Synthetic-polymer-assisted antisense oligonucleotide delivery: targeted approaches for precision disease treatment

• Ana Cubillo Alvarez,
• Dylan Maguire and
• Ruairí P. Brannigan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 435–463, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.34

Biomimetics and bioinspired surfaces: from nature to theory and applications

• Rhainer Guillermo Ferreira,
• Thies H. Büscher,
• Manuela Rebora,
• Poramate Manoonpong,
• Zhendong Dai and
• Stanislav N. Gorb

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 418–421, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.32

• Mechanics and Control for Aerospace Structures, College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing, China 10.3762/bjnano.16.32 Keywords: adhesives; bioengineering; biomimetics; drag reduction; functional morphology; insects; medical coatings

• blade by reducing the drag, which improves the overall performance of the engine. Finally, Sameoto [10] presents a stimulating perspective article on bioinspired adhesives, which advocates for a paradigm shift in biomimetics research. Instead of merely drawing inspiration from nature to discover new

• materials, the work proposes focusing on re-engineering applications to enhance manufacturing processes and improve the performance of biomimetic adhesives, thereby pushing the boundaries of this dynamic field further. Overall, this thematic issue serves as an original resource of novel approaches and data

Beyond biomimicry – next generation applications of bioinspired adhesives from microfluidics to composites

• Dan Sameoto

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 965–976, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.79

• Dan Sameoto Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton AB, T6G 1H9, Canada 10.3762/bjnano.15.79 Abstract In this perspective article, Professor Dan Sameoto outlines his opinion on future opportunities in the field of biomimetic adhesives. Despite over twenty years of

• try to ask myself: Has what we have achieved with biomimetic adhesives met that criteria? The honest answer at the moment is no, but perhaps it is still possible; even Velcro® took approximately 20 years from invention to wide commercial acceptance. The difficulty with biomimetic adhesives is that

• they are competing in a crowded market of existing technological solutions. Existing pressure-sensitive adhesives [6] are available in a wide range of tackiness, use cases, and temperatures; also, they are relatively inexpensive as they are usually designed for one-off uses. Hook and loop fasteners [7

Growing up in a rough world: scaling of frictional adhesion and morphology of the Tokay gecko (Gekko gecko)

• Anthony J. Cobos and
• Timothy E. Higham

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1292–1302, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.107

• increasingly important when structures on the surface of the animal must support the body through adhesion on vertical or near-vertical surfaces [39][44]. In the case of dry adhesives, studies have focused on the scaling of toepad morphology because of the inherent signficance for adhesive locomotion (i.e

• surfaces and the changes in morphology throughout with body size. It is predicted that increasing roughness will decrease adhesive performance due to the limited area of contact islands [21][47]. The efficacy of adhesives that mimic a gecko’s system depends upon knowing the natural interactions between the

• animals. Regardless, we often use animals of a specific size when making connections to biomimetics, including the construction of artificial adhesives. Body size should be included given the large differences across individuals. This could be achieved by using an array of species that vary in size or, as

Green synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles toward highly efficient photocatalysis and antibacterial application

• Vo Thi Thu Nhu,
• Nguyen Duy Dat,
• Le-Minh Tam and
• Nguyen Hoang Phuong

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1108–1119, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.94

• refining turpentine from Pinus latteri trees to produce turpentine oil, which is usually used as a precursor for many industrial applications such as paints, inks, adhesives, soap, and glue production [28]. Obviously, there is a high potential of using rosin as a green precursor for nanomaterial synthesis

Bioselectivity of silk protein-based materials and their bio-inspired applications

• Hendrik Bargel,
• Vanessa T. Trossmann,
• Christoph Sommer and
• Thomas Scheibel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 902–921, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.81

• , natural biological adhesives are complex materials that have evolved to meet the various functional demands. Bioadhesion can be found in the range of the micro- to the macroscale [7]. Adhesion principles include contact mechanical principles such as capillary interactions, viscous forces, non-covalent

Recent advances in nanoarchitectures of monocrystalline coordination polymers through confined assembly

• Lingling Xia,
• Qinyue Wang and
• Ming Hu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 763–777, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.67

• bulk crystals. The interesting part of the unique adhesion property is not only to bring new adhesives, but also the opportunity to provide stable assemblies, which can be recognized as colloids in extreme states. These colloids contain water and 2D nanosheets, and the water molecules and the 2D

