A biofunctionalizable ink platform composed of catechol-modified chitosan and reduced graphene oxide/platinum nanocomposite

• Peter Sobolewski,
• Agata Goszczyńska,
• Małgorzata Aleksandrzak,
• Karolina Urbaś,
• Joanna Derkowska,
• Agnieszka Bartoszewska,
• Jacek Podolski,
• Ewa Mijowska and
• Mirosława El Fray

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1508–1514, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.151

• polymerase chain reaction (PCR) products and low non-specific binding. Our results demonstrate that catechol-modified chitosan/rGO–Pt nanocomposites can be used as inks for piezoelectric printing and facilitate the attachment of biorecognition elements for biosensor applications. Keywords: biosensing

• be incorporated into polymer–graphene nanocomposites [4], gaining the additional properties of the polymer matrix, in addition to easing handling and reducing cost. Equally important have been advances in bioprinting [5], such as micro-contact printing, laser direct writing, and inkjet printing

• aqueous polymer solution and can be printed by using a commercial non-contact piezoelectric microplotter. While the application of chitosan/graphene nanocomposites for biosensing is established [4], to our knowledge, this is the first time that such a nanocomposite has been formulated as ink. Importantly

Miniemulsion copolymerization of (meth)acrylates in the presence of functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotubes for reinforced coating applications

• Bertha T. Pérez-Martínez,
• Lorena Farías-Cepeda,
• Víctor M. Ovando-Medina,
• José M. Asua,
• Lucero Rosales-Marines and
• Radmila Tomovska

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1328–1337, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.134

• synthesized. The interaction between the polymer and the CNTs is crucial to principally determine the distribution of CNTs within the polymer matrix and to obtain the best performance from the nanocomposites [1][2]. One way to improve this interaction is to functionalize the surface of CNTs, either by

• the MWCNTs was reported. The resulting nanocomposites were foamed with supercritical CO2. The foams showed a decreased pore size, an increased cell density and higher volume expansion when the MWCNT concentration increased. Capek and Kocsisova [35] studied the effect of the type and concentration of

Synthesis of [Fe(L_eq)(L_ax)]_n coordination polymer nanoparticles using blockcopolymer micelles

• Christoph Göbel,
• Ottokar Klimm,
• Florian Puchtler,
• Sabine Rosenfeldt,
• Stephan Förster and
• Birgit Weber

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1318–1327, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.133

• (bpea)]n@BCP while pronounced differences are observed in the case of [FeLeq(bpey)]n@BCP nanoparticles. Keywords: block copolymer; composite; nanoparticles; self-assembly; spin crossover; Introduction Nanomaterials and especially nanocomposites of coordination polymers (CPs) and (porous) coordination

• of the reaction time and temperature. Having a high crystallinity of the core, the SCO properties were closer to those of the bulk material (thermal hysteresis loop). We herein report the synthesis of three further coordination polymer block copolymer nanocomposites (CP–BCP) using the same synthesis

• micelle, in agreement with previous observations for [FeLeq(bipy)]n@BCP[13][58]. In the case of [FeLeq(bpea)]n@BCP a different behaviour is observed that is indicative for differences in the sample composition. Characterisation of the nanocomposite Particle sizes of the nanocomposites were determined by

Characterization of ferrite nanoparticles for preparation of biocomposites

• Urszula Klekotka,
• Magdalena Rogowska,
• Dariusz Satuła and
• Beata Kalska-Szostko

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1257–1265, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.127

• , optical, magnetic and structural characteristics of specific nanoparticles in one hierarchical structure [9]. In such systems, nanoparticles can be functionalized with various biomolecules through different linkage chemistry [10][11][12]. Nanocomposites based on magnetic nanoparticles have a huge

High photocatalytic activity of Fe₂O₃/TiO₂ nanocomposites prepared by photodeposition for degradation of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid

• Shu Chin Lee,
• Hendrik O. Lintang and
• Leny Yuliati

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 915–926, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.93

