Unravelling the interfacial interaction in mesoporous SiO₂@nickel phyllosilicate/TiO₂ core–shell nanostructures for photocatalytic activity

• Bridget K. Mutuma,
• Xiluva Mathebula,
• Isaac Nongwe,
• Bonakele P. Mtolo,
• Boitumelo J. Matsoso,
• Rudolph Erasmus,
• Zikhona Tetana and
• Neil J. Coville

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1834–1846, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.165

• @NiPS/TiO2) core–shell nanostructures. The TEM results showed that the mSiO2@NiPS composite has a core–shell nanostructure with a unique flake-like shell morphology. XPS analysis revealed the successful formation of 1:1 nickel phyllosilicate on the SiO2 surface. The addition of TiO2 to the mSiO2@NiPS

• yielded the mSiO2@NiPS/TiO2 composite. The bandgap energy of mSiO2@NiPS and of mSiO2@NiPS/TiO2 were estimated to be 2.05 and 2.68 eV, respectively, indicating the role of titania in tuning the optoelectronic properties of the SiO2@nickel phyllosilicate. As a proof of concept, the core–shell nanostructures

• nanostructures (Supporting Information File 1, Figure S1a,b). The mSiO2@NiPS/TiO2 composite comprises spherical mSiO2@NiPS with aggregates of TiO2 on the surface (Supporting Information File 1, Figure S1c). The TEM images of the mesoporous SiO2 spheres show more clearly that the sample comprises an inner solid

Self-standing heterostructured NiC_x-NiFe-NC/biochar as a highly efficient cathode for lithium–oxygen batteries

• Shengyu Jing,
• Xu Gong,
• Shan Ji,
• Linhui Jia,
• Bruno G. Pollet,
• Sheng Yan and
• Huagen Liang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1809–1821, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.163

• NiFe-PBA core was converted to the NiFe alloy coated by N-doped carbon. Compared with the composite structure of the NiFe alloy and N-doped carbon in NiFe@NC/PPC [40], the introduction of NiCx may bring more heterointerfaces [29], which may be the source of enhanced performance. The reversibility and

Application of contact-resonance AFM methods to polymer samples

• Sebastian Friedrich and
• Brunero Cappella

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1714–1727, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.154

• compliant samples such as polymers, as will be shown later. This is a serious drawback when characterizing composite samples with large differences in the moduli of the components. Results In order to test Equation 16, in a first approach, measurements in DART mode have been performed on several polymer

Antimicrobial metal-based nanoparticles: a review on their synthesis, types and antimicrobial action

• Matías Guerrero Correa,
• Fernanda B. Martínez,
• Cristian Patiño Vidal,
• Camilo Streitt,
• Juan Escrig and
• Carol Lopez de Dicastillo

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1450–1469, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.129

• et al. produced coated sheets of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) which formed a composite compound containing ZnO [24][25]. One method that facilitates the large-scale production of nanoparticles is the MCP technique. This method is based on a chemical exchange reaction that occurs due to the heat and

Analysis of catalyst surface wetting: the early stage of epitaxial germanium nanowire growth

• Owen C. Ernst,
• Felix Lange,
• David Uebel,
• Thomas Teubner and
• Torsten Boeck

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1371–1380, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.121

• applications. Surface treatment, for example, modifies the wetting behaviour of active fluids on composite materials or porous media to increase the efficiency and selectivity of catalytic processes [1]. Droplet-based microfluidics, including on-chip and off-chip incubation in immiscible phases, even developed

Structure and electrochemical performance of electrospun-ordered porous carbon/graphene composite nanofibers

• Yi Wang,
• Yanhua Song,
• Chengwei Ye and
• Lan Xu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1280–1290, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.112

• Yi Wang Yanhua Song Chengwei Ye Lan Xu National Engineering Laboratory for Modern Silk, College of Textile and Engineering, Soochow University, 199 Ren-ai Road, Suzhou 215123, China 10.3762/bjnano.11.112 Abstract Ordered carbon/graphene composite nanofibers (CGCNFs) with different porous

• surface area of CGCNFs, thereby significantly increasing their specific capacitance. In addition, the ordering of CGCNFs within the electrode improved the electron transfer efficiency, resulting in a higher specific capacitance. Keywords: carbon/graphene composite nanofibers; carbonization

