Interaction between honeybee mandibles and propolis

• Leonie Saccardi,
• Franz Brümmer,
• Jonas Schiebl,
• Oliver Schwarz,
• Alexander Kovalev and
• Stanislav Gorb

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 958–974, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.84

• , Stuttgart, Germany Department Functional Morphology and Biomechanics, Zoological Institute, Kiel University, Kiel, Germany 10.3762/bjnano.13.84 Abstract In a biomimetic top-down process, challenging the problem of resin deposition on woodworking machine tools, an adequate biological model was sought, which

• hypothetically could have developed evolutionary anti-adhesive strategies. The honeybee (Apis mellifera) was identified as an analogue model since it collects and processes propolis, which largely consists of collected tree resin. Propolis is a sticky substance used by bees to seal their hive and protect the

• plant are deprived of further reproduction, which exerts a significant evolutionary selection pressure. The honeybee (Apis mellifera) was chosen as a possible model because it collects and processes propolis, a sticky and ductile material, that is created by mixing plant resins, wax, and other

Design of a biomimetic, small-scale artificial leaf surface for the study of environmental interactions

• Miriam Anna Huth,
• Axel Huth,
• Lukas Schreiber and
• Kerstin Koch

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 944–957, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.83

• the biological model. The artificial surfaces imitating the leaves should have the same chemical and wetting properties as leaf surfaces. To prove these criteria, the chemical composition of the native and transferred wax extracts, the morphology of native and recrystallized wax crystals and the

• cultivated outdoors were covered with wax platelets. Hence, the wax morphology of the investigated wheat leaves showed no developmental and ecological variability. The wax platelets could therefore be used as a native model for the development of artificial leaf surfaces. Artificial surfaces As a decisive

Comparing the performance of single and multifrequency Kelvin probe force microscopy techniques in air and water

• Jason I. Kilpatrick,
• Emrullah Kargin and
• Brian J. Rodriguez

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 922–943, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.82

• minimizing the required low VAC needed for operation in order to avoid the associated problems, for example, current flow, electrodeposition, or Faradaic reactions [9]. For this assessment, a number of simplifying assumptions have been made: (1) We use a simple spherical model of tip–sample capacitance [2

Bioselectivity of silk protein-based materials and their bio-inspired applications

• Hendrik Bargel,
• Vanessa T. Trossmann,
• Christoph Sommer and
• Thomas Scheibel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 902–921, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.81

• [125]. Furthermore, Wendt et al. showed that naturally occurring spider dragline silk fibres from Nephila species could be processed into wovens for culturing first fibroblasts for two weeks before seeding keratinocytes on top to develop a bilayered skin model consisting of an artificial dermis and

• hydrogels, while they could not attach to unmodified eADF4(C16) hydrogels [174]. A previously published in vivo study of an arteriovenous loop model in rats showed that RGD-functionalized spider silk hydrogels significantly enhanced angiogenesis by forming new blood vessels compared to unmodified eADF4(C16

Solar-light-driven LaFe_xNi_1−xO₃ perovskite oxides for photocatalytic Fenton-like reaction to degrade organic pollutants

• Chao-Wei Huang,
• Shu-Yu Hsu,
• Jun-Han Lin,
• Yun Jhou,
• Wei-Yu Chen,
• Kun-Yi Andrew Lin,
• Yu-Tang Lin and
• Van-Huy Nguyen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 882–895, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.79

• LaFe0.5Ni0.5O3, LaFe0.7Ni0.3O3, and LaFe0.9Ni0.1O3 were closed to LaFeO3, the unit cell parameters and interplanar spacing were calculated based on the model of orthorhombic LaFeO3 (JCPDS card: 037-1493) using Bragg’s law [45]. Meanwhile, LaFe0.5Ni0.5O3, LaFe0.3Ni0.7O3, and LaFe0.1Ni0.9O3 were also calculated

• based on the model of hexagonal LaNiO3. As a result, the lattice constant and cell volume were slightly expanded. It was interesting to note that LaFe0.7Ni0.3O3 revealed a relatively larger expansion, which had a higher cell volume, suggesting a better separation of photo-induced electron and hole pairs

• values were too low to represent their kinetic model. Therefore, 1st order reaction kinetics was more suitable for describing the kinetic model of LaFexNi1−xO3. MB removal test under different conditions using LaFe0.7Ni0.3O3 prepared at pH 0 The pH value of the solution was a strong effect on

