ReactorAFM/STM – dynamic reactions on surfaces at elevated temperature and atmospheric pressure

• Tycho Roorda,
• Hamed Achour,
• Matthijs A. van Spronsen,
• Marta E. Cañas-Ventura,
• Sander B. Roobol,
• Willem Onderwaater,
• Mirthe Bergman,
• Peter van der Tuijn,
• Gertjan van Baarle,
• Johan W. Bakker,
• Joost W. M. Frenken and
• Irene M. N. Groot

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 397–406, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.30

• diffraction/Auger electron spectroscopy system to verify the cleanliness, structure, and composition of the surface. The UHV system is supported by four pneumatic air legs resting on a concrete slab, which is separated from the foundation of the building, and isolated from the main floor in an ultramicroscopy

Orientation-dependent photonic bandgaps in gold-dust weevil scales and their titania bioreplicates

• Norma Salvadores Farran,
• Limin Wang,
• Primoz Pirih and
• Bodo D. Wilts

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 1–10, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.1

• structure of the scales The body and the elytra of the gold-dust weevil Hypomeces squamosus are covered with iridescent scales (Figure 1). The scales on the wings and body appear mostly greenish, while the scales on the legs are more bluish (Figure 1a). The elytral scales are flat, about 70 μm long and

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

• characterized by the integration of the first abdominal tergite into the metathorax to form the propodeum. This results in a mesosoma that includes the thorax and propodeum, housing the primary locomotory structures, that is, legs, wings, and their musculature, which makes it the most complex skeletomuscular

• tiny structures belong to two main functional types. They are either mechanosensory and belong to the peripheral nervous system or they have no sensing role and serve to prevent wetting of, for example, wings and legs [41][42][43][44]. Other functions include the detection of airflow patterns, for

• development of self-cleaning surfaces and materials resistant to biofouling in marine environments. Legs Adhesive pads: The adhesive organ in Hymenoptera consists of a flexible cuticle pad (i.e., arolium) situated between the pretarsal claws, capable of unfolding and retracting with each step [125] (Figure 6A

Functional morphology of cleaning devices in the damselfly Ischnura elegans (Odonata, Coenagrionidae)

• Silvana Piersanti,
• Gianandrea Salerno,
• Wencke Krings,
• Stanislav Gorb and
• Manuela Rebora

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1260–1272, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.102

• represent a starting point to develop advanced biomimetic cleaning tools. Keywords: antennae; cuticle; eyes; grooming; legs; resilin; Introduction Self-grooming, defined as any behavior related to the maintenance and care of body surfaces, is an innate behavior found across a wide range of animal species

• are typically located on the legs and are associated with complex grooming behaviors that vary greatly across arthropods [20]. Numerous studies on flies [21][22], wasps [23], mantids [24], and crickets [25] indicate that grooming behavior often falls into two distinct clusters. The anterior cluster

• , predominantly using the forelegs, involves grooming the antennae, head, mesosoma, forelegs, and middle legs. The posterior cluster focuses on cleaning the wings, metasoma, middle legs, and hind legs, and primarily uses the hind legs. A similar behavior is reported in ants, where functional morphology and

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

• can occur with these proof-of-principle designs. The inset shows the relative size of the anti-adhesive beads on top of the Setex surface. (c) Multiheight fibers inspired by spider legs (2008 experiments) as previously disclosed [48] may further enhance composite behaviors for on–off functionality

The effect of age on the attachment ability of stick insects (Phasmatodea)

• Marie Grote,
• Stanislav N. Gorb and
• Thies H. Büscher

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 867–883, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.72

• groups was approximately ten weeks. Animals were only considered for experiments with all legs and tarsi completely intact. Prior to the measurements, animals were weighed using a precision scale (Mettler Toledo AG204 DeltaRange, Mettler-Toledo International Inc., USA). Measurements were conducted during

• different specimens or legs of the same animal. Also, the attachment pads differed in the degree of deflation, depending on the tarsal segment they are located on. The degree of deflation of the pads was always higher in the distal ones. The distalmost arolium was most strongly affected by deflation in most

• and also [37]). No differences in the autofluorescence pattern were seen among front, middle, and hind legs. The blue color of the cuticle of attachment pads appeared more vibrant using WFM in the subadult individuals (Figure 6A–D) and young adult animals (Figure 6E–H) than in the older animals

Functional fibrillar interfaces: Biological hair as inspiration across scales

• Guillermo J. Amador,
• Brett Klaassen van Oorschot,
• Caiying Liao,
• Jianing Wu and
• Da Wei

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 664–677, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.55

