Layered double hydroxide/sepiolite hybrid nanoarchitectures for the controlled release of herbicides

• Ediana Paula Rebitski,
• Margarita Darder and
• Pilar Aranda

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1679–1690, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.163

• application of these systems for the controlled delivery of this herbicide. Hybrid nanoarchitectures were prepared profiting from the anion exchange properties of the MgAl-LDH/sepiolite and also by coprecipitation of the MgAl-LDH in the presence of an aqueous dispersion of sepiolite in which MCPA was also

• protocol described elsewhere [31]. In brief, a solution of MgCl2 and AlCl3 (9.34 mmol and 4.68 mmol) was drop-wise added to a dispersion of 4 g of sepiolite in 350 mL of deionized water at a rate of 2 mL/min, while kept under N2 flux to assure the removal of CO2. At the same time, a solution of 1 M NaOH

• of MCPA by ion exchange was performed using a solution of the herbicide prepared by dissolving 1.5 g of MCPA in 125 mL of ionized water and adjusting its pH value to 7 with 1 M NaOH to assure the presence of the organic molecule as an anion. This solution was slowly added to a dispersion prepared

Nanoporous smartPearls for dermal application – Identification of optimal silica types and a scalable production process as prerequisites for marketed products

• David Hespeler,
• Sanaa El Nomeiri,
• Jonas Kaltenbach and
• Rainer H. Müller

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1666–1678, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.162

• solvent removal) can be industrially realized in a commercial 50 L rotary evaporator. Keywords: amorphous dispersion; bioavailability enhancement; dermal delivery system; rutin; smartPearls; solubility enhancement; Introduction Many interesting active agents in pharma and cosmetics are poorly soluble

• increased percent of loading). The suspension was stirred for 5 min to achieve a fine dispersion of the particles. Then the suspension was placed into a rotary evaporator (Büchi, Germany). The solvent evaporation took place at 40 ± 2 °C and 150 ± 10 mbar, until a film was formed on the wall of the

Subsurface imaging of flexible circuits via contact resonance atomic force microscopy

• Wenting Wang,
• Chengfu Ma,
• Yuhang Chen,
• Lei Zheng,
• Huarong Liu and
• Jiaru Chu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1636–1647, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.159

• the dispersion curve. The cantilever dynamics analysis and the tip–sample contact mechanics model can provide the dispersion relation between contact resonance frequency and contact stiffness, and the relationship between contact stiffness and local mechanical properties, respectively [16][44]. The

Materials nanoarchitectonics at two-dimensional liquid interfaces

• Katsuhiko Ariga,
• Michio Matsumoto,
• Taizo Mori and
• Lok Kumar Shrestha

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1559–1587, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.153

• hydrogen-bond donors. The two-dimensional quick dewetting process on a Langmuir–Schaefer-type surface can induce a good dispersion of nanodisks. Although the heights of nanodisks reported so far are within a narrow range between 2.6 and 2.9 nm, their diameters can widely range from 46 to 73 nm depending on

Development of a new hybrid approach combining AFM and SEM for the nanoparticle dimensional metrology

• Loïc Crouzier,
• Alexandra Delvallée,
• Sébastien Ducourtieux,
• Laurent Devoille,
• Guillaume Noircler,
• Christian Ulysse,
• Olivier Taché,
• Elodie Barruet,
• Christophe Tromas and
• Nicolas Feltin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1523–1536, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.150

• deposition because its roughness is relatively low (Sq = 0.3 nm), its surface physicochemical features are particularly suitable for an optimized NP dispersion and its electrical properties are compatible with SEM measurements [11]. In the Figure 1 is also shown the principle implemented for measuring the

• = 0.99) and DFmax = 0.97·HAFMmm + 5.14 (R2 = 0.99). There is no noticeable break of behavior among the samples inducing that the relationship between height and lateral diameters does not depend on the origin of the sample. Moreover, the dispersion of measurements seems to decrease with the NP size. So

• , this dispersion is not linked to measurement uncertainties, which should be larger for smaller NP because of measuring difficulties. Indeed, for FD102 reference particles, the dispersion peak-to-peak has been found to be close to ±2 nm, and ±5 nm for OT R3 particles. This observation will be discussed

