N₂⁺-implantation-induced tailoring of structural, morphological, optical, and electrical characteristics of sputtered molybdenum thin films

• Usha Rani,
• Kafi Devi,
• Divya Gupta and
• Sanjeev Aggarwal

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 495–509, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.38

• ][20][21]. Ahmed et al. [13] investigated the effect of helium ion irradiation on the structural and electrical properties of Mo thin films. They noted that α-particles create defects that reduce charge carrier mobility, and the hardness increased from low to high ion fluence. Hoffman et al. [14

Characterization of ZnO nanoparticles synthesized using probiotic Lactiplantibacillus plantarum GP258

• Prashantkumar Siddappa Chakra,
• Aishwarya Banakar,
• Shriram Narayan Puranik,
• Vishwas Kaveeshwar,
• C. R. Ravikumar and
• Devaraja Gayathri

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 78–89, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.8

• -to-volume ratio, and magnetic, electrical, optical, antimicrobial and hardness properties give NPs distinct mechanical, thermal, and catalytic properties. As a result, nanotechnology has widespread applications across diverse domains and opened up new possibilities for innovation [1][2]. Particles

Instance maps as an organising concept for complex experimental workflows as demonstrated for (nano)material safety research

• Benjamin Punz,
• Maja Brajnik,
• Joh Dokler,
• Jaleesia D. Amos,
• Litty Johnson,
• Katie Reilly,
• Anastasios G. Papadiamantis,
• Amaia Green Etxabe,
• Lee Walker,
• Diego S. T. Martinez,
• Steffi Friedrichs,
• Klaus M. Weltring,
• Nazende Günday-Türeli,
• Claus Svendsen,
• Christine Ogilvie Hendren,
• Mark R. Wiesner,
• Martin Himly,
• Iseult Lynch and
• Thomas E. Exner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 57–77, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.7

• demonstration of the trustworthiness of (hazard) data to others who may wish to reuse the data (e.g., in modelling or as part of a risk assessment). The model organism Daphnia magna is cultured in a high hardness medium, which is aerated for a minimum of 8 h prior to use in culturing; the dissolved oxygen

Theoretical study of the electronic and optical properties of a composite formed by the zeolite NaA and a magnetite cluster

• Joel Antúnez-García,
• Roberto Núñez-González,
• Vitalii Petranovskii,
• H’Linh Hmok,
• Armando Reyes-Serrato,
• Fabian N. Murrieta-Rico,
• Mufei Xiao and
• Jonathan Zamora

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 44–53, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.5

• ], heavy metal removal [11][12], sensor technologies [13][14][15][16], and biomedical applications [17]. Nanoscale materials represent a thriving field of research with a wide range of potential applications. Today, it is generally recognized that properties like hardness, reactivity, toxicity, and optical

Fabrication of hafnium-based nanoparticles and nanostructures using picosecond laser ablation

• Abhishek Das,
• Mangababu Akkanaboina,
• Jagannath Rathod,
• R. Sai Prasad Goud,
• Kanaka Ravi Kumar,
• Raghu C. Reddy,
• Ratheesh Ravendran,
• Katia Vutova,
• S. V. S. Nageswara Rao and
• Venugopal Rao Soma

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1639–1653, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.129

• [8] compared to bulk Hf. HfO2 is a wide-bandgap (5.68 eV) material with a high dielectric constant (≈25) [9][10]. HfC has a very high melting point (≈3900 °C) and ranks among the hardest materials, with a Vickers hardness value exceeding 20 GPa [4][11]. The properties vary substantially depending on

Ultrablack color in velvet ant cuticle

• Vinicius Marques Lopez,
• Wencke Krings,
• Juliana Reis Machado,
• Stanislav Gorb and
• Rhainer Guillermo-Ferreira

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1554–1565, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.122

• , exhibit caution and generally avoid interacting with female velvet ants [30][31]. Therefore, this behavior suggests that the colors of velvet ants, closely linked to their defense mechanisms, such as cuticle hardness and their painful sting, may function as an honest warning signal to potential predators

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

• of Hymenoptera, mandibles are known to include trace metals, mainly Zn and secondarily Mn, in the cuticle [57]; these features increase their hardness [58] (Figure 3A). Ants are by far the hymenopteran group where this trait was most extensively studied (21 species in total spanning five subfamilies

