Influence of conductive carbon and MnCo₂O₄ on morphological and electrical properties of hydrogels for electrochemical energy conversion

• Sylwia Pawłowska,
• Karolina Cysewska,
• Yasamin Ziai,
• Jakub Karczewski,
• Piotr Jasiński and
• Sebastian Molin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 57–70, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.6

• -stage synthesis of polymer composites based on PNIPAAm hydrogel was presented. Both conductive particles in the form of conductive carbon black (cCB) and MnCo2O4 (MCO) spinel particles were suspended in the three-dimensional structure of the hydrogel. The MCO particles in the resulting hydrogel

• ; hydrogel; hydrogen; oxygen evolution reaction; polymer composites; Introduction Hydrogels are defined as a group of polymeric materials with an insoluble hydrophilic structure which gives them the ability to absorb and hold large amounts of water (up to over 99 wt %) in their three-dimensional network

• structures were examined in terms of their morphology, electrical properties, and catalytic layers in the OER process. Results and Discussion Characterisation of hydrogel-based polymer composites with dispersed catalytic and conductive particles Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis of hydrogel samples

Carbon nanotube-cellulose ink for rapid solvent identification

• Tiago Amarante,
• Thiago H. R. Cunha,
• Claudio Laudares,
• Ana P. M. Barboza,
• Ana Carolina dos Santos,
• Cíntia L. Pereira,
• Vinicius Ornelas,
• Bernardo R. A. Neves,
• André S. Ferlauto and
• Rodrigo G. Lacerda

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 535–543, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.44

• production of liquid sensors, besides the constant need for sensor recalibration, has hindered broader commercialization of such devices [13][20]. A wide variety of materials have been explored for liquid sensing. For instance, electrically conductive polymer composites (CPCs), which are generally composed

• mechanism of polymer composites with physicochemical characteristics such as dielectric constant, specific heat, and vapor pressure [25][56][57]. Our ink-based devices could extract those characteristics even from unknown samples and mixtures. Finally, test analysis using principal component analysis (PCA

Structural, optical, and bioimaging characterization of carbon quantum dots solvothermally synthesized from o-phenylenediamine

• Zoran M. Marković,
• Milica D. Budimir,
• Martin Danko,
• Dušan D. Milivojević,
• Pavel Kubat,
• Danica Z. Zmejkoski,
• Vladimir B. Pavlović,
• Marija M. Mojsin,
• Milena J. Stevanović and
• Biljana M. Todorović Marković

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 165–174, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.17

• different effectiveness on bacteria and tested cells (adenocarcinomic human alveolar basal epithelial cells-A549 and mouse embryonic fibroblast cell line-NIH/3T3) [18]. By comparing the results of these two investigations, we concluded that the surface chemistry of the encapsulated CQDs in polymer

• composites has a crucial effect on the properties of CQDs/PU composites. Cellular uptake Photobleaching limits the use of hydrophobic probes (e.g., Nile red) [50]. CQDs can be used as probes for bioimaging because of the tuneable strong photoluminescence and high resistance to photobleaching. In order to

Antimicrobial and mechanical properties of functionalized textile by nanoarchitectured photoinduced Ag@polymer coating

• Jessica Plé,
• Marine Dabert,
• Helene Lecoq,
• Sophie Hellé,
• Lydie Ploux and
• Lavinia Balan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 95–109, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.11

• forces, which ultimately extends the lifetime of the functionalized textile. The antimicrobial properties of MNP-polymer composites have been extensively investigated [42][43][44] and research has gone into functionalizing textile fibers with the nanocomposites in situ [45][46]. Few studies seem to have

• antimicrobial activity due to the increased amount of available silver. Conclusion The innovative photoinduced approach led to the successful functionalization of nano-architectured Ag@polymer composites onto textile substrates. Two different biocompatible polymer matrixes were compared in terms of AgNP growth

Biomimetic chitosan with biocomposite nanomaterials for bone tissue repair and regeneration

• Se-Kwon Kim,
• Sesha Subramanian Murugan,
• Pandurang Appana Dalavi,
• Sebanti Gupta,
• Sukumaran Anil,
• Gi Hun Seong and
• Jayachandran Venkatesan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1051–1067, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.92

• regeneration, and other applications. Furthermore, chitosan-containing polymer composites are being extensively explored for drug delivery in targeted tumour treatment and nucleic acid delivery in genetic engineering applications. More research is required to optimise chitosan composites utilised in scaffolds

Nanoporous and nonporous conjugated donor–acceptor polymer semiconductors for photocatalytic hydrogen production

