The cement of the tube-dwelling polychaete Sabellaria alveolata: a complex composite adhesive material

• Emilie Duthoo,
• Aurélie Lambert,
• Pierre Becker,
• Carla Pugliese,
• Jean-Marc Baele,
• Arnaud Delfairière,
• Matthew J. Harrington and
• Patrick Flammang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 1998–2014, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.138

• cement matrix. A better understanding of this complex composite material would provide valuable insights into the physical and chemical processes that underline the assembly of biological materials, which could inspire the design and fabrication of innovative hierarchical materials with diverse

Mechanical property measurements enabled by short-term Fourier-transform of atomic force microscopy thermal deflection analysis

• Thomas Mathias,
• Roland Bennewitz and
• Philip Egberts

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 1952–1962, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.136

• viscoelastic modulus) of surfaces [5]. It is particularly useful for the measurement of heterogeneous surfaces, characteristic of composite and biological materials, where understanding the interplay between microstructure and mechanical properties of the constituent materials is critical for the performance

Bioinspired polypropylene-based functionally graded materials and metamaterials modeling the mistletoe–host interface

• Lina M. Rojas González,
• Naeim Ghavidelnia,
• Christoph Eberl and
• Max D. Mylo

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 1592–1606, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.113

• ]. Biological materials and their highly modified structure–function relationship are designed to enable organisms to survive and/or adapt to the environmental conditions in which they live [24][25]. The European mistletoe (Viscum album) is an excellent model of a long-lasting connection between two material

Soft materials nanoarchitectonics: liquid crystals, polymers, gels, biomaterials, and others

• Katsuhiko Ariga

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 1025–1067, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.77

• structures and properties. To demonstrate its effectiveness, this review takes typical soft materials, including liquid crystals, polymers, gels, and biological materials, as examples. The aims are to extract the properties that emerge from them and to highlight the challenges that lie ahead. The examples

• crystals, polymers, gels, and biological materials, as examples, and selects and explains papers that claim to describe nanoarchitectonics in those fields or papers that are suitable for supplementing them. Additionally, it includes several examples that do not fall within the aforementioned categories but

• materials and their assemblies that are further grouped with application types. However, materials, assemblies, and applications are always integrated, and thus flows and orders of the examples are not simple. In addition, research progresses on liquid crystals, polymers, gels, and biological materials have

Shape, membrane morphology, and morphodynamic response of metabolically active human mitochondria revealed by scanning ion conductance microscopy

• Eric Lieberwirth,
• Anja Schaeper,
• Regina Lange,
• Ingo Barke,
• Simone Baltrusch and
• Sylvia Speller

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 951–967, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.73

• trace the nanopipette must have a higher aspect ratio. The assumption that similarly long (hundreds of nanometers) and rigid surface structures could transiently act as a “tip” during imaging (an essential condition for convolution artifacts) is not plausible, particularly when imaging soft biological

• materials. Conclusion Metabolically active mitochondria were extracted from HeLa cells, and their membrane topography and dynamics were studied using SICM. By employing a simple immobilisation protocol, we successfully examined the topography of metabolising mitochondria with a minimally interacting SPM

Biomimetics and bioinspired surfaces: from nature to theory and applications

• Rhainer Guillermo Ferreira,
• Thies H. Büscher,
• Manuela Rebora,
• Poramate Manoonpong,
• Zhendong Dai and
• Stanislav N. Gorb

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 418–421, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.32

• ) approach. For instance, Bartoli et al. [8] reviewed the potential applications of nanostructured carbon coatings – such as nanodiamonds, carbon nanotubes, and graphene-based materials – to improve interaction on the interface between medical implants and living cells. Several biological materials exhibit

Synthesis and the impact of hydroxyapatite nanoparticles on the viability and activity of rhizobacteria

• Bedah Rupaedah,
• Indrika Novella,
• Atiek Rostika Noviyanti,
• Diana Rakhmawaty Eddy,
• Anna Safarrida,
• Abdul Hapid,
• Zhafira Amila Haqqa,
• Suryana Suryana,
• Irwan Kurnia and
• Fathiyah Inayatirrahmi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 216–228, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.17

• determined by observing rhizobacterial growth and monitoring the color change of the medium from yellow to blue within the agar medium (Supporting Information File 1, Figure S1). Biological materials and molecular identification The Pd and Tb rhizobacterial strains used in this study were obtained from the

Instance maps as an organising concept for complex experimental workflows as demonstrated for (nano)material safety research

• Benjamin Punz,
• Maja Brajnik,
• Joh Dokler,
• Jaleesia D. Amos,
• Litty Johnson,
• Katie Reilly,
• Anastasios G. Papadiamantis,
• Amaia Green Etxabe,
• Lee Walker,
• Diego S. T. Martinez,
• Steffi Friedrichs,
• Klaus M. Weltring,
• Nazende Günday-Türeli,
• Claus Svendsen,
• Christine Ogilvie Hendren,
• Mark R. Wiesner,
• Martin Himly,
• Iseult Lynch and
• Thomas E. Exner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 57–77, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.7