Rapid thermal annealing for high-quality ITO thin films deposited by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering

• Petronela Prepelita,
• Ionel Stavarache,
• Doina Craciun,
• Florin Garoi,
• Catalin Negrila,
• Beatrice Gabriela Sbarcea and
• Valentin Craciun

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1511–1522, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.149

• (250–2500 nm) of the investigated samples is presented in Figure 6b. A normal dispersion in the spectral range of measurements is noted. By computing the average value of the refractive index over the investigated wavelength range, it is found that in general the refractive index of the layer increases

• with thickness. From the graphs it is inferred that at a wavelength of 500 nm the refractive index of the layers approaches the value of the ITO target. The dispersion of the refractive index can be described using the single oscillator model and was expressed by Wemple and DiDomenico using the average

• energy of the oscillator, E0, and dispersion energy, Ed [44] as: where ν is the photon frequency. From the graphical representation (n2 − 1)−1 = f [(hν)2] we get the slope (E0Ed)−1, where E0 is considered to be an average of the bandgap energy of semiconductor and has the expression E0 ≈ 2Eg. The optical

Synthesis of P- and N-doped carbon catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction via controlled phosphoric acid treatment of folic acid

• Rieko Kobayashi,
• Takafumi Ishii,
• Yasuo Imashiro and
• Jun-ichi Ozaki

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1497–1510, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.148

• × 10−6 mol·cm−3. Prior to the tests of the prepared samples, we evaluated Pt/C (IFPC40, ISHIFUKU Metal Industry Co., Ltd.), and the onset potential of Pt/C was 0.96 V. The membrane–electrode assembly was fabricated as follows: The catalyst ink, i.e., the dispersion of the catalyst in Nafion solution

Hierarchically structured 3D carbon nanotube electrodes for electrocatalytic applications

• Pei Wang,
• Katarzyna Kulp and
• Michael Bron

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1475–1487, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.146

• tolerance against poisoning in comparison to those supported on carbon blacks and nonmodified catalyst supports. This could be due to improved Pt dispersion owing to a higher amount of functional anchoring sites of the catalyst supports and their high surface area, as well as from a good electrical contact

• series resistance to promote electron transfer. CNT–CNT composites have been successfully employed as catalyst supports. Kundu et al. reported that Pt supported on such hierarchical structures showed enhanced surface atomic concentration, indicating an improved Pt dispersion. The oxygen reduction

• transfer resistance with respect to the primary CNTs as determined by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. Thus, we speculate that the improvement in Pt dispersion is due to a better conductivity within the 3D network and a facilitated electron transfer, which may facilitate Pt nucleation at the CNT

BiOCl/TiO₂/diatomite composites with enhanced visible-light photocatalytic activity for the degradation of rhodamine B

• Minlin Ao,
• Kun Liu,
• Xuekun Tang,
• Zishun Li,
• Qian Peng and
• Jing Huang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1412–1422, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.139

• used to study the morphology of the samples. The BiOCl sample is composed of lamellar crystals with poor dispersity, presenting an agglomeration morphology (Figure 4a). The SEM results of pure TiO2 show that the poor dispersion of the TiO2 nanoparticles leads to agglomeration, as shown in Figure 4b

• nanosheets can be found on the surface. Elemental mapping was carried out by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) to study the elemental dispersion on the BTD surface. Figure 5 shows that the elements Bi, Si, Cl, O and Ti distribute uniformly on the diatomite disc, which confirms the successful

Gas sensing properties of individual SnO₂ nanowires and SnO₂ sol–gel nanocomposites

• Alexey V. Shaposhnik,
• Dmitry A. Shaposhnik,
• Sergey Yu. Turishchev,
• Olga A. Chuvenkova,
• Stanislav V. Ryabtsev,
• Alexey A. Vasiliev,
• Xavier Vilanova,
• Francisco Hernandez-Ramirez and
• Joan R. Morante

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1380–1390, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.136

• crystallites obtained by sedimentation (Figure 2) should lead to a considerable dispersion of sorption enthalpies at the different sites. It is commonly thought that this fact results in an increase in the b factor. A second factor, which may lead to an increase in the b parameter value for sol–gel sensors is

Construction of a 0D/1D composite based on Au nanoparticles/CuBi₂O₄ microrods for efficient visible-light-driven photocatalytic activity