Numerical modeling of a multi-frequency receiving system based on an array of dipole antennas for LSPE-SWIPE

• Alexander V. Chiginev,
• Anton V. Blagodatkin,
• Dmitrii A. Pimanov,
• Ekaterina A. Matrozova,
• Anna V. Gordeeva,
• Andrey L. Pankratov and
• Leonid S. Kuzmin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 865–872, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.77

• back-to-back horn helps us in modeling the frequency response of the receiving systems. We use the calculated mode amplitudes for investigating the frequency response of the arrays of dipole antennas for all frequency channels of the LSPE-SWIPE receiving system. We have developed a theoretical model of

Self-assembly of C₆₀ on a ZnTPP/Fe(001)–p(1 × 1)O substrate: observation of a quasi-freestanding C₆₀ monolayer

• Guglielmo Albani,
• Michele Capra,
• Alessandro Lodesani,
• Alberto Calloni,
• Gianlorenzo Bussetti,
• Marco Finazzi,
• Franco Ciccacci,
• Alberto Brambilla,
• Lamberto Duò and
• Andrea Picone

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 857–864, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.76

• fullerene films stabilized directly on metal surfaces. Our results unveil a model system that could be useful in applications in which a quasi-freestanding monolayer of C60 interfaced with a metallic electrode is required. Keywords: fullerene; scanning tunneling microscopy; ultraviolet photoemission

Micro-structures, nanomechanical properties and flight performance of three beetles with different folding ratios

• Jiyu Sun,
• Pengpeng Li,
• Yongwei Yan,
• Fa Song,
• Nuo Xu and
• Zhijun Zhang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 845–856, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.75

• pasted flat on a slide for observation. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) (Model EVO-18, Carl Zeiss Microimaging Inc., Germany) was used to obtain morphological images of cross sections of the hind wings of three beetles at the same locations of different wing veins. Nanoindentation properties The

Ultrafast signatures of magnetic inhomogeneity in Pd_1−xFe_x (x ≤ 0.08) epitaxial thin films

• Andrey V. Petrov,
• Sergey I. Nikitin,
• Lenar R. Tagirov,
• Amir I. Gumarov,
• Igor V. Yanilkin and
• Roman V. Yusupov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 836–844, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.74

• magnetic inhomogeneities are inherent in disordered Pd1−xFex alloys with a high palladium content, on the other hand, these inhomogeneities are extremely undesirable in MJJs. Indeed, within the frame of the percolation model of ferromagnetism in Pd1−xFex alloys with x < 0.1 [34][35], magnetic

• range, confirm the correlation of the ultrafast responses with the magnetic properties of the system, and determine the minimum iron concentration in the alloy that ensures magnetic homogeneity at low temperatures. We discuss the findings in the frame of a model in which ferromagnetic (FM) and

• Pd0.938Fe0.062 film [37], the shape of the properly normalized As(T) dependence practically reproduces that for the saturation magnetization Ms(T)/Ms(0) (Figure 5a). In our opinion, within the framework of the magnetic polaron model [34][35], such a situation can be associated with a decrease in the volume of

Temperature and chemical effects on the interfacial energy between a Ga–In–Sn eutectic liquid alloy and nanoscopic asperities

• Yujin Han,
• Pierre-Marie Thebault,
• Corentin Audes,
• Xuelin Wang,
• Haiwoong Park,
• Jian-Zhong Jiang and
• Arnaud Caron

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 817–827, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.72

• . The authors compared different modifications of the Hertzian contact mechanical model for elastic solids to account for adhesion. The authors found that the measured adhesion significantly depends on the maximum load applied before retraction. In the case of a plastic contact, adhesion was larger than

• . Here, we attempt to estimate the work of adhesion from the adhesion force according to the Johnson–Kendall–Roberts (JKR) model of adhesive contact [20], where Wad = and R is the tip radius. Strictly, this model applies to adhesive contact between elastic solids that form a wetting neck. Contact

• interfacial energy values of the different couples investigated in this work: = 0.44 N/m, = 2.2 N/m, ≈ 1.5 N/m. These values are, in part, significantly larger than the reported surface energy value of the eutectic Ga–In–Sn melt. Besides the limitation of the JKR model to describe our experiment, due to

Optimizing PMMA solutions to suppress contamination in the transfer of CVD graphene for batch production

