Nano- and microstructured materials for in vitro studies of the physiology of vascular cells

• Alexandra M. Greiner,
• Adria Sales,
• Hao Chen,
• Sarah A. Biela,
• Dieter Kaufmann and
• Ralf Kemkemer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1620–1641, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.155

• lithography [66]), etching (focused-ion beam [67] and electron-beam nanolithography [68]), electrical (electrospinning [69][70][71][72]), mechanical (nanoskiving [46][73], nanoimprint lithography [66]) and colloidal (colloidal lithgraphy [74][75]) are given here. Nanoscale optical photolithography takes

• responsive polymer (e-beam resist) in order to obtain a pattern for further processing. Like focused-ion beam nanolithography, the e-beam nanolithography can also deposit materials at the nanoscale level [68]. Electrospinning is a technique that allows for the fabrication of a nanofiber-based meshwork. A

• solution with the desired polymer is ejected through a capillary towards a substrate by applying a high-voltage electric field. Long fibers with diameters in the range from 2 nm to several micrometers can be generated [69][70][71][72]. However, electrospinning has not been yet satisfactorily employed to

Development of adsorptive membranes by confinement of activated biochar into electrospun nanofibers

• Mehrdad Taheran,
• Mitra Naghdi,
• Satinder K. Brar,
• Emile Knystautas,
• Mausam Verma,
• Rao. Y. Surampalli and
• Jose. R. Valero

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1556–1563, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.149

• study, a series of polyacrylonitrile (PAN)/activated biochar nanofibrous membranes (NFMs) with different loadings of biochar (0–2%, w/w) were fabricated using electrospinning. The morphology and structure of fabricated membranes was investigated by scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform

• ) that are produced by electrospinning can impact the performance of separation technologies because of their high surface to volume ratio, the tunability of pore sizes and the ease of functionalization [9]. Adsorptive NFMs can be used for removal of heavy metals, organic compounds, microorganisms and

• the removal of sodium salt, the product was washed with water and dried at 60 ± 1 °C for 24 h. Preparation of PAN-biochar membrane A schematic of the electrospinning process for the preparation of NFMs is illustrated in Figure 1. In brief, PAN was dissolved in DMF/DMSO solvent mixture (9:1 v/v) at the

Ammonia gas sensors based on In₂O₃/PANI hetero-nanofibers operating at room temperature

• Qingxin Nie,
• Zengyuan Pang,
• Hangyi Lu,
• Yibing Cai and
• Qufu Wei

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1312–1321, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.122

• electrospinning, and then hollow structure indium oxide (In2O3) nanofibers were obtained through calcination with PVP as template material. In situ polymerization was used to prepare indium oxide/polyaniline (In2O3/PANI) composite nanofibers with different mass ratios of In2O3 to aniline. The structure and

• PANI influences the sensing performance of the In2O3/PANI composite nanofibers. In this paper, In2O3/PANI composite nanofibers with a mass ratio of 1:2 exhibited the highest response values, excellent selectivity, good repeatability and reversibility. Keywords: ammonia (NH3); electrospinning; gas

• [21][23][24][25][26][27]. In this paper, In2O3/PANI composite nanofibers were prepared by the combination of electrospinning technique, calcination method and in situ polymerization. This study presents the improved response capabilities of gas sensors based on In2O3/PANI composite nanofibers, which

Improved lithium-ion battery anode capacity with a network of easily fabricated spindle-like carbon nanofibers

• Mengting Liu,
• Wenhe Xie,
• Lili Gu,
• Tianfeng Qin,
• Xiaoyi Hou and
• Deyan He

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1289–1295, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.120

• carbon nanofibers was fabricated via a simplified synthesis involving electrospinning followed by preoxidation in air and postcarbonization in Ar. Not only was the as-obtained carbon network comprised of beads of spindle-like nanofibers but the cubic MnO phase and N elements were successfully anchored

