Local stiffness and work function variations of hexagonal boron nitride on Cu(111)

• Abhishek Grewal,
• Yuqi Wang,
• Matthias Münks,
• Klaus Kern and
• Markus Ternes

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 559–565, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.46

• transfer [41]. Additionally, this leads to in-plane electric fields, which have been shown to trap atoms, molecules, and nanoclusters [11][13][42]. To map the local Φ fluctuations and to correlate them with the structural properties of the surface, we use two complementary methods: The first method is

Spontaneous shape transition of Mn_xGe_1−x islands to long nanowires

• S. Javad Rezvani,
• Luc Favre,
• Gabriele Giuli,
• Yiming Wubulikasimu,
• Isabelle Berbezier,
• Augusto Marcelli,
• Luca Boarino and
• Nicola Pinto

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 366–374, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.30

• ]. Several studies have been published on manganese germanide systems, from deposited films to free-standing nanoclusters and Mn embedded in a Ge matrix, but only few works have been devoted to one-dimensional Mn–Ge systems [11][12][13][20][21][22][23][27]. Semiconducting and alloyed nanowires can be

Characterization, bio-uptake and toxicity of polymer-coated silver nanoparticles and their interaction with human peripheral blood mononuclear cells

• Sahar Pourhoseini,
• Reilly T. Enos,
• Angela E. Murphy,
• Bo Cai and
• Jamie R. Lead

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 282–294, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.23

• cytotoxicity effects of Ag nanoclusters (smaller than 2 nm) on PBMCs [25]. The concentrations of Ag tested in this study were much lower than the doses tested in previously published papers (up to 200 µg·L−1) [27][30][54]. LDH and MTS results are in agreement after exposure to PVP-AgNPs, AgNO3, and AgNO3-PVP

TiO_x/Pt₃Ti(111) surface-directed formation of electronically responsive supramolecular assemblies of tungsten oxide clusters

• Marco Moors,
• Yun An,
• Agnieszka Kuc and
• Kirill Yu. Monakhov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 203–212, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.16

• ) ternary oxide layer [19], which is based on a mixed Cu–O top layer with an alignment of Cu atoms along the [100] direction [20]. The Cu surface rows were shown to act as preferential adsorption sites for W3O9 nanoclusters. In all the above-mentioned studies, the W3O9 clusters were imaged with submolecular

• W3O9. To stabilize and utilize different charge states of the cluster outside the gas phase, we have prepared a substrate material, which, on the one hand, offers a sufficient template effect for the self-organization of the nanoclusters and, on the other hand, exhibits a rather low electronic surface

• control in ultrathin film growth is usually challenging by classical deposition methods. Conclusion We showcased the ordered growth of W3O9 nanoclusters on different ultrathin films of titanium oxide formed by a controlled oxidation of the bimetallic Pt3Ti(111) alloy surface. Depending on the

A review on the biological effects of nanomaterials on silkworm (Bombyx mori)

• Sandra Senyo Fometu,
• Guohua Wu,
• Lin Ma and
• Joan Shine Davids

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 190–202, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.15

• the resulting silk fiber with a mechanical strength of 1.07 GPa and a strain of 16.8% [170]. The effects of bovine serum albumin (BSA)-stabilized gold nanoclusters (BSA-Au NCs) at different concentrations (9.38, 1.88, 0.938, and 0.188 µg) inserted via intravascular injection in the silkworm was

The role of gold atom concentration in the formation of Cu–Au nanoparticles from the gas phase

• Yuri Ya. Gafner,
• Svetlana L. Gafner,
• Darya A. Ryzkova and
• Andrey V. Nomoev

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 72–81, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.6

• nanoparticles and on the analysis of the chemical composition of the resulting nanoclusters. The modeled region had a cubic shape with a face length of 1350 Bohr radii and contained a total of 91125 copper and gold atoms uniformly distributed in space. The initial temperature was set to Ti = 1000 K, which

