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

• Background: Inspired by structural hierarchies and the related excellent mechanical properties of biological materials, we created a smoothly graded micro- to nanoporous structure from a thermoplastic polymer. Results: The viscoelastic properties for the different pore sizes were investigated in the glassy

Hybrid nanomaterials: from the laboratory to the market

• Verónica de Zea Bermudez,
• Fabrice Leroux,
• Pierre Rabu and
• Andreas Taubert

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 861–862, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.87

• to those made by humans. In this context, complexity is one of the keywords: biological materials are often highly complex, highly structured with well-defined hierarchy, with complex chemical compositions, often composed of a combination of organic and inorganic components, and therefore, they often

Biological and biomimetic materials and surfaces

• Stanislav Gorb and
• Thomas Speck

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

• ranging from studies on structure–property relationships of biological materials and surfaces to the development of technical systems inspired by biological studies. In other words, this issue aimed at isolating the different stages of the biomimetic process. On one hand, it reflects the research phases

• of biological materials and surfaces at the micro- and nanoscale. The Thematic Series combines approaches from biology, physics, chemistry, materials science, and engineering and therefore represents an example of modern interdisciplinary science. Due to this latter reason, we hope that the

Biomechanics of selected arborescent and shrubby monocotyledons

• Tom Masselter,
• Tobias Haushahn,
• Samuel Fink and
• Thomas Speck

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1602–1619, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.154

• , Young’s modulus and tensile strength of the vascular bundles in Dracaena marginata. These analyses allowed for generating a model for the mechanical interaction of tissues and vascular bundles of the stem in D. marginata as well as filling major “white spots” in property charts for biological materials

Viability and proliferation of endothelial cells upon exposure to GaN nanoparticles

• Tudor Braniste,
• Ion Tiginyanu,
• Tibor Horvath,
• Simion Raevschi,
• Serghei Cebotari,
• Marco Lux,
• Axel Haverich and
• Andres Hilfiker

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1330–1337, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.124

• of premature tissue damage and dispensing of medications. Nature supplies many examples of biomimetic materials in the form of organic/inorganic components such as bone, teeth, and muscle. Based on biological examples, new and innovative biological materials can be designed through self-organization

Functional diversity of resilin in Arthropoda

• Jan Michels,
• Esther Appel and
• Stanislav N. Gorb

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1241–1259, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.115

• outstanding properties. Keywords: biological materials; biomechanics; composites; elastomeric proteins; functional morphology; Review Resilin – the pliant protein Elastomeric proteins occur in a large range of organisms and biological structures, and the spectrum of their biological functions is very broad

Frog tongue surface microstructures: functional and evolutionary patterns

• Thomas Kleinteich and
• Stanislav N. Gorb

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 893–903, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.81

• in the spectra of prey items between frog taxa. Keywords: adhesion; amphibians; biological materials; feeding; high-resolution micro-CT; Introduction Frogs (Lissamphibia: Anura) are famous for their adhesive tongues, which allow them to catch elusive prey. While the movements of the tongue during

Hydration of magnesia cubes: a helium ion microscopy study

• Ruth Schwaiger,
• Johannes Schneider,
• Gilles R. Bourret and
• Oliver Diwald

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 302–309, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.28

• images are not directly compromised [16]. In addition to the high SE-yield, helium ion microscopy allows the use of low beam currents for imaging [7]. For biological materials and polymers, HIM is preferable to SEM for high resolution imaging due to the problems related to electron-beam-induced damage

Structural and magnetic properties of iron nanowires and iron nanoparticles fabricated through a reduction reaction

• Marcin Krajewski,
• Wei Syuan Lin,
• Hong Ming Lin,
• Katarzyna Brzozka,
• Sabina Lewinska,
• Natalia Nedelko,
• Anna Slawska-Waniewska,
• Jolanta Borysiuk and
• Dariusz Wasik

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1652–1660, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.167

• treatment [3] as well as labelling and separation of biological materials [4]. Besides the biomedical exploitation, iron-based nanostructures can be used in the fields of data storage [5], catalysis [6], energy storage [7] and environmental remediation [8]. However, different properties are required for

