Nanoinformatics for environmental health and biomedicine

• Rong Liu and
• Yoram Cohen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2449–2451, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.253

• for brain cancer [13]. As an imported aspect of nanoinformatics, recent advances in data mining/machine learning of nano-data are also reported in this Thematic Series. In one study, the toxicity of ZnO nanoparticles to zebrafish (measured by mortality rate (%)) was correlated to two principal

• exploring the impact of manufactured nanoparticles (ZnO and TiO2) on soil bacterial communities [17], which is an area of nanoinformatics that is only now receiving increased attention. The present Thematic Series also presents a simulation tool for estimating the release and environmental distribution of

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

• CdS [17][18], CdTe [19], CdSe [20][21][22][23][24], ZnO [25][26][27][28], GaN [26], and CuxS [29][30], reveal the SERS effect by optical phonons when placed in close proximity of Au or Ag nanoclusters. Among those, CdSe NCs have attracted much attention for SERS experiments for at least two reasons

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

• FTIR study, they concluded that enzyme or proteins of leaf broth can reduce the Au ions [39]. Gnanasangeetha and SaralaThambavani investigated the effect of aqueous leaf extract of Corriandrum sativum on the production of ZnO NPs from Zn(CH3COO)2 with NaOH at room temperature for 2 h. According to

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

• General and Inorganic Chemistry, National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, Surganov St. 9/1, 220072 Minsk, Belarus 10.3762/bjnano.6.231 Abstract The photoelectrochemical properties of nanoheterostructures based on the wide band gap oxide substrates (ZnO, TiO2, In2O3) and CdS nanoparticles deposited by the

• optical absorption and photocarrier recombination. The maximal IPCE values for the In2O3/CdS and ZnO/CdS heterostructures are attained at N ≈ 20, whereas for TiO2/CdS, the appropriate N value is an order of magnitude higher. The photocurrent and Raman spectroscopy studies of CdS nanoparticles revealed the

• occurrence of the quantum confinement effect, demonstrating the most rapid weakening with the increase of N in ZnO/CdS heterostructures. The structural disorder of CdS nanoparticles was characterized by the Urbach energy (EU), spectral width of the CdS longitudinal optical (LO) phonon band and the relative

A single-source precursor route to anisotropic halogen-doped zinc oxide particles as a promising candidate for new transparent conducting oxide materials

• Daniela Lehr,
• Markus R. Wagner,
• Johanna Flock,
• Julian S. Reparaz,
• Clivia M. Sotomayor Torres,
• Alexander Klaiber,
• Thomas Dekorsy and
• Sebastian Polarz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2161–2172, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.222

• steadily increasing price, it is highly desired to identify materials alternatives containing highly abundant chemical elements. The doping of other metal oxides (e.g., zinc oxide, ZnO) is a promising approach, but two problems can be identified. Phase separation might occur at the required high

• concentration of the doping element, and for successful electronic modification it is mandatory that the introduced heteroelement occupies a defined position in the lattice of the host material. In the case of ZnO, most attention has been attributed so far to n-doping via substitution of Zn2+ by other metals

• (e.g., Al3+). Here, we present first steps towards n-doped ZnO-based TCO materials via substitution in the anion lattice (O2− versus halogenides). A special approach is presented, using novel single-source precursors containing a potential excerpt of the target lattice 'HalZn·Zn3O3' preorganized on the

Paramagnetism of cobalt-doped ZnO nanoparticles obtained by microwave solvothermal synthesis

• Jacek Wojnarowicz,
• Sylwia Kusnieruk,
• Tadeusz Chudoba,
• Stanislaw Gierlotka,
• Witold Lojkowski,
• Wojciech Knoff,
• Malgorzata I. Lukasiewicz,
• Bartlomiej S. Witkowski,
• Anna Wolska,
• Marcin T. Klepka,
• Tomasz Story and
• Marek Godlewski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1957–1969, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.200

• , interesting perspectives in many application areas [1][2][3]. The most challenging issue nowadays is how to produce such advanced nanocrystals with well-defined and reproducible electronic, optoelectronic and magnetic properties at low cost. In the present work we investigate zinc oxide (ZnO), which is an

• attractive material with a wide range of applications such as: transparent transistors based on semiconducting transparent oxides [4], ultraviolet (UV) light blockers [5], photocatalysts [6] or antibacterial uses [7]. The energy band gap of ZnO is ≈3.3 eV at room temperature, corresponding to a wavelength of

