Needs and challenges for assessing the environmental impacts of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs)

• Michelle Romero-Franco,
• Hilary A. Godwin,
• Muhammad Bilal and
• Yoram Cohen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 989–1014, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.101

• easily aggregated, of providing qualitative metrics for ENM ranking (e.g., “most-least” favorable) [32]. The SMAA-TRI approach has been demonstrated for ranking of C60, multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), CdSe, Ag nanoparticles (NP), and Al NP according to the following scales: size (quantitative

• , the authors followed the scoring with a Monte-Carlo simulation to sample from a given probability distribution for each parameter to arrive at probabilities for the ranked ENMs for each of the categories. Such analysis suggested that CdSe was of greatest concern among the analyzed ENMs, ranking in the

α-((4-Cyanobenzoyl)oxy)-ω-methyl poly(ethylene glycol): a new stabilizer for silver nanoparticles

• Jana Lutze,
• Miguel A. Bañares,
• Marcos Pita,
• Andrea Haase,
• Andreas Luch and
• Andreas Taubert

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 627–635, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.67

• , Zhang et al. [25] demonstrated the passivating effect of a PEG/silica hybrid coating on CdSe quantum dots. Thus, there is a growing interest in PEG-based stabilizers for a large variety of applications including catalysis, diagnostics, biology or biomedicine. There are numerous examples in which the

Performance of colloidal CdS sensitized solar cells with ZnO nanorods/nanoparticles

• Anurag Roy,
• Partha Pratim Das,
• Mukta Tathavadekar,
• Sumita Das and
• Parukuttyamma Sujatha Devi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 210–221, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.23

• electrons. Commonly used dye molecules are Ru-based N719 and N3. However, recently, chalcogenide semiconductors such as CdS, InP, CdSe, PbS, CdSe, Sb2S3 have been explored for replacing the sensitizers in DSSC [1][2][3][4]. Thus, there has been a renewed interest in the area of DSSC, resulting in the

Photocurrent generation in carbon nanotube/cubic-phase HfO₂ nanoparticle hybrid nanocomposites

• Protima Rauwel,
• Augustinas Galeckas,
• Martin Salumaa,
• Frédérique Ducroquet and
• Erwan Rauwel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1075–1085, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.101

• attached nanoparticles. Indeed, the nanotubes are known to induce optical quenching due to charge transfer from the nanoparticle to the CNT [49][50][51]. This charge transfer within conjugate species and CNTs usually occurs in the excited state [52]. In the reported case of CdSe/ZnS attached to CNTs, the

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

• Technology, Dublin 8, Ireland 10.3762/bjnano.7.94 Abstract The formation of nonluminescent aggregates of aluminium sulfonated phthalocyanine in complexes with CdSe/ZnS quantum dots causes a decrease of the intracomplex energy transfer efficiency with increasing phthalocyanine concentration. This was

• , these tetrapyrrole molecules seem to be the best candidates for researching the influence of aggregation on the FRET efficiency in the QD–molecule complexes. In this work, we investigate nonconjugated complexes of sulfonated hydroxyaluminium phthalocyanines (PcSz) molecules with CdSe/ZnS QDs in an

• QDs results in a significant increase in efficiency of FRET between QDs and monomeric molecules. Results and Discussion QD–phthalocyanine complex formation Water soluble CdSe/ZnS quantum dots capped with 2-(dimethylamino)ethanethiol (DMAET) with a core diameter of 5 nm [35] were used in the study. UV

Highly compact refractive index sensor based on stripe waveguides for lab-on-a-chip sensing applications

• Chamanei Perera,
• Kristy Vernon,
• Elliot Cheng,
• Juna Sathian,
• Esa Jaatinen and
• Timothy Davis

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 751–757, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.66

• input end to increase the energy transfer of incoming light into the input waveguide [22]. The gratings were excited through an inverted microscope set-up using a 633 nm wavelength laser, further details are provided in [22]. The plasmon propagation and coupling in the RI sensor was imaged using CdSe

Hemolysin coregulated protein 1 as a molecular gluing unit for the assembly of nanoparticle hybrid structures

• Tuan Anh Pham,
• Andreas Schreiber,
• Elena V. Sturm (née Rosseeva),
• Stefan Schiller and
• Helmut Cölfen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 351–363, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.32

