Organoclay hybrid materials as precursors of porous ZnO/silica-clay heterostructures for photocatalytic applications

• Marwa Akkari,
• Pilar Aranda,
• Abdessalem Ben Haj Amara and
• Eduardo Ruiz-Hitzky

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1971–1982, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.188

• in the preparation of the CTA-clay derivatives. Ultra-pure deionized water (18.2 MΩ·cm) was produced in an Elga Maxima Ultra-Pure Water system). Methanol and 2-propanol (Fluka, p.a.) were used as solvents or reactants. Zinc(II) acetate dihydrate (CH3COO)2Zn·2H2O and KOH were purchased from Merck

Chitosan-based nanoparticles for improved anticancer efficacy and bioavailability of mifepristone

• Huijuan Zhang,
• Fuqiang Wu,
• Yazhen Li,
• Xiping Yang,
• Jiamei Huang,
• Tingting Lv,
• Yingying Zhang,
• Jianzhong Chen,
• Haijun Chen,
• Yu Gao,
• Guannan Liu and
• Lee Jia

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1861–1870, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.178

• 100 μL of methanol–water solution (50:50 v/v) followed by vortex-mixing for 3 min and then centrifuged at 15,000 rpm for 10 min. Afterwards, a 4 μL aliquot of the supernatant was injected into the chromatographic systems for analysis. Quantification The MIF concentration in plasma was determined using

• LC-MS/MS analysis according to the method reported earlier by Chen et al. [37] with slight modifications. Liquid chromatography was performed on an ACQUITY UPLC system using a BEH C18 column (50 mm × 2.1 mm, 1.7 μm, Waters Corporation, USA). The mobile phase solution was composed of methanol (A) and

Nanostructured TiO₂-based gas sensors with enhanced sensitivity to reducing gases

• Wojciech Maziarz,
• Anna Kusior and
• Anita Trenczek-Zajac

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1718–1726, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.164

• as H2 [7], NO2 [8], NOx [9], CO [10], NH3 [11], H2S [12], and VOCs (i.e., methanol, ethanol, propanol [13], and acetone [14]). The influence of effective surface area on the gas sensing properties of TiO2 thin films is also frequently observed and investigated [15]. TiO2 is a wide-band gap

Sb₂S₃ grown by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis and its application in a hybrid solar cell

• Erki Kärber,
• Atanas Katerski,
• Ilona Oja Acik,
• Arvo Mere,
• Valdek Mikli and
• Malle Krunks

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1662–1673, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.158

• films whereas films prepared from non-aqueous solvents have been reported as polycrystalline [22][24]. So far, we have shown that for growing Sb2S3 by pneumatic CSP the use of SbCl3 and thiourea (tu) precursors with an SbCl3/tu molar ratio of 1:3 dissolved in methanol and sprayed on substrate at a

• glove box with controlled humidity (less than 14 ppm). The solution contained SbCl3 (with Sb3+ concentration of 15 mmol/L) and SC(NH2)2 precursors at a molar ratio of 1:x (x = 2, 3, 6, 9) in methanol as the solvent. SbCl3 was purchased from Sigma-Aldrich (≥99.0%, p.a.) and SC(NH2)2 from Merck (≥99.0

• ) form the Sb(tu)2Cl3 complex compound in methanol and undergo thermal decomposition slightly above 200 °C according to a TG-DTA study [69]. This is characteristic for different metal chloride–thiourea complexes such as In(tu)3Cl3 [25][70], Sn(tu)2Cl2 [28] and CuCl–tu complexes with different

Influence of hydrothermal synthesis parameters on the properties of hydroxyapatite nanoparticles

• Sylwia Kuśnieruk,
• Jacek Wojnarowicz,
• Agnieszka Chodara,
• Tadeusz Chudoba,
• Stanislaw Gierlotka and
• Witold Lojkowski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1586–1601, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.153

• electron microscopy (TEM) (JEM2000EX; JEOL, Tokyo, Japan). The TEM, high-resolution TEM, and selected area electron diffraction tests were conducted at 200 kV. The samples for the TEM observations were prepared by dropping the methanol particle dispersion, created by an ultrasonic technique, on a carbon

