Parylene C as a versatile dielectric material for organic field-effect transistors

• Tomasz Marszalek,
• Maciej Gazicki-Lipman and
• Jacek Ulanski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1532–1545, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.155

• process, on the other hand, it results in the formation of organic polymers with high molecular weight, whereas typical products of these processes are inorganic materials of either metallic or ceramic nature. Perhaps the most unusual feature of the parylene process is the polymerization mechanism itself

• substrate. Finally, as it has been already stressed above, the polymerization reaction is initiated spontaneously and as such it requires no external initiator/catalyst. This unique feature makes the product uncontaminated with impurities influencing electrical conduction. As far as the termination of the

• reaction is concerned, there is none as long as the growing macromolecules remain under vacuum. The polymerization reaction exhibits a step-growth mechanism with second order kinetics with respect to the active radical sites [26]. Upon exposure to the atmosphere, these radical active centers (sometimes

A nanocomplex of C₆₀ fullerene with cisplatin: design, characterization and toxicity

• Svitlana Prylutska,
• Svitlana Politenkova,
• Kateryna Afanasieva,
• Volodymyr Korolovych,
• Kateryna Bogutska,
• Andriy Sivolob,
• Larysa Skivka,
• Maxim Evstigneev,
• Viktor Kostjukov,
• Yuriy Prylutskyy and
• Uwe Ritter

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1494–1501, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.149

• , USA) at ca. 37 °C. 20 µL of the mixture were used to prepare a microscope slide previously covered with 1% high-melting agarose. After agarose polymerization, the slides were placed in the lysis solution consisting of 2.5 М NaCl, 100 mM ЕDTA, 10 mM Tris-HCl (рН 7.5), and 1% Triton X-100 (Ferak

Cationic PEGylated polycaprolactone nanoparticles carrying post-operation docetaxel for glioma treatment

• Cem Varan and
• Erem Bilensoy

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1446–1456, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.144

• allow targeted drug delivery [14][15][16][17]. Polycaprolactone (PCL) is a synthetic hydrophobic polymer, which is prepared by ring opening polymerization of the monomer ε-caprolactone. It is used as a polymer in preparation of nanoparticles and other drug depot and delivery systems. Moreover, PCL is

Low uptake of silica nanoparticles in Caco-2 intestinal epithelial barriers

• Dong Ye,
• Mattia Bramini,
• Delyan R. Hristov,
• Sha Wan,
• Anna Salvati,
• Christoffer Åberg and
• Kenneth A. Dawson

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1396–1406, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.141

• for 1 h before being transferred to pure Epon and embedded at 37 °C for 2 h. The final polymerization was carried out at 65 °C for 24 h. With a reported approach [16], ultrathin sections of 80 nm, obtained with a diamond knife using an ultramicrotome Leica U6, were mounted on copper grids, and stained

Micro- and nano-surface structures based on vapor-deposited polymers

• Hsien-Yeh Chen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1366–1374, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.138

• uniformity with reduced array-to-array variation [19]. Vapor-phased plasma polymerization to prepare polyacrylic acid has also used to pattern and functionalize microfluidic devices based on wet and dry etching techniques [20]. Combining plasma polymerization and lithographical processes has also been used

• polymerization/deposition has the advantage of conformal coverage of substrates, the vapor-phase polymers are freely accessible to deposit on micro- and nano-structured surfaces, curved surfaces, confined microfluidic channels, 3D structures, and substrates with complex geometry [3][31][32]. Although an

• polymerization chamber to form a multi-phasic reactive species (monomer vapors). The copolymerization processes spontaneously occur when the multicomponent copolymer coatings form on substrates [41][46][47]. A wide range of functionalities was demonstrated: combinations of active esters, carbonyls, amino groups

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

• with modified multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were synthesized by in situ miniemulsion polymerization. The MWCNTs were pretreated by an air sonication process and stabilized by polyvinylpyrrolidone. The presence of the MWCNTs had no significant effect on the polymerization kinetics, but strongly

• ; miniemulsion polymerization; multiwalled carbon nanotubes; Introduction Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are hollow, fiber-like materials, with a diameter on the nanometer scale and a relatively long length on the micrometer scale, resulting in a very high aspect ratio material. Two types of CNTs exist, those made of