• about 375 nm [8]. Thus, ZnO has been reckoned as an excellent UV shielding material, characterized by photo-fastness and absorptivity over a broad UV range, in contrast to other organic and inorganic UV shielding materials [9]. Moreover, ZnO is applied to cosmetics [10], optoelectronic devices [11][12

Temperature-dependent breakdown of hydrogen peroxide-treated ZnO and TiO₂ nanoparticle agglomerates

• Sinan Sabuncu and
• Mustafa Çulha

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1897–1903, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.193

• , the influence of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) treatment on the dispersion of ZnO and TiO2 nanoparticle (NP) agglomerates as a function of temperature is studied. The H2O2 treatment of the MONPs increases the density of hydroxyl (–OH) groups on the NP surface, as verified with FTIR spectroscopy. The

• influence of heating on the dispersion of H2O2-treated ZnO and TiO2 NPs is investigated using dynamic light scattering. The untreated and H2O2-treated ZnO and TiO2 NP suspensions were heated from 30 °C to 90 °C at 5 °C intervals to monitor the breakdown of large aggregates into smaller aggregates and

• individual nanoparticles. It was shown that the combined effect of hydroxylation and heating enhances the dispersion of ZnO and TiO2 NPs in water. Keywords: agglomeration; hydrogen peroxide; metal oxide nanoparticles; TiO2; ZnO; Introduction Dispersion of metal oxide nanoparticles (MONPs) in aqueous media

NanoE-Tox: New and in-depth database concerning ecotoxicity of nanomaterials

• Katre Juganson,
• Angela Ivask,
• Irina Blinova,
• Monika Mortimer and
• Anne Kahru

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1788–1804, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.183

• database NanoE-Tox that is available as Supporting Information File 2. The database is based on existing literature on ecotoxicology of eight ENMs with different chemical composition: carbon nanotubes (CNTs), fullerenes, silver (Ag), titanium dioxide (TiO2), zinc oxide (ZnO), cerium dioxide (CeO2), copper

• uptake of ENMs in the organisms. 35% of the data in NanoE-Tox concerns ecotoxicity of Ag NPs, followed by TiO2 (22%), CeO2 (13%), and ZnO (10%). Most of the data originates from studies with crustaceans (26%), bacteria (17%), fish (13%), and algae (11%). Based on the median toxicity values of the most

• sensitive organism (data derived from three or more articles) the toxicity order was as follows: Ag > ZnO > CuO > CeO2 > CNTs > TiO2 > FeOx. We believe NanoE-Tox database contains valuable information for ENM environmental hazard estimation and development of models for predicting toxic potential of ENMs

Template-controlled mineralization: Determining film granularity and structure by surface functionality patterns

• Nina J. Blumenstein,
• Jonathan Berson,
• Stefan Walheim,
• Petia Atanasova,
• Johannes Baier,
• Joachim Bill and
• Thomas Schimmel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1763–1768, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.180

• the site-selective mineralization of a semiconductor material, zinc oxide (ZnO), on a chemically patterned surface [3]. ZnO thin films are of special interest since they can be used for different applications such as solar cells [16], biosensing devices [17] and others [18]. By using a nearly

• lithography (where increasingly smaller structures are sought, e.g., in the field of semiconductor nanolithography). Here, the copying of a given structure by self-templating may provide an alternative to conventional replication. In this study, ZnO-containing films were prepared using chemical bath

• Structured templates with polar 3-(aminopropyltriethoxy)-silane (APTES) and nonpolar 1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorodecyl trichlorosilane (FDTS) areas were used for the deposition of nanostructured ZnO-containing films. Figure 1 shows atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of the

Analysis of soil bacteria susceptibility to manufactured nanoparticles via data visualization

• Rong Liu,
• Yuan Ge,
• Patricia A. Holden and
• Yoram Cohen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1635–1651, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.166

• , Santa Barbara, United States Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, University of California, Santa Barbara, United States Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department, University of California, Los Angeles, United States 10.3762/bjnano.6.166 Abstract The impact of ZnO and TiO2

• multi-dimensional scaling (NMDS) of the dataset, along with hierarchical clustering, demonstrated that high doses of ZnO and TiO2 MNPs caused significant compositional changes in soil bacterial communities. The suitability of family level for MNP taxonomic impact assessment was demonstrated by both the

• tend to accumulate in soil and sediment [16][17]. Various studies [18][19][20][21][22] have reported that MNPs could lead to adverse environmental impacts. For example, Ag and Pt MNPs may interfere with zebrafish embryo hatching [23]; ZnO MNPs may cause compositional changes in soil bacterial

