Defects and defect-mediated engineering of two-dimensional materials: challenges and open questions

• Arkady V. Krasheninnikov,
• Matthias Batzill,
• Anouar-Akacha Delenda,
• Marija Drndić,
• Chris Ewels,
• Katharina J. Franke,
• Mahdi Ghorbani-Asl,
• Alexander Holleitner,
• Ado Jorio,
• Ute Kaiser,
• Daria Kieczka,
• Hannu-Pekka Komsa,
• Jani Kotakoski,
• Manuel Längle,
• David Lamprecht,
• Yun Liu,
• Steven G. Louie,
• Janina Maultzsch,
• Thomas Michely,
• Katherine Milton,
• Anna Niggas,
• Hanako Okuno,
• Joshua A. Robinson,
• Marika Schleberger,
• Bruno Schuler,
• Alexander Shluger,
• Kazu Suenaga,
• Kristian S. Thygesen,
• Richard A. Wilhelm,
• E. Harriet Åhlgren and
• Carla Bittencourt

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2026, 17, 454–488, doi:10.3762/bjnano.17.31

• has been found on S vacancies in a monolayer of MoS2 on Au(111) [146]. However, in this case, the metallic Au substrate provided not only the electron bath for screening the magnetic moment, but also enabled the electron transfer to the vacancy due to the favorable alignment of the work functions [147

• ]. Indeed, in areas where the MoS2 layer was decoupled from the metal by a Au vacancy island at the interface [148], the Kondo resonance was absent, and the spectroscopy indicated a charge-neutral state [146]. More recently, the use of STM has been extended to detect signals of electron spin resonance (ESR

First-principles study on elastic properties of Cu, (Cu_1−x,Ni_x)₃Sn and interfacial mechanical properties of (Cu_1−x,Ni_x)₃Sn/Cu in the lead-free solder joint

• Guomin Hua

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2026, 17, 428–439, doi:10.3762/bjnano.17.29

• the increase of Ni content. Moreover, using the calculated values of BV, BR, GV, and GR, the universal anisotropy index AU, developed by Ostoja-Starzewski et al., can be expressed as [30]: Because the mechanical response of crystals to external loads strongly depends on the elastic anisotropy, the

• anisotropies of Cu and (CuxNi1−x)3Sn were evaluated by the universal anisotropy index, AU, which was calculated according Equation 11. In general, for locally isotropic crystals AU = 0. As the elastic anisotropy of the crystal increases, the value of AU will increase correspondingly. As shown in Figure 2b, the

• AU of Cu is 2.77. It indicates that Cu is intrinsically anisotropic, although Cu has a FCC structure. In contrast to the anisotropy of Cu, the AU of orthorhombic Cu3Sn is 0.052. This implies that Cu3Sn is locally elastically isotropic. After Ni alloying, the AU of (Cu0.9Ni0.1)3Sn increases to 0.160

Nanoinformatics: spanning scales, systems and solutions

• Iseult Lynch,
• Diego S. T. Martinez,
• Kunal Roy and
• Georgia Melagraki

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2026, 17, 423–427, doi:10.3762/bjnano.17.28

• are challenging to experimentally measure. Using computational descriptors commonly used in nano-QSAR models, such as the potential energy of surface atoms and the water–NP surface energy, the model predicts that Pt NPs are more toxic than Au NPs, based on their surface properties, which drive

Biomimetic nanoparticles in cancer photodynamic therapy: a review of targeted delivery systems and therapeutic outcomes

• Valentina I. Gorbacheva,
• Alexey S. Grabovoy,
• Polina S. Marukhina,
• Anastasiia O. Syrocheva and
• Ekaterina P. Kolesova

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2026, 17, 396–422, doi:10.3762/bjnano.17.27

• PSs bearing conjugatable functional groups (e.g., carboxyl) onto the surface of bioinspired nanoparticles such as noble metal nanoparticles (Ag and Au). Stable ester bond formation secures the PS to the nanocarrier surface, offering hydrophilicity, biocompatibility, and enhanced biological delivery

Beam shaping techniques for pulsed laser ablation in liquids: Unlocking tunable control of nanoparticle synthesis in liquids

• Sergio Molina-Prados,
• Nadezhda M. Bulgakova,
• Alexander V. Bulgakov,
• Jesus Lancis,
• Gladys Mínguez Vega and
• Carlos Doñate-Buendia

