Soft materials nanoarchitectonics: liquid crystals, polymers, gels, biomaterials, and others

• Katsuhiko Ariga

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 1025–1067, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.77

A review of metal-organic frameworks and polymers in mixed matrix membranes for CO₂ capture

• Charlotte Skjold Qvist Christensen,
• Nicholas Hansen,
• Mahboubeh Motadayen,
• Nina Lock,
• Martin Lahn Henriksen and
• Jonathan Quinson

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 155–186, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.14

• arise during the preparation of the MOF-based MMM. Although prolonged gas exposure can cause fouling of membrane matrix and MOF pores, this is primarily observed in solution-based filtration applications [72][78][87][88]. Note that these defects may change the MMM selectivity favorably in some cases. In

A biomimetic approach towards a universal slippery liquid infused surface coating

• Ryan A. Faase,
• Madeleine H. Hummel,
• AnneMarie V. Hasbrook,
• Andrew P. Carpenter and
• Joe E. Baio

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1376–1389, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.111

• omniphobic. Keywords: biocompatibility; biomimetic; blood-contacting; hemocompatibility; non-fouling; Introduction Clot formation and the overall compatibility of artificial materials within the body remains a common complication of blood contacting surfaces [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]. A critical hurdle in

• any foreign surface. Materials coated with SLIPS have demonstrated effectiveness in resisting corrosion, reducing bio-fouling, and preventing icing [1][2][3][6][8]. There is also evidence that SLIPS are a promising strategy for increasing the biocompatibility of materials [4][11]. SLIPS are generally

Hymenoptera and biomimetic surfaces: insights and innovations

• Vinicius Marques Lopez,
• Carlo Polidori and
• Rhainer Guillermo Ferreira

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1333–1352, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.107

• maintaining functionality, particularly in scenarios involving frequent collisions, where it must endure forces surpassing typical flight stresses [123]. Additionally, the microstructural properties of the wings contribute to their hydrophobicity and anti-fouling capabilities, which can be applied to the

Multiscale modelling of biomolecular corona formation on metallic surfaces

• Parinaz Mosaddeghi Amini,
• Ian Rouse,
• Julia Subbotina and
• Vladimir Lobaskin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 215–229, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.21

• cycle of dairy products, showcasing potential sources and pathways of contamination. It features the stages of grazing, collection, processing, and packaging. The relevant processes include surface fouling and milk contamination during food transformation as well as the formation of a protein corona on

Dry under water: air retaining properties of large-scale elastomer foils covered with mushroom-shaped surface microstructures

• Matthias Mail,
• Stefan Walheim,
• Thomas Schimmel,
• Wilhelm Barthlott,
• Stanislav N. Gorb and
• Lars Heepe

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1370–1379, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.113

• and that the biomimetic elastomer foil is a promising base for the development of an economically and efficient biomimetic air retaining surface for a broad range of technical applications. Keywords: adhesive tape; air layer; air retention; bionics; fouling; gecko tape; mushroom structures; passive

• between water and a solid surface might serve as friction reduction agents, fouling protectors, corrosion protectors or for other applications, such as sensors [11][12][13][14]. Biological examples for such air retaining surfaces with most stable and persistent air layers were found on the floating ferns

• interface is contaminated by bacteria and the tips of the MSM are contaminated by bacteria and connected by straight filaments which probably represent fungal hyphae (see Figure 6, compare, e.g., illustrations in [61]). Under hydrodynamic conditions this microbial fouling effect can probably be neglected

Roll-to-roll fabrication of superhydrophobic pads covered with nanofur for the efficient clean-up of oil spills

• Patrick Weiser,
• Robin Kietz,
• Marc Schneider,
• Matthias Worgull and
• Hendrik Hölscher

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1228–1239, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.102

• packaging and bottles, anti-fouling [36] and antibacterial [37] surfaces, or drag reduction [38] are imaginable. With the low-cost production of large areas of nanofur they seem also financially feasible. Schematic showing the roll-to-roll fabriction of a thin nanofur film by the example of PP and COC. (a

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

• of proteins, microbes, and cells should be guided by material-related surface properties to create bioinert, bioactive, or biomimetic biomaterials. 1.3 Antiadhesive and anti-fouling protein surfaces Nature has evolved a diverse portfolio of anti-adhesive, antimicrobial and antifouling methods

• microbial repellency, microbiocidal activity, and contact killing, may foster the discussion on the anti-fouling properties of silk protein materials [50]. Concerning spider silk materials, it has been reported that they seem to prevent bacterial attachment to the surface and biofilm formation instead of

• reported an intrinsic ability of the recombinant spider silk proteins to prevent biofouling due to bacterial manifestation. In addition, functionalization of the silk proteins with antimicrobial biologicals displayed increased inhibition of surface fouling [179]. Fusion proteins combining recombinant MaSp1