Physical constraints lead to parallel evolution of micro- and nanostructures of animal adhesive pads: a review

• Thies H. Büscher and
• Stanislav N. Gorb

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 725–743, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.57

• (e.g., reviewed in [264][265][266]). Different animal groups have been used as templates for designing bioinspired adhesives, ranging from beetles [267][268][269][270] to geckos [271][272][273][274][275][276][277][278] and the principles used by these animals were copied to some extent. Examples are

• from Springer Nature from “Biological fibrillar adhesives: functional principles and biomimetic applications. In: Handbook of Adhesion Technology” by S. N. Gorb, Copyright 2011 Springer Nature. This content is not subject to CC BY 4.0). (C) Dependence of the contact density of terminal contacts on the

• (hairy pad). (D) Bush cricket Tettigonia viridissima (smooth pad). The arrows indicate distal directions in all pads. Figure 7A–C is from [241] and was adapted by permission from Springer Nature from “Biological fibrillar adhesives: functional principles and biomimetic applications. In: Handbook of

A review on the green and sustainable synthesis of silver nanoparticles and one-dimensional silver nanostructures

• Sina Kaabipour and
• Shohreh Hemmati

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 102–136, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.9

• nanostructures can provide desired electrical characteristics in conductive adhesives at lower concentrations compared to other silver nanostructures and micrometer-sized ones [88]. The research being conducted on the synthesis of silver nanowires (AgNWs) is currently gaining a lot of attention due to their

A novel all-fiber-based LiFePO₄/Li₄Ti₅O₁₂ battery with self-standing nanofiber membrane electrodes

• Li-li Chen,
• Hua Yang,
• Mao-xiang Jing,
• Chong Han,
• Fei Chen,
• Xin-yu Hu,
• Wei-yong Yuan,
• Shan-shan Yao and
• Xiang-qian Shen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2229–2237, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.215

• environmental friendliness [11][12][13][14]. The electrode materials of conventional lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are generally based on transition metal oxides containing lithium mixed evenly with conductive agents and adhesives. The electrode materials are then coated on metal current collectors [15][16][17

Topochemical engineering of composite hybrid fibers using layered double hydroxides and abietic acid

• Liji Sobhana,
• Lokesh Kesavan,
• Jan Gustafsson and
• Pedro Fardim

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 589–605, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.60

• (AA). Abietic acid is a resin acid, abundantly present in pinewood and other coniferous plants [16]. Rosin, the colorful resin material used as pigments in inks, varnishes and adhesives, largely consists of abietic acid. It is highly hydrophobic and soluble only in organic solvents such as acetone

Graphene–graphite hybrid epoxy composites with controllable workability for thermal management

• Idan Levy,
• Eyal Merary Wormser,
• Maxim Varenik,
• Matat Buzaglo,
• Roey Nadiv and
• Oren Regev

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 95–104, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.9

• (TIM) [3] is applied at the interface between the two surfaces to reduce the contact resistance. Commonly used types of TIM [4][5][6] include thermal greases and pastes, solder, phase-change materials [7] and, very often, filled-polymer adhesives, which are usually epoxy-based [5][8][9][10][11][12

Pull-off and friction forces of micropatterned elastomers on soft substrates: the effects of pattern length scale and stiffness

• Peter van Assenbergh,
• Marike Fokker,
• Julian Langowski,
• Jan van Esch,
• Marleen Kamperman and
• Dimitra Dodou

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 79–94, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.8

• adhesiveness of biological micropatterned adhesives primarily relies on their geometry (e.g., feature size, architecture) and material properties (e.g., stiffness). Over the last few decades, researchers have been mimicking the geometry and material properties of biological micropatterned adhesives. The

• performance of these biomimetic micropatterned adhesives is usually tested on hard substrates. Much less is known about the effect of geometry, feature size, and material properties on the performance of micropatterned adhesives when the substrate is deformable. Here, micropatterned adhesives of two stiffness

• successfully expanded to fabricate adhesives with two geometries, namely dimples with and without a terminal layer. Dimples without a terminal layer were fabricated on two length scales, namely with sub-microscale and microscale dimple diameters. The cross section of samples with a terminal layer showed voids

Contact splitting in dry adhesion and friction: reducing the influence of roughness