• nanotechnological building block [19][20] (protein data bank (PDB) code: 1Y12) for the fabrication of magnetically and plasmonically active assemblies. The cysteine-modified mutant (Hcp1_cys3) of the native Hcp1 protein is proven to be a great candidate, triggering the assembly of CdSe quantum dots and Au NPs into

• between the NPs, leading to an enhancement of the magnetic spin in system. In conclusion, we could utilize the cysteine-modified toroid protein Hcp1_cys3 as an effective glue to form linear chains of NPs to extend the previously reported CdSe quantum dot/Au NP systems [21][22]. Generally, we can state two

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering by colloidal CdSe nanocrystal submonolayers fabricated by the Langmuir–Blodgett technique

• Alexander G. Milekhin,
• Larisa L. Sveshnikova,
• Tatyana A. Duda,
• Ekaterina E. Rodyakina,
• Volodymyr M. Dzhagan,
• Ovidiu D. Gordan,
• Sergey L. Veber,
• Cameliu Himcinschi,
• Alexander V. Latyshev and
• Dietrich R. T. Zahn

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2388–2395, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.245

• 10.3762/bjnano.6.245 Abstract We present the results of an investigation of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) by optical phonons in colloidal CdSe nanocrystals (NCs) homogeneously deposited on both arrays of Au nanoclusters and Au dimers using the Langmuir–Blodgett technique. The coverage of the

• deposited NCs was less than one monolayer, as determined by transmission and scanning electron microscopy. SERS by optical phonons in CdSe nanocrystals showed a significant enhancement that depends resonantly on the Au nanocluster and dimer size, and thus on the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR

• ) energy. The deposition of CdSe nanocrystals on the Au dimer nanocluster arrays enabled us to study the polarization dependence of SERS. The maximal SERS signal was observed for light polarization parallel to the dimer axis. The polarization ratio of the SERS signal parallel and perpendicular to the dimer

Influence of wide band gap oxide substrates on the photoelectrochemical properties and structural disorder of CdS nanoparticles grown by the successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) method

• Mikalai V. Malashchonak,
• Alexander V. Mazanik,
• Olga V. Korolik,
• Еugene А. Streltsov and
• Anatoly I. Kulak

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2252–2262, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.231

• ; semiconductor photoelectrochemistry; wide band gap oxide; Introduction Quantum dot sensitized solar cells (QDSSCs) utilize light absorbed by semiconductor nanoparticles (CdS, CdSe, CdTe, PbS, etc.) deposited on wide band gap oxide (WBGO) scaffolds (TiO2, ZnO, In2O3) which act as a photoanode [1][2][3][4][5][6

Mapping bound plasmon propagation on a nanoscale stripe waveguide using quantum dots: influence of spacer layer thickness

• Chamanei S. Perera,
• Alison M. Funston,
• Han-Hao Cheng and
• Kristy C. Vernon

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2046–2051, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.208

• an emission wavelength of 655 nm were obtained from invitrogen (Cat. No: Q21321MP). These carboxyl QDs are made from CdSe nanocrystals shelled with a ZnS layer. The core–shell material is further coated with a polymer layer to allow for better dispersion of the QDs in aqueous solution. These QDs have

A facile method for the preparation of bifunctional Mn:ZnS/ZnS/Fe₃O₄ magnetic and fluorescent nanocrystals

• Houcine Labiadh,
• Tahar Ben Chaabane,
• Romain Sibille,
• Lavinia Balan and
• Raphaël Schneider

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1743–1751, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.178

• shell (CdSe or CdS) of thickness between 2–7 nm resulting in either spherical core/shell nanoparticles or heterodimers [20][21][22]. The PL QY of the resulting bifunctional nanoparticles is generally low (typically <5%) due to the quenching effect of the magnetic domain [20][21]. Herein, we describe a

How decision analysis can further nanoinformatics

• Matthew E. Bates,
• Sabrina Larkin,
• Jeffrey M. Keisler and
• Igor Linkov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1594–1600, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.162

• contribution to the overall hazard score [17]. In a case study by Tervonen et al. [18], an MCDA framework was applied for the classification of five nanomaterials: nC60, multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), CdSe, silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs), and aluminum nanoparticles (Al NPs). The SMAA-Tri MCDA model was

