The capillary adhesion technique: a versatile method for determining the liquid adhesion force and sample stiffness

• Daniel Gandyra,
• Stefan Walheim,
• Stanislav Gorb,
• Wilhelm Barthlott and
• Thomas Schimmel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 11–18, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.2

• outgrowths such as hairs or trichomes, which widely occur on biological surfaces, sometimes have unique adhesive and elastic properties optimally adapted to specific functional requirements. As these are often mimicked in technical applications, their characterization is of great interest in a biomimetic

• interface by the trichome tips which hold it under perturbations without the loss of air by bubble formation. Although the adhesive force of small elastic structures play a key role in understanding biological and biomimetic structures (as well as sensors, micromechanical or microfluidic systems), the

• biomimetic surfaces. To demonstrate the wide range of applications of this method, we also investigated human head hairs as a second example. Finally, calibrated atomic force microscopy (AFM) cantilevers were tested as a representative for an artificial micromechanical system, which at the same time allowed

Nanobioarchitectures based on chlorophyll photopigment, artificial lipid bilayers and carbon nanotubes

• Marcela Elisabeta Barbinta-Patrascu,
• Stefan Marian Iordache,
• Ana Maria Iordache,
• Nicoleta Badea and
• Camelia Ungureanu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2316–2325, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.240

• (obtained by hydration of a dipalmitoyl phosphatidylcholine thin film) with and without cholesterol were labelled with a natural photopigment (chlorophyll a), which functioned as a sensor to detect modifications in the artificial lipid bilayers. These biomimetic membranes were used to build non-covalent

• interest in the fields of nanotechnology and biomedicine [1][2][3]. Special attention has been paid to biomimetic membranes that convey biocompatibility to the hybrid materials [4][5][6][7]. One of the building blocks used to construct nanomaterials are carbon nanotubes (CNTs), which are allotropes of

• cholesterol (Zaverage = 609.8 ± 112.7; PDI = 0.397 ± 0.053). Chla inserted into the lipid bilayers of liposomes was used as a spectral sensor to monitor the events occurring in the biomimetic membranes. The visible absorption spectra of the samples were normalized versus the absorption at the maximum peak

Anticancer efficacy of a supramolecular complex of a 2-diethylaminoethyl–dextran–MMA graft copolymer and paclitaxel used as an artificial enzyme

• Yasuhiko Onishi,
• Yuki Eshita,
• Rui-Cheng Ji,
• Masayasu Onishi,
• Takashi Kobayashi,
• Masaaki Mizuno,
• Jun Yoshida and
• Naoji Kubota

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2293–2307, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.238

• been shown. In addition, proteins, Langmuir–Blodgett films (a self-organizing film), and liquid crystals have been studied as supramolecular assemblies. Moreover, the development of biomimetic polymers by using new supramolecular assemblies is expected, such as artificial enzymes with highly selective

• protein and he noted that when a protein is a giant molecule, it can react as an enzyme [31]. However, different from a general catalyst, the formation of an enzyme complex is possible in the presence of large molecular subunits within the enzyme. Accordingly, biomimetic supramolecular assemblies

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

• origin and synthetic, have been used as controlling agents for crystallization. This field of the so-called “polymer-controlled crystallization” has been reviewed in detail in several publications of Cölfen and collaborators [9][10][11][12]. Among the different natural or biomimetic polymers studied, we

• vivo mineralization, trying to study the effects of natural macromolecules [30]. Silicateins, for instance, are proteins not only used ex vivo for understanding mineralization processes in sponges, but also applied to prepare novel biomimetic hybrid materials, as nicely revised in a recent publication

• groups were shown to have an effect on the growth and on the final properties of inorganic materials such as zinc oxide [40][41], calcium oxalate [38], or calcium carbonate [42][43]. It is expectable that analogous effects should be obtained when biopolymeric (or synthetic biomimetic chains) are attached

Electrostatic interplay: The interaction triangle of polyamines, silicic acid, and phosphate studied through turbidity measurements, silicomolybdic acid test, and ²⁹Si NMR spectroscopy

• Anne Jantschke,
• Katrin Spinde and
• Eike Brunner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2026–2035, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.211

• interactions [23][24]. However, they interact with the silicic acid/silica species via hydrogen bonding and possibly hydrophobic interactions. These interactions even result in the stabilization of mono- and disilicic acid species [22][23]. The described observations have meanwhile lead to numerous biomimetic