• ]. Generally, the structures of nanocomposites used in electrochemical supercapacitors can influence their capacitance, charge and discharge rates, as well as their cycle stability. In our previous work [33], the ordered porous PAN/graphene composite nanofibers (OPPGCNFs) were prepared by a modified parallel

High permittivity, breakdown strength, and energy storage density of polythiophene-encapsulated BaTiO₃ nanoparticles

• Adnanullah Khan,
• Amir Habib and
• Adeel Afzal

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1190–1197, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.103

• dielectric capacitors. To overcome these problems, BTO-polymer composite-based dielectric materials have been developed and extensively investigated. Organic polymers offer many advantages including higher breakdown strength, lighter mass, greater flexibility, processability, and cost efficiency [8]. However

• BTO nanoparticles. For instance, Dang et al. [9] achieved a permittivity value of ca. 40 at 10 kHz with 50 vol % loading of BTO in polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF). However, such a high content of BTO nanoparticles has severe effects on the overall performance of the composite dielectric materials [9

• nanoparticles, but they noticed that breakdown strength of the composite was critically affected at a high concentration of filler due to free charge accumulation at the interface. Therefore, to improve breakdown strength and energy storage density of BTO, we propose the design of polythiophene (PTh

Nonadiabatic superconductivity in a Li-intercalated hexagonal boron nitride bilayer

• Kamila A. Szewczyk,
• Izabela A. Domagalska,
• Artur P. Durajski and
• Radosław Szczęśniak

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1178–1189, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.102

• form of hBN was obtained at the University of Manchester [32]. Monolayers of graphene and hBN have a very similar crystal lattice structure. Their compatibility is estimated to be 98.5% [23]. In a graphene/hBN composite, a homogeneous distribution of charge on the graphene surface is observed. This

Plant growth regulation by seed coating with films of alginate and auxin-intercalated layered double hydroxides

• Vander A. de Castro,
• Valber G. O. Duarte,
• Danúbia A. C. Nobre,
• Geraldo H. Silva,
• Vera R. L. Constantino,
• Frederico G. Pinto,
• Willian R. Macedo and
• Jairo Tronto

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1082–1091, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.93

• auxin 1-naphthalenoacetic acid (ZnAl-NAA-LDH), (ii) the coating of bean seeds (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) with composite films produced from mixtures of alginate polymer and ZnAl-NAA-LDH, and (iii) the evaluation of the plant response by bioassays. The hybrid ZnAl-NAA-LDH was characterized by a set of

• analytical techniques, including powder X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis coupled to differential scanning calorimetry and mass spectrometry, specific surface area measurement, and scanning electron microscopy. Bioassays were performed with the seeds coated with the composite film to assess the

• action of auxin in plants, we examined in this work the intercalation of NAA in inorganic layers of LDHs, with the subsequent production of a composite film with alginate [16][17] to provide physical and chemical protection for the intercalated auxin substances. It is expected that the application of

Highly sensitive detection of estradiol by a SERS sensor based on TiO₂ covered with gold nanoparticles

• Andrea Brognara,
• Ili F. Mohamad Ali Nasri,
• Beatrice R. Bricchi,
• Andrea Li Bassi,
• Caroline Gauchotte-Lindsay,
• Matteo Ghidelli and
• Nathalie Lidgi-Guigui

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1026–1035, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.87

• use of composite systems of dielectrics (TiO2, ZnO) and metallic NPs has gathered increasing attention regarding SERS applications, because the plasmonic enhancement provided by metallic NPs can be combined with the optical properties of the semiconductor such as light trapping, scattering, and

• antireflection abilities [13][14][15]. These composite microstructures have also shown to maximize the path of the Raman excitation laser beam within the substrate, leading to signals with higher intensity. Samransuksamer et al. [16] used TiO2 nanorods decorated with Au NPs, deposited via precipitation by

• soaking in HAuCl4 solution, as composite SERS substrates for the detection of methylene blue. They reported a successful SERS enhancement, compared to bare Si substrates, with an enhancement factor of ca. 106 and a lower detection limit of 100 nM. Li et al. [15] studied Au NP-coated TiO2 nanotube arrays

Wet-spinning of magneto-responsive helical chitosan microfibers

• Dorothea Brüggemann,
• Johanna Michel,
• Naiana Suter,
• Matheus Grande de Aguiar and
• Michael Maas

