Fully amino acid-based hydrogel as potential scaffold for cell culturing and drug delivery

• Dávid Juriga,
• Evelin Sipos,
• Orsolya Hegedűs,
• Gábor Varga,
• Miklós Zrínyi,
• Krisztina S. Nagy and
• Angéla Jedlovszky-Hajdú

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2579–2593, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.249

• the changing environmental conditions. Therefore, hydrogels can be used as drug delivery systems [4], implants [5][6], coatings [7][8] or scaffolds for tissue engineering [2][3][9][10]. Besides these stimuli-responsive properties, the chemical and physical structure, the mechanical properties [10] as

• hydrogels. Relationship between the mechanical properties and the chemical constitution of the gels The stiffness of the hydrogel scaffold is a key parameter in the field of tissue engineering. It was described previously that different cell types prefer gels of different stiffness for proliferation [57

• ]. In this section, the mechanical properties of the amino acid-based hydrogels of different chemical constitutions will be explained in detail. As shown in Figure 3, the swelling properties of the PASP-based gels significantly depend on the chemical constitution of the gels. Consequently, the

Advanced hybrid nanomaterials

• Andreas Taubert,
• Fabrice Leroux,
• Pierre Rabu and
• Verónica de Zea Bermudez

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2563–2567, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.247

• hydrophobicity and lipophilicity. Exfoliated nanosheets of layered calcium phenylphosphonate assisted by solvent were used in “Layered calcium phenylphosphonate: a hybrid material for a new generation of nanofillers” to promote the mechanical properties and improve the barrier effect for applications such as

Abrupt elastic-to-plastic transition in pentagonal nanowires under bending

• Sergei Vlassov,
• Magnus Mets,
• Boris Polyakov,
• Jianjun Bian,
• Leonid Dorogin and
• Vahur Zadin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2468–2476, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.237

• flexible polymer composite materials. Keywords: finite element method; mechanical properties; molecular dynamics; nanowires; Introduction Nanostructures comprised of noble metals with face centered cubic (FCC) crystal structure (Au, Ag and Cu according to the most common physical definition) prepared via

• materials is expected to lead to mechanical properties different from those of regular monocrystals [7]. This fact must be taken into account when considering applications in which nanocrystals are subjected to mechanical deformation, for example, NW-based nanoswitches [8], nanoresonators [9] and flexible

• experience severe and sometimes repeated bending deformations. Therefore, the proper understanding of the mechanical behaviour of NWs under bending deformation and the use of appropriate theoretical models is essential for the design and function of NW-based devices. The mechanical properties of pentagonal

pH-Controlled fluorescence switching in water-dispersed polymer brushes grafted to modified boron nitride nanotubes for cellular imaging

• Saban Kalay,
• Yurij Stetsyshyn,
• Volodymyr Donchak,
• Khrystyna Harhay,
• Ostap Lishchynskyi,
• Halyna Ohar,
• Yuriy Panchenko,
• Stanislav Voronov and
• Mustafa Çulha

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2428–2439, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.233

• in several fields [1][2][3][4][6][7][11][12][13][14][15][16]. BNNTs were first synthesized by Chopra et al. [20] in 1995 and they are considered as the structural analog to CNTs. BNNTs are of particular interest due to their remarkable mechanical properties (e.g., Young’s modulus of 1.22 TPa) and low

Integration of sharp silicon nitride tips into high-speed SU8 cantilevers in a batch fabrication process

• Nahid Hosseini,
• Matthias Neuenschwander,
• Oliver Peric,
• Santiago H. Andany,
• Jonathan D. Adams and
• Georg E. Fantner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2357–2363, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.226

• blunt tips (the tip radius increased by an order of magnitude). Lee et al. have shown that hydrogel AFM cantilevers fabricated by replica moulding and UV curing have great potential for tuning the mechanical properties of the tip, its shape and the surface functionalization [26]. However, the

Atomic force acoustic microscopy reveals the influence of substrate stiffness and topography on cell behavior

• Yan Liu,
• Li Li,
• Xing Chen,
• Ying Wang,
• Meng-Nan Liu,
• Jin Yan,
• Liang Cao,
• Lu Wang and
• Zuo-Bin Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2329–2337, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.223

• an effective tool to measure soft materials such as biomedical tissues and polymers [18]. A number of research groups have reported that the AFAM method can characterize mechanical properties of buried structures. For example, the influence of the thickness on the elastic properties of porous

• . The NIH Image J software [30] was used to analyze the images and quantify the orientation angle and the cell areas. For each experiment an average of 150–200 cells were counted. Results and Discussion Characterization of substrate morphological and mechanical properties by AFAM Here, we used AFAM to