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2026, 17, 309–342, doi:10.3762/bjnano.17.22

• presence of terbium NPs. When the fluence increases from 60 to 140 J·cm−2, the radical yield with oxidised NPs rises by over an order of magnitude [114][115]. Moreover, according to Davletshin et al., plasmonic coupling in aqueous Au nanospheres leads to enhanced local fields. This leads to a reduction via

• modification through confinement, plasma–liquid interactions, and cavitation bubbles. Dittrich et al. found that the ablation threshold for Au in air is ca. 1.9 times higher than in water [136], and Sun et al. reported a reduction from 2.22 J·cm−2 (air) to 1.02 J·cm−2 (liquid-assisted) [137]. Therefore, the

• position corresponding to the smallest ablated spot. In fact, the maximum NP productivity with a 10 mm liquid layer was achieved for dzL = +2 mm. According to Figure 5, the smallest spot found for these parameters was at dzL = +4 mm. This 2 mm difference in the lens position induces a 260 times higher Au

Fast vortex dynamics and relaxation times in NbRe-based heterostructures

• Francesco De Chiara,
• Zahra Makhdoumi Kakhaki,
• Francesco Avitabile,
• Francesco Colangelo,
• Abhishek Kumar,
• Carmine Attanasio and
• Carla Cirillo

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2026, 17, 292–302, doi:10.3762/bjnano.17.20

• analysis of Abrikosov vortex dynamics and flux-flow instabilities was performed in NbRe/Au and NbRe/Py bilayers to compare superconducting/normal metal (S/N) and superconducting/ferromagnetic (S/F) heterostructures based on the same superconducting layer. The heterostructures, fabricated by sputtering

• , were characterized through electrical transport measurements. The I–V characteristics show that, in the NbRe/Py bilayer, vortices reach higher critical velocities than those observed in the NbRe/Au structure. The analysis of the flux-flow instability within the Larkin–Ovchinnikov framework allows one

• to extract the quasiparticle energy relaxation time. For external magnetic field values for which edge barrier pinning is dominant and thermal effects are negligible, the relaxation times are about 150 ps and 24 ps for NbRe/Au and NbRe/Py bilayers, respectively. These results indicate that NbRe/Py

Advancing nanolithography: a comprehensive review of materials for local anodic oxidation with AFM

• Matteo Lorenzoni

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2026, 17, 275–291, doi:10.3762/bjnano.17.19

• graphene or boron nitride, authors of [23] have shown how reaction by-products are efficiently removed, escaping as gas (i.e., CO2 in the case of graphene). The resulting patterns exhibit excellent quality with minimal defects (Figure 3e,f). However, a potential drawback is the use of Au-coated tips under

• materials used in LAO experiments are highly doped Si or metals including W, Pt, Au, and Ir. Si-based tips are cheap but lack mechanical durability, frequently suffering from deformation or damage during imaging and patterning. Metal-coated tips all offer excellent electrical conductivity and improved

Durable antimicrobial activity of fabrics functionalized with zeolite ion-exchanged nanomaterials against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli

• Perla Sánchez-López,
• Kendra Ramirez Acosta,
• Sergio Fuentes Moyado,
• Ruben Dario Cadena-Nava and
• Elena Smolentseva

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2026, 17, 262–274, doi:10.3762/bjnano.17.18

• different components, fiber material composites, nanoscale fibers, and immersion in NPs solutions with a binder. Nanoparticles such as Ag, Au, TiO2, ZnO, Se, SiO2, CuO, and Pt are widely used for textile functionalization [25]. Common methods for incorporating Ag and Cu NPs into cotton textiles involve

Multilayered hyperbolic Au/TiO₂ nanostructures for enhancing the nonlinear response around the epsilon-near-zero point

• Fernando Arturo Araiza-Sixtos,
• Mauricio Gomez-Robles,
• Rafael Salas-Montiel and
• Raúl Rangel-Rojo

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2026, 17, 251–261, doi:10.3762/bjnano.17.17

• –dielectric Au/TiO2 structures. The samples were fabricated using Joule effect evaporation for gold and electron beam evaporation for titanium dioxide. Their structure was designed to have an epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) point at different wavelengths around 800 nm, in order to study their nonlinear response as a