• copper and gold are practically equal (Tm = 1358 K and Tm = 1337 K, respectively). However, this is no longer true in the nanoscale case. The MD modeling [21][23] showed that at an equal size (D < 10 nm), the melting temperature of copper nanoclusters is 30–40% higher than that of gold clusters, which

• heating of Cu3Au nanoclusters, typical changes called “order–disorder transition” occur in the nanocluster structure, leading to the decomposition of the initial L12 crystal structure. This leads to a transition to the FCC structure with a random atomic distribution in the long-range coordination spheres

Photothermally active nanoparticles as a promising tool for eliminating bacteria and biofilms

• Mykola Borzenkov,
• Piersandro Pallavicini,
• Angelo Taglietti,
• Laura D’Alfonso,
• Maddalena Collini and
• Giuseppe Chirico

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1134–1146, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.98

• S. aureus and E. coli. In a recent study, poly(5-(2-ethyl acrylate)-4-methylthiazole-g-butyl)/copper sulfide nanoclusters were prepared to efficiently capture and eliminate levofloxacin-resistant Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria upon NIR laser irradiation [83]. The authors demonstrated that

• the conjugated nanoclusters significantly inhibited the levofloxacin-resistant bacteria after 5 min of 980 nm NIR laser exposure (1.5 W/cm2). In another recent publication, a dual-functional nanosystem based on ultrasmall CuS nanodots (≈6 nm) was developed to heal multidrug-resistant bacteria-infected

Luminescent gold nanoclusters for bioimaging applications

• Nonappa

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 533–546, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.42

• , semiconductor quantum dots suffer from toxicity and are susceptible to oxidation. In this context, atomically precise gold nanoclusters protected by thiol monolayers have emerged as a new class of luminescent nanomaterials. Low toxicity, bioavailability, photostability as well as tunable size, composition, and

• optoelectronic properties make them suitable for bioimaging and biosensing applications. In this review, an overview of the sensing of pathogens, and of in vitro and in vivo bioimaging using luminescent gold nanoclusters along with the limitations with selected examples are discussed. Keywords: bioimaging

• ; biosensing; gold nanoclusters; immunoassay; luminescence; self-assembly; theranostics; Introduction Imaging methods play a central role in understanding the structural and functional biological processes of biomolecules, cells, tissues, organs, and even entire living organisms [1][2]. The importance of

DFT calculations of the structure and stability of copper clusters on MoS₂

• Cara-Lena Nies and
• Michael Nolan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 391–406, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.30

• adsorb atop the S atoms. Stability is driven by the number of Cu–Cu interactions and the distance between adsorption sites, with no obvious preference towards 2D or 3D structures. The introduction of a single S vacancy in the monolayer enhances the copper binding energy, although some Cun nanoclusters

• character of Cu nanoclusters is preserved. Keywords: copper (Cu); density functional theory (DFT); 2D materials; molybdenum disulfide (MoS2); thin film nucleation; Introduction Since the successful exfoliation of monolayers of graphene by Novoselov et al., 2D materials have gained a large interest in a

• (2D) and two configurations are 3D nanoclusters. For the flat adsorption structures, the four Cu atoms are adsorbed in a linear configuration, with Cu–Cu distances of around 3.2 Å, depending on the adsorption site, or in a 4-membered flat structure. In the 3D clusters, one configuration is a rhombus

Molecular architectonics of DNA for functional nanoarchitectures

• Debasis Ghosh,
• Lakshmi P. Datta and
• Thimmaiah Govindaraju

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 124–140, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.11

• pattern and extent of methylation throughout the genome. In particular, this constituted a promising sensor-free diagnostic platform for the detection of cancer. Chen and co-workers showed that the interaction of DNA with dithiothreitol (DTT)‐conjugated gold nanoclusters (Au NCs) results in the formation

Gold and silver dichroic nanocomposite in the quest for 3D printing the Lycurgus cup

• Lars Kool,
• Floris Dekker,
• Anton Bunschoten,
• Glen J. Smales,
• Brian R. Pauw,
• Aldrik H. Velders and
• Vittorio Saggiomo

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 16–23, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.2