• pattern, and the cells are elongated along the stripe direction. Interestingly, at the nanoscale, the L929 cells appear to respond more strongly to the topography patterns than to the stiffness patterns. Finally, our findings illustrate a method to transfer the nanostructural and mechanical properties of

Design of a nanostructured mucoadhesive system containing curcumin for buccal application: from physicochemical to biological aspects

• Sabrina Barbosa de Souza Ferreira,
• Gustavo Braga,
• Évelin Lemos Oliveira,
• Jéssica Bassi da Silva,
• Hélen Cássia Rosseto,
• Lidiane Vizioli de Castro Hoshino,
• Mauro Luciano Baesso,
• Wilker Caetano,
• Craig Murdoch,
• Helen Elizabeth Colley and
• Marcos Luciano Bruschi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2304–2328, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.222

• containing CUR, the Tsol–gel is considered suitable (between 25 and 37 °C). Texture profile analysis The mechanical properties of the preparations with and without CUR were evaluated by texture profile analysis (TPA). The information about the physical structure of gels obtained by TPA are useful for the

• kinetics and the location of drug in the micelles were elucidated. The pharmaceutical aspects, including rheology, mechanical properties, CUR release and permeation using two complementary methods were also investigated. Moreover, the biological characterization involved investigation of the cytotoxicity

Adsorption and desorption of self-assembled L-cysteine monolayers on nanoporous gold monitored by in situ resistometry

• Elisabeth Hengge,
• Eva-Maria Steyskal,
• Rupert Bachler,
• Alexander Dennig,
• Bernd Nidetzky and
• Roland Würschum

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2275–2279, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.219

• ] and energy storage [3], nanoporous metals exhibit great potential in biochemical applications [4]. In addition to their various useful intrinsic characteristics, such as high surface-to-volume ratio and tunable mechanical properties, some applications require a modification of the surface, e.g., by

A novel all-fiber-based LiFePO₄/Li₄Ti₅O₁₂ battery with self-standing nanofiber membrane electrodes

• Li-li Chen,
• Hua Yang,
• Mao-xiang Jing,
• Chong Han,
• Fei Chen,
• Xin-yu Hu,
• Wei-yong Yuan,
• Shan-shan Yao and
• Xiang-qian Shen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2229–2237, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.215

• . Researchers have found that two-dimensional (2D) or 3D free-standing electrode materials [18][19][20][21] can significantly improve the electrochemical performance while also offering light weight and superior mechanical properties [22][23]. LiFePO4 and Li4Ti5O12 have been widely developed and applied in LIBs

First principles modeling of pure black phosphorus devices under pressure

• Ximing Rong,
• Zhizhou Yu,
• Zewen Wu,
• Junjun Li,
• Bin Wang and
• Yin Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1943–1951, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.190

• ]. Finally, the NEGF-DFT self-consistency was carried out until the numerical tolerance of the Hamiltonian matrix was below 10−4 eV. Results and Discussion Mechanical properties of BP under pressure In this section, we discuss the mechanical behavior of periodic 2D BP with the increase of pressure along the

High-tolerance crystalline hydrogels formed from self-assembling cyclic dipeptide

• Yongcai You,
• Ruirui Xing,
• Qianli Zou,
• Feng Shi and
• Xuehai Yan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1894–1901, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.184

• their high water content and highly tunable mechanical properties, hydrogels as soft nanoarchitectonics and soft matter are well-suited in extensive applications, such as tissue engineering, drug delivery, and electronic and photonic energy storage [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. Self-assembled peptide

• focused on the amorphous assemblies in organic solvents and ionic liquids [42][43][44][45][46]. Although these CDP gels have good mechanical properties and deceased enzymatic degradation under physiological conditions, they still have some challenging problems such as inflexibility, low biosecurity and

• of the C-WY hydrogel, charged biopolymers, including positively charged PLL and negatively charged HA and ALG, were selected for co-incubation with the hydrogel. The mechanical properties, including modulus (G’, G’’), shear-thinning behavior, and self-healing capability, improved after the

Biocatalytic oligomerization-induced self-assembly of crystalline cellulose oligomers into nanoribbon networks assisted by organic solvents

• Yuuki Hata,
• Yuka Fukaya,
• Toshiki Sawada,
• Masahito Nishiura and
• Takeshi Serizawa

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1778–1788, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.173

• of their assemblies in terms of physicochemical stability and mechanical properties [19][20]. Plausible reasons are their complicated chemical synthesis [21] and low solubility in solvents [22][23], which prevent crystalline poly- and oligosaccharides from undergoing controlled self-assembly into

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

• of tip position on the cantilever, lateral forces and cantilever tilt [14][15][16]. Since the contact resonance is sensitive to the sample’s local mechanical properties, CR-AFM has been employed for characterization of elastic and viscoelastic properties [17][18][19][20]. In addition, mechanically