• ], Ag/MgF2 [11], and Ag/Ti3O5 [12]. Gold-based systems have also been prominent, such as Au/Al2O3 [13][14][15], Au/SiO2 [16], Au/TiO2 [17], and optical filters based on Au/TiO2 multilayers [18]. Beyond classic metal–dielectric structures, research has explored ZnO/Al:ZnO [19] and doped semiconductors

• only of the input irradiance, will remain constant. We fabricated the ENZ materials at the nano’mat platform, University of Technology at Troyes, France. Using a Plassys MEB400 evaporator, we deposited TiO2 and Au layers on glass substrates without breaking vacuum. TiO2 layers were evaporated via

Gold nanoparticle-decorated reduced graphene oxide as a highly effective catalyst for the selective α,β-dehydrogenation of N-alkyl-4-piperidones

• Brenda Flore Kenyim,
• Mihir Tzalis,
• Marilyn Kaul,
• Robert Oestreich,
• Aysenur Limon,
• Chancellin Pecheu Nkepdep and
• Christoph Janiak

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2026, 17, 218–238, doi:10.3762/bjnano.17.15

• carbon (AC), and carbon black (CB), to investigate the influence of the carbon support on the catalyst performance. As stabilizing agents for the AuNPs, citrate (Cit) and the polyoxometallate [SiW9O34]10− (SiW9) were used. Among the tested catalysts, the rGO-supported ones, Au-Cit/rGO, Au-SiW9/rGO, and

• Au@SiW9/rGO exhibited the highest catalytic activity for the selective oxidation reaction despite containing the lowest gold loading. These findings highlight the exceptional performance of rGO as a support for AuNP catalysts and provide valuable insights for designing efficient Au-based systems for

• POMs, the latter trivacant species exhibits the highest Au-POM reactivity in the oxidative dehydrogenation of piperidone derivatives to the corresponding enaminones [13]. Through the oxygen atoms at its three vacant sites, SiW9 coordinates to gold metal atoms, forming strong interactions. Despite being

Quantitative estimation of nanoparticle/substrate adhesion by atomic force microscopy

• Aydan Çiçek,
• Markus Kratzer,
• Christian Teichert and
• Christian Mitterer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2026, 17, 1–14, doi:10.3762/bjnano.17.1

• are immobilized on supports like carbon-based materials or TiO2 to prevent aggregation and to maintain catalytic activity, strong adhesion is required [11]. To improve adhesion, Au NPs have been stabilized on SiO2 substrates by embedding them into an organometallic layer, effectively immobilizing the

Chiral plasmonic nanostructures fabricated with circularly polarized light

• Tian Qiao and
• Ming Lee Tang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 2245–2264, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.154

• to experimentally outline the importance of excitation wavelength in determining the resultant structural chirality and optical activity of chiral Au bipyramid (AuBP)/PbO2 nanostructures [56]. Pure metallic cPNSs constructed by CPL have also been reported [57][58][59]. This review’s primary focus are

• ) (Figure 3a). In a typical experimental setup, AuNRs were immobilized on tens of nanometer thick TiO2 films deposited on glass. (A similar setup is shown in Figure 3d left panel for Au bipyramids (AuBPs)) Under CPL illumination, hot carriers were generated in Au. The hot electrons are diverted to the TiO2

• the PbO2 photodeposits adopts the chirality of the EM field distribution. The Tatstuma group also produced chiral Au nanocube/PbO2 and chiral Au nanotriangle (AuNT)/PbO2 heterostructures using the same strategy [90][91] (Figure 3b,c). The chiral AuNR/PbO2, Au nanocube/PbO2, and AuNT/PbO2

Optical bio/chemical sensors for vitamin B₁₂ analysis in food and pharmaceuticals: state of the art, challenges, and future outlooks

• Seyed Mohammad Taghi Gharibzahedi and
• Zeynep Altintas

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 2207–2244, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.153

Ultrathin water layers on mannosylated gold nanoparticles

• Maiara A. Iriarte Alonso,
• Jorge H. Melillo,
• Silvina Cerveny,
• Yujin Tong and
• Alexander M. Bittner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 2183–2198, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.151

• , the background VSFG signal is diminished. The frequency only slightly shifts from that of CH2 groups in alkyl and PEG chains. The dip-like features should be due to the interference effect between the resonant and the non-resonant signal. The different features of PEG-Au and dimanno-Au may be due