Development of adsorptive membranes by confinement of activated biochar into electrospun nanofibers

• Mehrdad Taheran,
• Mitra Naghdi,
• Satinder K. Brar,
• Emile Knystautas,
• Mausam Verma,
• Rao. Y. Surampalli and
• Jose. R. Valero

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1556–1563, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.149

• electrospinning continued for 12 h and the deposited mats were soaked in methanol for 60 min to remove residual solvents. The soaked mats were washed with distilled water several times and dried for 10 h at 50 ± 1 °C. To determine the amount of residual solvent, samples for thermogravimetric analysis were not

• subjected to methanol and heat treatment. Characterization of fabricated NFMs The surface morphology of the fabricated membranes was examined using a JSM-840A (JEOL, Japan) scanning electron microscope (SEM) at an acceleration voltage of 10 kV. For this analysis, small amounts of the samples were coated

• . Also the entrapment of biochar particles among fibers was perfect since after washing several times with methanol, no leaching was observed visually. The distribution of the fiber diameter was analyzed using Image-J software with Diameter-J module and the average diameters are listed in Table 1

Dealloying of gold–copper alloy nanowires: From hillocks to ring-shaped nanopores

• Adrien Chauvin,
• Cyril Delacôte,
• Mohammed Boujtita,
• Benoit Angleraud,
• Junjun Ding,
• Chang-Hwan Choi,
• Pierre-Yves Tessier and
• Abdel-Aziz El Mel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1361–1367, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.127

• electrolytic solution, dipped in distilled water and then rinsed with methanol. Characterization The SEM images were recorded using a JEOL JSM 7600 F microscope operating at 5 kV. The AFM images were recorded using a NanoWizard 3 from JPK instruments. TEM imaging was performed on a Hitachi H9000-NAR microscope

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

• selectivity of In2O3/PANI-2 nanofibers sensor. Figure 8 shows the dynamic response of In2O3/PANI-2 nanofibers sensor to methanol, ethanol, acetone and ammonia at a concentration of 1000 ppm. It is obvious that the In2O3/PANI-2 nanofibers sensor was almost insensitive to methanol, ethanol and acetone vapors

• to NH3 vapor at room temperature, and this sensor was further investigated for its selectivity by interfering with methanol, ethanol and acetone vapors. The results indicated that the In2O3/PANI-2 nanofiber sensor had excellent selectivity, good repeatability and reversibility. The enhancement of gas

• methanol, ethanol, acetone and ammonia. Sensing repeatability and reversibility of In2O3/PANI-2 nanofibers sensor to 1000 ppm NH3 vapor. Schematic of p–n junction of In2O3/PANI nanofibers and its potential energy barrier change when exposed to NH3.

Preparation of alginate–chitosan–cyclodextrin micro- and nanoparticles loaded with anti-tuberculosis compounds

• Albert Ivancic,
• Fliur Macaev,
• Fatma Aksakal,
• Veaceslav Boldescu,
• Serghei Pogrebnoi and
• Gheorghe Duca

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1208–1218, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.112

• -(2,4-dichlorophenyl)-2-[(2,6-dichlorophenyl)methoxy]ethyl]-1H-imidazole mononitrate, Figure 1, compound 2) is a white to light yellow powder soluble in methanol, dimethyl sulfoxide, slightly soluble in ethanol and hardly soluble in water. ISN has antifungal activity and is used to treat dermatophytosis

The influence of phthalocyanine aggregation in complexes with CdSe/ZnS quantum dots on the photophysical properties of the complexes

• Irina V. Martynenko,
• Anna O. Orlova,
• Vladimir G. Maslov,
• Anatoly V. Fedorov,
• Kevin Berwick and
• Alexander V. Baranov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1018–1027, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.94

• aqueous solution PcSz is a mixture of phthalocyanine molecules with a different number of negative charges. Paper chromatography was used in order to obtain phthalocyanine mixtures enriched in either tetrasulfopthalocyanine (PcS4) or disulfopthalocyanine (PcS2) [43]. Toluene, methanol, trioctylphosphine

