Correlative infrared nanospectroscopic and nanomechanical imaging of block copolymer microdomains

• Benjamin Pollard and
• Markus B. Raschke

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 605–612, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.53

• correlative analysis of chemical composition, spectral IR line shape, modulus, adhesion, deformation, and dissipation acquired for a thin film of a nanophase separated block copolymer (PS-b-PMMA) reveal complex structural variations, in particular at domain interfaces, not resolved in any individual signal

• , including force–distance spectroscopy, has not yet been explored in combination with s-SNOM. We perform both spatio-spectral s-SNOM and force–distance nanoimaging and nanospectroscopy on mesoscopic regions of a block copolymer, providing a multidimensional picture of the variation in material and optical

• properties between and within polymer microdomains. Methods We study a high molecular weight block copolymer of polystyrene-block-poly(methyl methacrylate) (PS-b-PMMA), with a relative chain length of 270.0-b-289.0 Mn × 103 (P4443-SMMA, Polymer Source), spin-coated from a 1% w/v solution in toluene onto

Nanoscale rippling on polymer surfaces induced by AFM manipulation

• Mario D’Acunto,
• Franco Dinelli and
• Pasqualantonio Pingue

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2278–2289, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.234

• rippling for the thin lamellar microphases forming in polystyrene/poly(ethylene oxide) block copolymer (PS-b-PEO) films [48]. In particular via an analysis of the ripple patterns, they have deduced local thermochemical parameters such as the melting temperature of PEO, the Tg of PS, the specific heat of PS

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

• to attain рН 8. The indium hydroxide precipitate was carefully washed with distilled water and sonicated after adding of 1.5 mL of concentrated nitric acid (65%) as a stabilizer per 50 mL of sol. The obtained In(OH)3 sol with a concentration of 200 g/L was mixed with a Pluronic F127 block copolymer

Self-assembly mechanism of Ni nanowires prepared with an external magnetic field

• Xiaoyu Li,
• Hu Wang,
• Kenan Xie,
• Qin Long,
• Xuefei Lai and
• Li Liao

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2123–2128, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.217

• electrodeposition [7][8][9][10], block copolymer lithography [11], and wet chemical reduction [12]. Among these methods, template-based electrodeposition is the most widely used to prepare Ni nanowires as highly-ordered and size-controlled nanowires can be obtained with this method. However, additional steps such

Selective porous gates made from colloidal silica nanoparticles

• Roberto Nisticò,
• Paola Avetta,
• Paola Calza,
• Debora Fabbri,
• Giuliana Magnacca and
• Dominique Scalarone

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2105–2112, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.215

• precursor (i.e., tetraethyl orthosilicate, TEOS) and the soft-templating agent (block copolymer), different architectures of the final oxidic material can be achieved [27]. The driving force for self-assembling is the thermodynamic incompatibility of the different blocks in the polymeric chains, which

• order depending on the physicochemical properties of the block copolymer [38]. Next to the widespread spherical and short cylindrical (rod-like) micellar systems, also other types of supramolecular organizations were found, like lamellar sheets [39], worm-like systems [27] and vesicles [38]. When

• reverse micellization takes place, reverse micelles can work as nanoreactors [40] and used to produce nanoparticles. Basing on our results, the reverse micellization regime definitively establishes with a TEOS/block copolymer weight ratio of 75/25 and the corresponding samples, obtained after calcination

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

• micelles carrying a drug, they have been shown to be transported to and act on not only endosomes and lysosomes but also the Golgi body and mitochondria [4]. A block copolymer micelle can be used to deliver a hydrophobic drug as a nanocarrier with water-soluble biological affinity. Knowledge of the

• cellular distribution of micelles is required to enable the selective delivery of a drug to a specific target at the subcellular level [4]. By means of triple-labeling confocal microscopy of living cells, Savic et al. identified the exact cellular targets of block copolymer micelles, i.e., several

Non-covalent and reversible functionalization of carbon nanotubes

• Antonello Di Crescenzo,
• Valeria Ettorre and
• Antonella Fontana

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1675–1690, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.178

• structures of poly(ethylene glycol), PEG44, and poly(ethylene glycol-bl-propylene sulfide), PEG44−PPS20, adsorbed on SWCNT as obtained by essential dynamics analysis. The presence of PPS (see structures on the right) enables the block copolymer chain to fully wrap the CNT thus minimizing nanotube−nanotube

Near-field photochemical and radiation-induced chemical fabrication of nanopatterns of a self-assembled silane monolayer