• Chun-Da Liao,
• Andrea Capasso,
• Tiago Queirós,
• Telma Domingues,
• Fatima Cerqueira,
• Nicoleta Nicoara,
• Jérôme Borme,
• Paulo Freitas and
• Pedro Alpuim

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 796–806, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.70

• , Model: Alpha300M+) with an excitation laser wavelength of 532 nm. A laser power of ca. 2 mW was used for all measurements. The backscattered laser light containing the Raman bands from 1200 to 3000 cm−1 was collected by a CCD camera (Andor, Model number: DV401A-BV-352) integrated with the WITec system

Gelatin nanoparticles with tunable mechanical properties: effect of crosslinking time and loading

• Agnes-Valencia Weiss,
• Daniel Schorr,
• Julia K. Metz,
• Metin Yildirim,
• Saeed Ahmad Khan and
• Marc Schneider

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 778–787, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.68

• revealed the influence of loading a macromolecular model drug (FITC-dextran) on the mechanical properties, which decreased with raising amounts of loaded drug. Loaded particles were significantly softer, with Young’s moduli between 1.06 and 5.79 MPa for the same crosslinking time, than the blank GNPs. In

• potential resulting in a denser network structure. Influence of loading on the mechanical properties The second parameter addressed in this study is the influence of FITC-dextran loading on the mechanical properties of nanoparticles. FITC-dextran was chosen as a macromolecular model drug because it has no

Hierarchical Bi₂WO₆/TiO₂-nanotube composites derived from natural cellulose for visible-light photocatalytic treatment of pollutants

• Zehao Lin,
• Zhan Yang and
• Jianguo Huang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 745–762, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.66

• determined according to the Brunauer−Emmett−Teller (BET) model and the Barrett−Joyner−Halenda (BJH) method. The UV–visible diffuse reflectance spectra (UV–vis DRS) were acquired on a Shimadzu UV-2450 spectrophotometer in the diffuse reflectance mode, equipped with an integrating sphere and using BaSO4 as the

• RhB were determined by Equation 1, while the apparent reaction rates (Kapp) of the corresponding photocatalytic reactions were determined by Equation 2, according to the pseudo-first-order kinetic model: where C, C0 and Ci represent the concentrations of the Cr(VI) or RhB pollutant solutions after

• ), demonstrating the mesoporous structure of the nanocomposite [50]. The specific surface area determined by the BET model (SBET) of the 70%−Bi2WO6/TiO2-NT nanocomposite is 26.3 m2·g−1, suggesting approximately the same value as that of pure TiO2-NT (26.4 m2·g−1) [51] but much higher than that of the pure Bi2WO6

A nonenzymatic reduced graphene oxide-based nanosensor for parathion

• Sarani Sen,
• Anurag Roy,
• Ambarish Sanyal and
• Parukuttyamma Sujatha Devi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 730–744, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.65

• due to π–π* transition was noted at 273 nm using ethanol as blank, and a calibration curve was plotted to compare the results obtained from the proposed nanosensor. Material characterization Voltammetric studies were carried out using an IVIUMStat electrochemical analyzer (Model: A09050, Iviumstat

• phase of GO and RGO was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) using a X’pertpro MPD XRD (PAN analytical B.V., the Netherlands) with Cu Kα radiation (λ = 1.5406 Å). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of the modified electrode was conducted on a JEOLEVO® 18 special edition (model: ZEISS EVO-MA 10) at

• an acceleration voltage of 15 kV. The morphological characteristics of the electrodeposited ERGO were obtained by field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM, model: LEO 430i, Carl Zeiss) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (model: Tecnai G2 30ST, FEI) operating at 300 kV

Modeling a multiple-chain emeraldine gas sensor for NH₃ and NO₂ detection

• Hana Sustkova and
• Jan Voves

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 721–729, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.64

• I–V characteristics. As already written in [12], calculation of the electron density is based on the occupied eigenstates of the Kohn–Sham Hamiltonian, with the Ansatz of a Fermi–Dirac distribution. QuantumATK divides this density into contributions from “left” and from “right”, while the model is

• electrodes through unperturbed PANI chains. Therefore, the hopping influence can be ignored in the comparison with the experimental data. Limitations and validity of the model The extended Hückel method is a semi-empirical method and cannot display reality completely. To compare this model with experimental

• using dimensions of the polyaniline polymer to correspond to about 3 ppm concentration. Finally, in this numerical model many effects are not taken into account, among others, the fact that the bulk material contains a large number of polymer chains and that there are, for example, kinetic effects and