Influence of surface chemical properties on the toxicity of engineered zinc oxide nanoparticles to embryonic zebrafish

• Zitao Zhou,
• Jino Son,
• Bryan Harper,
• Zheng Zhou and
• Stacey Harper

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1568–1579, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.160

• States Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute, Eugene, Oregon, United States 10.3762/bjnano.6.160 Abstract Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) are widely used in a variety of products, thus understanding their health and environmental impacts is necessary to appropriately manage their risks

• . To keep pace with the rapid increase in products utilizing engineered ZnO NPs, rapid in silico toxicity test methods based on knowledge of comprehensive in vivo and in vitro toxic responses are beneficial in determining potential nanoparticle impacts. To achieve or enhance their desired function

• , chemical modifications are often performed on the NPs surface; however, the roles of these alterations play in determining the toxicity of ZnO NPs are still not well understood. As such, we investigated the toxicity of 17 diverse ZnO NPs varying in both size and surface chemistry to developing zebrafish

Peptide-equipped tobacco mosaic virus templates for selective and controllable biomineral deposition

• Klara Altintoprak,
• Axel Seidenstücker,
• Alexander Welle,
• Sabine Eiben,
• Petia Atanasova,
• Nina Stitz,
• Alfred Plettl,
• Joachim Bill,
• Hartmut Gliemann,
• Holger Jeske,
• Dirk Rothenstein,
• Fania Geiger and
• Christina Wege

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1399–1412, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.145

• peptides with high ZnO binding affinity. Differential effects on the mineralization of the TMV surface were demonstrated, where a (KD)x charge-relay peptide (designed in this study) led to the most reproducible and selective silica deposition. A homogenous coating of the biotemplate and tight control of

• virus (TMV) were used as templates for coating with inorganic materials including Pt, Au [28], Ag [29][30], Pd [31][32], TiO2 [33], SiO2 [34], NiO [35], CdS [21], CoPt, FePt, ZnS [27][36] and ZnO [37][38][39]. Among the virus-based templates, plant viruses are especially suitable nanostructured

• residues arranged blockwise to expose a cluster of imidazole side chains; and (iii) 44C (HSSHHQPKGTNPC) and 31C (HHGHSPTSPQVRC), two ZnO-binding peptides isolated by phage display [60]. The distinct peptide-fashioned TMVLys templates were incubated in TEOS precursor solution in parallel with linker-coated

The Kirkendall effect and nanoscience: hollow nanospheres and nanotubes

• Abdel-Aziz El Mel,
• Ryusuke Nakamura and
• Carla Bittencourt

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1348–1361, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.139

• a solid state reaction, occurring upon thermal annealing of core–shell ZnO/Al2O3 nanowires [23][62]. In such a process, the material forming the nanotube is defined by the two initial compounds constituting the core and the shell. As it can be seen in Figure 8, the formation of voids occurs at the

• interface within the ZnO which, in this case, plays the role of the fast diffusing material. The strategy demonstrated by Li and Penner in 2005 was adopted by many groups for the synthesis of nanotubes by thermal annealing of metal nanowires under a controlled atmosphere such as sulfur, selenium or oxygen

• core and the metal oxide shell is another factor that can amplify the formation of a bamboo-like structure. Güder et al. reported on a new approach based on stress engineering to control the spatial positioning and distribution of Kirkendall voids in ZnO/Al2O3 core–shell nanowires [72]. In this study

Polymer blend lithography for metal films: large-area patterning with over 1 billion holes/inch²

• Cheng Huang,
• Alexander Förste,
• Stefan Walheim and
• Thomas Schimmel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1205–1211, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.123

• metal polymer blend lithography (metal PBL). The polymer blend lithography was applied in our earlier reports to fabricate self-assembled monolayer (SAM) patterns (monolayer PBL) [21], which were used, e.g., for the selective growth of ZnO nanostructures [22]. Instead of silicon wafers, other materials

• about 300 holes/225 μm2 (130 million/cm2). Another sample, a perforated Cr film (see Figure 2), shows a hole density of 220 million/cm2. Perspectives The metal nano-disc arrays have a variety of potential applications such as the localized growth of ZnO nano wires or rods [31][32] or plasmonic

Characterization of nanostructured ZnO thin films deposited through vacuum evaporation

• Jose Alberto Alvarado,
• Arturo Maldonado,
• Héctor Juarez,
• Mauricio Pacio and
• Rene Perez

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 971–975, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.100

• , Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Ciudad Universitaria Avenida San Claudio y 14 Sur, 72570, Puebla, México 10.3762/bjnano.6.100 Abstract This work presents a novel technique to deposit ZnO thin films through a metal vacuum evaporation technique using colloidal nanoparticles (average size of 30 nm

• red and in the violet region and there is a correlation with the annealing process. Keywords: nanostructure; thin film; transmittance; vacuum evaporation; X-ray diffraction (XRD); Introduction ZnO is a II–VI semiconductor compound that has been studied due its wide range of applications in

• method to obtain nanostructures and thin films. This is an easy way to obtain two dimensional (2D) nanostructures using a simple vacuum system; the deposition is controlled just by varying the time of the source evaporation. The first step of this method is placing 0.5 g of nanocrystalline ZnO powder on

Effects of swift heavy ion irradiation on structural, optical and photocatalytic properties of ZnO–CuO nanocomposites prepared by carbothermal evaporation method

• Sini Kuriakose,
• D. K. Avasthi and
• Satyabrata Mohapatra

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 928–937, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.96

• Sini Kuriakose D. K. Avasthi Satyabrata Mohapatra School of Basic and Applied Sciences, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Dwarka, New Delhi 110078, India Inter University Accelerator Centre, New Delhi 110067, India 10.3762/bjnano.6.96 Abstract ZnO–CuO nanocomposite thin films were

• prepared by carbothermal evaporation of ZnO and Cu, combined with annealing. The effects of 90 MeV Ni7+ ion irradiation on the structural and optical properties of ZnO–CuO nanocomposites were studied by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), UV–visible

• absorption spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. XRD studies showed the presence of ZnO and CuO nanostructures in the nanocomposites. FESEM images revealed the presence of nanosheets and nanorods in the nanocomposites. The photocatalytic activity of ZnO–CuO nanocomposites was evaluated on the basis of

Morphology control of zinc oxide films via polysaccharide-mediated, low temperature, chemical bath deposition

• Florian Waltz,
• Hans-Christoph Schwarz,
• Andreas M. Schneider,
• Stefanie Eiden and
• Peter Behrens

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 799–808, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.83

• present a three-step process for the low-temperature chemical bath deposition of crystalline ZnO films on glass substrates. The process consists of a seeding step followed by two chemical bath deposition steps. In the second step (the first of the two bath deposition steps), a natural polysaccharide

• hyaluronic acid and the time of its addition on the morphology of the resulting ZnO film were investigated. By meticulous adjustment of the parameters in this step, the film morphology can be tailored to provide an optimal growth platform for the third step (a subsequent chemical bath deposition step). In

• this step, the film is covered by a dense layer of ZnO. This optimized procedure leads to ZnO films with a very high electrical conductivity, opening up interesting possibilities for applications of such films. The films were characterized by means of electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and

Microwave assisted synthesis and characterisation of a zinc oxide/tobacco mosaic virus hybrid material. An active hybrid semiconductor in a field-effect transistor device

• Shawn Sanctis,
• Rudolf C. Hoffmann,
• Sabine Eiben and
• Jörg J. Schneider

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 785–791, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.81

• was employed to synthesize stable zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles, employing a molecular precursor. Insightful studies of the decomposition of the precursor were done using NMR spectroscopy and material characterization of the hybrid material derived from the decomposition was achieved using dynamic

• light scattering (DLS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), grazing incidence X-ray diffractometry (GI-XRD) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). TEM and DLS data confirm the formation of crystalline ZnO nanoparticles tethered on top of the virus template. GI-XRD investigations exhibit an orientated

• nature of the deposited ZnO film along the c-axis. FET devices fabricated using the zinc oxide mineralized virus template material demonstrates an operational transistor performance which was achieved without any high-temperature post-processing steps. Moreover, a further improvement in FET performance

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

• , and CdSe/CdZnS NCs deposited on Ag SERS substrates [6]. A prominent enhancement of Raman scattering by LO phonons was observed in Au-ZnO NC nanocomposites [7] and ZnO NCs covered by Ag [8] excited near resonance with the interband electronic transitions in ZnO NCs. Anomalously enhanced Raman

• scattering by LO phonons in epitaxial GaN and ZnO NC thin films covered with Ag was also explained by SERS [9]. A pronounced 104-fold SERS enhancement by surface optical phonons was observed for ZnO NCs excited in resonance with localised surface plasmon in Ag nanoclusters deposited on ZnO NCs and out of the

Morphological and structural characterization of single-crystal ZnO nanorod arrays on flexible and non-flexible substrates

• Omar F. Farhat,
• Mohd M. Halim,
• Mat J. Abdullah,
• Mohammed K. M. Ali and
• Nageh K. Allam