• capacity of 875.5 mAh g−1 after 200 cycles and 1005.5 mAh g−1 after 250 cycles with a significant coulombic efficiency of 99.5%. Keywords: carbon nanofiber network; electrospinning; lithium-ion battery; manganese oxide; nitrogen modification; Introduction Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have been identified

• the reaction parameters and difficult to repeat. At the same time, the route of electrospinning followed by heat treatment has received significant attention because of its simplicity, high efficiency and versatility for preparation of diverse one-dimensional structures [5][13][22][23]. In this work

Reasons and remedies for the agglomeration of multilayered graphene and carbon nanotubes in polymers

• Rasheed Atif and
• Fawad Inam

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1174–1196, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.109

• alignment of fibers in a polymer matrix [35]. Some other methods include wet lay-up method [132], injection molding, electrospinning, coagulation, spinning of coagulant, densification, layer-by-layer deposition and evaporation [2][40]. Filler alignment The mechanical properties of CNT–polymer composites are

Manufacturing and investigation of physical properties of polyacrylonitrile nanofibre composites with SiO₂, TiO₂ and Bi₂O₃ nanoparticles

• Tomasz Tański,
• Wiktor Matysiak and
• Barbara Hajduk

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1141–1155, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.106

• of a matrix of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) and a reinforcing phase in the form of SiO2/TiO2/Bi2O3 nanoparticles, by electrospinning the solution. The effect of the nanoparticles and the electrospinning process parameters on the morphology and physical properties of the obtained composite nanofibres was

• determine the dielectric constant, refractive index and the thickness of the obtained fibrous mats. Keywords: ceramic nanoparticles; electrospinning methods; polyacrylonitrile; polymer composite nanofibres; spectroscopic ellipsometry; Introduction Over the last decade, there has been a noticeable

• produced by using electrospinning from solutions of polymers based on polyacrylonitrile (PAN) and N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) with ceramic nanoparticles of SiO2/TiO2/Bi2O3. PAN/SiO2 composite nanofibres are used as membranes in the production of air filters, gas absorbents and new types of lithium-ion

NO gas sensing at room temperature using single titanium oxide nanodot sensors created by atomic force microscopy nanolithography

• Li-Yang Hong and
• Heh-Nan Lin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1044–1051, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.97

• chemical vapour deposition [11][15][16][23], thermal deposition [12], solution growth [19], and electrospinning [24]. Alternatively, a lithographic approach is also suitable for producing the sensing metal oxide material. Previously, atomic force microscopy (AFM) nano-oxidation has been utilized for the

Nanofibers for drug delivery – incorporation and release of model molecules, influence of molecular weight and polymer structure

• Jakub Hrib,
• Jakub Sirc,
• Radka Hobzova,
• Zuzana Hampejsova,
• Zuzana Bosakova,
• Marcela Munzarova and
• Jiri Michalek

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1939–1945, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.198

• ; nanofibrous carriers; needle-free electrospinning; release kinetics; Introduction To date, numerous drug delivery systems have been developed, such as hydrogels that carry drugs or highly sophisticated electronic microchips [1][2]. The required release rates of the therapeutic agents depend on the medicinal

• these applications [8]. Although several methods of nanofiber preparation have been invented [9], electrospinning technique can be considered as a simple and versatile method for the production of continuous polymeric nanofibrous mats formed of nano- to micro-sized fibers [10][11][12][13][14]. Moreover

• , this fabrication enables to set-up process parameters for facile control of nanofibrous mat properties such as surface area, fiber diameter, porosity, and thickness [15]. In the recent years, much effort has been devoted to modifying the electrospinning process, so coaxial, multi-jet, or side-by-side

High photocatalytic activity of V-doped SrTiO₃ porous nanofibers produced from a combined electrospinning and thermal diffusion process

• Panpan Jing,
• Wei Lan,
• Qing Su and
• Erqing Xie

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1281–1286, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.132

• /bjnano.6.132 Abstract In this letter, we report a novel V-doped SrTiO3 photocatalyst synthesized via electrospinning followed by a thermal diffusion process at low temperature. The morphological and crystalline structural investigations reveal not only that the V-doped SrTiO3 photocatalyst possesses a