Dielectrophoresis of gold nanoparticles conjugated to DNA origami structures

• Anja Henning-Knechtel,
• Matthew Wiens,
• Mathias Lakatos,
• Andreas Heerwig,
• Frieder Ostermaier,
• Nora Haufe and
• Michael Mertig

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 948–956, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.87

• 30 min and the supernatant carefully removed. The remaining pellet was resuspended in a mixture of 100 µL of 2.5 mM BSPP and 100 µL of methanol. The solution was once more spun down to dissolve the pellet in 2.5 mM BSPP. The gold nanoparticles were further modified with oligonucleotides that included

Large-scale fabrication of achiral plasmonic metamaterials with giant chiroptical response

• Morten Slyngborg,
• Yao-Chung Tsao and
• Peter Fojan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 914–925, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.83

• -etching system. Al foils (99.98%, Advent Research Materials Ltd. AL103310) were used as substrates after cleaning in an ultrasonic bath with a sequence of acetone, deionized water and methanol for 1 min each. In total three types of molds were prepared with different interpore distances: 300, 430 and 600

Reconstitution of the membrane protein OmpF into biomimetic block copolymer–phospholipid hybrid membranes

• Matthias Bieligmeyer,
• Franjo Artukovic,
• Stephan Nussberger,
• Thomas Hirth,
• Thomas Schiestel and
• Michaela Müller

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 881–892, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.80

• . After 3 h, the desired volume of purified ethylene oxide at −110 °C is distilled to the reaction mixture and polymerization of the second block is carried out at room temperature over night. Active chains are deactivated by adding a degassed 1:1 mixture of acetic acid and methanol via a syringe. After

Efficient electron-induced removal of oxalate ions and formation of copper nanoparticles from copper(II) oxalate precursor layers

• Kai Rückriem,
• Sarah Grotheer,
• Henning Vieker,
• Paul Penner,
• André Beyer,
• Armin Gölzhäuser and
• Petra Swiderek

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 852–861, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.77

• chemisorbed species, two possibilities arise. The first is a dissociative adsorption of CO2 on the copper nanoparticles that are formed under electron exposure. This process is important for the chemical understanding of the industrial methanol synthesis with Cu–ZnO–Al2O3 catalysts [48] and has been observed

Assembling semiconducting molecules by covalent attachment to a lamellar crystalline polymer substrate

• Rainhard Machatschek,
• Patrick Ortmann,
• Renate Reiter,
• Stefan Mecking and
• Günter Reiter

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 784–798, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.70

• process [7][11], we refrained from adding surfactants as we wanted to avoid to have surfactant molecules included in the monolayers transferred onto a solid substrate. Accordingly, we spread CPE45 nanocrystals from a 1:1 methanol–water dispersion onto a water surface at pH 11. After Langmuir–Schäfer

• equal parts with methanol and filtered through a 220 nm pore size Teflon membrane filter in order to remove precipitated nanocrystal aggregates. A micropipette was used to apply the dispersion to the surface of an aqueous solution of potassium hydroxide at pH 11, contained in a Teflon beaker (h = 24 mm

• dispersion was diluted with methanol in a ratio of 1:1 or 1:3. These diluted dispersions were spread on a Langmuir trough. The inset of the trough was milled from a solid block of Teflon. It was filled with an aqueous solution of potassium hydroxide at pH 12. On basis of the DLVO theory, we estimated that

Selective photocatalytic reduction of CO₂ to methanol in CuO-loaded NaTaO₃ nanocubes in isopropanol

• Tianyu Xiang,
• Feng Xin,
• Jingshuai Chen,
• Yuwen Wang,
• Xiaohong Yin and
• Xiao Shao

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 776–783, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.69

• photocatalysts were characterized by XRD, SEM, UV–vis, EDS and XPS and used to photocatalytically reduce CO2 in isopropanol. This worked to both absorb CO2 and as a sacrificial reagent to harvest CO2 and donate electrons. Methanol and acetone were generated as the reduction product of CO2 and the oxidation

• product of isopropanol, respectively. NaTaO3 nanocubes loaded with 2 wt % CuO and synthesized in 2 mol/L NaOH solution showed the best activity. The methanol and acetone yields were 137.48 μmol/(g·h) and 335.93 μmol/(g·h), respectively, after 6 h of irradiation. Such high activity could be attributed to