A nonenzymatic reduced graphene oxide-based nanosensor for parathion

• Sarani Sen,
• Anurag Roy,
• Ambarish Sanyal and
• Parukuttyamma Sujatha Devi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 730–744, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.65

• /GCE were shifted to less positive values, effectively inhibiting the surface fouling caused by the reaction products, making ERGO-modified GCE more suitable for determining PT. The electrocatalytic ability of PT (10 µM) on the modified ERGO/GCE was investigated in PBS (pH 7) (Figure 5B) in the

A comprehensive review on electrospun nanohybrid membranes for wastewater treatment

• Senuri Kumarage,
• Imalka Munaweera and
• Nilwala Kottegoda

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 137–159, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.10

• ][50]. Electrospun membranes have shown many advantages over conventional membranes used in water treatment/purification. Some of the common limitations of the conventional membranes are fouling, scaling, limited porosity, low mechanical strength, low permeation, low wettability, and residual solvents

• -workers compared an electrospun PVDF/PMMA MF membrane with a conventionally cast membrane [57]. The electrospun membrane showed higher water permeability and high porosity compared to the cast membrane. Also, the electrospun membrane had a smoother surface, which led to less fouling. Most of the

• polymer membranes. The hydrophilicity of the membranes notably inhibits membrane fouling due to oils and other hydrophobic matter. For example, GO is highly hydrophilic and will impart hydrophilicity to the ENH membrane. Blending of iron oxides into ENH membranes will impart magnetic properties, which

A review on slip boundary conditions at the nanoscale: recent development and applications

• Ruifei Wang,
• Jin Chai,
• Bobo Luo,
• Xiong Liu,
• Jianting Zhang,
• Min Wu,
• Mingdan Wei and
• Zhuanyue Ma

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 1237–1251, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.91

• superhydrophobic microstructures, and it is found to increase with the increase of the square root of the Reynolds number in the limit of high Re [121]. 3.2 Nanofiltration As shown in Figure 10, electro-osmosis can play an important role in the area of nanofiltration, where membrane fouling is the main drawback

Paper-based triboelectric nanogenerators and their applications: a review

• Jing Han,
• Nuo Xu,
• Yuchen Liang,
• Mei Ding,
• Junyi Zhai,
• Qijun Sun and
• Zhong Lin Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 151–171, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.12

• smaller value, which indicated that the TENG-powered cathodic protection system has obvious anticorrosion properties. Marine fouling, caused by metal contamination and accumulation of biological organisms, is a major challenge for the oceanic ecosystem. With the growing threat to the environment caused by

• (Dunaliella and Navicula) were used as typical indicators to simulate the ecological environment of the marine fouling organisms. Two stainless steel pieces were connected to the anode and to the cathode with a rectifier, and another piece of stainless steel was directly immersed into the algae medium as the

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

• lead to the problem of fouling in biological systems and decreased efficiency. Hydrogen bonding Hydrogen bonding can be used with uncharged polymers for the capsule assembly to make it responsive towards stimuli relevant to physiological conditions. The working pH range of the capsule is based on the

• , the poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)-based post-functionalization of pH-responsive click capsules of biodegradable PLL and poly(ʟ-glutamic acid) (PGA) rendered their low fouling capability against specific protein binding [94]. Hydrogen bonded films and hollow capsules of alkyne-modified PVP and PMA were

• to be low-fouling to various proteins and negligibly cytotoxic. In a related work, the PEG-based films and capsules fabricated with redox responsive moieties via disulfide linkage showed high stability in biological buffers, low toxicity to human cells and low fouling characteristics [96]. Similar

Accurate control of the covalent functionalization of single-walled carbon nanotubes for the electro-enzymatically controlled oxidation of biomolecules

• Naoual Allali,
• Veronika Urbanova,
• Mathieu Etienne,
• Xavier Devaux,
• Martine Mallet,
• Brigitte Vigolo,
• Jean-Joseph Adjizian,
• Chris P. Ewels,
• Sven Oberg,
• Alexander V. Soldatov,
• Edward McRae,
• Yves Fort,
• Manuel Dossot and
• Victor Mamane

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2750–2762, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.257

• modify electrodes (e.g., glassy carbon electrodes, GCEs) in order to decrease the overpotential value, increase sensitivity and reduce the occurrence of electrode fouling by degradation of the analyzed (bio)molecules [4]. They can increase the electron transfer rate between electrode and target molecules

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

• inside of the microfluidic channels leads to a residence time distribution of the reaction products. Contact of the reaction phase with the channel walls can further lead to fouling of the reactor. These problems can be prevented by introducing a second phase leading to the breaking up of one phase into

Block copolymers for designing nanostructured porous coatings

• Roberto Nisticò

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

• their high selectivity, permeability, fouling resistance and mechanical strength. Eventually, further functionalizing can enhance the BC selectivity/affinity toward a particular target probe. Unfortunately, these advantages are partially annulled by a few drawbacks related to the production of these