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 720–725, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.73

• , The American University in Cairo, New Cairo 11835, Egypt 10.3762/bjnano.6.73 Abstract We report a facile synthesis of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorod arrays using an optimized, chemical bath deposition method on glass, PET and Si substrates. The morphological and structural properties of the ZnO nanorod

• arrays were investigated using various techniques such as field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements, which revealed the formation of dense ZnO nanorods with a single crystal, hexagonal wurtzite structure. The aspect ratio of the single-crystal ZnO

• nanorods and the growth rate along the (002) direction was found to be sensitive to the substrate type. The lattice constants and the crystallite size of the fabricated ZnO nanorods were calculated based on the XRD data. The obtained results revealed that the increase in the crystallite size is strongly

Simple approach for the fabrication of PEDOT-coated Si nanowires

• Mingxuan Zhu,
• Marielle Eyraud,
• Judikael Le Rouzo,
• Nadia Ait Ahmed,
• Florence Boulc’h,
• Claude Alfonso,
• Philippe Knauth and
• François Flory

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 640–650, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.65

• morphology control by tuning the thickness and reaction rate. Template polymerization of PEDOT has already been investigated on nanostructures such as ZnO [17], TiO2 [18], GaAs [19], AAO [20]. However, using a SiNW array as template for PEDOT deposition is an unexplored research field with only a few

Novel ZnO:Ag nanocomposites induce significant oxidative stress in human fibroblast malignant melanoma (Ht144) cells

• Syeda Arooj,
• Samina Nazir,
• Akhtar Nadhman,
• Nafees Ahmad,
• Bakhtiar Muhammad,
• Ishaq Ahmad,
• Kehkashan Mazhar and
• Rashda Abbasi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 570–582, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.59

• .6.59 Abstract The use of photoactive nanoparticles (NPs) such as zinc oxide (ZnO) and its nanocomposites has become a promising anticancer strategy. However, ZnO has a low photocatalytic decomposition rate and the incorporation of metal ions such as silver (Ag) improves their activity. Here different

• species they generated in vitro. A highly significant increase of 1O2 in the samples exposed to daylight was observed. Hydroxyl radical species, HO•, were also generated to a lesser extent. Thus, the incorporation of Ag into ZnO NPs significantly improves their photo-oxidation capabilities. ZnO:Ag

• nanocomposites could provide a new therapeutic option to selectively target cancer cells. Keywords: cancer therapy; cytotoxicity; photo-oxidation; ZnO:Ag nanocomposites; Introduction Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles (NPs) exhibit an excellent photo-oxidation activity [1] and are considered as potential

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

• . In a similar way, Yan and Shao [35] reported a sol–gel process for the synthesis of lanthanide-activated magnetic silica nanostructures conjugated with polymer-modified zinc oxide NPs. The 2-hydroxyethyl-methacrylate-modified ZnO NPs and oleic-acid-functionalized iron oxide NPs were incorporated

• , fluorescent spectroscopy, TEM, SEM, FTIR and VSM. In FTIR, the bands at 1633 and 1565 cm−1 were observed for both magnetic mesoporous silica ZnO NPs and its corresponding Eu complex, which confirmed their association with silica spheres. The size of ZnO-containing magnetic mesoporous silica nanospheres was

Pulmonary surfactant augments cytotoxicity of silica nanoparticles: Studies on an in vitro air–blood barrier model

• Jennifer Y. Kasper,
• Lisa Feiden,
• Maria I. Hermanns,
• Christoph Bantz,
• Michael Maskos,
• Ronald E. Unger and
• C. James Kirkpatrick

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 517–528, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.54

• al., not only silica, but also ZnO, hollow silica-titania, and gold particles with a positive surface charge caused a higher cytotoxicity than the respective negative or uncharged NPs [24]. Likewise, carboxylic-modified silica nanoparticles, which have a negative surface charge, are of great interest

Conformal SiO₂ coating of sub-100 nm diameter channels of polycarbonate etched ion-track channels by atomic layer deposition

• Nicolas Sobel,
• Christian Hess,
• Manuela Lukas,
• Anne Spende,
• Bernd Stühn,
• M. E. Toimil-Molares and
• Christina Trautmann

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 472–479, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.48

• -phase precursor molecules and a solid surface, providing very thin uniform films on arbitrarily shaped materials. The number of cycles determines the thickness of the deposited layer. Tailored coating with various materials such as metals (e.g., Pt) or oxides (e.g., ZnO, Al2O3, TiO2) can be used to