Insect attachment on waxy plant surfaces: the effect of pad contamination by different waxes

• Elena V. Gorb and
• Stanislav N. Gorb

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 385–395, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.35

• and the tips of tenent setae covering insect adhesive pads, which are responsible for establishing an intimate contact with the surface [14]. The fluid absorption hypothesis assumes that because of the high capillarity of the 3D wax coverage, the adhesive fluid may be absorbed from the insect pad

Electrical properties of a liquid crystal dispersed in an electrospun cellulose acetate network

• Doina Manaila Maximean,
• Octavian Danila,
• Pedro L. Almeida and
• Constantin Paul Ganea

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 155–163, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.18

• deposited on indium tin oxide (ITO)-coated glass, and two such fiber-coated glass plates form a sandwich type cell, where the nematic liquid crystal (NLC) is filled in by capillarity [21][22][28]. A schematic representation of the electrospun cellulose network with the dispersed liquid crystal as well as

• kept at 110 °C for 30 min and then allowed to cool slowly to 100 °C. The nematic liquid crystal E7 (commercially available from Merck) was then filled in through capillarity. The liquid crystal E7 is a mixture of alkylcyanobiphenyls with a cyano head group, exhibiting a nematic to isotropic transition

Modeling of the growth of GaAs–AlGaAs core–shell nanowires

• Qian Zhang,
• Peter W. Voorhees and
• Stephen H. Davis

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 506–513, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.54

• along certain crystallographic directions and quantum dots near the apexes of the shell are observed in AlGaAs shells. Controlling the formation of these core–shell heterostructures remains challenging. A two-dimensional model valid on the wire cross section, that accounts for capillarity in the faceted

Structural and tribometric characterization of biomimetically inspired synthetic "insect adhesives"

• Matthias W. Speidel,
• Malte Kleemeier,
• Andreas Hartwig,
• Klaus Rischka,
• Angelika Ellermann,
• Rolf Daniels and
• Oliver Betz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 45–63, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.6

• , fluid-supplied medical patches for the treatment of burns and, with respect to their adhesiveness, controllable capillarity-based adhesion devices [62]. The adhesive strengths of our synthetic "insect emulsions" of the second generation lie well within the range of tenacities measured in intact insect

When the going gets rough – studying the effect of surface roughness on the adhesive abilities of tree frogs

• Niall Crawford,
• Thomas Endlein,
• Jonathan T. Pham,
• Mathis Riehle and
• W. Jon P. Barnes

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 2116–2131, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.201

• fluid to fill the space under the pad, leaving air pockets that would significantly reduce the Laplace pressure component of capillarity. Therefore, we measured how well the adhesive toe pad would conform to spherical asperities of known sizes using interference reflection microscopy. Based on

• capillary forces will be reduced due to a decline in the Laplace pressure component of capillarity [7]. Bhushan’s ‘submerged‘ regime is that of a rock/torrent frog climbing water-covered rock, where the toe pads are completely submerged, thus abolishing any meniscus [8]. In such cases, capillary forces will

Influence of ambient humidity on the attachment ability of ladybird beetles (Coccinella septempunctata)

• Lars Heepe,
• Jonas O. Wolff and
• Stanislav N. Gorb

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1322–1329, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.123

• not only dry adhesive setae are affected by ambient humidity, but also setae that stick due to the capillarity of an oily secretion. Keywords: adhesion; beetle; biomechanics; force measurement; friction; insect; locomotion; surface; Introduction Substrate attachment plays an important role in the

• [14], and geckos, revealed in measurements with living animals [11] and with isolated setae [10]. This is particularly interesting since both types of adhesive systems (wet and dry) are supposed to be based on different physical interactions (capillarity versus van der Waals forces). For the dry

• about where tarsal liquids are actually secreted and delivered in hairy attachment pads of beetles. Moreover, assuming capillarity to be responsible for the generated traction forces, it is not clear how the proposed increase in the viscoelastic bulk energy dissipation with increasing humidity should

Nanoporous composites prepared by a combination of SBA-15 with Mg–Al mixed oxides. Water vapor sorption properties

• Amaury Pérez-Verdejo,
• Alvaro Sampieri,
• Heriberto Pfeiffer,
• Mayra Ruiz-Reyes,
• Juana-Deisy Santamaría and
• Geolar Fetter

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1226–1234, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.136