• Ulrich C. Fischer,
• Carsten Hentschel,
• Florian Fontein,
• Linda Stegemann,
• Christiane Hoeppener,
• Harald Fuchs and
• Stefanie Hoeppener

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1441–1449, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.156

• templates are found in catalysis [9], biochemical surface engineering [10], cell adhesion [11], and biomineralization [12]. It has been shown previously that chemically nanostructured surfaces can be used as platforms for the graphoepitaxial growth of block-copolymer nanostructures [13] and to control the

• ], self-assembled block-copolymer structures [17], block-copolymer micelle nanolithography [18] as well as polymer blend lithography [19]. Moreover, gold nanoparticles with functional groups have been arranged in many different approaches to form chemical nanopatterns [14]. With parallel lithographic

• exploited to test the resolution potential of the fabrication methods, other methods of bottom-up fabrication of the metal masks are desirable for this purpose. For the fabrication of metal masks as used here the block-copolymer micelle nanolithography [18], the silver decoration technique or other

Optimizing the synthesis of CdS/ZnS core/shell semiconductor nanocrystals for bioimaging applications

• Li-wei Liu,
• Si-yi Hu,
• Ying Pan,
• Jia-qi Zhang,
• Yue-shu Feng and
• Xi-he Zhang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 919–926, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.105

• intensity, stronger stability and exhibited a longer lifetime compared to uncapped CdS. The CdS/ZnS nanocrystals were stabilized in Pluronic F127 block copolymer micelles, offering an optically and colloidally stable contrast agents for in vitro and in vivo imaging. Photostability test exhibited that the

• novel integrative strategy that produces bioconjugated CdS/ZnS QDs for the use in bioimaging. In this study, we report a rapid and straightforward method for formulating CdS/ZnS QDs, encapsulated CdS/ZnS QDs in a hydrophobic core provided by block copolymer (Pluronic F127) micelles for bioimaging. The

In vitro toxicity and bioimaging studies of gold nanorods formulations coated with biofunctional thiol-PEG molecules and Pluronic block copolymers

• Tianxun Gong,
• Douglas Goh,
• Malini Olivo and
• Ken-Tye Yong

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 546–553, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.64

• , we found that the hydrophobic PPO segment from the Pluronic block copolymer is able to bind to the hydrophobic part of CTAB molecules on AuNRs and form stable CTAB-polymer complexes [26][27]. Upon functionalizing AuNRs with either PEG-SH or PEO–PPO–PEO molecules, many physicochemical property of a

Cyclic photochemical re-growth of gold nanoparticles: Overcoming the mask-erosion limit during reactive ion etching on the nanoscale

• Burcin Özdemir,
• Axel Seidenstücker,
• Alfred Plettl and
• Paul Ziemann

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 886–894, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.100

• silicon nitride. Keywords: Au nanoparticles; block copolymer micellar lithography; photochemical growth; reactive ion etching; self-assembly; Introduction Nanoparticles (NP), though primarily sought-after because of their new size- and shape-dependent physical or chemical properties, also play an

• -coating as well as the plasma processes can be found in [6]. Thus, in the present context it may suffice to describe how the method, often addressed as block copolymer micelle lithography (BCML), meets the above requirements. For a given copolymer like PS(1850)-b-P2VP(900) in toluene (the monomer numbers

• etching progress is presented in panels c)–e) and the associated linear relation between total pillar height and etching time is summarized in f). In accordance with Figure 3d an average SiO2 etching rate of 5.3 nm/min is extracted from these data. Conclusion Though block copolymer micelle lithography

Photoelectrochemical and Raman characterization of In₂O₃ mesoporous films sensitized by CdS nanoparticles

• Mikalai V. Malashchonak,
• Sergey K. Poznyak,
• Eugene A. Streltsov,
• Anatoly I. Kulak,
• Olga V. Korolik and
• Alexander V. Mazanik

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 255–261, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.27

• thoroughly washed and ultrasonically treated after the addition of a small amount of nitric acid as a stabilizer to obtain a stable sol at a concentration of 120 g/L. To prepare indium oxide In2O3(400) films with mesoporous structure, block-copolymer Pluronic F127 (100 g/L) as a template material was added

Characterization and properties of micro- and nanowires of controlled size, composition, and geometry fabricated by electrodeposition and ion-track technology

• Maria Eugenia Toimil-Molares

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 860–883, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.97

• -shaped (Figure 3c), are fabricated by applying adequate surfactants [46][49]. Before further processing, the template is rinsed in purified water. Compared to other available templates, such as di-block copolymer membranes or porous alumina, etched ion-track membranes offer the powerful possibility of