• structures must not be internally active. Obviously, this excludes organisms’ slender body parts, such as elephant trunks, the legs of mammals and insects, and the cilia and flagella of eukaryotic microorganisms. As a side note, flagella of eukaryotic cells (e.g., algae, protists, and sperms) and prokaryotic

• ) Changes in humidity could cause changes in temperature of the sensilla and trigger thermoresponsive sensory cells [159]. These sensilla are distributed across the body, including antennae, legs, and other appendages. Insects such as locusts [160] and beetles [161] utilize hygroreceptors on their antennae

• to detect humidity fluctuations in their environment. Similarly, arachnids such as the harvestman (Heteromitobates discolor) also possess hygroreceptive sensilla on their legs [162]. Scaling of hair across body size. (A) Scaling of hair mass mh versus body mass mb. The dots represent data with

Insect attachment on waxy plant surfaces: the effect of pad contamination by different waxes

• Elena V. Gorb and
• Stanislav N. Gorb

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 385–395, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.35

• [1][38]). Tenent setae of these pads have different shapes of the tip: (1) a flat discoidal terminal element in mushroom-like setae situated in the central part of the basal and distal tarsomeres (only in males, present in all legs); (2) a flat and widened end plate called spatula in setae located

• of insect attachment organs, beetles were placed on a clean glass plate and their legs were cut off using a sharp razor blade. To get contaminated insect feet, a beetle was first allowed to walk on a fresh waxy plant surface for 1 min and then immediately transferred to the glass plate with the feet

• up, avoiding any contact, for cutting off the legs. Air-dried samples (parts of plant organs and clean or contaminated insect legs) were mounted on holders, sputter-coated with gold–palladium (thickness 8 nm for plants and 10 nm for insects), and examined in a Hitachi S-800 scanning electron

Biomimetics on the micro- and nanoscale – The 25th anniversary of the lotus effect

• Matthias Mail,
• Kerstin Koch,
• Thomas Speck,
• William M. Megill and
• Stanislav N. Gorb

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 850–856, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.69

• nanostructures on the legs of cribellate spiders”. Here the challenge is to handle nanofibres which naturally stick to surfaces due to the van der Waals energy of surface interaction. Spiders which regularly process nanofibres into silk have evolved a structure on the surface of their hind legs to which the

• nanofibres do not stick. The authors use the geometry of the spider system to develop an elegant mathematical model of the interaction between the fibres and the surface. They then test their predictions using a structured metal mimic of the spider legs. They find that for some metals, in which they were

The origin of black and white coloration of the Asian tiger mosquito Aedes albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae)

• Manuela Rebora,
• Gianandrea Salerno,
• Silvana Piersanti,
• Alexander Kovalev and
• Stanislav N. Gorb

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 496–508, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.41

• Skuse (Diptera: Culicidae). The species belonging to this genus (among which Ae. aegypti L. is present) are visually distinctive, because they have noticeable black and white markings on their bodies and their legs, whose different distributions in different species allows for species identification

• characterised by the presence of white and black areas (Figure 1). White patches are present on abdominal segments, thorax, head, and legs of both sexes. They are particularly evident on the hindlegs (Figure 1c–f). Males and females differ in size and in shape of antenna and mouthpart, but their hindlegs are

• (Figure 2e), abdomen (Figure 2f), and legs (Figure 2g), while falcate scales belong to the dorsal side of the thorax (Figure 2h). To analyse the micro- and nanostructures located on the scales of Ae. albopictus in detail, we focused on the tarsi of the hindlegs, which show particularly evident white

Laser-processed antiadhesive bionic combs for handling nanofibers inspired by nanostructures on the legs of cribellate spiders

• Sebastian Lifka,
• Kristóf Harsányi,
• Erich Baumgartner,
• Lukas Pichler,
• Dariya Baiko,
• Karsten Wasmuth,
• Johannes Heitz,
• Marco Meyer,
• Anna-Christin Joel,
• Jörn Bonse and
• Werner Baumgartner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1268–1283, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.105

• that are actually able to efficiently produce, process, and handle nanofibers, namely cribellate spiders. For that, the spiders use the calamistrum, a comb-like structure of modified setae on the metatarsus of the hindmost (fourth) legs, to which the 10–30 nm thick silk nanofibers do not stick due to a

• metatarsus of the hindmost (fourth) legs [10] (Figure 1). The 10–30 nm thick silk nanofibers do not stick to the calamistrum due to a special fingerprint-like nanostructure. This was characterized recently [14] for the calamistrum of Uloborus plumipes (commonly named feather-legged lace weaver or the garden