• the corresponding sample deformations at the position of the tip apex. The contact stiffness on the polymer substrate was solved by utilizing the same model, but with the middle layer material changed to PMMA. The mechanical properties of the materials in FEA calculations can be found in Table 2

• is possibly induced by the approximations in the theoretical calculations. Cantilever stiffness The frequency sensitivity of contact resonance to local mechanical properties also depends on the cantilever stiffness. We used three types of cantilevers for subsurface imaging whose spring constants were

Graphynes: an alternative lightweight solution for shock protection

• Kang Xia,
• Haifei Zhan,
• Aimin Ji,
• Jianli Shao,
• Yuantong Gu and
• Zhiyong Li

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1588–1595, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.154

• Laboratory of Explosion Science and Technology, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China 10.3762/bjnano.10.154 Abstract The excellent mechanical properties of graphyne (GY) have made it an appealing candidate in the field of impact protection. We assessed the deformation mechanisms of

• reported for GYs using reactive force field (ReaxFF) potential calculations [15]. These results indicate excellent mechanical properties of GYs compared with conventional engineering materials [18][19][20][21]. Therefore, considering their low density, it is of great interest to investigate the application

• mechanical properties, which will be discussed later. Specifically, a monoatomic chain is formed during the deformation, which prevents the further propagation of the corresponding crack (Figure 4f). To unveil the mechanisms that lead to the different performance of GYs under impact, the cumulative

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

• depend on the chemical composition? Influence of the NP chemical composition on the AFM/SEM measurements In order to determine the influence of the physico-chemical properties of the nanomaterial on AFM and SEM measurements, NPs with very different chemical compositions and mechanical properties compared

• the substrate in a way similar to the PSL NPs. However, the mechanical properties of silica are different than those of PSL even at the nanoscale. The Young’s modulus of PSL NPs has been found to be equal to 8.0 GPa for 60 nm particles [29]. In comparison, the Young’s modulus of silica NPs with

Flexible freestanding MoS₂-based composite paper for energy conversion and storage

• Florian Zoller,
• Jan Luxa,
• Thomas Bein,
• Dina Fattakhova-Rohlfing,
• Daniel Bouša and
• Zdeněk Sofer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1488–1496, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.147

• additional binders, conductive additives or a current collector. Results and Discussion Characterization of morphology, composition and mechanical properties The synthesized composite material based on MoS2 and SWCNTs was prepared by shear-force milling of MoS2 powder with SWCNTs. We then prepared a paper

• chemical states of the SWCNTs could not be precisely determined due to the overlap with adventitious carbon. However, the conditions used during our experiment were highly unlikely to cause any chemical changes in the SWCNTs. Additionally, the mechanical properties of prepared MoS2-based composite paper

Nanoscale spatial mapping of mechanical properties through dynamic atomic force microscopy

• Zahra Abooalizadeh,
• Leszek Josef Sudak and
• Philip Egberts

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1332–1347, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.132

• (CR) AFM; elastic modulus mapping; force modulation microscopy (FMM); highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG); mechanical properties; surface science; surface steps; Introduction In recent years, the study of the size-dependent properties of materials, and in particular those at the nanometer scale

• mechanical properties of materials, the nanoscale mechanical properties, including elastic and shear moduli, can drastically differ from their bulk values. This results in opportunities to custom design or enhance bulk engineering materials with advances discovered through nanoscale interrogation [1]. Thus

• , quantitative measurements of nanoscale mechanical properties can offer important insights into material functionalities at the nanoscale with high temporal resolution [6][7]. Furthermore, mechanical properties measured at the nanometer scale are critical for the development and verification of predictive

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

• Young’s modulus of the films (Figure 4A) increases with the clay nanofiller content from 5 GPa for pure chitosan up to 11 GPa for the sample Film-4, which contains 40% of clay components. These findings are in good agreement with the mechanical properties of similar composite materials based on sepiolite

• found for the sample with a higher content of chitosan (72%), suggesting a synergic effect of both clays as reinforcing fillers of the polymer and as adhesive agent, which is required to improve the mechanical properties of the designed samples [50][51]. The obtained compression modulus is comparable to

• stability of these multicomponent hybrid materials in water showing a mass loss of only 3.2 wt % over the course of two months. This excellent stability, together with the good electrical and mechanical properties, suggest that the prepared multicomponent bionanocomposite can be suitable as electrode

Electronic and magnetic properties of doped black phosphorene with concentration dependence

• Ke Wang,
• Hai Wang,
• Min Zhang,
• Yan Liu and
• Wei Zhao

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 993–1001, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.100

• graphene has led to extensive research efforts on two-dimensional (2D) materials. Although graphene exhibits large carrier mobility and intriguing mechanical properties, its zero bandgap impedes its application in spintronic devices [1][2]. Subsequently, 2D transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have