Self-assembly of nanostructures and nanomaterials

• Isabelle Berbezier and
• Maurizio De Crescenzi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1397–1398, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.144

• biological materials, soft matter, metals and semiconductors. Self-assembly is a process that builds an ordered structure, brick-by-brick, starting from disordered building blocks, using simple key ingredients. Self-assembly is commonly controlled by certain intrinsic material parameters (e.g., composition

Overview of nanoscale NEXAFS performed with soft X-ray microscopes

• Peter Guttmann and
• Carla Bittencourt

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 595–604, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.61

• ) or hard discs. The Hitchcock team of the McMaster University operates a STXM at an undulator beamline at the Canadian Light Source (CLS), Saskatoon, Canada, for many applications as, e.g., polymer sciences at the carbon K-edge [49], studies on graphene [50] and investigations of biological materials

Fibrillar adhesion with no clusterisation: Functional significance of material gradient along adhesive setae of insects

• Stanislav N. Gorb and
• Alexander E. Filippov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 837–845, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.95

• significance Pure bulk materials are absent in biology: biological materials are always composites. Also material gradients are well known in biological systems, where particular change in composition of different bulk materials along a biological structure may lead to novel and often unexpected properties

The surface microstructure of cusps and leaflets in rabbit and mouse heart valves

• Xia Ye,
• Bharat Bhushan,
• Ming Zhou and
• Weining Lei

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 622–629, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.73

• contact angles should be decided. That will provide an intuitive guide for designing artificial heart valve surfaces. In later research, based on the above theorical study we should manufacture the mastoid microstructures on the biological materials surface. Further study of the relationship between

Multiple regimes of operation in bimodal AFM: understanding the energy of cantilever eigenmodes

• Daniel Kiracofe,
• Arvind Raman and
• Dalia Yablon

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 385–393, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.45

• widespread usage, especially among soft materials such as biological materials and polymers, bimodal AFM has demonstrated its capability to provide new contrast and information in the higher order mode [4][5][6][7][8]. The traditional choice in bimodal AFM is to oscillate the cantilever at its first two

Towards 4-dimensional atomic force spectroscopy using the spectral inversion method

• Jeffrey C. Williams and
• Santiago D. Solares

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 87–93, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.10

• and biological materials, as well as in the study of other rate-dependent phenomena, such as binding or folding/unfolding events in complex biomolecules. Methods The details of the spectral inversion method using the torsional harmonic cantilever have been described in detail elsewhere [8][11], so

Nano-structuring, surface and bulk modification with a focused helium ion beam

• Daniel Fox,
• Yanhui Chen,
• Colm C. Faulkner and
• Hongzhou Zhang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 579–585, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.67

• properties of the surface [18]. Some other applications to date include imaging of chemical variations at high resolution [19], quantitative dopant contrast mapping [20] and imaging of uncoated biological materials [21]. In this work we further investigate the ability of the HIM to modify a material’s

Nano-FTIR chemical mapping of minerals in biological materials

• Sergiu Amarie,
• Paul Zaslansky,
• Yusuke Kajihara,
• Erika Griesshaber,
• Wolfgang W. Schmahl and
• Fritz Keilmann

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 312–323, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.35

• advantages of surface scanning make the nano-FTIR approach extremely robust and useful for the study of biological materials. The samples need not be thin, only reasonably flat, thus avoiding thin-section preparations, which are prone to damage. Unavoidable topographic obstacles resulting from the cutting

Biomimetic materials

• Wilhelm Barthlott and
• Kerstin Koch

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 135–136, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.16

• only appeared on the market in 1999. Bionics concentrated in the first decades, in particular, on highly complex biomechanic problems: the hovering of humming birds and robot locomotion. Today a focal point is the incredibly specific diversity of biological materials, materials with micro and nano

Biomimetics inspired surfaces for drag reduction and oleophobicity/philicity

• Bharat Bhushan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 66–84, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.9

• micropatterned surfaces with C20F42 as shown in Figure 11 and Table 3. Conclusion Biomimetics allows one to mimic biology or nature and for engineers to develop materials and devices of commercial interest. Properties of biological materials and surfaces result from a complex interplay between surface morphology