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 991–999, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.83

• biotechnological and tissue engineering applications. However, there are only a few methods available for the production of biocompatible helical microfibers. Given that, we present here a simple technique for the fabrication of helical chitosan microfibers with embedded magnetic nanoparticles. Composite fibers

• of nanometers to a few micrometers [21]. Blends of chitosan with alginate, silk, fibroin, cellulose or collagen can also be processed into composite fibers by electrospinning [22]. Wet-spinning is another well-established method of fabricating chitosan fibers with a diameter in the micrometer range

• dressings [36], and nanohydroxyapatite was embedded into chitosan fibers for bone tissue engineering applications [37]. Likewise, magnetic iron oxide particles have been blended with chitosan to prepare electrospun composite fibers [38][39] to form magneto-responsive polymer nanocomposites for bone tissue

A 3D-polyphenylalanine network inside porous alumina: Synthesis and characterization of an inorganic–organic composite membrane

• Jonathan Stott and
• Jörg J. Schneider

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 938–951, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.78

• polymer functionalization schemes for reversed-phase solid phase extraction applications. The adsorption capability of the functionalized composite membrane was increased from 16.7% to 38.1% compared to the native ALOX-membrane. Keywords: alumina; composite membrane; polymer-based sorbent

• -phenylalanine) were fabricated by a template method reported by Cui et al. [32]. In this study, we functionalize porous alumina substrates to induce the formation of three-dimensional supported organo-gels within their porous architecture to study a new inorganic–organic composite material. Such a surface

• -gels of such composite membranes can be further improved with regard to adsorption materials in medical and analytical applications or analytical separation processes. Results and Discussion Inorganic porous membranes of sintered corundum particles (ALOX-membranes) were used as substrates for polymer

Band tail state related photoluminescence and photoresponse of ZnMgO solid solution nanostructured films

• Vadim Morari,
• Aida Pantazi,
• Nicolai Curmei,
• Vitalie Postolache,
• Emil V. Rusu,
• Marius Enachescu,
• Ion M. Tiginyanu and
• Veaceslav V. Ursaki

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 899–910, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.75

• 3.202 eV are related most likely to free-to-bound transitions due to some impurities in the ZnO crystallites. Therefore, the annealing temperature of 400 °C is not enough for the production of single phase ZnMgO films by sol–gel spin coating. On the other hand, ZnMgO:ZnO composite films with ZnO

Nickel nanoparticles supported on a covalent triazine framework as electrocatalyst for oxygen evolution reaction and oxygen reduction reactions

• Secil Öztürk,
• Yu-Xuan Xiao,
• Dennis Dietrich,
• Beatriz Giesen,
• Juri Barthel,
• Jie Ying,
• Xiao-Yu Yang and
• Christoph Janiak

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 770–781, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.62

• immobilized on the CTFs via the decomposition of the metal precursor in the IL (Scheme 1). The composites were designated Ni/CTF-1-400-X and Ni/CTF-1-600-X, where X represents the weight percentage of nickel in the composite material based on flame atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS). Nickel loadings of 20

• framework. Furthermore, examination of the edges of the framework and of the nickel NPs revealed a partial oxidation. Figure S11d,f shows a correlation between Ni and O for the Ni/CTF-1-600-22 composite. This cannot be avoided, since the material was not handled under inert atmosphere (Figure S11 and Figure

• always shows strong satellites about 6 eV above the main electronic lines [47]. In composite materials, Ni2+ can arise from the combination of nickel coordinated with nitrogen and from the oxidation/hydroxylation of nickel (since the samples need to be briefly handled in air to be introduced into the XPS

Effect of Ag loading position on the photocatalytic performance of TiO₂ nanocolumn arrays

• Jinghan Xu,
• Yanqi Liu and
• Yan Zhao

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 717–728, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.59

• , and Ag particles were loaded on the inside and the outside of the nanotubes by chemical deposition. The catalysis of this composite was carried out at a concentration of 1100 mM in AgNO3 solution. It was found that the loading position of precious metal particles in the TiO2 structure could not be

Effect of substitutional defects on resonant tunneling diodes based on armchair graphene and boron nitride nanoribbons lateral heterojunctions

• Majid Sanaeepur

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 688–694, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.56

• composite structurea.