• Jae-Kang Kim and
• Michael Varenberg

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1–8, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.1

• been performed so far for thin-film-based adhesives. To this end, we report on the behavior of original and split, wall-shaped adhesive microstructures on different surfaces ranging across four orders of magnitude in roughness. Our results clearly demonstrate that the adhesion- and friction-driven

• more easily to the surface waviness and by reducing the effective average peeling angle. These findings can be used to guide the development of biomimetic shear-actuated adhesives suitable for operation not only on smooth but also on rough surfaces. Keywords: biomimetics; contact splitting; gecko

• biological adhesives is to achieve efficient and easily controllable adhesion on any surface, it is important to understand how to overcome the negative effects of roughness on attachment of thin films. It was shown that gecko adhesion is lower if the substrate waviness wavelength is comparable to the

Layered calcium phenylphosphonate: a hybrid material for a new generation of nanofillers

• Kateřina Kopecká,
• Ludvík Beneš,
• Klára Melánová,
• Vítězslav Zima,
• Petr Knotek and
• Kateřina Zetková

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2906–2915, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.269

• adhesives, to the preparation of composites in automotive or aerospace industry [16][17]. The experiments were carried out with an unmodified low molecular weight epoxy resin based on bisphenol A, which is one of the basic ones. Results and Discussion Filler synthesis The layered structure of calcium

The effect of flexible joint-like elements on the adhesive performance of nature-inspired bent mushroom-like fibers

• Elliot Geikowsky,
• Serdar Gorumlu and
• Burak Aksak

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2893–2905, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.268

• : bent fibers; bioinspired dry adhesives; gecko adhesion; joint-like element; mushroom-like fibers; Introduction Most natural organisms that rely on temporary adhesion to surfaces for survival do so using tiny, densely packed fibers [1][2]. These fibers vary in dimension and material properties

• = 8.89 MPa, respectively. The polyurethane used to fabricate the stiff stalks has a considerably higher elastic modulus that what has traditional been utilized for bioinspired microscale fibrillar adhesives to date. The fabrication technique to generate high aspect ratio, tilted fibers enhances

• with the surface. A more desirable failure mechanism in synthetic adhesives is mode II, where the tip starts sliding with respect to the surface, maintaining full contact, Figure 9c. This mode of failure is achievable if the shear stress at the interface reaches an intrinsic interfacial shear strength

Friction reduction through biologically inspired scale-like laser surface textures

• Johannes Schneider,
• Vergil Djamiykov and
• Christian Greiner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2561–2572, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.238

• ., the true contact decreased for the smallest to the largest scale size by about a factor of three. Size and scaling effects in biologically inspired surface textures are well known to exists, for example, in fibrillary adhesives inspired by the hierarchical hairy structures found on the feet of certain

Nanoscale characterization of the temporary adhesive of the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus

• Ana S. Viana and
• Romana Santos

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2277–2286, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.212

• , Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal 10.3762/bjnano.9.212 Abstract Background: Unlike the thin homogeneous films that are typical for adhesives produced by humans, biological adhesives present complex hierarchical micro- and nanostructures. Most studies on

• marine adhesives have focused on permanent adhesives, whereas the nanostructures of nonpermanent, temporary or reversible adhesives have only been examined in some organisms such as marine flatworms, barnacle cyprids, freshwater cnidaria and echinoderms such as sea cucumbers and sea stars. In this study

• , the first nanoscale characterization of sea urchin temporary adhesives was performed using atomic force microscopy (AFM). Results: The adhesive topography was similar under dry and native (seawater) conditions, which was comprised of a honeycomb-like meshwork of aggregated globular nanostructures. In

The structural and chemical basis of temporary adhesion in the sea star Asterina gibbosa

• Birgit Lengerer,
• Marie Bonneel,
• Mathilde Lefevre,
• Elise Hennebert,
• Philippe Leclère,
• Emmanuel Gosselin,
• Peter Ladurner and
• Patrick Flammang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2071–2086, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.196

• Interfaces (LPSI), University of Mons, 23 Place du Parc, 7000 Mons, Belgium Institute of Zoology and Center of Molecular Bioscience Innsbruck, University of Innsbruck, Technikerstr. 25, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria 10.3762/bjnano.9.196 Abstract Background: Marine biological adhesives are a promising source of