• these castes, the mandibles play a critical role, with different sizes and functions correlating to specific tasks within the colony [60]. Studies found that larger leafcutter ants (Atta laevigata, Attini) have higher Zn content in their mandible cutting edges, leading to greater hardness and Young’s

Effect of wavelength and liquid on formation of Ag, Au, Ag/Au nanoparticles via picosecond laser ablation and SERS-based detection of DMMP

• Sree Satya Bharati Moram,
• Chandu Byram and
• Venugopal Rao Soma

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1054–1069, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.86

• , and aggregation variations, ultimately impacting their optical properties [53]. Also, from absorbance studies, it is observed that the ablation rate is higher for the Au target than for Ag because of the hardness variation observed in an earlier report by Solati et al. [54]. In another study by Bae et

Interface properties of nanostructured carbon-coated biological implants: an overview

• Mattia Bartoli,
• Francesca Cardano,
• Erik Piatti,
• Stefania Lettieri,
• Andrea Fin and
• Alberto Tagliaferro

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1041–1053, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.85

• strength. The improvements are due to the graphene coating, which allowed for a better load transfer, inter-layer sliding, and crack deflection. Similarly, Askarnia et al. [135] used electrophoretic deposition for coating a magnesium alloy with GO. The authors reported an increase of both hardness and

Ca_n neutral clusters: a two-step G₀W₀ and DFT benchmark

• Sunila Bakhsh,
• Sameen Aslam,
• Muhammad Khalid,
• Muhammad Sohail,
• Sundas Zafar,
• Sumayya Abdul Wadood,
• Kareem Morsy and
• Muhammad Aamir Iqbal

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1010–1016, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.82

• is also called “the maximum hardness principle” [28]. From these three results we can see that the oscillatory pattern is moderated with the evolution of the cluster size. However, the majority of the values of IPs, EAs, and Egap are positive and following closely which suggests a clear correlation

Electrospun nanofibers: building blocks for the repair of bone tissue

• Tuğrul Mert Serim,
• Gülin Amasya,
• Tuğba Eren-Böncü,
• Ceyda Tuba Şengel-Türk and
• Ayşe Nurten Özdemir

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 941–953, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.77

• matrix, 20–30% inorganic components, and 10–15% water [13][18]. The organic matrix is responsible for the elasticity of the bone, while the inorganic matrix provides hardness. This means that the organic matrix gives bone its tensile strength, and the inorganic matrix improves the compressive strength of

• collagen fibrils, which, in turn, self-assemble to form collagen fibers. When collagen fibers, which are structural elements in bone, combine with inorganic materials, hardness and strength of the tissue are increased. Apart from collagen, the organic matrix of bone tissue mainly consists of osteocalcin

• . Hydroxyapatite affects hardness and resistance of bone tissue. Mechanically, the organic part provides flexibility of the bone tissue, while the inorganic part ensures the hardness and a strong and solid structure. Therefore, calcification of artificial bone grafts is essential for the supply of hard bone tissue

Effects of cutting tool geometry on material removal of a gradient nanograined CoCrNi medium entropy alloy

• Yu-Sheng Lu,
• Yu-Xuan Hung,
• Thi-Xuyen Bui and
• Te-Hua Fang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 925–940, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.76

• , friction coefficients, and hardness values of some CoCrNi alloys from experimental works and MD simulations. In this work, the hardness was calculated using the following equation [46]: where Fmax and Ac are, respectively, the maximum indentation force and the contact area between the tool and the

• substrate measured at the nanoindentation depth, and h and R are the nanoindentation depth and tool radius, respectively. The results of this study were compared with the hardness results gathered through experiments [47][48][49]. In this study, the hardness of the polycrystalline CoCrNi MEAs is about 14.4

• GPa, which is very different from the hardness of about 1.8 GPa gathered experimentally by Guo and coworkers [49]. The reason is the difference in the methods, such as the contrast between experiment and simulation, the size, the temperature, and the exactness of the data processing. The deformation

A review on the structural characterization of nanomaterials for nano-QSAR models

• Salvador Moncho,
• Eva Serrano-Candelas,
• Jesús Vicente de Julián-Ortiz and
• Rafael Gozalbes

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 854–866, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.71

• ), properties such as the ionization potential, the electron affinity, the absolute electronegativity and the absolute hardness, as well as the adsorption energy of the metal have been used (using literature values or QM calculations) [47][48][49][50]. In those cases, the descriptors were obtained for a single

