Key for crossing the BBB with nanoparticles: the rational design

• Sonia M. Lombardo,
• Marc Schneider,
• Akif E. Türeli and
• Nazende Günday Türeli

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 866–883, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.72

• of the microvessels is the largest interface for blood–brain exchange with an average of 12 to 18 m2 in adults [5]. The BBB is responsible for maintaining the brain homeostasis by regulating ion and nutrient transport as well as protecting the brain against neurotoxic molecules [6]. To fulfill its

A Josephson junction based on a highly disordered superconductor/low-resistivity normal metal bilayer

• Pavel M. Marychev and
• Denis Yu. Vodolazov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 858–865, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.71

• -thickness SN-N-SN bilayer in which the superconducting layer is partially (or entirely) etched by means of a focused ion beam. A sufficiently thick normal metal layer act as a good thermal bath, which yields a nonhysteretic current–voltage characteristic even at low temperatures. However, the increase of

• about 5 nm, which is smaller than ξc in NbN, with the help of helium ion beam lithography. The successful implementation of this method could lead to the creation of low-temperature nanoscale Josephson junctions and arrays of them. For example, SN-S-SN junctions can be promising to use in programmable

Integrated photonics multi-waveguide devices for optical trapping and Raman spectroscopy: design, fabrication and performance demonstration

• Gyllion B. Loozen,
• Arnica Karuna,
• Mohammad M. R. Fanood,
• Erik Schreuder and
• Jacob Caro

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 829–842, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.68

• waveguides is completely decoupled from the silicon substrate. Then, a 100 nm thick layer of Si3N4 is deposited using low pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD, Figure 5b). This layer is patterned using optical lithography and reactive ion etching (RIE) in a fluorine-based plasma, which is followed by

• (compare Figure 4b) using deep reactive ion etching (DRIE). This is a critical step, since the etch goes 14.3 µm deep down to the substrate, through all the device layers, including the waveguide circuitry at two levels. The etch is highly anisotropic and produces smooth walls of the microbath and thus

• 35 nm as a result of the tapering down. For reference, the original waveguide thickness of 100 nm is indicated in d) as well (dashed part). In step i), the side channels of the microbath, etched using the same deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) procedure, have been omitted. The thickness of the various

Adsorption behavior of tin phthalocyanine onto the (110) face of rutile TiO₂

• Lukasz Bodek,
• Mads Engelund,
• Aleksandra Cebrat and
• Bartosz Such

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 821–828, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.67

• prepared by repetitive cycles of Ar+-ion bombardment at an energy of 1 keV and subsequent annealing to a temperature of 700 °C. Tin phthalocyanine molecules (Tokyo Chemical Industry Co., Ltd.) were thermally evaporated by using an effusion cell (Kentax GmbH). After prudent degassing, the deposition flux

A set of empirical equations describing the observed colours of metal–anodic aluminium oxide–Al nanostructures

• Cristina V. Manzano,
• Jakob J. Schwiedrzik,
• Gerhard Bürki,
• Laszlo Pethö,
• Johann Michler and
• Laetitia Philippe

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 798–806, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.64

• (yielding to the same porosity), changing only the second anodization time (from 120 to 600 s) to obtain different film thicknesses (from 209 ± 12 nm to 380 ± 15 nm). Focused ion beam (FIB) milling and field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) imaging were used to accurately determine the

• focused ion beam (FIB) instrument (TESCAN Lyra, Brno, Czech Republic) with a gallium source at 30 kV and 180–400 pA. 2 µm of platinum was deposited to protect the surface prior to FIB cutting. FESEM images were taken in three different areas of the films and three different measurements were carried out

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

• exposure of active sites and to improve the ion and charge transfer through nanochannels together with the electron-conductive medium [46]. Here, the increase of conductivity and surface area from CTF-1-400 to CTF-1-600 go in the same direction and cannot be differentiated regarding their role in improving

• admixture of Ni species with low activity in the composite materials. The better OER performance of CTF-1-600 over the CTF-1-400 materials is attributed to the better conductivity of the former (as given by the Nyquist plot in Figure 7) and its faster ion and charge transfer together with its higher

• bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide ([BMIm][NTf2]) was synthesized in two steps following a literature procedure [67]. The anion purity of IL by ion chromatography was found to be above 99% and the water content of the IL by Karl-Fischer titration was less than 10 ppm. Methods Powder X-ray diffraction

Hexagonal boron nitride: a review of the emerging material platform for single-photon sources and the spin–photon interface

• Stefania Castelletto,
• Faraz A. Inam,
• Shin-ichiro Sato and
• Alberto Boretti

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 740–769, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.61