• ]. Standardised or harmonised reporting formats had previously been called for, such as a listing of minimal reporting standards for biological assays studying the interactions of nanomaterials with biological materials, termed MIRIBEL [43]. The prime intention here is to improve future exchange of datasets among

Ultrablack color in velvet ant cuticle

• Vinicius Marques Lopez,
• Wencke Krings,
• Juliana Reis Machado,
• Stanislav Gorb and
• Rhainer Guillermo-Ferreira

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1554–1565, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.122

• contributes to a deeper understanding of ultrablack biological materials and their potential applications in biomimetics. Keywords: animal coloration; biophotonics; Hymenoptera; insects; Mutillidae; superblack; surface; Introduction The phenomenon of highly absorptive colors, also known as ultrablack, has

Unveiling the potential of alginate-based nanomaterials in sensing technology and smart delivery applications

• Shakhzodjon Uzokboev,
• Khojimukhammad Akhmadbekov,
• Ra’no Nuritdinova,
• Salah M. Tawfik and
• Yong-Ill Lee

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1077–1104, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.88

• . Biosensors Biomedical applications of alginate nanoparticles Biosensors identify biological materials or alterations in biological activity. Alginate-encapsulated enzymes have attracted a lot of attention lately and are a potential advancement in the field of biosensors. Alginate-encapsulated enzymes provide

Interface properties of nanostructured carbon-coated biological implants: an overview

• Mattia Bartoli,
• Francesca Cardano,
• Erik Piatti,
• Stefania Lettieri,
• Andrea Fin and
• Alberto Tagliaferro

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1041–1053, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.85

• thickness and some morphological properties of the deposited nanostructured film can be controlled by adjusting deposition time, substrate temperature, and deposition rate. The response of biological surfaces to non-biological materials The first challenge in developing biomedical implants is related to

Enhanced feedback performance in off-resonance AFM modes through pulse train sampling

• Mustafa Kangül,
• Navid Asmari,
• Santiago H. Andany,
• Marcos Penedo and
• Georg E. Fantner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 134–143, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.13

• the application of this AFM method when gentle and non-damaging imaging is required, for instance on soft biological materials [1]. In order to make the instrument technique suitable for imaging fragile samples, several dynamic modes that rely on the resonance characteristics of the cantilever have

Frequency-dependent nanomechanical profiling for medical diagnosis

• Santiago D. Solares and
• Alexander X. Cartagena-Rivera

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1483–1489, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.122

• chemical characterization of surfaces ranging from semiconductors and metals to polymers and biological materials [1][2][3][4][5]. In particular, a variety of mechanical property measurement methods have been developed, although most of them are restricted to relatively simple physical descriptions, such

• are based on linear viscoelasticity. Since biological materials are known to be highly nonlinear, extension of existing methods into the nonlinear regime is highly encouraged. Additionally, application-specific AFM sensors still remain to be developed, although here also the required technologies are

Effect of sample treatment on the elastic modulus of locust cuticle obtained by nanoindentation

• Chuchu Li,
• Stanislav N. Gorb and
• Hamed Rajabi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 404–410, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.33

• , 1 kPa to 20 GPa [1]. Owing to developments in mechanical testing [2] and imaging techniques [3] and the use of evolutionary algorithms [4], our knowledge about the biomechanics of insect cuticle has been widely broadened recently. However, cuticle remains to be one of the least studied biological

• materials. This is mostly because measuring the mechanical properties of insect cuticle is very challenging in practice. One of these challenges is associated with the rather fast desiccation rate of cuticle, as it loses its water shortly after removal from insect body [5]. Only small changes in the water

Alcohol-perturbed self-assembly of the tobacco mosaic virus coat protein

• Ismael Abu-Baker and
• Amy Szuchmacher Blum

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 355–362, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.30

• ; Introduction Bottom-up fabrication of nanomaterials with precise control over the spatial arrangement of components is of great interest in nanotechnology [1][2]. A promising approach to this issue is the use of templates based on self-assembling biological materials, such as nucleic acids and proteins [3][4

Sputtering onto liquids: a critical review

• Anastasiya Sergievskaya,
• Adrien Chauvin and
• Stephanos Konstantinidis

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 10–53, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.2

• presence of undesired contaminants, such as fragments of biological materials, which require complicated, expensive, and time-consuming purification procedures. Bio-assisted methods can be divided into three categories according to the system used: (i) microorganisms, (ii) biomolecules, and (iii) plant

Recent progress in actuation technologies of micro/nanorobots

• Ke Xu and
• Bing Liu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 756–765, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.59