• nanofibers is possibly attributed to the V5+ ion doping increasing the light utilization as well as to the outstanding porous features, the excellent component and structure stability. Keywords: electrospinning; photocatalysis; porous nanofibers; SrTiO3; thermal diffusion; vanadium-ion doping; Introduction

• few photocatalytic studies for V-doped SrTiO3 nanomaterials. Thermal diffusion has been extensively applied to ion doping because it can effectively avoid the formation of a second phase in the host matrix [21][22]. Herein, pure SrTiO3 porous nanofibers are prepared by electrospinning, which is a more

Tunable white light emission by variation of composition and defects of electrospun Al₂O₃–SiO₂ nanofibers

• Jinyuan Zhou,
• Gengzhi Sun,
• Hao Zhao,
• Xiaojun Pan,
• Zhenxing Zhang,
• Yujun Fu,
• Yanzhe Mao and
• Erqing Xie

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 313–320, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.29

• Avenue, 639798, Singapore 10.3762/bjnano.6.29 Abstract Composite nanofibers consisting of Al2O3–SiO2 were prepared by electrospinning in combination with post-calcination in air. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy were used to investigate the

• materials. Keywords: Al2O3–SiO2; defects; electrospinning; nanofibers; photoluminescence; white light emission; Introduction During the last decade, nanoscale SiO2 has been intensely investigated as a new silicon-based light-emitting material. Its wide photoluminescence (PL) band ranges from the UV to red

• . Thus, it is important and instructive to further explore the preparation and PL properties of these environmentally friendly, Al2O3–SiO2 nanomaterials. In this work, Al2O3–SiO2 composite nanofibers with different Al/(Al–Si) ratios were prepared by electrospinning in combination with calcination in air

Oxygen-plasma-modified biomimetic nanofibrous scaffolds for enhanced compatibility of cardiovascular implants

• Anna Maria Pappa,
• Varvara Karagkiozaki,
• Silke Krol,
• Spyros Kassavetis,
• Dimitris Konstantinou,
• Charalampos Pitsalidis,
• Lazaros Tzounis,
• Nikos Pliatsikas and
• Stergios Logothetidis

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 254–262, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.24

• evaluate the influence of the plasma treatment on cell attachment, morphology and viability. Results and Discussion Morphological characterization of the plasma-treated scaffolds Electrospinning is a versatile and well-established technique broadly applied for the fabrication of nanofibrous meshes as

• scaffolds for tissue engineering applications. Electrospun scaffolds exhibit a preferential and easy to modulate morphology due to their unique geometrical features which replicate many in vivo structures [24][25]. The PCL nanofibrous scaffolds, prepared herein through electrospinning, were modified through

• composition of the surface without affecting its bulk properties. Overall, PCL nanofibrous scaffolds with morphological features that mimic the ECM, and adequate porosity as well as surface hydrophilicity, were successfully fabricated by the electrospinning method. In order to make the scaffold more

Inorganic Janus particles for biomedical applications

• Isabel Schick,
• Steffen Lorenz,
• Dominik Gehrig,
• Stefan Tenzer,
• Wiebke Storck,
• Karl Fischer,
• Dennis Strand,
• Frédéric Laquai and
• Wolfgang Tremel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2346–2362, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.244

• complex core (IPEC), (c) classical Pickering emulsion technique, (d) different topologies of Janus particles: snowman-, acorn-, and dumbbell-like nanoparticles (top to bottom), (e) microfluidic photo-polymerization system, and (f) electrospinning technique with a bi-phasic nozzle. Reproduced with

Template-directed synthesis and characterization of microstructured ceramic Ce/ZrO₂@SiO₂ composite tubes

• Jörg J. Schneider and
• Meike Naumann

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1152–1159, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.126

• the surface of the silica host structure and determination of the O, Zr and Ce elemental distribution with nm precision. Keywords: electrospinning; exotemplating; nanostructured solid solution; sol–gel chemistry; Stoeber process; ternary oxide; Introduction Ceria, CeO2, is well-known for its unique