• were studied. Here the correlations between material structural features and the location of SPEs from bulk down to the monolayer was studied at room temperature. Chemical etching and ion irradiation are used to generate the SPEs in h-BN various materials. Their photo-dynamics analysis reveals

• the BNNTs, the PL is photostable, althougt the SPE purity is still not exceptional. In [118] SPE in a ball-like 0D BN allotrope with dimensions ≈1–100 nm, known as nanococoon BNNC, is shown. The density of the SPEs was increased by dual-beam focused ion beam and SEM to selectively irradiate the sample

• ][119] up to high temperatures and in various environments, with an increased number of defects observed with increased temperature; ion beams of various types, such as Si, O, B, boron−nitrogen (BN) complexes [119], He and N at low fluences [45]; chemical etching [45] based on the use of

Quantitative determination of the interaction potential between two surfaces using frequency-modulated atomic force microscopy

• Nicholas Chan,
• Carrie Lin,
• Tevis Jacobs,
• Robert W. Carpick and
• Philip Egberts

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 729–739, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.60

• generated using the 6-12 LJ pair potential form and experimental tip apex geometry, which was extracted from two-dimensional transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images. In prior works, the shapes of AFM probes have been determined using field ion microscopy (FIM) [39], atom probe tomography (APT) [40

Electromigration-induced directional steps towards the formation of single atomic Ag contacts

• Atasi Chatterjee,
• Christoph Tegenkamp and
• Herbert Pfnür

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 680–687, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.55

• shell effects, can be discriminated. Although the directional motion of atoms during EM leads to specific properties such as the instabilities mentioned, similarities to mechanically opened contacts with respect to cross-sectional stability were found. Keywords: electromigration; focussed ion beam

• could not be identified visually nor be reproducibly generated. This contrasts with experiments where the smallest constriction was reduced by one order of magnitude down to about 15 nm using a focused ion beam (FIB), i.e., far below the average grain size in the Ag film, in which complex morphological

Soybean-derived blue photoluminescent carbon dots

• Shanshan Wang,
• Wei Sun,
• Dong-sheng Yang and
• Fuqian Yang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 606–619, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.48

• wavelength [7], and low cost [8]. CDs have been considered as a group of important nanomaterials with potential applications in nanotechnology [9], electrocatalysis [10], metal-ion detection [2], thermal sensing [11], drug delivery [12], and biosensing and bioimaging [1]. Several methods are available for

Comparison of fresh and aged lithium iron phosphate cathodes using a tailored electrochemical strain microscopy technique

• Matthias Simolka,
• Hanno Kaess and
• Kaspar Andreas Friedrich

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 583–596, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.46

• , Institute of Building Energetics, Thermal Engineering and Energy Storage (IGTE), Pfaffenwaldring 31, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany 10.3762/bjnano.11.46 Abstract Electrochemical strain microscopy (ESM) is a powerful atomic force microscopy (AFM) mode for the investigation of ion dynamics and activities in energy

• microscopy (ESM); LiFePO4; Introduction The growing demand for safe, reliable and efficient energy storage is supporting the development and improvement of current battery technology. Since the introduction of the first Li-ion battery by Sony in the 1990s, the energy and power density have increased yearly

• spectroscopy (EDS or EDX) it adds chemical information on the elemental distribution to the structural analysis. Further methods that have been applied to study ageing in LFP are X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), inductively coupled plasma (ICP), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), focused ion beam

Luminescent gold nanoclusters for bioimaging applications

• Nonappa

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

• rapid detection and the development of new immunoassays. Imaging and labeling mammalian cell lines Beyond their antibacterial effect and pathogen sensing, the surface functionalities of NCs allow for selective labeling for the detection of biomolecules, intracellular metal ion sensing, live-cell imaging

Multilayer capsules made of weak polyelectrolytes: a review on the preparation, functionalization and applications in drug delivery

• Varsha Sharma and
• Anandhakumar Sundaramurthy

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 508–532, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.41

Atomic-resolution imaging of rutile TiO₂(110)-(1 × 2) reconstructed surface by non-contact atomic force microscopy

• Daiki Katsube,
• Shoki Ojima,
• Eiichi Inami and
• Masayuki Abe

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 443–449, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.35

• .) were used. A rutile TiO2(110)-(1 × 2) reconstructed surface was prepared by iterating a surface cleaning process of Ar+ sputtering (2 keV, Ar partial pressure of 3.0 × 10−4 Pa, ion current of ca. 1.1 µA, 10 min) and annealing (substrate temperature of ca. 1000 °C, 30 min). STM and NC-AFM imaging was