• technology (blends of latexes and CNT dispersions) [13][14][15][16][17], and in situ polymerization [8][12][18][19][20][21]. In situ polymerization can be performed in solution, bulk and in dispersed media. Polymerization in dispersed media allows a relatively easy control of the reactor temperature (which

Oxidative chemical vapor deposition of polyaniline thin films

• Yuriy Y. Smolin,
• Masoud Soroush and
• Kenneth K. S. Lau

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1266–1276, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.128

• temperature of 90 °C is needed to minimize the formation of oligomers during polymerization. Lower substrate temperatures, such as 25 °C, lead to a film that mostly includes oligomers. Increasing the oxidant flowrate to nearly match the monomer flowrate favors the deposition of PANI in the emeraldine state

• polymerization and coating technique, which has previously been used to deposit thin and ultrathin conducting polymer films, including polypyrrole, polythiophene (PTh), and poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT), without the limitations of solvent-based techniques [17]. The oCVD process provides better control

• inert carrier to help transport the oxidant and as a diluent to help control polymerization reactions. The monomer and oxidant are delivered in separate quarter-inch stainless-steel tubes to isolate the reactants prior to entering the reaction chamber and minimize polymerization and blockage in the gas

Nanotopographical control of surfaces using chemical vapor deposition processes

• Meike Koenig and
• Joerg Lahann

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1250–1256, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.126

• achieved via various vapor deposition strategies, for instance, using masks, exploiting surface properties that lead to spatially selective deposition, via the use of additional porogens or by employing oblique angle polymerization deposition. Here, we provide a concise review of these studies. Keywords

• : polymer coatings; polymer structures; structured coatings; vapor deposition polymerization; Review Introduction Polymer coatings have wide-spread applications, from electronics [1], to sensor systems [2] to biotechnology [3]. The ability to spatially control the surface properties in order to further

• deposition of poly(p-xylylenes) (PPX), as well as plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition polymerization, both of which offer many advantages over solution-based deposition methods [4]. Since no solvents are involved, no wetting problems or problems with solvent residues arise, which can potentially

Preparation of thick silica coatings on carbon fibers with fine-structured silica nanotubes induced by a self-assembly process

• Benjamin Baumgärtner,
• Hendrik Möller,
• Thomas Neumann and
• Dirk Volkmer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1145–1155, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.116

• . Experimental Preparation Synthesis of linear poly(ethylenimine). LPEI was synthesized by hydrolysis of the precursor polymer poly(2-ethyl-2-oxazoline) (PEOX, Sigma-Aldrich, average Mw = 50,000 g/mol corresponding to an average polymerization degree of ≈500, PDI ≈ 3–4), in a similar way as described elsewhere

Growth, structure and stability of sputter-deposited MoS₂ thin films

• Reinhard Kaindl,
• Bernhard C. Bayer,
• Roland Resel,
• Thomas Müller,
• Viera Skakalova,
• Gerlinde Habler,
• Rainer Abart,
• Alexey S. Cherevan,
• Dominik Eder,
• Maxime Blatter,
• Fabian Fischer,
• Jannik C. Meyer,
• Dmitry K. Polyushkin and
• Wolfgang Waldhauser

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1115–1126, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.113

• amorphous MoS2 films, deposited via simple electro-polymerization procedures, the precatalysts could be MoS3 or MoS2; the active form of the catalysts was identified as amorphous MoS2 [19]. Narrow molybdenum disulfide nanosheets with the edge-terminated structure and a significantly expanded interlayer were

Fully scalable one-pot method for the production of phosphonic graphene derivatives

• Kamila Żelechowska,
• Marta Prześniak-Welenc,
• Marcin Łapiński,
• Izabela Kondratowicz and
• Tadeusz Miruszewski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1094–1103, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.111

• phosphorylating GO and the usage of the latter as proton exchange membranes component was presented in [5]. Phosphorylated GO was synthesized via distillation–precipitation polymerization using dimethyl vinylphosphonate as monomer together with cross-linker and initiator. This approach required the introduction

Vapor-phase-synthesized fluoroacrylate polymer thin films: thermal stability and structural properties