• variations, we found that reducing silver ions at room temperature immediately followed by an addition of a polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) solution formed dichroic silver nanoparticles in minutes. The addition of the reducing agent (NaBH4) to a silver nitrate solution forms nanoclusters, and the immediate

Advanced hybrid nanomaterials

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

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2563–2567, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.247

• is the focus of an article reporting the performance of functionalized gold clusters deposited on ZrO2 nanoparticles for benzyl alcohol oxidation in [39]. Interestingly, the defunctionalized gold nanoclusters exhibit full catalytic conversion. Overall, this thematic issue clearly highlights not only

Formation of metal/semiconductor Cu–Si composite nanostructures

• Natalya V. Yumozhapova,
• Andrey V. Nomoev,
• Vyacheslav V. Syzrantsev and
• Erzhena C. Khartaeva

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2497–2504, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.240

• quasi-core–shell structure. In [23], the first results on modelling the formation of core–shell nanoclusters consisting of copper and silicon atoms in a melted state have been presented. In this paper, we have proposed novel principles of formation: 1) a core–shell structure made of a silicon/copper

• liquid alloy and 2) core–shell and Janus-like nanoparticles made of liquid silicon and copper droplets. We have presented new data on the formation of metal/semiconductor nanoclusters, such as the transition of particles from a core–shell structure to a Janus-like structure starting from the liquid state

• nanoclusters of various morphologies. Experimental Technique We used an installation based on a relativistic electron accelerator with an energy of 1.4 MeV and a current in the range of 5–25 mA as the heating source (Figure 1) to obtain composite nanoparticles. At the first step, the electron beam from the

Label-free highly sensitive probe detection with novel hierarchical SERS substrates fabricated by nanoindentation and chemical reaction methods

• Jingran Zhang,
• Tianqi Jia,
• Yongda Yan,
• Li Wang,
• Peng Miao,
• Yimin Han,
• Xinming Zhang,
• Guangfeng Shi,
• Yanquan Geng,
• Zhankun Weng,
• Daniel Laipple and
• Zuobin Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2483–2496, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.239

• internal cavities, the Raman intensity can be enhanced due to more Ag nanoparticles being generated in the pile-ups of cavities. It is indicated that Ag nanoparticles tend to form on the pile-ups of cavities for the hierarchical substrates. However, Ag nanoclusters are formed on the pile-ups of cavities

• with increase in the corrosion time in AgNO3 solution, as shown in Figure 2a,b. The Raman intensity can be enhanced further due to the formation of nanoclusters. Other scholars have already obtained similar conclusions [10][17][32]. Copper nanowires were soaked in AgNO3 solution by Wang et al. [10]. A

Multiple Fano resonances with flexible tunablity based on symmetry-breaking resonators

• Xiao bin Ren,
• Kun Ren,
• Ying Zhang,
• Cheng guo Ming and
• Qun Han

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2459–2467, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.236

• photoswitches [8]. Various structures have been designed to realize Fano resonances, including metallic nanoclusters [9][10], individual plasmonic dolmen nanocavity [11], ring/disk cavities [12][13], and metamaterials and metasurfaces [14][15][16]. In particular, as an important geometry, waveguide–cavity

Targeted therapeutic effect against the breast cancer cell line MCF-7 with a CuFe₂O₄/silica/cisplatin nanocomposite formulation

• B. Rabindran Jermy,
• Vijaya Ravinayagam,
• Widyan A. Alamoudi,
• Dana Almohazey,
• Hatim Dafalla,
• Lina Hussain Allehaibi,
• Abdulhadi Baykal,
• Muhammet S. Toprak and
• Thirunavukkarasu Somanathan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2217–2228, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.214

• dispersive X-ray (EDX) mapping analysis showed the presence of homogeneous silica particles with nanoclusters of copper ferrite distributed on the HYPS support. Vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM) analysis of CuFe2O4/HYPS showed paramagnetic behavior with a saturated magnetization value of 7.65 emu/g. DRS UV