• Weilong Shi,
• Mingyang Li,
• Hongji Ren,
• Feng Guo,
• Xiliu Huang,
• Yu Shi and
• Yubin Tang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1360–1367, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.134

• materials promotes the dispersion and stability of 0D nanomaterials. Among the noble metal NPs, Au is considered to be one of the most promising materials because of its high photocatalytic activity, low toxicity and good biocompatibility [23][24][25]. In addition, size, shape and environment of the Au NPs

The effect of magneto-crystalline anisotropy on the properties of hard and soft magnetic ferrite nanoparticles

• Hajar Jalili,
• Bagher Aslibeiki,
• Ali Ghotbi Varzaneh and
• Volodymyr A. Chernenko

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1348–1359, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.133

• particles size distribution in the samples was determined by measuring the size of 100 particles from the FE-SEM images fitting the size histogram with a log-normal function: where D0 is the median diameter and σ is the dispersion. The mean diameter ⟨D⟩ = D0·exp(σ2/2) and standard deviation σD = ⟨D⟩·[exp(σ2

Multicomponent bionanocomposites based on clay nanoarchitectures for electrochemical devices

• Giulia Lo Dico,
• Bernd Wicklein,
• Lorenzo Lisuzzo,
• Giuseppe Lazzara,
• Pilar Aranda and
• Eduardo Ruiz-Hitzky

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1303–1315, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.129

• promotes the homogeneous dispersion of diverse nanoparticulated components. It can be inferred that the disaggregated fibres of sepiolite form an interpenetrated network representing, in the present case, a steric hindrance for GNPs, MWCNTs, and HNTs to aggregate. This avoids phase segregation and particle

• (VC750 Sonics Vibra-Cell, operating at 20 kHz) using a 13 mm standard probe. Separately, chitosan was slowly dissolved in an aqueous solution of 1% v/v acetic acid at 70 °C and added to the SEP/HNTs/GNPs/MWCNTs dispersion under magnetic stirring. The bionanocomposite films were processed by solvent

• -casting from the 0.2% w/v dispersion on polyester Petri dishes and dried at 30 °C and 60% relative humidity (RH) in a CLIMACELL EVO Stability Chamber (Incubator model 111L). The bionanocomposite foams were prepared by freeze-drying (Cryodos-80, Telstar) of the 8% w/v dispersion, which was cast in

Alloyed Pt₃M (M = Co, Ni) nanoparticles supported on S- and N-doped carbon nanotubes for the oxygen reduction reaction

• Stéphane Louisia,
• Yohann R. J. Thomas,
• Pierre Lecante,
• Marie Heitzmann,
• M. Rosa Axet,
• Pierre-André Jacques and
• Philippe Serp

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1251–1269, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.125

• support, in combination with ILs, is also important to achieve high Pt dispersion, and functionalized carbons should be preferred, presumably because of their stronger interaction with the IL [28]. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are well known for their remarkable chemical and physical properties and appear to

• dispersion and to increase the performance of the catalyst for the ORR due to the structural and electronic properties of the doped CNT [34][35]. Additionally, the amount of heteroatom in the doped structure has an effect on the hydrophobicity of the material, which could provide a solution to facilitate the

• performance and durability of PEM fuel cells [44][45]. These materials should combine some key characteristics such as: i) an adapted surface chemistry to allow high dispersion of the metallic phase at very high metal loading, ii) a good balance between hydrophobicity and hydrophilicity to allow water

Green fabrication of lanthanide-doped hydroxide-based phosphors: Y(OH)₃:Eu³⁺ nanoparticles for white light generation

• Tugrul Guner,
• Anilcan Kus,
• Mehmet Ozcan,
• Aziz Genc,
• Hasan Sahin and
• Mustafa M. Demir

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1200–1210, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.119

• , maintain their atomic position in the Y(OH)3 crystal for more than 5 ps at room temperature. Theoretical calculations show that the electronic structure of the Y(OH)3 host is also significantly modified by the Eu dopant. While the GGA-PBE approximated electronic band dispersion of the host material has a

• doping ratio of the particles. (a) Perspective view of the atomic structure of Eu-doped Y(OH)3. (b) (left) The electronic band dispersion of Eu-doped Y(OH)3 (the Fermi level is set to zero) and (right) top and side view of the charge density corresponding to the midgap electronic state. White LED