Carbon-based smart nanomaterials in biomedicine and neuroengineering

• Antonina M. Monaco and
• Michele Giugliano

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1849–1863, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.196

• Computer Science, University of Sheffield, S1 4DP Sheffield, UK 10.3762/bjnano.5.196 Abstract The search for advanced biomimetic materials that are capable of offering a scaffold for biological tissues during regeneration or of electrically connecting artificial devices with cellular structures to restore

Real-time monitoring of calcium carbonate and cationic peptide deposition on carboxylate-SAM using a microfluidic SAW biosensor

• Anna Pohl and
• Ingrid M. Weiss

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1823–1835, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.193

• a buffer system similar to biomineralizing compartments. It can be concluded that multichannel microfluidic SAW sensor systems are highly attractive for biomimetic mineralization studies in liquids and in real-time. It remains subject to further investigations whether this technique will bring the

From sticky to slippery: Biological and biologically-inspired adhesion and friction

• Stanislav N. Gorb and
• Kerstin Koch

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1450–1451, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.157

• theoretical studies which range from insect adhesion, bacterial adhesion and skin friction to artificial biomimetic systems, e.g., snake-skin inspired polymer patterns or gecko tape. The Thematic Series does not attempt to give a comprehensive overview of the emerging field of biological contact mechanics

Model systems for studying cell adhesion and biomimetic actin networks

• Dorothea Brüggemann,
• Johannes P. Frohnmayer and
• Joachim P. Spatz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1193–1202, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.131

• various such integrins have been studied by incorporating the proteins into lipid membranes. These proteolipid structures lay the foundation for the development of artificial cells, which are able to adhere to substrates. To build biomimetic models for studying cell shape and spreading, actin networks can

• integrin reconstitution in GUVs to date was published in 2008. Streicher et al. developed a novel biomimetic system based on giant vesicles that mimicked the first steps of integrin-mediated cell adhesion [54]. GUVs were produced from small liposomes by electroformation and had a diameter of 20 to 40 μm

• cytoskeleton in natural cells is to stabilise more integrins in the adhesion zones to form focal adhesion spots by recruiting FAK and other cytoplasmic proteins. 3. Biomimetic actin cortices in lipid vesicles Due to the importance of actin in cell adhesion several studies have already been presented on the

Physical principles of fluid-mediated insect attachment - Shouldn’t insects slip?

• Jan-Henning Dirks

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1160–1166, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.127

• [2][3][4][5][6][7]. In recent years more elaborate microscopes and better analytical tools have become available and the interest of biologists and engineers in biological and biomimetic adhesives has increased [8][9][10][11][12][13]. Imaging techniques such as atomic force microscopy (AFM) and

Insect attachment on crystalline bioinspired wax surfaces formed by alkanes of varying chain lengths

• Elena Gorb,
• Sandro Böhm,
• Nadine Jacky,
• Louis-Philippe Maier,
• Kirstin Dening,
• Sasha Pechook,
• Boaz Pokroy and
• Stanislav Gorb

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1031–1041, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.116

• corrections of the manuscript. This study was partly supported by the SPP 1420 of the German Science Foundation ‘Biomimetic Materials Research: Functionality by Hierarchical Structuring of Materials’ (project GO 995 ⁄ 9-2) to SG.

Molecular biology approaches in bioadhesion research

• Marcelo Rodrigues,
• Birgit Lengerer,
• Thomas Ostermann and
• Peter Ladurner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 983–993, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.112

• for the respective organism. The need for new strategies in adhesion research demands efforts in key molecular biology technologies. Enhancing our ability to understand in vivo adhesive molecules is essential for exploring biomimetic approaches to synthesising new adhesive products. A molecular

Direct observation of microcavitation in underwater adhesion of mushroom-shaped adhesive microstructure

• Lars Heepe,
• Alexander E. Kovalev and
• Stanislav N. Gorb

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 903–909, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.103

• .; Gorb, S. N. Underwater adhesion of mushroom-shaped adhesive microstructure: An air-entrapment effect. In Biological and biomimetic adhesives: Challenges and opportunities; Santos, R.; Aldred, N.; Gorb, S. N.; Flammang, P., Eds.; The Royal Society of Chemistry: Cambridge, U.K., 2013; pp 65–71] rather