• -dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) under UV light irradiation was examined. The Fe2O3/TiO2 nanocomposites prepared by impregnation showed lower activity than the unmodified TiO2, mainly due to lower specific surface area caused by heat treatment. On the other hand, the Fe2O3/TiO2 nanocomposites prepared by

• the present study, Fe2O3/TiO2 nanocomposites were prepared by a similar approach but using iron(III) acetylacetonate as the precursor to facilitate a complete photodeposition process. The properties and activity results were compared with those prepared by the commonly used impregnation approach

• study, both impregnation and photodeposition methods were used to modify TiO2 nanoparticles with Fe2O3 in order to investigate the effect of preparation method on the properties and photocatalytic activity of the nanocomposites with respect to the degradation of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D

Selective detection of Mg²⁺ ions via enhanced fluorescence emission using Au–DNA nanocomposites

• Tanushree Basu,
• Khyati Rana,
• Niranjan Das and
• Bonamali Pal

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 762–771, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.79

• nanoparticles (AuNPs) have attracted a great deal of research interest for various applications in biosensing. AuNPs have strong binding capability to the phosphate and sugar groups in DNA, rendering unique physicochemical properties for detection of metal ions. The formation of Au–DNA nanocomposites is evident

• to the size and shape dependent plasmonic interactions of AuNPs (33–78 nm) with DNA, the resultant Au–DNA nanocomposites (NCs) exhibit superior fluorescence emission due to chemical binding with Ca2+, Fe2+ and Mg2+ ions. A significant increase in fluorescence emission (λex = 260 nm) of Au–DNA NCs was

• observed after selectively binding with Mg2+ ions (20–800 ppm) in an aqueous solution where a minimum of 100 ppm Mg2+ ions was detected based on the linearity of concentration versus fluorescence intensity curve (λem = 400 nm). The effectiveness of Au–DNA nanocomposites was further verified by comparing

The longstanding challenge of the nanocrystallization of 1,3,5-trinitroperhydro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX)

• Florent Pessina and
• Denis Spitzer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 452–466, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.49

• reduction. Energetic nanocomposites are also promising materials improved by a more intimate mixing. Liu et al. [8] showed that detonation velocities of PBX composition from their milled n-RDX and n-HMX materials are slightly better while being significantly safer. The burning rate of nitrocellulose was

• also improved by Zhang and Weeks [9] due to the formation of sub-micrometer spheres. Recently, Comet et al. [10] proved that energetic nanocomposites can easily replace the hazardous primary explosives to initiate a secondary explosive: 500 nm diameter n-RDX from SFE was mixed with a nanoscale thermite

• nanocomposites using a technique similar to sol–gel [30]. The matrix is the NC itself solidified by micrometer-sized AP crystals and cross-linked with toluene diisocyanate (TDI) and dibutyltin dilaurate (DBTDL), whereas RDX is dissolved in acetone inside that template. The gel and the crystallization of RDX is

Methods for preparing polymer-decorated single exchange-biased magnetic nanoparticles for application in flexible polymer-based films

• Laurence Ourry,
• Delphine Toulemon,
• Souad Ammar and
• Fayna Mammeri

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 408–417, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.43

• ENPs. There is still intensive research to be done on the control of the magnetic properties of magnetic films, either comprised of nanocomposites or not [37], via the spatial ENP orientation [28][38] to be combined with polymer processing [39][40]. As a preliminary result, focusing on these PMMA

Functionalized TiO₂ nanoparticles by single-step hydrothermal synthesis: the role of the silane coupling agents

• Antoine R. M. Dalod,
• Lars Henriksen,
• Tor Grande and
• Mari-Ann Einarsrud

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 304–312, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.33

• –shell structures or grafted nanoparticles [8], has resulted in new applications such as nanofiller for polymer nanocomposites [9][10], coatings [11], and biosensors [3][12]. Classical synthesis routes for surface-functionalized particles are following two steps: particles synthesis followed by a post

• polymer nanocomposites, hydrophobicity is a parameter of utmost importance [10][27]. Heat treatment of the in situ surface-functionalized nanoparticles at 700 °C revealed neither crystallite growth nor phase transition of TiO2 because of the formation of an amorphous SiO2 layer, originating from the