• Paul Christian and
• Anna Maria Coclite

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 933–942, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.95

• surfaces based on perfluoroacrylates were previously prepared by initiated chemical vapor deposition (iCVD) [8]. The iCVD technique allows polymerization of the fluorinated monomers, while the chemical structure of the precursor(s) remains intact. Therefore, ultrathin (<100 nm) perfluoropolymers can be

• , it also allows the chemical structure of the monomers to be retained at high deposition rates, especially when compared with pulsed plasma deposition techniques [11]. The mechanism of polymerization by iCVD mirrors that of radical polymerization in solution [12]. An initiator molecule is thermally

• decomposed into radicals by a filament heated to 250–300 °C. The radicals of the initiator selectively react with the vinyl bonds of monomer species absorbed on the substrate, initiating the polymerization. For this, the substrate is typically held below 60 °C. Chain growth then proceeds on the substrate

Synthesis of coaxial nanotubes of polyaniline and poly(hydroxyethyl methacrylate) by oxidative/initiated chemical vapor deposition

• Alper Balkan,
• Efe Armagan and
• Gozde Ozaydin Ince

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 872–882, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.89

• applicable in different areas [7][8]. Among these, the conducting polymer (CP) nanostructures, such as nanowires, nanorods, nanotubes or nanospheres have been extensively studied through solution-based techniques, such as chemical polymerization [9][10][11] or electrochemical polymerization [12][13][14] for

• effect and surface tension. Thus, vapor-phase polymerization techniques have emerged for the deposition of conducting polymers that facilitate the fabrication of conformal polymeric structures [21][22]. Polyaniline (PANI) is one of the well-known conducting polymers with applications in supercapacitors

• purity and controlled wall thickness. Furthermore, the oxidation state of PANI could be controlled by varying the oxidant flowrate for the purpose of achieving conductive emeraldine salt. The oCVD technique is based on step-growth polymerization where the polymerization takes place directly on the

Vapor deposition routes to conformal polymer thin films

• Priya Moni,
• Ahmed Al-Obeidi and
• Karen K. Gleason

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 723–735, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.76

• -studied, conformal polymer CVD techniques: parylene CVD and initiated CVD (iCVD), with both deriving from free radical polymerization mechanisms. The four parts of this review will address reaction mechanisms of the aforementioned techniques, necessary deposition conditions for conformal film growth

• , imaging conformal polymer films, and finally applications for conformal polymer films. Reaction mechanisms Parylene CVD Parlyene CVD is a well-established, free radical polymerization technique that results in poly[p-xylene] films [13]. The reaction mechanism proceeds as shown in Figure 2a, where [2,2

• the introduction of new chemistries into the final poly[p-xylene] structure such as halogens, amines, and esters [15][16]. Initiated CVD iCVD is another free radical polymerization technique where instead of a single reactive species, a monomer and an initiating radical are needed to form the final

Methods for preparing polymer-decorated single exchange-biased magnetic nanoparticles for application in flexible polymer-based films

• Laurence Ourry,
• Delphine Toulemon,
• Souad Ammar and
• Fayna Mammeri

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 408–417, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.43

• ) or polystyrene (PS), using radical-controlled polymerization under various processing conditions. We compared the influence of the synthesis parameters on the structural and microstructural properties of the resulting hybrid systems, with special emphasis on significantly reducing their mutual

• resulting nanohybrids can be considered as valuable building blocks for flexible, magnetic polymer-based devices. Keywords: assembly; ATRP; magnetic nanoparticle; exchange-bias; films; functionalization; polymerization; poly(methyl methacrylate); polystyrene; seed-mediated growth; surface; Introduction

• grafting processes, living-radical polymerization (e.g., atom-transfer radical polymerization (ATRP), reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) or nitroxide-mediated polymerization (NMP)) makes it possible to establish robust polymer–particle bonds and then grow polymer brushes of controlled

Uptake of the proteins HTRA1 and HTRA2 by cells mediated by calcium phosphate nanoparticles

• Olga Rotan,
• Katharina N. Severin,
• Simon Pöpsel,
• Alexander Peetsch,
• Melisa Merdanovic,
• Michael Ehrmann and
• Matthias Epple

