The cell-type specific uptake of polymer-coated or micelle-embedded QDs and SPIOs does not provoke an acute pro-inflammatory response in the liver

• Markus Heine,
• Alexander Bartelt,
• Oliver T. Bruns,
• Denise Bargheer,
• Artur Giemsa,
• Barbara Freund,
• Ludger Scheja,
• Christian Waurisch,
• Alexander Eychmüller,
• Rudolph Reimer,
• Horst Weller,
• Peter Nielsen and
• Joerg Heeren

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1432–1440, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.155

• metals such as cadmium released from QDs or iron released from SPIOs did not acutely influence the inflammatory status of the liver. However, specific target cells can be of transient relevance and heavy metals released after QDs or SPIOs uptake may traverse through different target cell types in a time

• demonstrating effective ablation of Kupffer cells in our system (Figure 6A). Furthermore, consecutive injections of pure lipid micelles or micelles containing either QDs or SPIOs in the presence or absence of Kupffer cells had no acute influence on TNFα or Cxcl10 expression (Figure 6B, C) indicating that heavy

Direct nanoscale observations of the coupled dissolution of calcite and dolomite and the precipitation of gypsum

• Francesco G. Offeddu,
• Jordi Cama,
• Josep M. Soler and
• Christine V. Putnis

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1245–1253, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.138

• and precipitation of gypsum is relevant in environmental settings, such as the treatment of acid mine drainage (AMD), geological CO2 sequestration and monument preservation. The use of limestone (calcite) in the treatment of AMD with elevated concentrations of heavy metals and sulfate is common [1][2

Pyrite nanoparticles as a Fenton-like reagent for in situ remediation of organic pollutants

• Carolina Gil-Lozano,
• Elisabeth Losa-Adams,
• Alfonso F.-Dávila and
• Luis Gago-Duport

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 855–864, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.97

• alternative to conventional Fenton procedures for use in wastewater treatment, avoiding the potential risks caused by the release of heavy metals upon dissolution of natural pyrites. Keywords: copper phthalocyanine; Fenton-like reagent; hydrogen peroxide; nanoparticles; pyrite; Introduction There has been

Nanostructure sensitization of transition metal oxides for visible-light photocatalysis

• Hongjun Chen and
• Lianzhou Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 696–710, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.82

• dramatically improves their visible-light photocatalytic abilities. Yet, this method also has some inherent shortcomings. One drawback is that most quantum dots are composed of heavy metals like Cd and Pb, which gives rise to environmental concerns. The other one is the photoelectrochemical stability of

A nano-graphite cold cathode for an energy-efficient cathodoluminescent light source

• Alexander N. Obraztsov,
• Victor I. Kleshch and
• Elena A. Smolnikova

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 493–500, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.58

• principles of nature, the energy efficient generation of light requires the usage of extremely toxic materials (mercury, heavy metals and others). This leads to the necessity of expensive and laborious efforts to dispose of the mercury-based fluorescent devices and the semiconductor-based light emitting