• nanomaterials were sorted based on the probability of classification in a particular risk category, given complete information. CdSe was identified as the nanomaterial most likely to receive the highest hazard score, with a 98% chance of being categorized as “high risk.” With these results in mind, the

Electronic interaction in composites of a conjugated polymer and carbon nanotubes: first-principles calculation and photophysical approaches

• Florian Massuyeau,
• Jany Wéry,
• Jean-Luc Duvail,
• Serge Lefrant,
• Abu Yaya,
• Chris Ewels and
• Eric Faulques

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1138–1144, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.115

• photoconductivity and PL behavior can be attributed to the dissociation of excitons and migration of charges onto the SWNTs. Other composite nanomaterials such as MEH-PPV/CdS, CdSe, MEH-PPV/silica, and PPV/TiO2 show a similar PL quenching when the mass percentage of nanomaterials introduced into the conjugated

Combination of surface- and interference-enhanced Raman scattering by CuS nanocrystals on nanopatterned Au structures

• Alexander G. Milekhin,
• Nikolay A. Yeryukov,
• Larisa L. Sveshnikova,
• Tatyana A. Duda,
• Ekaterina E. Rodyakina,
• Victor A. Gridchin,
• Evgeniya S. Sheremet and
• Dietrich R. T. Zahn

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 749–754, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.77

• sensitivity as shown for several semiconductor NC types [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. The SERS effect by longitudinal optical (LO) phonons of CdS in Ag–CdS composite nanoparticles in solution and on a solid substrate was demonstrated [1][2]. Resonant SERS enhancement by LO phonons of CdSe was

• observed in core–shell CdSe/ZnS NCs deposited on commercially available nanostructured Au substrates [3]. Later, the SERS effect by LO phonons in CdSe in CdSe/ZnS NCs was realized on non-ordered nanostructured Ag surfaces [4]. Very recently, Lee et al. [5] reported the observation of SERS by surface

• optical (SO) and LO phonon modes in a CdSe core and the transverse optical (TO) phonon mode in a ZnS shell of core–shell CdSe/ZnS NCs attached to the surface of a Au nanowire. The spectrum of optical and interface phonons was obtained from the analysis of SERS spectra of pure CdSe NCs, core–shell CdSe/CdS

Influence of gold, silver and gold–silver alloy nanoparticles on germ cell function and embryo development

• Ulrike Taylor,
• Daniela Tiedemann,
• Christoph Rehbock,
• Wilfried A. Kues,
• Stephan Barcikowski and
• Detlef Rath

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 651–664, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.66

• , PVP–Eu(OH)3 NP, PVA–Eu(OH)3 [65] and bio-conjugated CdSe/ZnS quantum dots [66] into spermatozoa has been reported. However, the picture evidence provided to support these claims does not withstand critical examination at least with regard to intact, non-acrosome reacted spermatozoa, which are the ones

• and collegues examined the effect of titanium dioxide nanoparticles on isolated preantral rat follicles in vitro [75], while Hsieh et al. studied the cytotoxicity of CdSe quantum dots on the maturation of mouse oocytes, fertilization, and fetal development [76]. Both studies reported detrimental

Silica micro/nanospheres for theranostics: from bimodal MRI and fluorescent imaging probes to cancer therapy

• Shanka Walia and
• Amitabha Acharya

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 546–558, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.57

• -shell-encapsulated hybrid nanomaterials consisting of paramagnetic Gd3+ ions and QDs or Au nanocrystals. The citric-acid-capped gold colloids and CdSe/ZnS QDs were silanized by using mercaptopropyltrimethoxysilane (MPS) as surfactant. Further, a Gd3+-DOTA (tetraazacyclododecanetetraacetic acid) complex

• . Similarly, Koole et al. [20] reported a procedure for the preparation of highly monodispersed silica particles with single core–shell–shell CdSe QDs incorporated into the center and paramagnetic Gd-DTPA-DSA [Gd-DTPA-bis(stearylamide)] in the lipid coating. The NPs were characterized by TEM, DLS and

• former nanocomposites. Likewise, Ruhland et al. [42] reported the synthesis of size-controlled magnetic and fluorescent core–shell hybrid NPs coated with a protective silica sheath through a thermal decomposition process. The synthesis involved the incorporation of Fe2O3 and CdSe/ZnS NPs into silica that