Design and selection of peptides to block the SARS-CoV-2 receptor binding domain by molecular docking

• Kendra Ramirez-Acosta,
• Ivan A. Rosales-Fuerte,
• J. Eduardo Perez-Sanchez,
• Alfredo Nuñez-Rivera,
• Josue Juarez and
• Ruben D. Cadena-Nava

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 699–711, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.62

• PEP-FOLD3.5’s model prediction servers using the reported peptide sequence for those that lacked it [28][29][30][31][32]. All peptides analyzed were compared with the ACE2-derived peptide IEEQAKTFLDKFNHEAEDLFYQSS (I21 to S44 of ACE2) [7]. The electrostatic surface potential, hydrophobic interactions

• of RBD–ligand by PRODIGY The protein binding energy prediction (PRODIGY) web server is an effective predictive model based on intermolecular contacts in protein–protein complexes based on their 3D structure [39]. This tool predicts the binding free energy between protein complexes with great accuracy

Nanoarchitectonics of the cathode to improve the reversibility of Li–O₂ batteries

• Hien Thi Thu Pham,
• Jonghyeok Yun,
• So Yeun Kim,
• Sang A Han,
• Jung Ho Kim,
• Jong-Won Lee and
• Min-Sik Park

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 689–698, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.61

• /CNT composites were characterized by N2 isotherms, as presented in Figure 5b. The specific surface areas and total pore volumes of ZnxCoy–C/CNT composites were calculated by using the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) model. Note that the pore structure of the ZnxCoy–C/CNT composites is highly dependent on

Experimental and theoretical study of field-dependent spin splitting at ferromagnetic insulator–superconductor interfaces

• Peter Machon,
• Michael J. Wolf,
• Detlef Beckmann and
• Wolfgang Belzig

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 682–688, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.60

• Figure 1b. The superconductor is represented by the node that has a “source” (of coherence) term (marked with Δ) and “leakage” (of coherence) term that is characterized by the Thouless energy of the superconductor (εTh) and its normal-state conductance G. Additional pseudo terminals model the spin mixing

• significant shift of the peak positions is visible for larger spin mixing angles. For sufficiently small ε’, spin mixing has little effect on Δ. Comparison of experiment and theory To illustrate our model, we use it to fit experimental data obtained on a sample made of a superconducting aluminium film on top

• , indicating a defect-free tunnel barrier. Spin splitting of the density of states is clearly visible. The observed splitting greatly exceeds the expected splitting due to the Zeeman energy εZ = μBB (which is about 35 μeV at B = 0.6 T). The solid lines in Figure 5a are fits with our model. We have included

Reliable fabrication of transparent conducting films by cascade centrifugation and Langmuir–Blodgett deposition of electrochemically exfoliated graphene

• Teodora Vićentić,
• Stevan Andrić,
• Vladimir Rajić and
• Marko Spasenović

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 666–674, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.58

• -NMP-C50-2+, Dresden, Germany) was processed by cascade centrifugation (centrifuge model: COLO LACE16 from Novo Mesto, Slovenia, rotor R30403 with radius 8.19 cm). The commercially obtained solution contained a dispersion of graphene in NMP. Although many solvents are commercially available, NMP was

A superconducting adiabatic neuron in a quantum regime

• Marina V. Bastrakova,
• Dmitrii S. Pashin,
• Dmitriy A. Rybin,
• Andrey E. Schegolev,
• Nikolay V. Klenov,
• Igor I. Soloviev,
• Anastasiya A. Gorchavkina and
• Arkady M. Satanin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 653–665, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.57

• model and basic equations A single-junction superconducting interferometer with normalized inductance l, a Josephson junction without resistive shunting (JJ), an additional inductance la, and an output inductance lout (see Figure 1b) are the basis of the quantum neuron. This circuit has been presented

• ns for l = 2.5 (see Figure 8). Influence of dissipation effects on the quantum neuron dynamics In the classical regime, the dissipation mechanism in the neuron has been considered using the Stewart–McCumber model [49]. To take into account the dissipation in a quantum system, we “place” it in a

• bosonic bath. For further analysis, we use a linear model of the interaction between the quantum neuron and the bath: where and are creation and annihilation operators of the i-th bosonic mode, and k is the coupling constant. With an adiabatic change of the input flux, the SQ state can be described in