• (Figure 4 and Supporting Information File 1, Figure S1). TEM images of HYPS at different magnifications showed the presence of monodispersed spherical silica distributed uniformly in the range of about 80 nm (Figure 4a and 4b). The presence of spinel as agglomerated nanoclusters was clearly observed over

• consistent with the TEM analysis. For the copper ferrite nanoparticles, a homogeneous mixed metal oxide formation occurs as a major proportion coexisting with Cu nanoclusters (Supporting Information File 1, Figure S1). The magnetic properties of CuFe2O4/HYPS nanocomposites were measured using VSM (Figure 5

Toxicity and safety study of silver and gold nanoparticles functionalized with cysteine and glutathione

• Barbara Pem,
• Igor M. Pongrac,
• Lea Ulm,
• Ivan Pavičić,
• Valerije Vrček,
• Darija Domazet Jurašin,
• Marija Ljubojević,
• Adela Krivohlavek and
• Ivana Vinković Vrček

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1802–1817, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.175

• Figure S7 in Supporting Information File 1). This is in accordance with recently published in vivo data on GSH-coated gold nanoclusters with promising theranostic properties [55][56]. Our GSH-AuNPs bypassed internalization by L929 cells similar to the interaction of GSH-protected Au nanoclusters with the

Structural and optical properties of penicillamine-protected gold nanocluster fractions separated by sequential size-selective fractionation

• Xiupei Yang,
• Zhengli Yang,
• Fenglin Tang,
• Jing Xu,
• Maoxue Zhang and
• Martin M. F. Choi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 955–966, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.96

• University, 224 Waterloo Road, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong SAR, China 10.3762/bjnano.10.96 Abstract Polydisperse water-soluble gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) protected by penicillamine have been synthesized in this work. The sequential size-selective precipitation (SSSP) technique has been applied for the size

• were removed from the AuNCs fractions. These results demonstrate the considerable potential of the SSSP technique for size-based separation and purification of AuNCs, achieving not only the isolation of larger nanoclusters (NCs) from small NCs in a continuous fashion, but also for the removal of small

• was investigated at room temperature. The results show that the peak emission energy of the size-selected AuNCs undergoes a blue shift when the size is decreased, which can be attributed to the quantum confinement effect. Keywords: gold nanoclusters; monolayer-protected gold nanoclusters; sequential

Thermal control of the defunctionalization of supported Au₂₅(glutathione)₁₈ catalysts for benzyl alcohol oxidation

• Zahraa Shahin,
• Hyewon Ji,
• Rodica Chiriac,
• Nadine Essayem,
• Franck Rataboul and
• Aude Demessence

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 228–237, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.21

• particle size effect on the catalytic activity. In contrast to most gold nanoclusters which have to be completely defunctionalized for maximum catalytic activity, the partially defunctionalized Au25(SG)18@ZrO2 catalyst, thermally treated at 300 °C, exhibits full conversion of benzyl alcohol within 15 h

• under atmospheric pressure with 94% selectivity towards benzaldehyde. Keywords: benzyl alcohol oxidation; glutathione; gold nanoclusters; partial defunctionalization; supported catalyst; zirconium oxide nanoparticles; Introduction Since Haruta’s discovery of the catalytic activity of gold

• GNPs is still ongoing [9][10]. Gold thiolate nanoclusters (GNCs) hold promise due to (i) their atomically well-defined structure with a precise formula, Aun(SR)m, in the range of n = 10 [11] to 279 [12], i.e., from 1 to 2.2 nm and (ii) for some of them their crystallographically solved structures [13

Wet chemistry route for the decoration of carbon nanotubes with iron oxide nanoparticles for gas sensing

• Hussam M. Elnabawy,
• Juan Casanova-Chafer,
• Badawi Anis,
• Mostafa Fedawy,
• Mattia Scardamaglia,
• Carla Bittencourt,
• Ahmed S. G. Khalil,
• Eduard Llobet and
• Xavier Vilanova

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 105–118, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.10

• the other hand, acetone and DMF had a negative effect on both the decoration distribution and particle size. As we can see in the case of acetone, the dispersion of the nanoclusters is not uniform or homogenous and some areas have high decoration density while some other areas have very low decoration