• Technics Inc., Alexandria, USA; 7–10 mA, 5 min) and studied with the SEM (525 M, Philips AG, Amsterdam, Netherlands). Legs of U. plumipes were air-dried and otherwise prepared the same way for SEM analysis. Measurements were performed with ImageJ’s FIJI software [35]. Legs of A. similis were air-dried and

Interaction between honeybee mandibles and propolis

• Leonie Saccardi,
• Franz Brümmer,
• Jonas Schiebl,
• Oliver Schwarz,
• Alexander Kovalev and
• Stanislav Gorb

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 958–974, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.84

• ]. The front legs are used to pass the resin from the mandibles to the mid legs and then from there to the corbiculae [15][16]. Once both corbiculae are fully loaded with resin, the propolis bee returns to the hive, where other so-called cementing bees unload it using their mandibles and subsequently mix

• -adhesive strategies in biology One might expect that highly adhesive substances such as resin and propolis stick to the bee’s mouthparts and legs rendering them unusable. But bees are able to process these sticky substances and apparently without being negatively affected by them. It is therefore possible

Recent progress in actuation technologies of micro/nanorobots

• Ke Xu and
• Bing Liu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 756–765, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.59

• micro/nanorobots. Traditional piezoelectric actuators are suitable for millimeter-sized robots, but not for the micro/nanoscale. Therefore, the innovation was to design a new type of electrochemical actuator and to use it as legs of the robot. It was made of nanoscale platinum and manufactured by a

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

• ubiquitous in nearly all habitats on earth [49][50][51]. Besides exploiting the advantages of tagmosis, the adaptability of the jointed limb enabled settlement in different habitats and exposed numerous opportunities for adaptive radiation [39]. The legs of insects are usually used for walking and are

• ][54][55] and ectoparasitic flies are highly modified to remain attached to their hosts and move on them [56]. There are numerous other functional modifications on insect legs, including silk production (e.g., [57]) or prey capturing [58], but one is of major importance for nearly all insects: the

Bio-imaging with the helium-ion microscope: A review

• Matthias Schmidt,
• James M. Byrne and
• Ilari J. Maasilta

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 1–23, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.1

• Boseman et al. [13]. Many different areas were imaged such as the eye, the wing and body surfaces, the sensory bristles, and the legs, with observations of nanoscale features. In addition, the pupal case and some larval tissues were also investigated. In 2013, Joens et al. [6] published a groundbreaking

Seebeck coefficient of silicon nanowire forests doped by thermal diffusion

• Shaimaa Elyamny,
• Elisabetta Dimaggio and
• Giovanni Pennelli

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1707–1713, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.153

• not possible to fabricate an optimized generator module based on two legs with opposite heavy doping. A possible solution is to dope the silicon nanowires by thermal diffusion [21], after their fabrication by MACE. In this work, we present the measurement of the Seebeck coefficient of SiNWs doped

• slightly doped SiNW forests, and their doping by diffusion after fabrication, is a possible route for the exploitation of nanostructured silicon for thermoelectric purposes. Procedures for the fabrication of macroscopic nanostructured-Si generators, based on interconnected p- and n-doped legs, are under

Design of V-shaped cantilevers for enhanced multifrequency AFM measurements

• Mehrnoosh Damircheli and
• Babak Eslami

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1525–1541, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.135

• portions as shown in Figure 1. The first portion, shown in Equation 1, is the equation of motion related to the length of the cantilever base to the point where the two legs merge. For this range, the cross section is a rectangle on both sides: where 0 ≤ x ≤ (L – L′). In Equation 1 and Equation 2, K, G, A1

• -sectional area and moment of inertia shown in Equation 1 can be expressed as shown in Equation 3 and Equation 4, respectively: In Equation 5 and Equation 6, the equation of motion for the left side of the cantilever from the side where the legs merge to the tip of the cantilever is provided. Although the

A comparison of tarsal morphology and traction force in the two burying beetles Nicrophorus nepalensis and Nicrophorus vespilloides (Coleoptera, Silphidae)

• Liesa Schnee,
• Benjamin Sampalla,
• Josef K. Müller and
• Oliver Betz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 47–61, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.5

• attachment with respect to various surface properties was investigated by using a 2 × 3 experimental design. Traction force was measured for two different surface energies (hydrophilic vs hydrophobic) varying in roughness from smooth to micro-rough to rough. Nanotribometric tests on single legs were also

• distal end, the tibia of all three legs of both the Nicrophorus species is widened in a shovel-like manner and lined by robust bristles and two prominent spines (Figure 1a: s).The tarsi consist of five tarsomeres. The fore tarsi of N. nepalensis are 3357 ± 499 µm long (arithmetic mean ± sd, four males