A novel dry-blending method to reduce the coefficient of thermal expansion of polymer templates for OTFT electrodes

• Xiangdong Ye,
• Bo Tian,
• Yuxuan Guo,
• Fan Fan and
• Anjiang Cai

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 671–677, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.53

• . The SiO2 nanoparticles in the groove are extracted by curing and peeling off PDMS to prepare a PDMS/SiO2 composite template with a nanoparticle content of 83.8 wt %. The composite template has a CTE of 96 ppm/°C, which is a reduction by 69.23% compared with the original PDMS template. Finally, we

• achieved the alignment of OTFT electrodes using the composite template. Keywords: coefficient of thermal expansion; dry blending; organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs); OTFT electrodes; PDMS/SiO2 composite template; Introduction Organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) provide a platform to construct next

• in a polymer to obtain a composite. Shokrieh et al. [10] carried out a systematic theoretical study to investigate the influence of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on the CTE of CNT/epoxy, and the results indicate that the addition of 1 wt % CNT causes a significant decrease of the CTE of the matrix

Exfoliation in a low boiling point solvent and electrochemical applications of MoO₃

• Matangi Sricharan,
• Bikesh Gupta,
• Sreejesh Moolayadukkam and
• H. S. S. Ramakrishna Matte

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 662–670, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.52

• specific capacitance was observed for the composite that contains 5 wt % CB with values reaching up to 221 F·g−1. The composites with 2 and 8 wt % CB show specific capacitance values of 205 and 149 F·g−1, respectively, at a scan rate of 5 mV·s−1. The optimum amount of CB to make conductive pathways in MoO3

• appears to be 5 wt % [26][27]. The change in specific capacitance as a function of the amount of CB is shown in the inset of Figure 3a. The rate capabilities can be understood based on the change in performance as a function of the scan rate [28]. To study this, the composite with 5 wt % CB was cycled at

• tested under similar conditions. Compared to composites with exfoliated MoO3 the performance of the composite with bulk MoO3 is worse (Supporting Information File 1, Figure S6). A comparison of the performance of MoO3-based supercapacitors is shown in Table S2 (Supporting Information File 1

Preparation, characterization and photocatalytic performance of heterostructured CuO–ZnO-loaded composite nanofiber membranes

• Wei Fang,
• Liang Yu and
• Lan Xu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 631–650, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.50

• Wei Fang Liang Yu Lan Xu National Engineering Laboratory for Modern Silk, College of Textile and Engineering, Soochow University, 199 Ren-ai Road, Suzhou 215123, China 10.3762/bjnano.11.50 Abstract Inorganic semiconductor oxides loaded on composite nanofibers (CNFs) have been widely applied in

• three times, and the degradation rate remained above 90%. Keywords: electrospinning; composite nanofibers; heterostructured CuO–ZnO; hydrothermal synthesis; photocatalysis; semiconductor oxide; Introduction Water remediation is one of the main scientific research subjects regarding environmental

• a high photocatalytic activity because of a better charge separation [16][17][18][19][20][21][22]. Liu et al. [23] prepared CuO/ZnO nanocomposites by homogeneous coprecipitation and used them for the photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange. Wei et al. [24] fabricated CuO/ZnO composite nanofilms

Silver-decorated gel-shell nanobeads: physicochemical characterization and evaluation of antibacterial properties

• Marta Bartel,
• Katarzyna Markowska,
• Marcin Strawski,
• Krystyna Wolska and
• Maciej Mazur

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 620–630, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.49

• of composite nanobeads with antibacterial properties. The particles consist of polystyrene cores that are surrounded by sulfonic gel shells with embedded silver nanoparticles. The nanocomposite beads are prepared by sulfonation of polystyrene particles followed by accumulation of silver ions in the

• incorporation of [Ag(NH3)2]+ complexes, followed by the reduction of the silver precursor with polyvinylpyrrolidone [23]. The resulting composite was examined with regard to its antimicrobial properties against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus bacteria. Similarly, Liao et al. obtained polystyrene

• reduction the non-incorporated nanoparticles are separated from the composite nanobeads through centrifugation. As a result, silver nanoparticles incorporated in the polymer beads are obtained. In the first step, the polystyrene particles were reacted with concentrated sulfuric acid to incorporate sulfonate