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 381–393, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.40

• in MG-63 cells with selective inhibitors (Table 1 and Figure 7). The uptake of the CaP/CMC/HTRA1-488 nanoparticles was partially inhibited by nocodazole (which inhibits the polymerization of microtubules in the cytoskeleton) and almost completely by nystatin (which inhibits caveolin-mediated

Intercalation and structural aspects of macroRAFT agents into MgAl layered double hydroxides

• Dessislava Kostadinova,
• Ana Cenacchi Pereira,
• Muriel Lansalot,
• Franck D’Agosto,
• Elodie Bourgeat-Lami,
• Fabrice Leroux,
• Christine Taviot-Guého,
• Sylvian Cadars and
• Vanessa Prevot

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 2000–2012, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.191

• hydrophilic random copolymers of acrylic acid (AA) and n-butyl acrylate (BA) with molar masses ranging from 2000 to 4200 g mol−1 synthesized by reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization, into LDH containing magnesium(II) and aluminium(III) intralayer cations and nitrates as

• inorganic LDH with the polymer matrix during the polymerization [32]. Water soluble macromolecules such as poly(vinyl alcohol), poly(acrylic acid) (PAA), poly(styrene sulfonate) were also intercalated into the layered structure to avoid the use of surfactant molecules which can alter nanocomposite

• properties [33][34]. To design polymer-intercalated LDH hybrid materials, an elegant alternative consists in performing in situ polymerization of monomer-intercalated LDH. Such approach was applied for instance to make LDH intercalated with vinyl benzene sulfonate [33][35], acrylate anion [10][36][37

Controlled supramolecular structure of guanosine monophosphate in the interlayer space of layered double hydroxide

• Gyeong-Hyeon Gwak,
• Istvan Kocsis,
• Yves-Marie Legrand,
• Mihail Barboiu and
• Jae-Min Oh

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1928–1935, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.184

• was suggested that the geometrical restriction of molecules under the confined interlayer space of inorganics would aid the polymerization of biological molecules. Mann et al. intercalated two kinds of amino acids, aspartate and glutamate, into layered double hydroxide (LDH) to synthesize bioinorganic

• nanocomposites [5]. Post-synthetic thermal treatment resulted in polymerization of amino acids in LDH. It was also reported that amino acids such as arginine and glutamate were polymerized via peptidic condensation both on the surface and in the interlayer space of clay [6]. In that literature, peptidic

• condensation of amino acids was determined to favor heteropeptide rather than homopeptide. Besides polymerization of amino acids, it was reported that abiotic oligomerization of RNA nucleotides was catalyzed by montmorillonite clay [7]. In the presence of clay, the length of polymerized RNA oligonucleotides

Facile fabrication of luminescent organic dots by thermolysis of citric acid in urea melt, and their use for cell staining and polyelectrolyte microcapsule labelling

• Nadezhda M. Zholobak,
• Anton L. Popov,
• Alexander B. Shcherbakov,
• Nelly R. Popova,
• Mykhailo M. Guzyk,
• Valeriy P. Antonovich,
• Alla V. Yegorova,
• Yuliya V. Scrypynets,
• Inna I. Leonenko,
• Alexander Ye. Baranchikov and
• Vladimir K. Ivanov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1905–1917, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.182

• precursor molecules. It was found that, aside from the polymerization reaction, a salt of citric acid and ethylenediamine forms the fluorescent molecule 5-oxo-1,2,3,5-tetrahydroimidazo[1,2-α]pyridine-77-carboxylic acid (IPCA) in a second simultaneous intramolecular reaction. The subsequent rise in

Nano- and microstructured materials for in vitro studies of the physiology of vascular cells

• Alexandra M. Greiner,
• Adria Sales,
• Hao Chen,
• Sarah A. Biela,
• Dieter Kaufmann and
• Ralf Kemkemer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1620–1641, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.155

• poured onto the surface with the desired pattern and let to polymerize. After polymerization, the replica is peeled off from the mold (Figure 4B). The lower limit of replica topographies will depend on the material used to replicate. With (PDMS), a commonly used elastomer, it was possible to replicate