• applications and can be used to treat triglyceride-related diseases. In the future, the degradation of other substances could be explored, that is, the removal of thrombi or oil spills. Biological self-actuation Inspired by nature, scientists choose appropriate biological materials as actuators of micro

Imaging of SARS-CoV-2 infected Vero E6 cells by helium ion microscopy

• Natalie Frese,
• Patrick Schmerer,
• Martin Wortmann,
• Matthias Schürmann,
• Matthias König,
• Michael Westphal,
• Friedemann Weber,
• Holger Sudhoff and
• Armin Gölzhäuser

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 172–179, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.13

• 1.3 and 2.1 nm. The edge resolution of the images is determined by an interplay between the size of the focused He+ beam and the widening of the beam within the sample material. The obtained values are typical for biological materials [6][7][8][11]. An effect frequently occurring during HIM imaging

A review on the green and sustainable synthesis of silver nanoparticles and one-dimensional silver nanostructures

• Sina Kaabipour and
• Shohreh Hemmati

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 102–136, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.9

• scientists discovered the reducing ability of biological materials [130]. Green/biological methods provide several advantages over physical and chemical methods. They are eco-friendly unlike chemical methods [45][104], require less energy unlike physical methods [104][214], can be used for mass production

Bio-imaging with the helium-ion microscope: A review

• Matthias Schmidt,
• James M. Byrne and
• Ilari J. Maasilta

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 1–23, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.1

• secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) or ionoluminescence with the HIM, also offer the possibility for new and exciting research on biological materials. In this review, we present a comprehensive overview of almost all currently published literature which has demonstrated the application of HIM for

• , followed by dehydration and then drying. For non-conductive samples, as is typical of biological materials, established protocols for SEM also involve methods to overcome charging effects, which are, however, not absolutely necessary for HIM owing to the charge compensation. Fixation Fixation is often

• applied as the first step during sample preparation to prevent or limit alterations to biological materials during sample drying. Chemical fixatives such as glutaraldehyde, formaldehyde, or a combination of the two (Karnovsky’s solution) cross-link proteins and lipids to physically stabilise samples [60

On the frequency dependence of viscoelastic material characterization with intermittent-contact dynamic atomic force microscopy: avoiding mischaracterization across large frequency ranges

• Enrique A. López-Guerra and
• Santiago D. Solares

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1409–1418, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.125

• acquire topographical, mechanical, or electromagnetic properties of surfaces, as well as to induce surface modifications at the micrometer and nanometer scale. Viscoelastic materials, examples of which include many polymers and biological materials, are an important class of systems, the mechanical

• , although it may or may not fully recover its original geometry. Prime examples of such materials include polymers and biological materials [2][14][19][20][21]. The peculiar types of behavior of viscoelastic materials have been recognized by AFM researchers since the early days of dynamic AFM, and various

• synthetic polymer samples and biological materials. For example, we have recently applied it to map the mechanical properties of biofilms and single cells, describing their behavior with respect to time and frequency [14][33]. A similar approach to ours, which also profits from the elastic–viscoelastic

Revisiting semicontinuous silver films as surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy substrates

• Malwina Liszewska,
• Bogusław Budner,
• Małgorzata Norek,
• Bartłomiej J. Jankiewicz and
• Piotr Nyga

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1048–1055, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.105

• nanoscale regions called “hot spots” [3]. These “hot spots” can be utilized in surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) [4], allowing for the detection of trace amounts of chemicals and biological materials, down to the single molecule or cell level [5]. SERS was discovered in the 1970s [6][7][8] and a

Adhesive contact of rough brushes

• Qiang Li and
• Valentin L. Popov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2405–2412, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.225

• power-law-graded media In the previous sections, we considered the adhesive contact of brushes that were placed in contact with a homogeneous linear elastic medium. Many biological materials such as skin, bones or bamboo trees are, however, non-homogeneous. This may have a significant impact on the

Nanoscale characterization of the temporary adhesive of the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus

• Ana S. Viana and
• Romana Santos

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2277–2286, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.212

• organisms such as marine flatworms [1], barnacle cyprids [2][3][4], freshwater cnidaria [5] and echinoderms such as sea cucumbers [6] and sea stars [7][8]. This characterization was performed using atomic force microscopy (AFM), a technique that allows high-resolution images of soft biological materials to

High-stress study of bioinspired multifunctional PEDOT:PSS/nanoclay nanocomposites using AFM, SEM and numerical simulation

• Alfredo J. Diaz,
• Hanaul Noh,
• Tobias Meier and
• Santiago D. Solares

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2069–2082, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.207

• properties of typical cantilevers (traditional testing of polymeric or biological materials is performed at a frequency range several orders of magnitude lower [53]). For these reasons, CRFM typically only provides mapping of the relative surface properties, although with high spatial resolution. Given the