• attributed to the porous diameter, 3.7 nm. The smaller pores size promotes the slow release of water molecules, thus, the capillarity condensation is indeed favored. Kocherbitov et al. [18] proposed a water sorption mechanism, in SBA-15 and MCM-41, which is related to the pore size. Therefore, the sorption

Functionalization of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes

• Eloise Van Hooijdonk,
• Carla Bittencourt,
• Rony Snyders and
• Jean-François Colomer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 129–152, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.14

• two-step technique (a mechanical densification of VA-CNT forests followed by a capillarity-driven wetting along the axis of the CNTs). They revealed that the theoretical limit can be approached, i.e., a distance between two neighboring nanotubes

Effect of normal load and roughness on the nanoscale friction coefficient in the elastic and plastic contact regime

• Aditya Kumar,
• Thorsten Staedler and
• Xin Jiang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 66–71, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.7

• tribological processes is fundamental to many basic and applied problems, such as wetting, capillarity, adhesion, lubrication, sealing, hardness, micro/nanoindentation, atomic-scale probing, surface modification and manipulation [1][2][3]. The contact of two bodies may be defined by the influential parameters

Ultraviolet photodetection of flexible ZnO nanowire sheets in polydimethylsiloxane polymer

• Jinzhang Liu,
• Nunzio Motta and
• Soonil Lee

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 353–359, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.41

• PDMS would slowly spread out of the agglomeration of Ag nanoparticles and infiltrate the nanowire film due to capillarity. Figure 3a shows the current–voltage (I–V) curves of the device in PDMS, measured under UV-light illumination (312 nm, 30 mW·cm−2) and in the dark. The I–V curves of two other

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

• elemental nanoribbons (Figure 2c). A similar surface pattern has been observed for a carbon nanotube (CNT) film that was prepared by first depositing a CNT array on a silicon wafer and then performing PSS wrapping in water [35]. The formation of this CNT pyramidlike pattern was induced by the capillarity

Formation of precise 2D Au particle arrays via thermally induced dewetting on pre-patterned substrates

• Dong Wang,
• Ran Ji and
• Peter Schaaf

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 318–326, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.37

• induced by annealing. Two types of pre-patterned substrates were used: The first comprised an array of pyramidal pits and the second an array of circular holes. For the dewetting of Au films on the pyramidal pit substrate, the structural curvature-driven diffusion cooperates with capillarity-driven

• ) Dewetting of the solid films is driven by the reduction of the surface energy (capillarity driven dewetting mechanism) and results in the formation of particles via surface diffusion. Surface curvatures of periodic substrate structures are associated with the chemical potential, introducing an additional

• precise particle array with one particle per pit on the substrate A (Figure 3b) confirms the influence of the periodic structure with curvature on the dewetting process. But the curvature driving diffusion is not the only process operating, and this process combined with the capillarity driven process and

Dynamics of capillary infiltration of liquids into a highly aligned multi-walled carbon nanotube film

• Sławomir Boncel,
• Krzysztof Z. Walczak and
• Krzysztof K. K. Koziol

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 311–317, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.36

• liquid in a rate that can be linearly correlated to dynamic viscosity of the liquid (η). The experimental results follow the classical theory of capillarity for a steady process (Lucas–Washburn law), where the nanoscale capillary force, here supported by gravity, is compensated by viscous drag. This most

• general theory of capillarity can be applied in a prediction of both wettability of HACNT films and the dynamics of capillary rise in the intertube space in various technological applications. Keywords: capillary action; dynamic viscosity; highly aligned carbon nanotubes; superhydrophobicity; wettability

• infiltration of HACNT array by a liquid can be identified. Firstly, the process must be thermodynamically favourable. For a given nanotube density within a HACNT film, which is a material characterised by a large capillarity [28], it is critical that the liquid wets the CNT surface [29][30]. In general, the

Review of "Contact Mechanics and Friction: Physical Principles and Applications" by Valentin L. Popov

• Stanislav N. Gorb

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 57–58, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.7

• Stanislav N. Gorb Department of Functional Morphology and Biomechanics, Zoological Institute at the University of Kiel, Am Botanischen Garten 1–9, D-24098 Kiel, Germany 10.3762/bjnano.2.7 Keywords: adhesion; capillarity; contact mechanics; continuum mechanics; friction; lubrication; materials

• , lubrication, adhesion, capillarity and system dynamics. It provides conceptual and computational tools for researchers in various branches of science which deal with the physics and mechanics of interfaces – from nanotechnology to earthquake research. One of the topics which seems particularly of interest to