• advantage of optical superresolution, with which it is possible to go below the light diffraction limit, to perform photolithography with nanometer resolution. For example, using nano-antennas it was possible, by two-photon polymerization, to produce photoresist nanodots with diameters below 30 nm [64]. In

• low protein absorption [36][162][163]. Commonly used in cell culture experiments are PAA hydrogels [50][114][115][116]. They are made of acrylamide (the monomer), bis(acrylamide) (the crosslinker molecule) and a photoinitiator, which triggers polymerization. By varying the ratio between monomer

False positives and false negatives measure less than 0.001% in labeling ssDNA with osmium tetroxide 2,2’-bipyridine

• Anastassia Kanavarioti

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1434–1446, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.135

• inter- or intra-strand dimerization and/or polymerization of the reacting nucleic acid, this was investigated possibility as follows: pGEX3’-A9 was employed, which is a 32-mer long deoxyoligo, and both aged and fresh OsBp stock solutions were used for labeling. The reactions were monitored by IE HPLC

High performance Ce-doped ZnO nanorods for sunlight-driven photocatalysis

• Bilel Chouchene,
• Tahar Ben Chaabane,
• Lavinia Balan,
• Emilien Girot,
• Kevin Mozet,
• Ghouti Medjahdi and
• Raphaël Schneider

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1338–1349, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.125

• 485 nm between the UV–visible absorption of Orange II and the oligohydroquinones originating from the O2•−-mediated polymerization of p-benzoquinone. Finally, the addition of oxalic acid used as h+ scavenger [61] (even used at the high concentration of 20 g/L) influenced less the degradation

Ammonia gas sensors based on In₂O₃/PANI hetero-nanofibers operating at room temperature

• Qingxin Nie,
• Zengyuan Pang,
• Hangyi Lu,
• Yibing Cai and
• Qufu Wei

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1312–1321, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.122

• electrospinning, and then hollow structure indium oxide (In2O3) nanofibers were obtained through calcination with PVP as template material. In situ polymerization was used to prepare indium oxide/polyaniline (In2O3/PANI) composite nanofibers with different mass ratios of In2O3 to aniline. The structure and

• [21][23][24][25][26][27]. In this paper, In2O3/PANI composite nanofibers were prepared by the combination of electrospinning technique, calcination method and in situ polymerization. This study presents the improved response capabilities of gas sensors based on In2O3/PANI composite nanofibers, which

• were synthesized with different ratios between In2O3 and aniline during the in situ polymerization. All sensors were tested at room temperature in a concentration range of NH3 from 100 to 1000 ppm. Experimental Materials Polyvinylpyrrolidone-K90 (PVP-K90, Mw = 1.3 × 106 g/mol) was purchased from Bo Di

Reasons and remedies for the agglomeration of multilayered graphene and carbon nanotubes in polymers

• Rasheed Atif and
• Fawad Inam

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1174–1196, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.109

• shown in Figure 10 [53]. Nayak et al. [118] carried out the solvent-free side-wall functionalization of SWNTs with 4-vinylaniline through atom transfer radical polymerization. Different functional groups yield varying interfacial interaction strengths with the polymer matrix [118]. MLG and CNTs can be

• grafted covalently into polymers using two main strategies: (i) “grafting from” and (ii) “grafting to” [2]. In the “grafting from” approach, initiators are initially immobilized onto the surface of the filler. The fillers are bound with desired polymer molecules by in situ polymerization. The main

• impact strength and hardness were also significantly improved by graphene in epoxy nanocomposites. For example, Ren et al. applied a combination of bath sonication, mechanical mixing, and shear mixing to disperse GO in cyanate ester–epoxy and produced nanocomposites using in situ polymerization [159

An ellipsometric approach towards the description of inhomogeneous polymer-based Langmuir layers

• Falko O. Rottke,
• Burkhard Schulz,
• Klaus Richau,
• Karl Kratz and
• Andreas Lendlein

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1156–1165, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.107

• . In the following a short summary of the methods and the characterization of the polymers are given. PPDL-D4 was synthesized by tin(II)-mediated ring-opening polymerization of ω-pentadecalactone and di(trimethylolpropane) as the core segment. For PPDL-D4 a molecular weight Mn of 5000 g·mol−1 was