Exfoliation of titanium nitride using a non-thermal plasma process

• Priscila Jussiane Zambiazi,
• Dolores Ribeiro Ricci Lazar,
• Larissa Otubo,
• Rodrigo Fernando Brambilla de Souza,
• Almir Oliveira Neto and
• Cecilia Chaves Guedes-Silva

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 631–637, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.53

• ferromagnetic properties and demonstrated high visible-light photocatalytic activity when loaded onto titania nanotube arrays. Titanium nitride (TiN) has gained recognition as an advanced engineering material because of its outstanding chemical and thermal stability, extreme hardness, and electrical

Investigating structural and electronic properties of neutral zinc clusters: a G₀W₀ and G₀W₀Г₀⁽¹⁾ benchmark

• Sunila Bakhsh,
• Muhammad Khalid,
• Sameen Aslam,
• Muhammad Sohail,
• Muhammad Aamir Iqbal,
• Mujtaba Ikram and
• Kareem Morsy

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 310–316, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.28

• . The electron affinity is taken as the negative of the LUMO level. The results are presented along with energy gap (Egap) and hardness in Table 1. Our estimated EAs for Zn clusters are close to those obtained by Dai et al. [28], who also predicted high electron affinities of the cluster Zn9. The

• PBE functional. The binding energies show the two-knee behavior also seen in metal clusters of various species. Electronic properties, such as IP, EA, and the relative hardness of the clusters, have been obtained using the G0W0@PBE in FHI-aims. The IP benchmark shows the size evolution behavior of the

• ) from G0W0 and calculations. Electron affinity, Egap, and hardness for neutral clusters of zinc. Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank the USTC Hefei, China for providing support for the resources and facility for this research. The authors also extend their appreciation to the Deanship of

Hydroxyapatite–bioglass nanocomposites: Structural, mechanical, and biological aspects

• Olga Shikimaka,
• Mihaela Bivol,
• Bogdan A. Sava,
• Marius Dumitru,
• Christu Tardei,
• Beatrice G. Sbarcea,
• Daria Grabco,
• Constantin Pyrtsac,
• Daria Topal,
• Andrian Prisacaru,
• Vitalie Cobzac and
• Viorel Nacu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1490–1504, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.123

• , which exhibits a strong correlation with porosity, as well as on the mineralization capability and cell viability due to the different dissolution rate. Keywords: bioactivity; hardness; microstructure; nanocomposites; porosity; Introduction Within the last decades increasing emphasis is placed on the

• sintering temperature [21][22][23]. Moreover, the addition of the glass can contribute to the improvement of mechanical characteristics of the HA-BG composites, such as hardness, fracture toughness, and compressive strength, which is important for load-bearing applications [21][22][24][25][26]. Thus, BGs

• HA inhibits the thermal decomposition of HA and significantly enhances bending strength and fracture toughness [30]. It was shown as well that B2O3 in the phosphate glass composition increases its hardness and fracture toughness [31]. The doping of bioglasses with Zn and Ce has two effects. On the

Role of titanium and organic precursors in molecular layer deposition of “titanicone” hybrid materials

• Arbresha Muriqi and
• Michael Nolan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1240–1255, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.103

• the bridging between the polymer chains in the film and this also improves the stability of the film. Nanoindentation experiments [30] showed also that GL-based titanicones have much higher elastic modulus and higher hardness compared to EG-based titanicones. Annealing experiments indicated a higher

Micro-structures, nanomechanical properties and flight performance of three beetles with different folding ratios

• Jiyu Sun,
• Pengpeng Li,
• Yongwei Yan,
• Fa Song,
• Nuo Xu and
• Zhijun Zhang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 845–856, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.75

• of the costal) and were 6.530, 7.652, and 6.645 GPa for P. brevitarsis, A. chinensis, and T. dichotomus, respectively. The higher Er helps the beetle to resist external forces and prevents wing damage [43]. The values of Er and hardness H of cubitus anterior, anal posterior, and wing membrane were

• hardness were determined. The flapping frequency was calculated by observing one flapping cycle with a high-speed camera. The effects of wind speed, folding ratio, aspect ratio, and flapping frequency on the lift-to-drag ratio of the beetles were examined in a low-speed straight-flow wind tunnel. The

Ciprofloxacin-loaded dissolving polymeric microneedles as a potential therapeutic for the treatment of S. aureus skin infections