Fabrication and testing of polymer microneedles for transdermal drug delivery

• Vahid Ebrahiminejad,
• Zahra Faraji Rad,
• Philip D. Prewett and
• Graham J. Davies

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 629–640, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.55

• and manufactured to address current limitations for mimicking skin in vivo conditions. Finite element analysis (FEA) was developed to simulate single MN insertion into a multilayered skin model and validated experimentally using a commercial Pen Needle as a model for the thermoplastic MNs. Margins of

• simulation model was performed using ANSYS (2020 R1, ANSYS, Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, USA) Explicit Dynamics. The skin was assumed to be comprised of three layers (1) stratum corneum, (2) dermis, and (3) hypodermis with 26 μm, 2 mm, and 1.1 mm thicknesses, respectively. An Ogden (first-order) model [32] was

• piercing model, an erosion algorithm was used to eliminate the elements that reached their failure stress. To optimize the run time, the automatic mass scaling method was activated with a minimum Courant–Friedrichs–Lewy (CFL) time step of 1 picosecond [33]. The mass scale algorithm artificially increases

Comparative molecular dynamics simulations of thermal conductivities of aqueous and hydrocarbon nanofluids

• Adil Loya,
• Antash Najib,
• Fahad Aziz,
• Asif Khan,
• Guogang Ren and
• Kun Luo

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 620–628, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.54

• , it was further investigated that the thermal conductivity increases more with CuO nanowires than with CuO nanospheres. Only 6.98% of improvement was recorded with nanospheres, while 60.78% was recorded with nanowires. Ibrahim et al. [25] conducted a study using a neural network model (ANN) to study

• hot block in the sand-based porous cavity with an average percentage of 17.75% [29]. Astanina et al. investigated the utilization of a two-phase nonhomogeneous model (numerical model) of a CuO/water nanofluid for natural convection cases in a partially heated, square-shaped geometry [30]. Heat

Quantitative dynamic force microscopy with inclined tip oscillation

• Philipp Rahe,
• Daniel Heile,
• Reinhard Olbrich and
• Michael Reichling

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 610–619, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.53

• appropriate data analysis procedures. We demonstrate these consequences by simulating the frequency shift Δf = fexc − f0 in the frequency-modulated AFM mode for different cases using a Morse potential as a model that describes the interaction between two atoms at a distance d by the parameters Eb = 0.371 aJ

• , σ0 = 0.235 nm, and κ = 4.25 nm−1 (adapted from [20]). We use this model for the pairwise interaction between a tip with a heterogeneous surface section. The surface section is built by arranging Na = 5 atoms at zts = 0 nm along the x-axis (with unit vector ) at an atom–atom distance of da = 0.5 nm

• . To model a second atomic species for the heterogeneous surface section, Eb of the central atom is scaled by a factor of four. A sixth probe atom at position representing the tip is moved within the force field calculated from Vector defines the origin of the surface section. In the following, the

Sodium doping in brookite TiO₂ enhances its photocatalytic activity

• Boxiang Zhuang,
• Honglong Shi,
• Honglei Zhang and
• Zeqian Zhang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 599–609, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.52

• phase, and TiO2 (R) for the rutile phase, respectively. The phase reaction occurring in the calcinating process can be described as follows: The crystal structure of the brookite phase The initial structure model of the as-prepared brookite phase is the orthorhombic brookite phase (ICSD#154605

Approaching microwave photon sensitivity with Al Josephson junctions

• Andrey L. Pankratov,
• Anna V. Gordeeva,
• Leonid S. Revin,
• Dmitry A. Ladeynov,
• Anton A. Yablokov and
• Leonid S. Kuzmin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 582–589, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.50

• ) model with additive noise [29]. It is important to use the RCSJ model in the temperature range in which it is valid, that is, above the crossover temperature in the quantum regime. The lifetime (dark count time) measurements are organized as follows. The current through the junction is quasi

• voltage is zero. This makes it easier to determine the lifetime in the numerical model. In this case, the JJ is considered to be switched if the phase exceeds a certain threshold value, usually chosen to the right of the position of the nearest maximum of the potential for a given bias current. There is a

• numerically solve the Langevin equation with noise source [39][40] in the frame of the RCSJ model, which has been proven for classical JJs in the thermal regime [29]. Its applicability is also confirmed for our case by a good overlap with the experimental data. It is seen from Figure 4 that the experimental