• Zhao-Qi Sheng,
• Yu-Qin Xing,
• Yan Chen,
• Guang Zhang,
• Shi-Yong Liu and
• Long Chen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 607–623, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.50

• thermodynamic driving force for proton reduction is still hard to achieve for a single CP component. In this respect, the combination of CPs with other semiconductors to form heterojunctions can further enhance the catalytic performance. Fabricating inorganic/polymer composites with complementary absorption

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

• infections, and also inhibit the growth of bacterial biofilms [14][15][16]. AgNPs were also used in developing strong thermally conductive materials. They were used in polymer composites to increase thermal conductivity (K) [77][78] for cooling applications in electronic equipment. Furthermore, AgNPs have

High permittivity, breakdown strength, and energy storage density of polythiophene-encapsulated BaTiO₃ nanoparticles

• Adnanullah Khan,
• Amir Habib and
• Adeel Afzal

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1190–1197, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.103

• Department of Chemistry, College of Science, University of Hafr Al Batin, PO Box 1803, Hafr Al Batin, 39524, Saudi Arabia 10.3762/bjnano.11.103 Abstract High permittivity and breakdown strength are desired to improve the energy storage density of dielectric materials based on reinforced polymer composites

• , they are inherently poor dielectrics with very low permittivity (values in the range of 2–10) [2]. Thus, organic polymers are often reinforced with ceramic-based dielectric materials such as BTO. The dielectric properties of BTO–polymer composites are known to improve considerably with the inclusion of

• breakdown strength of BTO-polymer composites is considerably reduced after increasing the BTO content to 30–40 wt % because of the free-charge accumulation at the interface of BTO and polymer [10]. We believe that core–shell structure of BTO-PTh nanoparticles and good interfacial compatibility between the

A novel dry-blending method to reduce the coefficient of thermal expansion of polymer templates for OTFT electrodes

• Xiangdong Ye,
• Bo Tian,
• Yuxuan Guo,
• Fan Fan and
• Anjiang Cai

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 671–677, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.53

• verify that the CTE of the PDMS/SiO2 composite template was reasonable, we compared the CTE with that calculated from a model employing the governing Equation 2 [22]. This equation can be applied to polymer composites filled with one type of nanoparticles: Here, αc is the CTE model value of the PDMS/SiO2

Multicomponent bionanocomposites based on clay nanoarchitectures for electrochemical devices

• Giulia Lo Dico,
• Bernd Wicklein,
• Lorenzo Lisuzzo,
• Giuseppe Lazzara,
• Pilar Aranda and
• Eduardo Ruiz-Hitzky

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1303–1315, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.129

• form a conducting network within the matrix of the bionanocomposite. In any case, the percolation threshold is on par or slightly lower than the values for related MWCNT–polymer composites, which are in the range of 4–9 wt % [56][57]. The bionanocomposite sample Film-1 was used to evaluate the

Outstanding chain-extension effect and high UV resistance of polybutylene succinate containing amino-acid-modified layered double hydroxides

• Adam A. Marek,
• Vincent Verney,
• Christine Taviot-Gueho,
• Grazia Totaro,
• Laura Sisti,
• Annamaria Celli and
• Fabrice Leroux

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 684–695, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.68

• endow the polymer composites with significantly improved properties as well as to envision a master-batch considering the observed state of dispersion. PBS–LDH nanocomposite films with thickness of about 90–100 µm were prepared by compression moulding between two Teflon sheets under 100 bar at 120 °C

• accessory and pulsed xenon excitation source. The emission signal was collected with the monochromater from 200 to 600 nm at scan rate of 600 nm min−1 and excitation wavelength of 280 nm. The thermal properties of the LDH fillers and polymer composites were characterized by differential scanning calorimetry

• properties of the polymer composites were measured at 120 °C using a dynamic mechanical spectrometer (ARES Rheometric Scientific T&A Instruments) equipped with two parallel plate holders of 8 mm in diameter. The measurements were performed in oscillatory frequency sweep mode with the range of frequency

Widening of the electroactivity potential range by composite formation – capacitive properties of TiO₂/BiVO₄/PEDOT:PSS electrodes in contact with an aqueous electrolyte

• Konrad Trzciński,
• Mariusz Szkoda,
• Andrzej P. Nowak,
• Marcin Łapiński and
• Anna Lisowska-Oleksiak

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 483–493, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.49