• inspiration for biomedical and industrial applications. Nevertheless, natural adhesives and especially temporary adhesion systems are mostly unexplored. Sea stars are able to repeatedly attach and detach their hydraulic tube feet. This ability is based on a duo-gland system and, upon detachment, the adhesive

• adhesion and might facilitate the development of biomimetic, reversible glues. Keywords: duo-gland adhesive system; lectins; marine temporary adhesion; starfish; Introduction Marine biological adhesives are environmentally friendly, biodegradable, and adhere to various surfaces in the challenging

Evaluation of replicas manufactured in a 3D-printed nanoimprint unit

• Manuel Caño-García,
• Morten A. Geday,
• Manuel Gil-Valverde,
• Xabier Quintana and
• José M. Otón

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1573–1581, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.149

• , SiO2). If the resulting thickness is critical, it is advisable to spin-coat the material following the material guidelines [12]. NOA-81: It is one of the most popular optical adhesives of the NOA family (Norland). This material is also UV-curable and solvent-free. The nominal curing wavelength is 355

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

• nearly every surface and adhere to it due to van der Waals forces, allowing the gecko to stick and climb nearly every surface [19][20][21]. Mimicking these nanostructures can lead to high performance dry adhesives with a great range of possible applications in attachment systems of climbing robots [22

• ], manufacturing processes to transfer objects [23] and plasters in medicine [24]. Polymer-based dry adhesives [25][26][27] benefit from easy fabrication routes and low production cost. However, there are several polymer-related problems, such as thermal instability at elevated temperatures and creep [28

• force. Furthermore, dry adhesives made from 1D-CNs do not suffer from creep, cosmic radiation, or vast temperature changes. Consequently, they are of great interest for applications under harsh conditions such as space technology. However, it is a challenge to grow CNTs or CNFs with uniform morphology

Enhancement of mechanical and electrical properties of continuous-fiber-reinforced epoxy composites with stacked graphene

• Naum Naveh,
• Olga Shepelev and
• Samuel Kenig

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1909–1918, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.191

• of graphene, along with the high electrical conductivity, promote percolation thresholds much lower than with metallic powders, carbon fibers or carbon black [13]. Epoxy resins are used as a matrix in high-performance composite materials for aerospace structures, coatings and adhesives for a variety

Miniemulsion copolymerization of (meth)acrylates in the presence of functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotubes for reinforced coating applications

• Bertha T. Pérez-Martínez,
• Lorena Farías-Cepeda,
• Víctor M. Ovando-Medina,
• José M. Asua,
• Lucero Rosales-Marines and
• Radmila Tomovska

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1328–1337, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.134

• surfactant on the kinetics of miniemulsion polymerization of butyl acrylate (BA) in the presence of CNTs. Waterborne polymer dispersions are mainly used for coatings and adhesives, which involve the formation of films directly cast from the dispersion, usually at ambient temperature [22][24]. This limits the

Bio-inspired micro-to-nanoporous polymers with tunable stiffness

• Julia Syurik,
• Ruth Schwaiger,
• Prerna Sudera,
• Stephan Weyand,
• Siegbert Johnsen,
• Gabriele Wiegand and
• Hendrik Hölscher

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 906–914, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.92

• potential for impact-resistant components [2] and might also be beneficial to other functional surfaces that, for example, require a stiffness gradient. The recent review by Sahay et al. [5] on synthetic dry adhesives postulates that achieving stiffness gradients is one of the most important goals in

• impact-resistant components [2], as an active layer for local softening of the surface of dry adhesives [5] or as a separation membrane for various chemical syntheses [42]. A schematic of the foaming process showing the critical steps to obtain a sample with a controlled gradient of pore size. The pore

Biological and biomimetic materials and surfaces

• Stanislav Gorb and
• Thomas Speck

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 403–407, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.42

• with the prey spectra between the taxa studied. This study opens an interesting possibility of combining surface microstructures with adhesive fluids to enhance dynamical performance of the next generation of adhesives. The majority of insects bear adhesive foot pads, which are used in locomotion on

• rheological properties were tested. The authors have clearly demonstrated that by varying their chemical composition, synthetic heterogeneous emulsions can be adjusted to have diverse consistencies and mimic certain rheological and tribological properties of natural tarsal insect adhesives [23]. In one of the