• combination of electrospinning and exotemplating leading to hollow CeO2/ZrO2@SiO2 composite tubes. Firstly, after electrospinning of polystyrene fibers, the fibers were covered by an exotemplating step with a sol solution containing monodisperse silica particles obtained from a Stoeber process. This is

• hollow SiO2 microtubes by exo-templating Tubular structures of ternary oxide CeO2/ZrO2@SiO2 were synthesized by using a multistep synthesis route. In the first step, dense fibrous mats of polystyrene (PS) fibers were obtained by an electrospinning process [15]. An inorganic/polymer composite, PS/silica

A catechol biosensor based on electrospun carbon nanofibers

• Dawei Li,
• Zengyuan Pang,
• Xiaodong Chen,
• Lei Luo,
• Yibing Cai and
• Qufu Wei

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 346–354, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.39

• Dawei Li Zengyuan Pang Xiaodong Chen Lei Luo Yibing Cai Qufu Wei Key Laboratory of Eco-Textiles of Ministry of Education, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, P. R. China 10.3762/bjnano.5.39 Abstract Carbon nanofibers (CNFs) were prepared by combining electrospinning with a high-temperature

• water samples. Keywords: biosensor; carbon nanofibers; catechol; electrospinning; laccase; Introduction Nowadays, carbon nanomaterials attract a great deal of attention due to their high surface area, excellent electronic conduction and biocompatibility. Among these, mesoporous carbon [1][2][3][4][5

• development, various methods used for CNFs preparation are established, such as arc-discharge [21], laser ablation [22], chemical vapor deposition (CVD) methods [23]. Electrospinning, which is known as a facile and convenient process, can produce nanofibers or microfibers with different diameters while using

High-resolution nanomechanical analysis of suspended electrospun silk fibers with the torsional harmonic atomic force microscope

• Mark Cronin-Golomb and
• Ozgur Sahin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 243–248, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.25

• electrospinning process. This size scale is readily accessible by atomic force microscopy for topographical and mechanical characterization. When several fiber layers are deposited to form fibrous tissue scaffolds, these branches form suspended structures. We have limited our experiments to samples that are

Electrospinning preparation and electrical and biological properties of ferrocene/poly(vinylpyrrolidone) composite nanofibers

• Ji-Hong Chai and
• Qing-Sheng Wu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 189–197, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.19

• 200433, PR China 10.3762/bjnano.4.19 Abstract Nanofibers containing ferrocene (Fc) have been prepared for the first time by electrospinning. In this paper, Fc was dispersed uniformly throughout the poly(vinypyrrolidone) (PVP) matrix for the purpose of combining the properties of PVP and Fc. The effects

• PVP nanofibers. X-ray diffraction (XRD) results showed that the crystalline structure of Fc in the fibers was amorphous after the electrospinning process. A biological evaluation of the antimicrobial activity of Fc/PVP nanofibers was carried out by using Gram-negative Escherichia coli (E. coli) as

• inside PVP nanofibers retian their electrochemical activity. The properties and facile preparation method make the Fc/PVP nanofibers promising for antibacterial and sensing applications. Keywords: composites; electrochemistry; electrospinning; membranes; porous materials; Introduction Electrospinning

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

• Chemistry II, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Petersenstr. 20, 64287 Darmstadt, Germany 10.3762/bjnano.2.86 Abstract Polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA)/ceria composite fibres were synthesized by using a sequential combination of polymer electrospinning, spray-coating with a sol, and a final calcination step

• additive. Keywords: activation of CO2; ceria; electrospinning; exotemplating; nanotubes; Introduction Ceria, CeO2, is known as a semiconducting ceramic material with unique electronic properties, exhibiting a broad range of functional properties with potential for application in various areas [1][2][3

• functional properties [16]. Electrospinning is a technology that allows the formation of polymer fibres with nanoscale dimensions [17][18][19][20]. Such nanofibres and nanotubes based on electrospun polymers offer a broad range of applications in areas such as photonics, sensorics, catalysis, medicine