• to be lower in comparison with Ti/TiO2/BiVO4/PEDOT:PSS presented here. Some authors show the results of capacitance per mass of the active electrode material. In the case of TiO2/polymer composites, the mass of the inorganic part is sometimes omitted [45][78]. However, such an approach could lead to

A novel polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane-modified layered double hydroxide: preparation, characterization and properties

• Xianwei Zhang,
• Zhongzhu Ma,
• Hong Fan,
• Carla Bittencourt,
• Jintao Wan and
• Philippe Dubois

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 3053–3068, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.284

• after modification, which is expected to eventually limit the potential for applications of LDHs in polymer composites. Polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes (POSS) are a class of well-defined nanostructured molecules, which contain a silica cage core and externally attached organic substituents [22

Co-intercalated layered double hydroxides as thermal and photo-oxidation stabilizers for polypropylene

• Qian Zhang,
• Qiyu Gu,
• Fabrice Leroux,
• Pinggui Tang,
• Dianqing Li and
• Yongjun Feng

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2980–2988, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.277

• thermal degradation and photo-oxidation. Undoubtedly, the co-intercalation method for LDH framework will open a way to design and fabricate multifunctional additives for polymer composites. Experimental Chemicals Succinic anhydride, tetramethylpiperidinamine, dioxane, ether, Ca(NO3)2·4H2O, Al(NO3)3·9H2O

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

• the exfoliation of CaPhP in an amount sufficient for incorporation into polymers involved using propan-2-ol with a strong shear force generated in a high-shear disperser. The filler was tested both in its unexfoliated and exfoliated forms for the preparation of polymer composites, for which a low

• forces. The main advantage is that a ready-to-use dispersion of nanoplatelets is obtained, so the step of dispersing dry nanoparticles in a polymer matrix is avoided, which is usually challenging, and thus simplifies the preparation of the polymer composites. In this work, layered calcium

• any special treatment to be dispersed well in a polymer matrix. In the case of the exfoliated particles, the dispersion is even better. Thus, layered calcium phenylphosphonate can be considered as a promising nanofiller for polymer composites. Experimental Materials and methods Phenylphosphonic acid

Comparative study of antibacterial properties of polystyrene films with TiO_x and Cu nanoparticles fabricated using cluster beam technique

• Vladimir N. Popok,
• Cesarino M. Jeppesen,
• Peter Fojan,
• Anna Kuzminova,
• Jan Hanuš and
• Ondřej Kylián

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 861–869, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.80

• can be embedded into polymer films. Polymers have a clear advantage as cheap and plastic materials that can be easily fabricated in shapes and forms convenient for practical and simple use. Hence, metal–polymer composites have become very attractive, for example, in food packaging or the fabrication

• dispersed in solution, which can typically be used only once. Another big advantage of the proposed method is the partial embedding of NPs into polymer films. The copper NPs used in our experiments show their highest activity already after 120 min while in the case of metal–polymer composites in which the

• studies are required to improve this important parameter. However, the advantages of the proposed method are in the reusability of the samples and in the possibility to use polymer composites for the cases when solutions are not possible. One more important issue in relation to the use of copper should be

Graphene composites with dental and biomedical applicability

• Sharali Malik,
• Felicite M. Ruddock,
• Adam H. Dowling,
• Kevin Byrne,
• Wolfgang Schmitt,
• Ivan Khalakhan,
• Yoshihiro Nemoto,
• Hongxuan Guo,
• Lok Kumar Shrestha,
• Katsuhiko Ariga and
• Jonathan P. Hill

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 801–808, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.73

• applicability, methods to produce larger than lab-scale quantities of graphene are required. Here, we present a simple method to make large quantities of FLG starting with commercially available multi-layer graphene (MLG). This FLG material was then used to fabricate graphene dental-polymer composites. The

• In summary, we have described herein a new, simple and cheap method to make large quantities of FLG starting with commercially available multi-layer graphene (MLG) and also the incorporation of this graphene into dental polymer composites. We have demonstrated that the fabricated graphene-dental

• polymer composites have significantly enhanced mechanical properties as compared with the plain dental-polymer material (control group). The mean compressive strength of the graphene-dental polymer showed a 27% increase and the mean compressive modulus showed a 22% increase compared with the control group

Single-step process to improve the mechanical properties of carbon nanotube yarn

• Maria Cecilia Evora,
• Xinyi Lu,
• Nitilaksha Hiremath,
• Nam-Goo Kang,
• Kunlun Hong,
• Roberto Uribe,
• Gajanan Bhat and
• Jimmy Mays

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 545–554, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.52