• silicon probes with a 1 nm carbon spike (k = 5 N/m, f = 160 kHz, Hi’Res C14/Cr Au, MikroMasch). These conditions are referred to as “hydrophobic conditions”. The samples were incubated on the hydrophilic or hydrophobic surfaces, and AFM topography images were taken under humidity-controlled atmospheres at

Electron transport through nanoscale multilayer graphene and hexagonal boron nitride junctions

• Aleksandar Staykov and
• Takaya Fujisaki

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 2132–2143, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.147

• the c-direction was selected to be 150 k-points per angstrom. Benchmark tests were performed using the NEGF method with Au electrodes instead of Pt, and the Heyd–Scuseria–Ernzerhof 2006 screened hybrid functional (HSE06) instead of PBE. The results obtained from those benchmark simulations showed

Laser ablation in liquids for shape-tailored synthesis of nanomaterials: status and challenges

• Natalie Tarasenka

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 1963–1997, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.137

• enlarged aggregates were observed. The changes in the structure were observed even at slightly elevated temperatures (35 °C), which indicates high sensitivity of the growth mechanisms to temperature increase. A similar effect has been shown by Haram et al. in [47], who observed formation of Ag and Au

• to be quite versatile and applied to the nanosecond laser synthesis of nanowires of various metals including noble (Au [48][49], Cu [49]), alkali, and alkali-earth metals (Rb [49], Cs [49], Ba [49]) as well as refractory metals (Nb [50], W [50], Re [50] and Mo [50]). Upon interaction with a high

• wavelength. Therefore, the variation of the incident laser beam wavelength can be used to direct the process of modification either to the pathway of size modification or re-shaping route. In [76] the formation of Au nanowires was only observed at laser wavelengths of 355 and 532 nm, while a 1064 nm laser

Low-temperature AFM with a microwave cavity optomechanical transducer

• Ermes Scarano,
• Elisabet K. Arvidsson,
• August K. Roos,
• Erik Holmgren,
• Riccardo Borgani,
• Mats O. Tholén and
• David B. Haviland

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 1873–1882, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.130

• . Figure 5d–f shows the effect of the measurement bandwidth on a single scan line. Finally, we tested the lateral resolution of our microscope by imaging a less trivial structure. We fabricated a second test sample by etching a pattern from the top Ti layer of a Ti(10 nm)/Au(5 nm)/Ti(5 nm) film deposited

Self-assembly and adhesive properties of Pollicipes pollicipes barnacle cement protein cp19k: influence of pH and ionic strength

• Shrutika Sawant,
• Anne Marie Power and
• J. Gerard Wall

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 1863–1872, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.129

• 20000× magnification are shown. The scale bar represents 600 nm. ThT assay analysis of rPolcp19k-his protein samples incubated for 0 and 21 days in the indicated buffers. Assay results are presented in arbitrary units (AU) of fluorescence and as mean ± standard deviation; n = 3. Analysis of adhesion of

Laser processing in liquids: insights into nanocolloid generation and thin film integration for energy, photonic, and sensing applications

• Akshana Parameswaran Sreekala,
• Pooja Raveendran Nair,
• Jithin Kundalam Kadavath,
• Bindu Krishnan,
• David Avellaneda Avellaneda,
• M. R. Anantharaman and
• Sadasivan Shaji

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 1428–1498, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.104

• medium characteristics (e.g., chemical composition and viscosity) influence the size, morphology, and surface properties of the Au NPs, which, in turn, determine their performance. The effect of solvents on morphology of generated NPs in laser ablation is shown in Figure 2. While PLAL offers a rich

• photoelectron ejection induced by laser shots, which leaves positive charges on the surface [35][36]. These surface charges cause electrostatic repulsion between different parts of the material, leading to fragmentation and the formation of smaller particles. The study on Au NP fragmentation [37] highlights the

• significance of photon-assisted transitions in fragmentation processes, particularly when interacting with the second and third harmonics of a picosecond Nd:YAG laser. Although the temperature of the Au NPs exceeded the evaporation threshold, the results suggest that heating alone was not the primary cause of

Parylene-coated platinum nanowire electrodes for biomolecular sensing applications

• Chao Liu,
• Peker Milas,
• Michael G. Spencer and
• Birol Ozturk

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 1392–1400, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.101