• performed using Pt-coated Si cantilevers (Budget Sensors, ElectriTAP190G). All cantilevers were cleaned by Ar+ sputtering (0.6 keV, Ar partial pressure of 1.0 × 10−5 Pa, ion current of 0.05 µA, 5 min) before scanning. STM imaging was performed in constant-current mode without cantilever oscillation. NC-AFM

Nanoparticles based on the zwitterionic pillar[5]arene and Ag⁺: synthesis, self-assembly and cytotoxicity in the human lung cancer cell line A549

• Dmitriy N. Shurpik,
• Denis A. Sevastyanov,
• Pavel V. Zelenikhin,
• Pavel L. Padnya,
• Vladimir G. Evtugyn,
• Yuriy N. Osin and
• Ivan I. Stoikov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 421–431, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.33

• [2][3][4]. Silver is well known for its antimicrobial activity, and Ag+ ion is usually considered a biologically active substance [5][6][7][8]. However, it is known that the effect of Ag+ on the human body is toxic and can cause diseases such as argyria (irreversible staining of the skin in gray

• concentration of silver ions for A549 cells was 28.4 μM. The IC50 Ag+ value, determined by us for A549 cells, is consistent with the literature data [7], where it was shown that the value of this indicator for eukaryotic cells is in the range of 9–37 μM. Based on the results obtained, silver ion concentrations

DFT calculations of the structure and stability of copper clusters on MoS₂

• Cara-Lena Nies and
• Michael Nolan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 391–406, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.30

• on adsorption structures of Li at Se-doped MoS2, to study the suitability of the system for application in Li-ion batteries. Li adatoms prefer to adsorb above an Mo atom in the monolayer, and cause the system to become metallic once adsorbed. External strain was found to strongly modify the binding

Formation of nanoripples on ZnO flat substrates and nanorods by gas cluster ion bombardment

• Xiaomei Zeng,
• Vasiliy Pelenovich,
• Bin Xing,
• Rakhim Rakhimov,
• Wenbin Zuo,
• Alexander Tolstogouzov,
• Chuansheng Liu,
• Dejun Fu and
• Xiangheng Xiao

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 383–390, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.29

• Ion Beam Application, School of Physics and Technology, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China School of Power & Mechanical Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China Ryazan State Radio Engineering University, Gagarin Str. 59/1, Ryazan 390005, Russian Federation Centre for Physics and

• formation is studied. Wavelength and height of the nanoripples increase with increasing accelerating voltage and fluence for both targets. The nanoripples formed on the flat substrates remind of aeolian sand ripples. The ripples formed at high ion fluences on the nanorod facets resemble well-ordered

• parallel steps or ribs. The more ordered ripple formation on nanorods can be associated with the confinement of the nanorod facets in comparison with the quasi-infinite surface of the flat substrates. Keywords: cluster ion bombardment; gas cluster ion beam; surface ripples; ZnO nanorods; Introduction The

High-performance asymmetric supercapacitor made of NiMoO₄ nanorods@Co₃O₄ on a cellulose-based carbon aerogel

• Meixia Wang,
• Jing Zhang,
• Xibin Yi,
• Benxue Liu,
• Xinfu Zhao and
• Xiaochan Liu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 240–251, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.18

• properties are regarded as very promising materials for pseudocapacitors [15][16]. Particularly, NiMoO4 has been widely applied in high-performance pseudocapacitors due to its enhanced electrochemical properties resulting from the high electrochemical activity of the Ni ion and the superb electrical

• conductivity of the Mo ion [17][18][19]. Unfortunately, despite the fact that NiMoO4 has a high theoretical capacitance, its widespread practical application in supercapacitors is still restricted due to its low practical capacitance as well as the poor rate performance and wettability. Therefore, the

• but also provide 3D pathways for fast electrolyte ion diffusion and electron transport. To date, Ni foam [27], copper grid [28] and titanium mesh [29] have been mostly selected as collectors, whereas the high cost of these materials limited their practical application. Carbon aerogel (CA) has been

Phase inversion-based nanoemulsions of medium chain triglyceride as potential drug delivery system for parenteral applications

• Eike Folker Busmann,
• Dailén García Martínez,
• Henrike Lucas and
• Karsten Mäder

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 213–224, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.16

• temperature (RT) and 40 ± 2 °C. Viability of the cells of lines 3T3 and NHDF as a function of the Kolliphor HS 15 concentration cKol in the nanoemulsions NE25, NE50 and NE100 as well as the aqueous Kolliphor HS 15 solution (n = 3). Morphology of the 3T3 and NHDF cells after 24 h incubation ion solutions with