Electroluminescence and current–voltage measurements of single-(In,Ga)N/GaN-nanowire light-emitting diodes in a nanowire ensemble

• David van Treeck,
• Johannes Ledig,
• Gregor Scholz,
• Jonas Lähnemann,
• Mattia Musolino,
• Abbes Tahraoui,
• Oliver Brandt,
• Andreas Waag,
• Henning Riechert and
• Lutz Geelhaar

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1177–1187, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.117

• and contact them using lithographic methods. However, the contact properties between the NW and the substrate, which might influence the overall performance of the single NWs in the working ensemble, can not be studied by investigating dispersed NWs. To overcome the disadvantages of the dispersion

Tailoring the magnetic properties of cobalt ferrite nanoparticles using the polyol process

• Malek Bibani,
• Romain Breitwieser,
• Alex Aubert,
• Vincent Loyau,
• Silvana Mercone,
• Souad Ammar and
• Fayna Mammeri

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1166–1176, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.116

• were then fitted using a log-normal function (Equation 1) and the median diameter D as well as the dispersion σ were determined (see Table 1). Then, the mean diameter and standard deviation σD were calculated (Equation 2 and Equation 3). Influence of the time of synthesis The reactions were carried

Photoactive nanoarchitectures based on clays incorporating TiO₂ and ZnO nanoparticles

• Eduardo Ruiz-Hitzky,
• Pilar Aranda,
• Marwa Akkari,
• Nithima Khaorapapong and
• Makoto Ogawa

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1140–1156, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.114

• significant differences in size, degree of self-agglomeration as well as dispersion on the surface of the clay, which may influence the resulting properties of the materials. The principle of using the interfaces in layered clays is also applicable to fibrous clays with the generation of NPs homogeneously

• metal oxides exhibit a large exciton binding energy, large piezoelectric constants and strong photoluminescence. This is of interest not only for applications as photocatalysts but also as sensors, solar cell devices, disinfectants, and cosmetics [137][138]. As discussed above, the dispersion of the

• Pangel B20, prepared by modification of montmorillonite and sepiolite with cationic surfactants, respectively) during sol-gel process, and ii) selective photodeposition of the noble metal in the previously formed TiO2@clay nanoarchitecture [131]. The good dispersion of the noble-metal NPs, clearly

Synthesis and characterization of quaternary La(Sr)S–TaS₂ misfit-layered nanotubes

• Marco Serra,
• Erumpukuthickal Ashokkumar Anumol,
• Dalit Stolovas,
• Iddo Pinkas,
• Ernesto Joselevich,
• Reshef Tenne,
• Andrey Enyashin and
• Francis Leonard Deepak

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1112–1124, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.111

• and drying a drop of this dispersion onto a lacey-carbon-supported Cu/Ni grid. To minimize contamination during imaging, the TEM specimens were heated in a vacuum chamber at 60 °C overnight followed by 3 seconds of oxygen plasma exposure prior to the electron microscopy analysis. Raman spectroscopy

Glucose-derived carbon materials with tailored properties as electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction

• Rafael Gomes Morais,
• Natalia Rey-Raap,
• José Luís Figueiredo and
• Manuel Fernando Ribeiro Pereira

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1089–1102, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.109

• samples in a solution containing 220 µL of ultrapure water (Millipore), 142 µL of ethanol (≥99%,Valente e Ribeiro) and 96 µL of nafion (5 wt %, Sigma-Aldrich). The suspension was sonicated for 30 min until a homogeneous dispersion was obtained. The mass loading of all samples was ≈0.1 mg cm−2. A rotation

Scavenging of reactive oxygen species by phenolic compound-modified maghemite nanoparticles

• Małgorzata Świętek,
• Yi-Chin Lu,
• Rafał Konefał,
• Liliana P. Ferreira,
• M. Margarida Cruz,
• Yunn-Hwa Ma and
• Daniel Horák

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1073–1088, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.108

• the dispersion. A higher absolute value of the ζ-potential indicates stronger repulsion forces and greater colloidal stability. Moreover, the change in the ζ-potential from positive to negative values indicated that heparin was successfully attached to the particle surface. In the ATR-FTIR spectrum of