• the good crystallinity, morphology and proper amount of CuO loading, which functioned as reductive sites for selective formation of methanol. The reaction mechanism was also proposed and explained by band theory. Keywords: CO2 reduction; CuO loading; isopropanol; NaTaO3 nanocubes; photocatalysis

Influence of calcium on ceramide-1-phosphate monolayers

• Joana S. L. Oliveira,
• Gerald Brezesinski,
• Alexandra Hill and
• Arne Gericke

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 236–245, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.22

• ) was purchased from Matreya, LLC (PA, USA). EDTA (≥99.4%), NaCl (≥99.5%), NaOH (≥99.5%), CaCl2 (≥99%) and HCl were purchased from Sigma Aldrich GmbH (Taufkirchen, Germany). Chloroform (≥99.9%) and citric acid monohydrate (≥99.5%) were purchased from Carl Roth GmbH (Karlsruhe, Germany) and methanol

• experiments, Milli-Q Millipore water with a specific resistance of 18.2 MΩ·cm and pH approx. 6.2 was used. Monolayer experiments For monolayer experiments, a stock solution with a concentration of around 1 mM of C1P was prepared in a chloroform/methanol/0.5 N HCl (2:0.9:0.1 v/v) mixture, and vortexed until

Chemical bath deposition of textured and compact zinc oxide thin films on vinyl-terminated polystyrene brushes

• Nina J. Blumenstein,
• Caroline G. Hofmeister,
• Peter Lindemann,
• Cheng Huang,
• Johannes Baier,
• Andreas Leineweber,
• Stefan Walheim,
• Christof Wöll,
• Thomas Schimmel and
• Joachim Bill

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 102–110, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.12

• charge of the SiOx is highly negative whereas under the same conditions, the PS brush is much less negatively charged. It is noteworthy that the reaction takes place in methanol instead of water. For mixtures of water and alcohol it is known, that the ζ-potential is decreasing with higher alcohol content

• [38]. This could lead to a smaller difference in the ζ-potential of the SiOx and PS brush in methanol as compared to the results in water. Water contact angle (WCA) measurements confirm the findings of the ζ-potential measurements. The SiOx surface exhibits a high hydrophilicity with a WCA below 4

• molecule is split into two parts. The smaller part R2 with the ester group is soluble in methanol, whereas the longer chain R1 remains insoluble. Due to the washing steps during modification, the smaller molecules are removed from the reaction vessel. Therefore, the number of ester groups present in the

Chemiresistive/SERS dual sensor based on densely packed gold nanoparticles

• Sanda Boca,
• Cosmin Leordean,
• Simion Astilean and
• Cosmin Farcau

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2498–2503, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.259

•  3a. The electrically connected IDE with assembled Au NPs is immersed in a methanol (MeOH) bath, by taking care to leave the two electrode tracks outside of the liquid. Since the Au NPs are dispersable in water, the exposure to alcohol does not damage markedly the assembled film. Upon immersion of the

• solvent environment; at the same time it could indicate small disturbances in the microscopic NP arrangement, induced by the solvent. Subsequently, the analyte (here MBA in methanol solution) is pipetted (one drop) into the methanol bath (the final MBA solution concentration is 10−5 M). Again, the

• 1182 and 1487 cm−1, can also be observed, which were present in the spectrum measured before MBA exposure, due to folic acid molecules. Note that a flat gold film deposited by thermal evaporation did not exhibit any visible Raman bands, under the same experimental conditions (exposure to methanol, MBA

Green and energy-efficient methods for the production of metallic nanoparticles

• Mitra Naghdi,
• Mehrdad Taheran,
• Satinder K. Brar,
• M. Verma,
• R. Y. Surampalli and
• J. R. Valero

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2354–2376, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.243

• ), amine (–NH) and aliphatic C–H involved in the capping of the NPs [42]. In another study, they extracted the stem bark of Callicarpa maingayi into a methanol/water solution to use it as reducing and stabilizing agent. This time, Ag NPs were spherical with the average diameter of 12.40 nm and same