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

• technologies such as filtration membranes to remove fouling, heavy metals and chemicals from water by membrane separation as reported elsewhere for graphene nanosheets [26]. To investigate further the NSs growth, cross-section TEM measurements were performed. The general morphologies of the vertically standing

Methionine-mediated synthesis of magnetic nanoparticles and functionalization with gold quantum dots for theranostic applications

• Arūnas Jagminas,
• Agnė Mikalauskaitė,
• Vitalijus Karabanovas and
• Jūrate Vaičiūnienė

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1734–1741, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.174

• cobalt ferrite NPs with metionine molecules confers them strong non-fouling properties not allowing aggregate. The XRD pattern of these NPs (Figure 1c) implied the formation of pure, inverse spinel structure CoFe2O4, as all diffraction peaks at 2Θ positions: 18.29 (111), 30.08 (220), 35.44 (311), 43.06

Micro- and nano-surface structures based on vapor-deposited polymers

• Hsien-Yeh Chen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1366–1374, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.138

• –Arg–Glu–Asp–Val (CREDV) peptide showed the synergic anti-fouling property and preferentially enhanced attachment of endothelial cells in such patterned areas [50]. In another report, a multifunctional coating was realized via CVD copolymerization to deposit a poly(p-xylylene) copolymer, which

The cleaner, the greener? Product sustainability assessment of the biomimetic façade paint Lotusan^® in comparison to the conventional façade paint Jumbosil^®

• Florian Antony,
• Rainer Grießhammer,
• Thomas Speck and
• Olga Speck

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 2100–2115, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.200

• perception of high optical quality. The optical quality of the paint is best at the time of façade painting. Throughout the paintings service life, impurities, for instance through rain and wind or even fouling caused by bacteria or fungal infestation lead to a progressive loss of optical quality of

Selective porous gates made from colloidal silica nanoparticles

• Roberto Nisticò,
• Paola Avetta,
• Paola Calza,
• Debora Fabbri,
• Giuliana Magnacca and
• Dominique Scalarone

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2105–2112, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.215

• behavior has to be ascribed to specific interactions between MB and RNAse or to membrane fouling due to preferential interactions between RNAse and the Si3N4 surface. Conclusion Large-mesopore silica thin films were prepared via soft-templating by using PS-b-PEO block copolymer micelles and were

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

• PDA units can establish a wide range of non-covalent bonds through π stacking, hydrogen bonding, and van der Waals- and hydrophobic-interactions. PDA films have been used as the anchor layers of non-fouling polymer brushes [32][33][34], substrates for cell adhesion [35][36] and as platforms for

Exploiting the hierarchical morphology of single-walled and multi-walled carbon nanotube films for highly hydrophobic coatings

• Francesco De Nicola,
• Paola Castrucci,
• Manuela Scarselli,
• Francesca Nanni,
• Ilaria Cacciotti and
• Maurizio De Crescenzi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 353–360, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.34

• ], anti-fouling [47], anti-fogging [48], low-friction coatings [5], adsorption [30], lubrication [22], dispersion [44], and self-assembly [49]. Experimental Fabrication of carbon nanotube films Highly pure SWCNT powder (Sigma-Aldrich, assay >90%, diameter: 0.7–0.9 nm) and MWCNT powder (Nanocyl, NC7000

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

• considered for aquatic systems. While most terrestrial animals make contact directly with the substrate, in aquatic environments the substrates are usually covered with a biofilm and fouling organisms (Figure 3). Biofilms play not only an important role in stimulating or inhibiting the settlement of fouling

• spider walking under water, mixed lubrication might occur. In this case, friction is a mixture of cases of full-film lubrication and boundary lubrication. The growth of biofilms and fouling organisms on aquatic substrates can have a significant impact on friction. The decreased tenacity of Northern

• considerable effect on mechanical interlocking principles, the secondary effect of the fouling of aquatic surfaces can cause a significant impact on attachment. On smooth substrates a biofilm cover can even increase friction forces of claws [26]. The claws can pierce the gel like part of the biofilm and

Effects of surface functionalization on the adsorption of human serum albumin onto nanoparticles – a fluorescence correlation spectroscopy study

• Pauline Maffre,
• Stefan Brandholt,
• Karin Nienhaus,
• Li Shang,
• Wolfgang J. Parak and
• G. Ulrich Nienhaus

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2036–2047, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.212

• potential and the excellent colloidal stability of the DHLA-coated NPs. Zwitterionic surfaces, however, are famous for their hydrophobicity, protein adsorption resistance and anti-fouling properties, which strongly argues against a destabilizing effect of DPA-QDs [51]. Of note is that our measured ΔRH value

• DPA amino groups on the QD. This is a most interesting finding in the light of the protein adsorption resistance and non-fouling properties that are usually attributed to zwitterionic surfaces [51]. Our data would suggest that these properties may derive from binding a single layer of proteins, which