• in predominantly liquid environments. Keywords: bio-inspired; biomimetic; cavitation; contact mechanics; gecko; interface; negative pressure; pull-off; surface; tribology; Introduction During the past two decades, bio-inspired microstructured adhesives became a new class of adhesive materials with

Measuring air layer volumes retained by submerged floating-ferns Salvinia and biomimetic superhydrophobic surfaces

• Matthias J. Mayser,
• Holger F. Bohn,
• Meike Reker and
• Wilhelm Barthlott

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 812–821, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.93

• biomimetic applications like drag reduction in ship coatings of up to 30%. Here we present a novel method for measuring air volumes and air loss under water. We recorded the buoyancy force of the air layer on leaf surfaces of four different Salvinia species and on one biomimetic surface using a highly

• also allows to measure decrease or increase of air layers with high accuracy in real-time to understand dynamic processes. Keywords: air layer; biomimetic; drag reduction; functional surfaces; plastron; Salvinia effect; volume measurement; Introduction Since the description of hierarchically

Biocalcite, a multifunctional inorganic polymer: Building block for calcareous sponge spicules and bioseed for the synthesis of calcium phosphate-based bone

• Xiaohong Wang,
• Heinz C. Schröder and
• Werner E. G. Müller

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 610–621, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.72

• /glutamic acid-rich sponge-specific protein. The discovery that calcium carbonate crystals act as bioseeds in human bone formation may allow the development of novel biomimetic scaffolds for bone tissue engineering. Na-alginate hydrogels, enriched with biosilica, have recently been demonstrated as a

• for bioprinting and construction of bioartificial tissues or organs. In a first step we have encapsulated separately bone-forming (SaOS-2) and bone-degrading (RAW 264.7) cells to develop a biomimetic synthetic scaffold suitable for tissue engineering [75]. In the alginate matrix applied the SaOS-2

Hairy suckers: the surface microstructure and its possible functional significance in the Octopus vulgaris sucker

• Francesca Tramacere,
• Esther Appel,
• Barbara Mazzolai and
• Stanislav N. Gorb

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 561–565, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.66

• functional mechanism represents a very interesting source of inspiration for engineers and robotics specialists in the development of novel biomimetic adhesion devices. (a) Photograph of the frontal view of an octopus sucker. Infundibulum (I); orifice (O); and rim (R). (b) Schematic structure (transversal

Oriented attachment explains cobalt ferrite nanoparticle growth in bioinspired syntheses

• Annalena Wolff,
• Walid Hetaba,
• Marco Wißbrock,
• Stefan Löffler,
• Nadine Mill,
• Katrin Eckstädt,
• Axel Dreyer,
• Inga Ennen,
• Norbert Sewald,
• Peter Schattschneider and
• Andreas Hütten

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 210–218, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.23

• . In this work, the underlying non-classical growth process of the biosynthesized cobalt ferrite nanoparticles, discussed in our previous work, was investigated [20]. Biomimetic approaches aim to specifically tailor particle properties under mild conditions, which cannot be achieved with conventional

• chemical bottom-up syntheses under similar conditions [21]. In these biomimetic syntheses, peptides are used which influence the inorganic crystal growth by different mechanisms, such as catalysis or surface adsorption. It was previously shown that c25-mms6, a short synthetic version of the protein MMS6

• matches the description of an oriented attachment process. Crystal growth via oriented attachment as well as mesocrystal formation have been described previously for biomineralization and biomimetic syntheses [19][25]. A schematic of this multistep process can be found in Figure 5. Nanoparticle growth via

Advances in nanomaterials

• Herbert Gleiter,
• Horst Hahn and
• Thomas Schimmel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 805–806, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.91

• , from energy harvesting to energy storage technologies and from biomimetic structures to medical technologies, to mention just a few examples. One recent development in the field of nanomaterials is the ability not only to tailor the properties of nanomaterials (to achieve custom-designed, “tailor-made

Controlled synthesis and tunable properties of ultrathin silica nanotubes through spontaneous polycondensation on polyamine fibrils

• Jian-Jun Yuan,
• Pei-Xin Zhu,
• Daisuke Noda and
• Ren-Hua Jin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 793–804, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.90

• 10.3762/bjnano.4.90 Abstract This paper describes a facile approach to a biomimetic rapid fabrication of ultrathin silica nanotubes with a highly uniform diameter of 10 nm and inner hollow of around 3 nm. The synthesis is carried out through a spontaneous polycondensation of alkoxysilane on polyamine

