supported by the

• fact that it was impossible to use a nitrocellulose membrane for dot assay of the glycosides because of the higher hydrophilicity of this material than that of PVDF. For both glycosides 1 and 2, there was no adsorption to the nitrocellulose membrane, and as a consequence, no reaction with specific

Electrochemically derived functionalized graphene for bulk production of hydrogen peroxide

• Munaiah Yeddala,
• Pallavi Thakur,
• Anugraha A and
• Tharangattu N. Narayanan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 432–442, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.34

• preparation of H2O2 from oxygen and hydrogen, oxidation of alcohols [5], photocatalysis [6], and electrochemical processes such as the electro-Fenton process [7], microbial electrosynthesis [8], and proton exchange membrane (PEM) assisted synthesis [9]. Further, in situ generation of peroxide from dissolved

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

• plasma membrane stained with FM4-64, evidencing an effective cell internalization of both BMV and CCMV loaded capsids. With the virus loaded with FTIC a similar efficiency of virus internalization in MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7capsids are interacting with the cell plasma membrane, in cells was observed. Flow

• membrane with FM4-64 (ThermoFisher Scientific) and the nucleus with DAPI (Sigma-Aldrich), using a confocal microscope FV1000 FluoView (Olympus). Additionally, cells were trypsinized, centrifuged (800g, 5 min) and resuspended in PBS before analyzing virus internalization using an Attune acoustic focusing

• ), followed by dialysis against acidification buffer (50 mM sodium acetate, 8 mM magnesium acetate, pH 4.5) for 8 h and finally the sample was dialyzed in assembly buffer. All dialysis experiments were performed at a temperature of 4 °C using a dialysis membrane with a 14 kDa cut-off (Spectrumlabs). The

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

• the hepatocyte surface through the lactosylated poly(ʟ-lysine). The endosomal escape was mediated through a pH-responsive protonation of the imidazole and amino moieties that disrupted the endosomal membrane [17]. Zinc–PVI systems have also been investigated for complexing DNA for gene delivery

• buffer (1× RIPA buffer, PMSF, 1% protease and protease inhibitors cocktail, Cell Signaling Technology, USA) and quantified using Lowry’s method. An aliquot of the cell lysate containing 50 µg protein was loaded in 12% sodium dodecyl sulfate–polyacrylamide gel. The membrane was blocked for 1 h with

• seeded in the upper compartment of the transwell chamber and the lower chamber contained complete media with 10% FBS. After 24 h, the cells migrated through the membrane were quick fixed with 100% cold methanol for 15 min at −20 °C and then rinsed with DPBS. The fixed cells were stained with 0.5% crystal

Interactions at the cell membrane and pathways of internalization of nano-sized materials for nanomedicine

• Valentina Francia,
• Daphne Montizaan and
• Anna Salvati

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 338–353, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.25

• cells in similar ways as other nano-sized objects, such as proteins, cholesterol particles, and virus particles. These natural nano-sized objects are usually recognized by specific cell receptors at the plasma membrane and they are internalized by cells using the cell endocytic machinery [4]. Similarly

• , engineered nano-sized materials can exploit the cellular machinery to be internalized by cells. In fact, since the cell membrane blocks diffusion of complexes larger than ca. 1 kDa, nano-sized materials, such as nanomedicines, are transported into cells using energy-dependent mechanisms, unlike many small

• adsorbing on the nanoparticles once they are introduced in biological environments and the resulting corona can screen the targeting moieties [15][16]. At the same time, it has emerged that the corona itself can be recognized by receptors at the cell membrane [17][18] and that this initial recognition can

Facile biogenic fabrication of hydroxyapatite nanorods using cuttlefish bone and their bactericidal and biocompatibility study

• Satheeshkumar Balu,
• Manisha Vidyavathy Sundaradoss,
• Swetha Andra and
• Jaison Jeevanandam

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 285–295, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.21

• and Materials standard F756-00. Generally, the addition of hydroxyapatite microcrystals with blood will lead to hemolysis via aggregation of erythrocytes and membrane damage induced by crystals [49]. Moreover, Wiessner et al. (1988) showed that the crystallinity of the Hap plays a crucial role in

• nanorods into the bacterial cell wall to interact with the cellular biomolecules that increases the osmotic potential and its associated irreversible damage and (ii) the generation of free reactive oxygen species (ROS) radicals that are induced by nanorods that interact with the bacterial membrane and

Rational design of block copolymer self-assemblies in photodynamic therapy

• Maxime Demazeau,
• Laure Gibot,
• Anne-Françoise Mingotaud,
• Patricia Vicendo,
• Clément Roux and
• Barbara Lonetti

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 180–212, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.15

• second part. A third part will focus on the interactions between the vectors with the cell membrane, either in its native form or in biomimetic models. Finally, cellular entrance processes and intracellular targeting will also be described, showing possible intracellular targeting methods as well as the

• proposed to overcome the drug resistance of cancer cells. Indeed, it induced membrane permeability of the endo-lysosome and particle disassembly after white-light irradiation thus triggering the release of doxorubicin in the cytosol [96]. In the study by Zheng et al. [100] the AIE fluorophore is used as

• with parallel alignment to the membrane surface (Figure 8). Recent reviews have shown the importance of controlling the shape of the vectors, both for cell penetration but also for the behavior in the blood stream [142]. Regarding PDT more specifically, Till et al. examined the PDT efficiency of

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

• , DNA origami is anticipated to have possible applications in the fields of biosciences, the design of protein scaffolds, and plasmonics [51][52][53]. Shih and co-workers utilized DNA origami nanotechnology for the structural determination of plasma membrane proteins [54]. They reported the construction

• of detergent-resistant 0.8 µm-long liquid crystalline DNA nanotubes organized from a 7.3 kb scaffold strand and >170 short oligonucleotide-long staple strands. The liquid crystalline matrices of six helix DNA origami bundles induced a weak alignment of proteins within the plasma membrane. The

• solubilization and weak alignment of proteins within plasma membrane are crucial to measure the residual dipolar couplings (RDCs), and the RDCs are crucial to obtain NMR structural information on membrane-bound proteins. As reported, DNA origami-based liquid crystalline media can overcome detergent-related

Internalization mechanisms of cell-penetrating peptides

• Ivana Ruseska and
• Andreas Zimmer

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

• influence the cellular uptake mechanism. Keywords: cell-penetrating peptides; direct translocation; drug delivery; endocytosis; internalization; Introduction The cell membrane is a semipermeable barrier, serving as a protective layer for the cells. It is an essential organelle for cell survival and

• , just a few out of many, guide the internalization paths of CPPs to two major routes: endocytosis (active or energy-dependent uptake) and membrane translocation (direct/passive or energy-independent uptake). Overall, the type of uptake which will be selected mainly depends on the physicochemical

• properties of the peptide and the cargo as well as the concentration applied, in combination with the structural properties of the plasma membrane. As an example, nowadays it is well established that at physiological conditions and low peptide concentration endocytosis prevails, while when a peptide is

The effect of heat treatment on the morphology and mobility of Au nanoparticles

• Sven Oras,
• Sergei Vlassov,
• Simon Vigonski,
• Boris Polyakov,
• Mikk Antsov,
• Vahur Zadin,
• Rünno Lõhmus and
• Karine Mougin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 61–67, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.6

• Si wafers were prepared, and four of them were then separately annealed in an oven for 1 h at 200, 400, 600 and 800 °C while the fifth was left untreated. Separate samples were prepared on heat-resistant silicon nitride support films of 50 nm membrane thickness (Pelco, Ted Pella) to be used for