Surfactant-controlled composition and crystal structure of manganese(II) sulfide nanocrystals prepared by solvothermal synthesis

• Elena Capetti,
• Anna M. Ferretti,
• Vladimiro Dal Santo and
• Alessandro Ponti

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2319–2329, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.238

• pentahydrate (4.55 g, 50 mmol) and stearic acid (14.2 g, 50 mmol) in methanol (175 mL) was prepared and stirred under argon for 1 h at room temperature. Then, the mixture was cooled to 0 °C using an ice bath and a solution of anhydrous MnCl2 (3.15 g, 25 mmol) in methanol (100 mL) was slowly added. A white

• precipitate immediately formed, which was collected by filtration using a Buchner funnel previously cooled to −20 °C and washed with cold methanol (3 times, 10 mL). Drying under vacuum (p ≈ 10−2 torr) for 6 h gave MnSt2 as a white powder. The average yield was ≈50%. IR (KBr), ν (cm−1): 2955, 2917, 2849, 1552

Nanostructured superhydrophobic films synthesized by electrodeposition of fluorinated polyindoles

• Gabriela Ramos Chagas,
• Thierry Darmanin and
• Frédéric Guittard

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2078–2087, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.212

• solution was stirred at room temperature for 24 h. The crude product was purified by column chromatography (stationary phase: silica gel; eluent: chloroform/methanol 95:5). N-((1H-Indol-4-yl)methyl)-4,4,5,5,6,6,7,7,8,8,9,9,10,10,11,11,11-heptadecafluoroundecanamide (Indole-4-F8): Yield 15%; yellow solid

Comprehensive characterization and understanding of micro-fuel cells operating at high methanol concentrations

• Aldo S. Gago,
• Juan-Pablo Esquivel,
• Neus Sabaté,
• Joaquín Santander and
• Nicolas Alonso-Vante

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2000–2006, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.203

• .6.203 Abstract We report on the analysis of the performance of each electrode of an air-breathing passive micro-direct methanol fuel cell (µDMFC) during polarization, stabilization and discharge, with CH3OH (2–20 M). A reference electrode with a microcapillary was used for separately measuring the anode

• crossover; methanol; micro-fabrication; passive direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC); reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE); Introduction In recent years micro-fabricated fuel cells such as passive micro-direct methanol fuel cells (µDMFC) have been proposed as promising systems for powering portable devices [1

• CH3OH. The Pt–Ru-based anode is the most active binary electrocatalyst for DMFCs. The high activity of Pt–Ru for methanol oxidation has been attributed to both a bifunctional mechanism [24] and a ligand (electronic) effect [25]. The bifunctional mechanism of Pt and Ru involves the adsorption of oxygen

Optimized design of a nanostructured SPCE-based multipurpose biosensing platform formed by ferrocene-tethered electrochemically-deposited cauliflower-shaped gold nanoparticles

• Wicem Argoubi,
• Maroua Saadaoui,
• Sami Ben Aoun and
• Noureddine Raouafi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1840–1852, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.187

• ferrocene methanol using DCC as a condensing agent according to previously published reports [15][27]. Immunosensor preparation It is well known that gold has a high affinity toward sulfur-terminated compounds [28]. Several experiments showed that gold nanostructured electrodes should be incubated for at

Heterometal nanoparticles from Ru-based molecular clusters covalently anchored onto functionalized carbon nanotubes and nanofibers

• Deborah Vidick,
• Xiaoxing Ke,
• Michel Devillers,
• Claude Poleunis,
• Arnaud Delcorte,
• Pietro Moggi,
• Gustaaf Van Tendeloo and
• Sophie Hermans

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1287–1297, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.133

• (CNF)) are well suited as anodes for direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC) [6][7][8][9], which hold much prospect as a portable energy source for mobile devices. The electrocatalytic activity of Pt–Ru/CNF [7] or Pt–Ru/MWNT [10] composite electrodes for methanol oxidation is found to be better than that of

• /nanocarbon composites could find application in heterogeneous catalysis or as anodes for direct methanol fuel cells. After promotion with Cs, we showed that our Ru/C nanocomposites are indeed active in ammonia synthesis under very mild conditions. Experimental The experimental strategy was, in general, very