• polymers and subsequent carbonization. Keywords: biomimetic silicification; polyethyleneimine; silica–carbon nanocomposite; silica nanotubes; template synthesis; Introduction Silica nanotubes with a controlled nanostructure (i.e., wall thickness and hollow space) and a tunable chemical composition are

• chemistry is highly desirable. We are interested in the programmable construction of biomimetic silica nanomaterials by exploiting the crystallization-driven self-assembly of a simple synthetic polyamine, namely linear polyethyleneimine (LPEI) [31][32][33]. In contrast to branched PEI, LPEI is composed only

Physics, chemistry and biology of functional nanostructures

• Paul Ziemann and
• Thomas Schimmel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 843–845, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.94

• broader view on biomimetic approaches can be found in [8]. The choice of these recommendations becomes obvious on summarizing the main topics of the present Thematic Series: Nanolithography approaches based on self-organized colloidal systems Experimental and theoretical description of electrical

Analysis of fluid flow around a beating artificial cilium

• Mojca Vilfan,
• Gašper Kokot,
• Andrej Vilfan,
• Natan Osterman,
• Blaž Kavčič,
• Igor Poberaj and
• Dušan Babič

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 163–171, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.16

• generation of a fluid flow above a ciliated surface in multicellular ones. Following the biological example, externally driven artificial cilia have recently been successfully implemented as micropumps and mixers. However, biomimetic systems are useful not only in microfluidic applications, but can also

Impact of cell shape in hierarchically structured plant surfaces on the attachment of male Colorado potato beetles (Leptinotarsa decemlineata)

• Bettina Prüm,
• Robin Seidel,
• Holger Florian Bohn and
• Thomas Speck

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 57–64, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.7

• development of biomimetic technical surfaces. Experimental Insects and plant species Beetles constitute the largest order within the class of insects, and their attachment pads are of the hairy type [28]. In the present study the Colorado potato beetle Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) was

Approaches to nanostructure control and functionalizations of polymer@silica hybrid nanograss generated by biomimetic silica mineralization on a self-assembled polyamine layer

• Jian-Jun Yuan and
• Ren-Hua Jin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 760–773, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.84

• polyamine@silica nanoribbon-based hybrid nanograss film, which was generated by performing a biomimetic silica mineralization reaction on a nanostructured linear polyethyleneimine (LPEI) layer preorganized on the inner wall of a glass tube. We found that the film thickness, size and density of the

• nanoribbons and the aggregation/orientation of the nanoribbons in the film were facile to tune by simple adjustment of the biomimetic silicification conditions and LPEI self-assembly on the substrate. Our LPEI-mediated nanograss process allows the facile and programmable generation of a wide range of

• and facilely functionalized makes our nanograss potentially important for device-based application in microfluidic, microreactor and biomedical fields. Keywords: biomimetic silica mineralization; linear polyethyleneimine; nanofiber; nanograss; thin film; Introduction Silica-based, one-dimensional

Self-organizing bioinspired oligothiophene–oligopeptide hybrids

• Alexey K. Shaytan,
• Eva-Kathrin Schillinger,
• Elena Mena-Osteritz,
• Sylvia Schmid,
• Pavel G. Khalatur,
• Peter Bäuerle and
• Alexei R. Khokhlov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 525–544, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.57

• β-sheet organization (Figure 15c) fits well with the available experimental data and may be considered as the highly probable model for the actual aggregation pattern. Conclusion Combining synthetic and biological building blocks to form various types of biomimetic thiophene-based hybrid compounds

The effect of surface anisotropy in the slippery zone of Nepenthes alata pitchers on beetle attachment

• Elena V. Gorb and
• Stanislav N. Gorb

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 302–310, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.35

• slide more easily inside the pitcher. In intact pitchers, the latter effect is reinforced by a strong reduction of adhesion by adhesive pads due to the crystalline wax coverage. Outlook: biomimetic potential and implementation The anisotropic properties of the slippery zone in N. alata pitchers and

• University of Hohenheim (Stuttgart, Germany) for providing plant material. Ms. V. Kastner (Max Planck Institute for Metals Research, Stuttgart, Germany) helped with editing of the manuscript. This study was partly supported by the SPP 1420 priority program of the German Science Foundation (DFG) ‘Biomimetic