Carrier multiplication in silicon nanocrystals: ab initio results

• Ivan Marri,
• Marco Govoni and
• Stefano Ossicini

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 343–352, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.33

• cell efficiency. Effects induced by CM on the excited carrier dynamics have been observed in a wide range of systems, for instance PbSe and PbS [12][13][14][15][16], CdSe and CdTe [17][18][19], PbTe [20], InAs [21], InP [22] and Si [23]. These effects have been studied using different theoretical

Comparative evaluation of the impact on endothelial cells induced by different nanoparticle structures and functionalization

• Lisa Landgraf,
• Ines Müller,
• Peter Ernst,
• Miriam Schäfer,
• Christina Rosman,
• Isabel Schick,
• Oskar Köhler,
• Hartmut Oehring,
• Vladimir V. Breus,
• Thomas Basché,
• Carsten Sönnichsen,
• Wolfgang Tremel and
• Ingrid Hilger

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 300–312, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.28

• monolayers around the CdSe core of QDs showed that the lowest impact on cell metabolism (cellular dehydrogenase activities) was present when QDs were coated with two monolayers (Figure S1, Supporting Information File 1). Impedance measurements (electric cell–substrate impedance sensing, ECIS) revealed a

• ) and macrophages (J774A.1) revealed comparable effects but the strongest decrease in cell viability was detected for the CyA coating (Figure 2b). A direct comparison of both methods confirmed the findings described above (Figure 2c). In particular, the biocompatibility of CdSe QDs depended on the

• (NanopartzTM Inc., USA). 4) Semiconductor quantum dots (QDs): The synthesis of spherical CdSe core quantum dots followed a prescription from Mahler et al. [70] and the ZnS capping procedure (with 0, 2, 4, 6 ZnS monolayers (ML), size: 2.8, 4.0, 5.4, 6.7 nm) was peformed according to Breus et al. [71]. For

The effect of surface charge on nonspecific uptake and cytotoxicity of CdSe/ZnS core/shell quantum dots

• Vladimir V. Breus,
• Anna Pietuch,
• Marco Tarantola,
• Thomas Basché and
• Andreas Janshoff

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 281–292, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.26

• -Planck-Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization (MPIDS), Laboratory for Fluid Dynamics, Pattern Formation and Biocomplexity, Am Fassberg 17, 37077 Goettingen, Germany 10.3762/bjnano.6.26 Abstract In this work, cytotoxicity and cellular impedance response was compared for CdSe/ZnS core/shell quantum

• -particle tracking), was shown to compromise the integrity of the cytoskeletal and plasma membrane dynamics, as evidenced by electric cell–substrate impedance sensing. Keywords: biocompatibility; CdSe/ZnS; cytotoxicity; ECIS; quantum dots; single-particle tracking; Introduction Quantum dots (QDs) are

• resulting from CdSe and CdTe QD exposure to cultured cells was attributed to the presence of Cd2+ ions during the initial stages of synthesis or during in situ release, resulting in mitochondrial damage and oxidative stress [8][9]. The isolation of toxic core contents by coating the CdSe nanocrystals with a

Tailoring the ligand shell for the control of cellular uptake and optical properties of nanocrystals

• Johannes Ostermann,
• Christian Schmidtke,
• Christopher Wolter,
• Jan-Philip Merkl,
• Hauke Kloust and
• Horst Weller

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 232–242, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.22

• has shown to drastically enhance the fluorescence properties, namely the fluorescence quantum efficiency, of encapsulated CdSe/CdS/ZnS and CdSe/CdxZn(1-x)S/ZnS core–shell–shell quantum dots (QDs). This enhancement can be explained to a certain extent by the cross-linking of the micelles but further

The distribution and degradation of radiolabeled superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles and quantum dots in mice

• Denise Bargheer,
• Artur Giemsa,
• Barbara Freund,
• Markus Heine,
• Christian Waurisch,
• Gordon M. Stachowski,
• Stephen G. Hickey,
• Alexander Eychmüller,
• Jörg Heeren and
• Peter Nielsen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 111–123, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.11

• , Germany Institute of Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry, Technical University of Dresden, Bergstr. 66b, 01069 Dresden, Germany 10.3762/bjnano.6.11 Abstract 51Cr-labeled, superparamagnetic, iron oxide nanoparticles (51Cr-SPIOs) and 65Zn-labeled CdSe/CdS/ZnS-quantum dots (65Zn-Qdots) were prepared