• : aIII, c) covering lengths between 30 and 90 µm, depending on type and location. The total number of setae with broadened tips differs between the two species (Table 1). Whereas the total number of setae in N. nepalensis amounts to 1850 ± 143 on all three legs on one side, we have found 1700 ± 412 setae

Review on nanoparticles and nanostructured materials: history, sources, toxicity and regulations

• Jaison Jeevanandam,
• Ahmed Barhoum,
• Yen S. Chan,
• Alain Dufresne and
• Michael K. Danquah

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1050–1074, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.98

• geckos with varying body weight can attach along ceilings and move along vertical walls. The interaction of their patterned surface structure with the substrate profile gives efficient ability and mechanism for attachment to the insect’s legs. An intense inverse scaling effect in these attachment devices

Dissociative electron attachment to coordination complexes of chromium: chromium(0) hexacarbonyl and benzene-chromium(0) tricarbonyl

• Janina Kopyra,
• Paulina Maciejewska and
• Jelena Maljković

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2257–2263, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.225

• electrons (VEs) and adopts an octahedral molecular geometry, resulting in the Oh point group symmetry. Similarly, (η6-C6H6)Cr(CO)3 has 18 VEs. However, it has a piano stool geometry with planar arrangement of the aryl group and three carbonyl groups which act as “legs”. Both complexes have spin-paired

AgCl-doped CdSe quantum dots with near-IR photoluminescence

• Pavel A. Kotin,
• Sergey S. Bubenov,
• Natalia E. Mordvinova and
• Sergey G. Dorofeev

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1156–1166, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.117

• the appearance of additional peaks in the XRD patterns. These additional XRD peaks can be attributed to the appearance of the hexagonal wurtzite (WZ) structure (P63mc, space group 186 a = 0.4299 nm and c = 0.7010 nm (PC-PDF 8-459)). This structure appears in the legs of the TPs as is evident from high

• with gradual transitions of ZB to WZ in the core and, subsequently, in the legs. Based on this, we assume that large EPs are formed from legs by accretion on a core. It is clearly seen that the speed of that process increases with increasing amounts of AgCl during synthesis. There is a number of

• spherical particles doped with AgCl. The absorption spectra of TPs begin at 2.0 eV. The black arrow in Figure 11 shows an increase in the intensity of the 2S3/2-1Se transition against the background of 1S3/2-1Se (blue arrow), which is connected with the increase of legs of TPs [30]. Low-energy regions of

Calculating free energies of organic molecules on insulating substrates

• Julian Gaberle,
• David Z. Gao and
• Alexander L. Shluger

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 667–674, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.71

• constrained by the step edge. Therefore a more detailed investigation of the balance of enthalpic and entropic contributions to the adsorption free energy is required. The adsorption enthalpy of TCB also increases from 4.5 eV on a clean terrace to 4.8 eV at a step edge when two legs of the TCB molecule adhere

• energy profile for the 100 ns MD case displays a double-dip feature corresponding to two stable TCB adsorption geometries with one leg (metastable) and two legs attached to step-edge cation sites. A small barrier of 0.03 eV needs to be traversed to go from having one leg attached to two, which is within

Association of aescin with β- and γ-cyclodextrins studied by DFT calculations and spectroscopic methods

• Ana I. Ramos,
• Pedro D. Vaz,
• Susana S. Braga and
• Artur M. S. Silva

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 348–357, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.37

• Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal 10.3762/bjnano.8.37 Abstract Background: Aescin, a natural mixture of saponins occurring in Aesculus hippocastanum, exhibits important flebotonic properties, being used in the treatment of chronic venous insufficiency in legs. The inclusion of aescin into cyclodextrins

When the going gets rough – studying the effect of surface roughness on the adhesive abilities of tree frogs

• Niall Crawford,
• Thomas Endlein,
• Jonathan T. Pham,
• Mathis Riehle and
• W. Jon P. Barnes

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 2116–2131, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.201

• climbing tree frogs The frogs’ climbing abilities were tested on different rough surfaces using the tilting board apparatus described in the Experimental section (n = 60 for all surfaces tested). At the beginning of the test, frogs usually exhibited a relaxed and crouched posture with all legs tucked under

Influence of ambient humidity on the attachment ability of ladybird beetles (Coccinella septempunctata)

• Lars Heepe,
• Jonas O. Wolff and
• Stanislav N. Gorb

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1322–1329, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.123

• show the first three types only. Setae terminated with discoidal terminal elements were found in the centre of the first two tarsomeres (T1 and T2 in Figure 1) for all legs in males (Figure 1H–J), except for the first tarsomer (T1) of the hindleg (Figure 1J). Force measurements in a controlled