• electrical properties (Young’s modulus of 1 TPa, tensile strength above 100 GPa), carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are promising materials for various advanced technologies, including CNT-reinforced polymer composites [1][2]. Although many investigations have been carried out with these materials, it still remains a

Engineering of oriented carbon nanotubes in composite materials

• Razieh Beigmoradi,
• Abdolreza Samimi and
• Davod Mohebbi-Kalhori

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 415–435, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.41

• fabricated with a smaller average diameter have significantly better mechanical properties. Gulotty et al. have reported that CNTs with a longer and larger diameter more efficiently improve the thermal conductivity of polymer composites [10]. Furthermore, it has been shown that for biological applications

• , van der Waals) also plays a decisive role to enhance the uniformity of the CNT dispersion into the polymer matrix [136]. Therefore, to obtain the desired properties of CNT/polymer composites, such as the thermal, mechanical and electrical properties [8][10][137], the characterization of surface

The role of ligands in coinage-metal nanoparticles for electronics

• Ioannis Kanelidis and
• Tobias Kraus

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2625–2639, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.263

• electron donating hydroxyl groups. The resulting film with the interconnected silver NPs (Figure 7) had a conductivity of 225 S/cm and was used to electrically connect light-emitting diodes [134]. 4 Ligands in particle–polymer composites 4.1 Formulations Metal nanoparticles have been used to fill polymers

Preparation and characterization of polycarbonate/multiwalled carbon nanotube nanocomposites

• Claudio Larosa,
• Niranjan Patra,
• Marco Salerno,
• Lara Mikac,
• Remo Merijs Meri and
• Mile Ivanda

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2026–2031, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.203

• predetermined objectives of the COST action Multi Comp CA15107 [10], aiming to improve the dispersion and stability of carbon-based suspensions and polymer composites. Experimental Materials Commercial MWCNTs were used (FutureCarbon GmbH, Bayreuth, Germany), having a nominal diameter of 50 ± 20 nm and a length

Oxidative stabilization of polyacrylonitrile nanofibers and carbon nanofibers containing graphene oxide (GO): a spectroscopic and electrochemical study

• İlknur Gergin,
• Ezgi Ismar and
• A. Sezai Sarac

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1616–1628, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.161

• mechanical properties because of the interaction between nanofibers and the matrix material [4]. CNF can be used as reinforcing material inside the polymer composites thanks to their enhanced mechanical and physical properties [5][6][7]. The manufacturing of CNF/polymer composites is challenging and the

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

• covalent attachment or through the supramolecular adsorption or wrapping of suitable functionalities and even surface active substances [1][2][4][5]. Various techniques have been developed for the synthesis of CNT–polymer composites, including solution mixing [6][7], melt blending [8][9][10][11][12], latex

• -hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) in the presence of MWCNTs. The minor amount of HEMA in the monomer mixture was added to further improve the interaction between the polymer and the MWCNTs. The disentanglement of the MWCNTs bundles prior to use in polymer composites was performed by ultrapower sonication

• white arrows in Figure 3d, under higher magnification). In Table 3, the glass transition temperatures (Tg) of the neat polymer and the polymer composites determined by DSC are presented. The neat polymer and simple blends of the neat polymer and the air-sonicated MWCNTs were used as reference samples

Photocatalysis applications of some hybrid polymeric composites incorporating TiO₂ nanoparticles and their combinations with SiO₂/Fe₂O₃

• Andreea Laura Chibac,
• Tinca Buruiana,
• Violeta Melinte and
• Emil C. Buruiana

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 272–286, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.30

• nanocatalysts. Keywords: hybrid polymer composites; maghemite nanoparticles; photocatalysis; TiO2 nanoparticles; UV–visible irradiation; Introduction Over the last years, titania nanomaterials have attracted a lot of attention as they have found numerous applications in the field of dye-sensitized solar cells

• in dark in the presence of the investigated films (S1–S4); second, they were illuminated (UV–visible radiation) in the absence of the polymer composites, and third, the investigated solutions were irradiated in the presence of the pure polymer film (without TiO2 photocatalysts). In all cases, the

Fabrication and characterization of branched carbon nanostructures

• Sharali Malik,
• Yoshihiro Nemoto,
• Hongxuan Guo,
• Katsuhiko Ariga and
• Jonathan P. Hill

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1260–1266, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.116

• offer benefits for applications such as transport, energy storage/conversion and bone/tooth replacement. Hence, the mechanical properties of CNTs are utilized in reinforcing polymer composites [1][2][3][4], and their electrical conductivity is utilized for conducting polymers [4][5][6]. Under tensile