• Qdots were found colocalized with lysosomal markers. After 24 h, no signs of degradation could be detected. However, after 12 weeks, no fluorescent nanoparticles could be detected in the liver cryosections, which would confirm our 65Zn data showing a substantial degradation of the polymer-coated CdSe

• the iron oxide core of SPIOs under similar experimental conditions was unsuccessful. However, a distinct incorporation of 65ZnCl2 occurred when CdSe/CdS/ZnS core/shell/shell quantum dots were synthesized (Figure 1). Both hydrophobic nanoparticle cores were encapsulated using the same polymer to render

Nanoparticle interactions with live cells: Quantitative fluorescence microscopy of nanoparticle size effects

• Li Shang,
• Karin Nienhaus,
• Xiue Jiang,
• Linxiao Yang,
• Katharina Landfester,
• Volker Mailänder,
• Thomas Simmet and
• G. Ulrich Nienhaus

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2388–2397, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.248

• with widely differing sizes. We have selected very small gold nanoclusters (AuNCs, diameter ≈3 nm) stabilized with dihydrolipoic acid (DHLA), semiconductor core-shell quantum dots (CdSe/ZnS, ≈10 nm) coated with D-penicillamine (DPA) and relatively large polystyrene (PS) NPs (≈100 nm) with different

• sodium phosphate, Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA) for later use. DPA-QDs were prepared as previously described [28]. Briefly, CdSe/ZnS core/shell QDs were synthesized in organic solvent prior to ligand exchange with DPA, yielding water-soluble zwitterionic QDs. All PS NPs, labeled with the fluorescent dye N

Synthesis of radioactively labelled CdSe/CdS/ZnS quantum dots for in vivo experiments

• Gordon M. Stachowski,
• Christoph Bauer,
• Christian Waurisch,
• Denise Bargheer,
• Peter Nielsen,
• Jörg Heeren,
• Stephen G. Hickey and
• Alexander Eychmüller

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2383–2387, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.247

• quantification of the excretion of nanoparticles, and the study of the biological response to the QDs themselves are areas which to date have not been fully investigated. In order to aid in addressing those issues, CdSe/CdS/ZnS QDs were radioactively labelled, which allows quantification of the QD concentration

• of CdSe/CdS QDs with a radioactive 65ZnS shell using a modified, operator-safe, SILAR procedure is presented. Under UV illumination, no difference in the photoluminescence of the radioactive and non-radioactive CdSe/CdS/ZnS colloidal solutions was observed. Furthermore, a down-scaled synthesis for

• phase transfer of the QDs. Keywords: biomarker; CdSe/CdS/ZnS; quantum dots; radioactive labelling; 65Zn; Introduction Two decades of research and investigation in the field of luminescent semiconductor nanoparticles, also known as quantum dots (QDs), have now passed since the fundamental work of

Inorganic Janus particles for biomedical applications

• Isabel Schick,
• Steffen Lorenz,
• Dominik Gehrig,
• Stefan Tenzer,
• Wiebke Storck,
• Karl Fischer,
• Dennis Strand,
• Frédéric Laquai and
• Wolfgang Tremel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2346–2362, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.244

• properties [16][17]. Since the 1980s [16][18][19], there has been a huge research effort in optimizing the characteristics of hetero-structured semiconductors with extraordinary optical properties. Xie et al. [13] demonstrated the design of CdSe quantum dots covered by a multishell structure from CdS and ZnS

• dots starting with a CdSe core. Adapted with permission from [13]. Copyright 2005 American Chemical Society. Summary of synthetic routes towards organic Janus particles. (a) Directed functionalization after immobilization, (b) ellipsoidal complex core coacervate micelle with an inter-polyelectrolyte

Biopolymer colloids for controlling and templating inorganic synthesis

• Laura C. Preiss,
• Katharina Landfester and
• Rafael Muñoz-Espí

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2129–2138, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.222

• . [5] prepared chitosan/silica composite microspheres by mixing an aqueous solution of the biopolymer with commercial nanosized silica particles. The obtained microparticles were dried afterwards. In further examples, chitosan matrices have also been used to immobilize CdSe quantum dots [6] and γ-Fe2O3