• Sharif Abdelghany,
• Walhan Alshaer,
• Yazan Al Thaher,
• Maram Al Fawares,
• Amal G. Al-Bakri,
• Saja Zuriekat and
• Randa SH. Mansour

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 517–527, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.43

• ]. Gelatinous substances can interact with water, which allows one to control various physical, mechanical, and chemical properties of the artificial skin, such as hardness, and surface properties [24]. Therefore, agarose gel was utilized as artificial skin and was subsequently treated with inoculum of

Design and characterization of polymeric microneedles containing extracts of Brazilian green propolis

• Camila Felix Vecchi,
• Rafaela Said dos Santos,
• Jéssica Bassi da Silva and
• Marcos Luciano Bruschi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 503–516, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.42

• into the biological substrate, it was observed that MNs with a diameter of 5 µm presented greater penetration power than MNs with larger diameters [42]. The MNs containing EE and GE displayed similar tip shapes and sizes as the MNs of this previous study, thus favoring penetration. Analysis of hardness

• extract was the only factor that influenced the increase in the compression force. Thus, it can be inferred that the hardness of MNs increases with the increase in the concentration of PRP extract in the formulation. MNs with GE were malleable due to the plasticizing effect of propylene glycol, which

• microscope (FEI, Hillsboro, OR, USA). Mechanical analysis Hardness The effects of the amount of P407 and of amount and type of PRP extract on the MN hardness and mechanical resistance were quantitatively evaluated by a microneedle textural study. A compressive load was applied (i.e., force applied parallel

Effect of sample treatment on the elastic modulus of locust cuticle obtained by nanoindentation

• Chuchu Li,
• Stanislav N. Gorb and
• Hamed Rajabi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 404–410, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.33

• specimens. Effect of treatments on the elastic modulus of cuticle Effect of desiccation It is well known that desiccation can change the mechanical properties, for example, stiffness and hardness, of insect cuticle. The increase in the elastic modulus, in particular, can be rather large, up to more than

Relationship between corrosion and nanoscale friction on a metallic glass

• Haoran Ma and
• Roland Bennewitz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 236–244, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.18

• ); corrosion; friction; metallic glass; passive film; Introduction Metallic glasses (MGs) exhibit excellent mechanical properties including extraordinary hardness and strength [1][2]. Thus, MGs have emerged as novel wear-resistant materials with high potential in tribological applications [3][4][5][6][7][8

Theoretical understanding of electronic and mechanical properties of 1T′ transition metal dichalcogenide crystals

• Seyedeh Alieh Kazemi,
• Sadegh Imani Yengejeh,
• Vei Wang,
• William Wen and
• Yun Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 160–171, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.11

• hardness of 2H MoS2 are higher than those of 1T′ MoS2. The biggest difference can be found in the Young’s modulus. 2H MoS2 exhibits a Young’s modulus of 93 GPa, which is 12% higher than that of 1T′. All mechanical properties support that the 1T′ polytype is softer and more flexible than its 2H counterpart

Determination of elastic moduli of elastic–plastic microspherical materials using nanoindentation simulation without mechanical polishing

• Hongzhou Li and
• Jialian Chen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 213–221, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.17

• Cheng derived several scaling relationships for conical indentation in elastic–plastic solid materials with work hardening via dimensional analysis [5]. Oliver and Pharr reviewed the methodology of measuring elastic modulus and hardness by instrumented indentation [6]. The elastic and plastic properties

• area of the indenter at a specified depth. These effects can result in measurement errors of mechanical properties [9]. Without taking into account that the real contact area and the cross-sectional area of the indenter are different, the measured indentation modulus/hardness would be too high in the

• indentation for pyramidal and spherical indenters can be correlated [12]. For a spherical (parabolic) indenter, hardness does not depend on depth, but on the radius of the indenter. Therefore, for spherical indentation, the radius of the impression rather than the depth of penetration determines the size

Out-of-plane surface patterning by subsurface processing of polymer substrates with focused ion beams

• Serguei Chiriaev,
• Luciana Tavares,
• Vadzim Adashkevich,
• Arkadiusz J. Goszczak and
• Horst-Günter Rubahn

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1693–1703, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.151

• spin coater, in the same manner described in [4]. After the deposition, the samples were annealed at 200 °C for 90 s to remove solvent residuals. The PDMS polymer used was a two-component Dow Sylgard™184 silicone elastomer with a hardness value of 43 in the Durometer Shore scale. After mixing the