• inappropriate for some applications [13][14][15]. Among various manufacturing techniques, directed electrochemical nanowire assembly (DENA) stands out as a one-step method that enables rapid and tunable fabrication of crystalline metal nanowires [16][17]. In the DENA method, AC power and a metal salt (e.g., Au

Automated collection and categorisation of STM images and STS spectra with and without machine learning

• Dylan Stewart Barker and
• Adam Sweetman

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 1367–1379, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.99

• deterministic methods (DM) using a prototypical tin phthalocyanine on Au(111) system at 4.7 K. We find that both ML and DM are able to classify images and spectra with high accuracy, with only a small amount of prior surface knowledge. We highlight the practical advantage of DM not requiring large training

• characteristic feature corresponding to the surface state, which appears as a step function around a specific bias value, which for the Au(111) surface appears at around −0.48 V [13][14]. One notable attempt to automate this classification using machine learning (ML) was carried out by Wang et al. [15]. This

• work aimed to classify the state of a STM tip based on STS measurements of the Au(111) surface. Using a total of 1789 archived spectra, a ML model was trained which aimed to classify new spectra into one of five categories, based on the similarity of each the spectrum to an idealised surface state

Enhancing the therapeutical potential of metalloantibiotics using nano-based delivery systems

• Alejandro Llamedo,
• Marina Cano,
• Raquel G. Soengas and
• Francisco J. García-Alonso

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 1350–1366, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.98

• S. aureus, E. faecium, E. faecalis, and M. tuberculosis. In order to achieve a sustained release of auranofin to the infection site and improve the treatment efficacy, Díez-Martínez et al. investigated the encapsulation of this Au(I) complex in poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) nanoparticles and

• the antibacterial efficacy of the resulting formulation against the Gram-positive pathogens S. pneumoniae and S. pyogenes [111]. Auranofin-PLGA NPs exhibited a strong bactericidal effect, effectively sterilizing multiresistant pneumococcal strains at a Au(I) concentration of just 0.25 μM. This potent

• , bioavailability, and therapeutic effectiveness [112]. The resulting Au-loaded BCMs exhibited a high loading efficiency and uniform size and displayed improved activity against S. aureus and C. glabrata compared to the free gold metallodrug. Also, our group described a novel lipoformulation encapsulating the gold

Better together: biomimetic nanomedicines for high performance tumor therapy

• Imran Shair Mohammad,
• Gizem Kursunluoglu,
• Anup Kumar Patel,
• Hafiz Muhammad Ishaq,
• Cansu Umran Tunc,
• Dilek Kanarya,
• Mubashar Rehman,
• Omer Aydin and
• Yin Lifang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 1246–1276, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.92

• surface acts as scaffold for synthesis of nanoparticles [76]. The thiol groups are protonated at neutral pH and can entrap Au(III) ions. When the pH is changed to basic (≈12), Au(III) is reduced to Au and gold nanoparticles are formed [77]. Synthesis of albumin-templated nanomaterials depends upon many

Crystalline and amorphous structure selectivity of ignoble high-entropy alloy nanoparticles during laser ablation in organic liquids is set by pulse duration

• Robert Stuckert,
• Felix Pohl,
• Oleg Prymak,
• Ulrich Schürmann,
• Christoph Rehbock,
• Lorenz Kienle and
• Stephan Barcikowski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 1141–1159, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.84

• for ps-LAL HEA NPs and PDI = 0.12 for ns-LAL HEA NPs) is evident. Due to fundamental differences in the particle formation mechanisms during ps- and ns-LAL as proposed by Shih et al., ps-LAL has been reported to yield bimodal size distributions (at least of Ag and Au at high fluences) [82], which may

Towards a quantitative theory for transmission X-ray microscopy

• James G. McNally,
• Christoph Pratsch,
• Stephan Werner,
• Stefan Rehbein,
• Andrew Gibbs,
• Jihao Wang,
• Thomas Lunkenbein,
• Peter Guttmann and
• Gerd Schneider

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 1113–1128, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.82

• crystalline order extended over the full particle. Fourier transform of a sub-region of this image yielded a lattice spacing for Au(111) of 0.236 nm, close to the nominal value of 0.235 nm (Supporting Information File 1, Section S13, Figure S12b). Finally, an energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy analysis