The systemic effect of PEG-nGO-induced oxidative stress in vivo in a rodent model

• Qura Tul Ain,
• Samina Hyder Haq,
• Abeer Alshammari,
• Moudhi Abdullah Al-Mutlaq and
• Muhammad Naeem Anjum

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 901–911, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.91

• a chitosan 3D scaffold and enhanced its bioactivity, mechanical properties, and pore formation with GO for optimal bone tissue engineering [15]. Zhang et al. improved the chemotherapy efficacy of anticancer drugs with polyethyleneimine (PEI)-grafted GO [16]. Liu et al. discussed the antibacterial

Tungsten disulfide-based nanocomposites for photothermal therapy

• Tzuriel Levin,
• Hagit Sade,
• Rina Ben-Shabbat Binyamini,
• Maayan Pour,
• Iftach Nachman and
• Jean-Paul Lellouche

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 811–822, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.81

• two hexagonal sulfur layers. WS2 belongs to a family of compounds called transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs), with a general formula of MX2 (M = W, Mo and X = S, Se, Te) and a similar structure based on triple-layers. Good mechanical properties of WS2 inorganic nanotubes (INTs; up to 15 µm length

• [45], nanodots [40] and hollow spheres [46]. Recently, WS2 nanotubes functionalized with C-dots showed promising results for PTT and cell imaging [47]. We selected nanotubes for their mechanical properties and the possibility of coordinate bonds with sulfur atoms, which enables bonding with CAN-mag

The effect of translation on the binding energy for transition-metal porphyrines adsorbed on Ag(111) surface

• Luiza Buimaga-Iarinca and
• Cristian Morari

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 706–717, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.70

• are organo-metallic compounds exhibiting a wide range of optoelectronic, magnetic, and mechanical properties that are interesting for nanotechnology applications ([1][2]. The core of these compounds is porphyrin, a planar heterocycle, formed by four pyrrole moieties [2]. The π-system of porphyrin

Outstanding chain-extension effect and high UV resistance of polybutylene succinate containing amino-acid-modified layered double hydroxides

• Adam A. Marek,
• Vincent Verney,
• Christine Taviot-Gueho,
• Grazia Totaro,
• Laura Sisti,
• Annamaria Celli and
• Fabrice Leroux

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 684–695, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.68

• shown in the Supporting Information File 1, Figure S2 and Figure S3. Chain-extending effect and dynamic mechanical properties The effect of synthesized amino acid LDH fillers on the chain extending and molecular weight evolution was measured using melt rheology. The rheological data were plotted in Cole

Mechanical and thermodynamic properties of Aβ₄₂, Aβ₄₀, and α-synuclein fibrils: a coarse-grained method to complement experimental studies

• Adolfo B. Poma,
• Horacio V. Guzman,
• Mai Suan Li and
• Panagiotis E. Theodorakis

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 500–513, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.51

• . In the context of mechanical properties of various fibrils, for example, β-amyloids [4][5], cellulose [6] and collagen [7], all-atom models have been used to estimate the elastic moduli based on the response of the system, but mostly approximately. Still, molecular-level methods are necessary to

• of fibril formation has been found to be highly correlated with the mechanical properties of the fibrils, namely, the mechanically more stable fibril is the one undergoing faster aggregation [27]. While experimental observations have been derived from a small set of samples, our CG simulations can be

• of Aβ fibrils plays a more important role in the mechanical properties than the symmetry of each fibril. This becomes apparent by comparing the values of the tensile Young’s modulus of Aβ40 and Aβ42. Our discussion is based on the average values of YL. In the case of Aβ40, we obtain YL = 2.1 GPa

Wearable, stable, highly sensitive hydrogel–graphene strain sensors

• Jian Lv,
• Chuncai Kong,
• Chao Yang,
• Lu Yin,
• Itthipon Jeerapan,
• Fangzhao Pu,
• Xiaojing Zhang,
• Sen Yang and
• Zhimao Yang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 475–480, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.47

• human skin has impeded further integration as a wearable sensing component [7]. Hydrogels, with mechanical properties like biological tissues and consisting of three-dimensional polymer networks that can retain a large amount of water, can serve as ideal vehicles for wearable devices [8][9]. Several

• foil using the silver epoxy. The size of the graphene/hydrogel sensor is 5 × 30 mm. Characterization of the hydrogel and graphene/hydrogel: The mechanical properties of the hydrogel were characterized in an electronic universal testing machine (CMT6503, Sans, Shenzhen, China). A field-emission scanning

• extra water in the graphene dispersion without removing the water inside the hydrogel, thus maintaining the mechanical properties of the material. The graphene layer serves to significantly increase the resistance change of the hydrogel under strain because of the spacing variations among graphene