• density. Also, in the case of DMF we can notice that dispersion of the nanoclusters was better than for acetone, but still some areas have a high density of decoration in which agglomerates of large particle size are formed. According to these results, methanol was chosen as the most suitable solvent to

• nanoclusters. This is shown in Figure 9a. In addition, the nanocluster size distribution can be found in Supporting Information File 5, Figure S5. It can be concluded that the nanocluster size increases with increasing calcination time. Also, the Raman spectra for pristine CNTs along with decorated samples of

Zn/F-doped tin oxide nanoparticles synthesized by laser pyrolysis: structural and optical properties

• Florian Dumitrache,
• Iuliana P. Morjan,
• Elena Dutu,
• Ion Morjan,
• Claudiu Teodor Fleaca,
• Monica Scarisoreanu,
• Alina Ilie,
• Marius Dumitru,
• Cristian Mihailescu,
• Adriana Smarandache and
• Gabriel Prodan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 9–21, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.2

• than 1000 particles in average), thus its penetration depth exceeds the mean particle size (few tens of nanometers). Consequently, the predominant presence of F at the nanopowder surface may be evidence for the assumption that freshly formed nanoclusters have a catalytic role in the partial

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

• ]. These 3D nanoclusters follow the basic composition formula of Rn(SiO1.5)n and have a size of 1 to 3 nm in diameter when the vertex groups (R) are included. The siloxane cage in POSS provides the thermally and chemically robust framework, while the organic functionality can be chemically modified in a

Nanoantenna structures for the detection of phonons in nanocrystals

• Alexander G. Milekhin,
• Sergei A. Kuznetsov,
• Ilya A. Milekhin,
• Larisa L. Sveshnikova,
• Tatyana A. Duda,
• Ekaterina E. Rodyakina,
• Alexander V. Latyshev,
• Volodymyr M. Dzhagan and
• Dietrich R. T. Zahn

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2646–2656, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.246

• transverse optical phonons are activated in the infrared spectra. Keywords: localized surface plasmon resonance; metal nanoclusters; nanoantenna; phonons; semiconductor nanocrystals; surface-enhanced infrared absorption; Introduction Surface-enhanced infrared absorption (SEIRA) by organic species placed on

• metal films, the enhancement was found to depend on the island aspect ratio and the size of the gap between nanoclusters [9][10]. It is worth noting that SEIRA is maximized for elongated metal nanoclusters (nanorods or nanoantennas) with a high aspect ratio (length-to-width ratio) and a small gap

• between nanoclusters [11]. However, stochastical distribution of metal nanoclusters in terms of size, shape, and orientation reduces the IR enhancement and impedes the study of SEIRA regularities. Further progress was achieved with the development of nanolithography techniques which made possible the

Enhancement of X-ray emission from nanocolloidal gold suspensions under double-pulse excitation

• Wei-Hung Hsu,
• Frances Camille P. Masim,
• Armandas Balčytis,
• Hsin-Hui Huang,
• Tetsu Yonezawa,
• Aleksandr A. Kuchmizhak,
• Saulius Juodkazis and
• Koji Hatanaka

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2609–2617, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.242

• -absorption efficiency and an enhanced generation of high-energy electrons from a highly ionized plasma with high electron temperature [10][11] under intense laser irradiation. For an efficient augmentation in X-ray intensity, femtosecond (fs)-laser excitation of metal nanoparticles and nanoclusters is of

Two-dimensional photonic crystals increasing vertical light emission from Si nanocrystal-rich thin layers

• Lukáš Ondič,
• Marian Varga,
• Ivan Pelant,
• Alexander Kromka,
• Karel Hruška and
• Robert G. Elliman

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2287–2296, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.213

• have been performed alongside. Photonic crystal-based nanostructures were employed to enhance the electroluminescence of Si nanoclusters with a broad emission band in the near IR region [23] and also of the emission line of Er embedded in SiNCs at telecom wavelengths [24][25]. In 2013, we have shown