Rational design of block copolymer self-assemblies in photodynamic therapy

• Maxime Demazeau,
• Laure Gibot,
• Anne-Françoise Mingotaud,
• Patricia Vicendo,
• Clément Roux and
• Barbara Lonetti

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 180–212, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.15

• different from hydrophobic interactions have been proposed. For example, electrostatic interactions can improve the photosensitizer loading. Mostly amino acid-based polymers with poly(ʟ-lysine) [46][47] or poly(aspartic acid) [48][49] charged blocks have been employed for poly ion complex assemblies (PICs

• diameter and ζ-potential values switch from negative to positive thus accelerating cellular internalization [36]. Poly ion complexes formed thanks to electrostatic interactions between positively charged weak bases and negatively charged weak acids are ideal pH-responsive nanocarriers. PICs formed by

Molecular architectonics of DNA for functional nanoarchitectures

• Debasis Ghosh,
• Lakshmi P. Datta and
• Thimmaiah Govindaraju

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 124–140, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.11

• bonding-mediated base pairing geometry is conditional on the conformation of the glycoside bonds and interactive hydrogen bonding sites. Apart from WC hydrogen bonding, unconventional hydrogen bonding, electrostatic, and metal ion interactions play a significant role in the formation of noncanonical DNA

• delivery and nonimmunogenicity of the nanorobot made it a promising candidate for drug delivery in cancer therapeutics. The group of Krishnan reported the construction of a DNA nanodevice to quantitatively determine the activity and location of chloride ion channels and transport under pH stimuli [57]. In

• another work, they reported the construction of a DNA-based reporter nanomachine for quantitative imaging of lysosome [58]. This two-ion measurement (2-IM) method could image both pH and chloride ion variations in lysosomes. The 2-IM analysis was conducted on primary skin fibroblast cells derived from

Nanosecond resistive switching in Ag/AgI/PtIr nanojunctions

• Botond Sánta,
• Dániel Molnár,
• Patrick Haiber,
• Agnes Gubicza,
• Edit Szilágyi,
• Zsolt Zolnai,
• András Halbritter and
• Miklós Csontos

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 92–100, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.9

• following the method of Kumar and co-workers [36]. The Ag films were evaporated on standard Si/SiO2 wafers using a 12 nm thick Ti sticking layer. The structural characterization of the thin film samples was carried out by Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) using an ion beam of 3500 keV 4He

Recent progress in perovskite solar cells: the perovskite layer

• Xianfeng Dai,
• Ke Xu and
• Fanan Wei

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 51–60, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.5

• formation and crystallization of perovskite films by incorporating hydrobromic acid (HBr) into the perovskite precursor solutions. Here, the halogen ion, a strong donor, can interact strongly with Pb2+ to form a homogeneous solution, which is beneficial for the swift growth of high-quality films. A

• organic cation, M2+ is a divalent metal, and X− is a halide anion [57]. The overall 2D structure is stabilized via van der Waals interactions. Importantly, the 2D perovskite structure can also be considered as a multiple-quantum-well structure, which obviously suppresses the ion migration that is evident

Bombesin receptor-targeted liposomes for enhanced delivery to lung cancer cells

• Mohammad J. Akbar,
• Pâmela C. Lukasewicz Ferreira,
• Melania Giorgetti,
• Leanne Stokes and
• Christopher J. Morris

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2553–2562, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.246

• µL spotted twice onto the same well of a clean MALDI sample plate. Peptide-PEG2000-lipid conjugates were dissolved in chloroform at 2 mg/mL and a 1:1 mixture prepared with saturated methanolic solution of universal MALDI matrix (Sigma-Aldrich, UK). Samples were analysed using linear ion detection

Antimony deposition onto Au(111) and insertion of Mg

• Lingxing Zan,
• Da Xing,
• Abdelaziz Ali Abd-El-Latif and
• Helmut Baltruschat

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2541–2552, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.245

• , Egypt 10.3762/bjnano.10.245 Abstract Magnesium-based secondary batteries have been regarded as a viable alternative to the immensely popular Li-ion systems owing to their high volumetric capacity. One of the largest challenges is the selection of Mg anode material since the insertion/extraction

• “environmental friendly, non-toxic” alternative compared to Li-ion systems owing to their high volumetric capacity [1][2][3][4]. Unlike lithium, magnesium has no tendency to form dendrites during recharge [5]; but on the other hand, the Mg anode is covered with an insulation layer, which is different from the

• formation of a solid electrolyte interface (SEI) layer in Li systems. One of the main challenges in the commercialization of Mg-ion batteries is the incompatibility of the magnesium anode with the electrolytes because of the formation of this Mg2+ film. Recently, Sb has been suggested as an alternative