Adsorptive removal of bulky dye molecules from water with mesoporous polyaniline-derived carbon

• Hyung Jun An,
• Jong Min Park,
• Nazmul Abedin Khan and
• Sung Hwa Jhung

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 597–605, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.47

• , activated carbon. Moreover, KOH-900 had the highest Q0, compared with any reported adsorbent, so far. Additionally, KOH-900 showed a Q0 of more than 2 times that of a chitosan–alunite composite (previously the highest Q0) [71] even though the pH of adsorption solution was not the same. If the pH effect

• (vide supra, including Figure 7) is considered, the difference in Q0 between KOH-900 and chitosan–alunite composite will increase. Based on Table 2, KOH-900 was also very competitive in JGB adsorption against the reported adsorbents. To begin with, KOH-900 had a q6h for JGB 11.5 times that of AC. The

• value of more than 2 times that of a chitosan–alunite composite which previously showed the highest Q0 to date. The remarkable adsorption of AR1 and JGB over KOH-900 could be explained with combined mechanisms such as hydrophobic, π–π, electrostatic and van der Waals interactions. Finally, the PDC

Luminescent gold nanoclusters for bioimaging applications

• Nonappa

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 533–546, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.42

• receptor-positive (FR+) oral squamous cell carcinoma (KB) and breast cancer adenocarcinoma MCF-7 cell lines [88]. Since then, there have been numerous other reports that have shown various surface modifications to image a wide variety of cell lines. Pan et al. reported composite core–shell nanoparticle

• citrate reduction of Au(III) salts resulting in core–shell (IO@Au) nanoparticles of 9.3 ± 2.6 nm. The core–shell particles underwent lysozyme-mediated aggregation (IO@Au-Lys). The aggregated structures were further treated with Au-BSA NCs (IO@Au-Lys-Au-BSA) to form a composite structure. The combination

• allowed for plasmonic and magnetic resonance, and luminescence in a single composite system for plasmonic photothermal therapy (PPTT). The bioimaging capability of the plasmonic magneto-luminescent multifunctional nanocarrier (PML-MF) systems were studied in vitro using three types of cancer cells, namely

Nanoarchitectonics: bottom-up creation of functional materials and systems

• Katsuhiko Ariga

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 450–452, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.36

• TiO2 and ZnO nanoparticles exhibit distinct and useful properties [35]. Other examples include a self-assembled MoS2-based composite that was developed for energy conversion and storage purposes [36], a silver-nanoparticle/cellulose-nanofiber composite that was applied for surface-enhanced Raman

Synthesis and enhanced photocatalytic performance of 0D/2D CuO/tourmaline composite photocatalysts

• Changqiang Yu,
• Min Wen,
• Zhen Tong,
• Shuhua Li,
• Yanhong Yin,
• Xianbin Liu,
• Yesheng Li,
• Tongxiang Liang,
• Ziping Wu and
• Dionysios D. Dionysiou

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 407–416, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.31

• nontoxic products. In this work, a CuO/tourmaline composite with zero-dimensional/two-dimensional (0D/2D) CuO architecture was successfully obtained via a facile hydrothermal process, and its photocatalytic activity was evaluated by the degradation of methylene blue (MB). Surface element valence state and

• molecular vibration characterization revealed that CuO chemically interacted with tourmaline via Si–O–Cu bonds. The specific surface area of the CuO/tourmaline composite (23.60 m2 g−1) was larger than that of the pristine CuO sample (3.41 m2 g−1). The CuO/tourmaline composite exhibited excellent

• tourmaline-based functional composite photocatalysts for the treatment of organic contaminants in water. Keywords: 0D/2D CuO; organic contaminants; photocatalytic activity; photoinduced charge separation; tourmaline; Introduction Developing a novel semiconductor with excellent photoreactive activity toward

Using gold nanoparticles to detect single-nucleotide polymorphisms: toward liquid biopsy

• María Sanromán Iglesias and
• Marek Grzelczak

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 263–284, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.20

• the distance between metallic and semiconductor components by a DNA machine (Figure 11). Their system consisted of a CdS film, a composite of AuNPs (5 nm) and hairpin DNA, a primer, and polymerase and NEase. In the presence of AuNPs–hairpin DNA, the luminescence of CdS was quenched (Figure 11A). The