• modification of magnetic nanoparticles Thin polymer layers of opposite charges were sequentially deposited on the magnetic nanoparticles by the LbL adsorption technique (Figure 8). The aqueous γ-Fe2O3 (20 mg) dispersion was diluted with water to 4 mL and sonicated with a W-385 sonicator (Heat Systems

• compound-modified chitosan, was introduced immediately after the first coating with heparin. An aqueous solution (5 mL) of modified chitosan (8.1 mg) was magnetically stirred at 50 °C for 20 min and cooled to RT, while the γ-Fe2O3@Hep nanoparticle dispersion was sonicated for 5 min. After 2 min of

Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles as a saturable absorber for giant chirped pulse generation

• Ji-Shu Liu,
• Xiao-Hui Li,
• Abdul Qyyum,
• Yi-Xuan Guo,
• Tong Chai,
• Hua Xu and
• Jie Jiang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1065–1072, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.107

• demonstration of a pulse duration of 55 ns at an output power of 16.2 mW, which is the shortest pulse based on FONPs for EDFLs reported to date. Our results demonstrate that the FONP dispersion allows for an excellent photonic material for application in ultrafast photonics devices, photoconductive detectors

• 0.75 m erbium-doped fiber (EDF) with a 110 dB/m peak absorption coefficient at 1530 nm and a dispersion parameter (D) of −36 ps/nm/km. The EDF has an absorption coefficient of 70 dB/m at 980 nm. The fibers in our cavity are all SMF-28 optical fibers (including the pig-tailed fiber) with a dispersion

• parameter of 17 ps/nm/km. Therefore, the fiber cavity used in this experiment is dispersion-managed and lies in negative dispersion regime [42]. A polarization independent isolator (PI-ISO) is employed in the cavity to ensure the unidirectional operation of the ring cavity, and a polarization controller (PC

Tailoring the stability/aggregation of one-dimensional TiO₂(B)/titanate nanowires using surfactants

• Atiđa Selmani,
• Johannes Lützenkirchen,
• Kristina Kučanda,
• Dario Dabić,
• Engelbert Redel,
• Ida Delač Marion,
• Damir Kralj,
• Darija Domazet Jurašin and
• Maja Dutour Sikirić

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1024–1037, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.103

• well-established that the concentration of NMs may have a significant effect on the dispersion stability [22][55]. In contrast, Hsiung et al. [56] concluded that the stability of some commercial TiO2 NMs was independent of their concentration in the concentration range of 5 × 10−2 to 2 × 10−1 g dm−3

• −2 mol dm−3, were prepared by dissolving dried chemicals in Milli-Q water. Preparation of TNW dispersions A stock TNW dispersion was prepared by suspending dry TNW powder in degassed Milli-Q water. The mass concentration of the stock TNW dispersion was γ = 1 g dm−3. The stock dispersion was sonicated

• using a bath sonicator (Grant, Xuba1) for 30 minutes to disperse large agglomerates and to obtain a homogenous dispersion. Dispersions containing different TNW concentrations, as shown in Table 1, were prepared by dilution of the TNW stock dispersion in Milli-Q water or in 1 × 10−3 mol dm−3 NaBr to

Correlation of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) with the surface density of gold nanoparticles: evaluation of the critical number of SERS tags for a detectable signal

• Vincenzo Amendola

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1016–1023, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.102

• for the same AuNT but with light polarized along the x-axis. (A) Sketch of sample preparation for combined Raman and TEM analysis: 20 µL of an aqueous dispersion of AuNTs (0.2 mg/mL in Au) is mixed with 100 µL of an aqueous solution of PVA (10 mg/mL); after homogenization by ultrasonication, one drop

Serum type and concentration both affect the protein-corona composition of PLGA nanoparticles

• Katrin Partikel,
• Robin Korte,
• Dennis Mulac,
• Hans-Ulrich Humpf and
• Klaus Langer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1002–1015, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.101

• bands was expressed relative to the density of a selected standard band. Determination of zeta potential after serum protein adsorption Following protein adsorption and the final centrifugation step the NP pellet was resuspended into 1 mL ultrapure water. 10 µL of the NP dispersion was diluted with 2 mL