Repulsive bimodal atomic force microscopy on polymers

• Alexander M. Gigler,
• Christian Dietz,
• Maximilian Baumann,
• Nicolás F. Martinez,
• Ricardo García and
• Robert W. Stark

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 456–463, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.52

• feedback of the instrument kept this parameter constant. The two polymer blocks of the cylindrical structure of the block copolymer are increasingly indistinguishable in the phase image of the first eigenmode (Figure 4b) when increasing the amplitude ratio. By contrast, there is an optimum amplitude ratio

• time-trace analysis, which shows regular oscillations in both eigenmodes with only minimal nonlinear effects. We would like to emphasize that the results shown here were obtained on silicon and polystyrene samples, as well as on an SB block copolymer, using a particular type of cantilever: i.e., at a

Mesoporous MgTa₂O₆ thin films with enhanced photocatalytic activity: On the interplay between crystallinity and mesostructure

• Jin-Ming Wu,
• Igor Djerdj,
• Till von Graberg and
• Bernd M. Smarsly

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 123–133, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.13

• . Results and Discussion Film characterization In the following, we focus on mesoporous MgTa2O6 films templated by the KLE block copolymer. PIB6000 generates films with very similar mesopore structure and crystallinity, with only the average lateral size of the mesopores (ca. 20 nm) being larger than in the

• scientific support for this study. BASF SE (especially Dr. Cornelia Röger) is gratefully acknowledged for providing the PIB-PEO block copolymer.

• characterization of crystallized, mesoporous MgTa2O6 thin films, obtained through an evaporation-induced self-assembly (EISA) approach, with the help of the KLE template. The photocatalytic activity of the nanoarchitectured MgTa2O6 thin film was compared both to that achieved by using the BASF Pluronic F127 (block

Template-assisted formation of microsized nanocrystalline CeO₂ tubes and their catalytic performance in the carboxylation of methanol

• Jörg J. Schneider,
• Meike Naumann,
• Christian Schäfer,
• Armin Brandner,
• Heiko J. Hofmann and
• Peter Claus

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 776–784, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.86

• images (Figure 7). Obviously the block copolymer P123® is capable of acting as a template to guide the ceria sol around the polymer fibres, resulting in 1-D ceria tubes after polymer etching and calcinations, as found for the process without addition of the block copolymer. The 2-D ceria film formed due

• to the addition of the block copolymer P123® interconnects these ceria tubes, thus forming a network structure. Although we were not able to determine the thickness of the ceria film connecting the tubes, the image contrast in the TEM experiment (Figure 7, left side) is comparable to that of the

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

• achieved by first patterning silicification-active polymer solutions onto the substrates and subsequently performing silica deposition [24][25]. Cha and coworkers [26] reported using block copolymer thin film for the biomimetic formation of two-dimensional silica nanopatterned arrays. However, the

Surface induced self-organization of comb-like macromolecules

• Konstantin I. Popov,
• Vladimir V. Palyulin,
• Martin Möller,
• Alexei R. Khokhlov and
• Igor I. Potemkin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 569–584, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.61

• cross-linked, and in the last stage, the melt is dissolved. Each comb in the solution consists of a backbone formed by cross-linked middle blocks, and end blocks remain in segregated state after dissolution. Microphase separation Microphase separation in block copolymer melts has attracted significant

• [52][67][68]. Later on the interest in the search for novel morphologies shifted to the consideration of copolymers with complex architectures [69][70], nanoparticles imbedded in block copolymer matrices [71], etc. Before the successful controlled synthesis of graft copolymers [1][2], microphase

Fabrication of multi-parametric platforms based on nanocone arrays for determination of cellular response

• Lindarti Purwaningsih,
• Tobias Schoen,
• Tobias Wolfram,
• Claudia Pacholski and
• Joachim P. Spatz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 545–551, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.58

• nanocones with gold tips. By using a combination of block copolymer nanolithography, electroless deposition, and reactive ion etching several parameters such as structure height and structure distance could easily be adjusted to the desired values. The gold tips allow for easy functionalization of the

• finding for research dealing with the reactions of neuron-like tissue in the immediate moments after direct contact with an implanted surface. Keywords: block copolymer nanolithography; cell adhesion; nanostructures; surface chemistry; surface topography; Introduction Nanostructured materials for

• has been fabricated by a combination of block copolymer micelle lithography (BCML), electroless deposition (ED) and reactive ion etching (RIE). The resulting highly ordered silica nanocone array with gold tips allows for the investigation of several parameters in cell studies at the same time, that is