Photocatalysis applications of some hybrid polymeric composites incorporating TiO₂ nanoparticles and their combinations with SiO₂/Fe₂O₃

• Andreea Laura Chibac,
• Tinca Buruiana,
• Violeta Melinte and
• Emil C. Buruiana

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 272–286, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.30

• Andreea Laura Chibac Tinca Buruiana Violeta Melinte Emil C. Buruiana Petru Poni Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry, 41 A Gr. Ghica Voda Alley, 700487 Iasi, Romania 10.3762/bjnano.8.30 Abstract Polymer nanocomposites containing titanium oxide nanoparticles (TiO2 NPs) combined with other

• ) of all hybrid nanocomposites containing TiO2 NPs and also to investigate the spatial distribution of the elements through the X-ray elemental mapping images. In the EDX patterns (Figure 3), the Ti, Si and Fe signals confirmed the existence of inorganic nanoparticles, while the organic matrix is

• inorganic components within the polymer matrix. The hybrid polymeric nanocomposites with TiO2 were also characterized by X-ray diffraction. The collected patterns are plotted in Figure 4. Although the presence of the amorphous organic matrix weakens the diffraction peaks, the appearance of anatase TiO2

Photo-ignition process of multiwall carbon nanotubes and ferrocene by continuous wave Xe lamp illumination

• Paolo Visconti,
• Patrizio Primiceri,
• Daniele Longo,
• Luciano Strafella,
• Paolo Carlucci,
• Mauro Lomascolo,
• Arianna Cretì and
• Giuseppe Mele

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 134–144, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.14

• promote an electron transfer by means of a photo-excitation process. The chemical physical feature of the multiwalled carbon nanotube/ferrocene nanocomposites (MWCNT/FeCp2) responsible for starting the ignition process could be ascribed to the charge-separated state, MWCNT .−–FeCp2 .+, as expected by

• process (b). Chemical reactions relative to photo-induced electron and energy transfer in MWNTs–FeCp2 nanocomposites occurring during the photo-induced ignition process. Solvent type and amount of ferrocene used in this work.

Nanocrystalline TiO₂/SnO₂ heterostructures for gas sensing

• Barbara Lyson-Sypien,
• Anna Kusior,
• Mieczylaw Rekas,
• Jan Zukrowski,
• Marta Gajewska,
• Katarzyna Michalow-Mauke,
• Thomas Graule,
• Marta Radecka and
• Katarzyna Zakrzewska

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 108–122, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.12

• differences in the positions of the conduction and valence band edges of both oxides (Figure 1). A similar effect was reported in our previous work for 2 mol % TiO2/98 mol % SnO2 nanocomposites working as H2 sensors [4]. In this work, for the first time, based on Figure 5e, we can conclude that the addition

Graphene–polymer coating for the realization of strain sensors

• Carmela Bonavolontà,
• Carla Aramo,
• Massimo Valentino,
• Giampiero Pepe,
• Sergio De Nicola,
• Gianfranco Carotenuto,
• Angela Longo,
• Mariano Palomba,
• Simone Boccardi and
• Carosena Meola

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 21–27, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.3

• the IRT measurements performed on the various composite polymer-based systems. A sketch of the setup for the thermographic measurements is shown in Figure 3. The composites under test include: glass-reinforced plastic (GRP), nanocomposites, and PMMA. The nanocomposite sample is made using an epoxy

• the IRT technique is shown. The carbon nanotubes (CNTs) can be used as a filler in the polymer composite system to obtain ultralight structural materials (nanocomposites) with enhanced electrical, thermal and optical characteristics. Glass-reinforced plastic (GRP) is used for the realization of the

A novel electrochemical nanobiosensor for the ultrasensitive and specific detection of femtomolar-level gastric cancer biomarker miRNA-106a

• Maryam Daneshpour,
• Kobra Omidfar and
• Hossein Ghanbarian

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 2023–2036, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.193

• massively the particle size, which is a common undesirable result from using most other polymers [36][37][38]. In Figure 2A(d), the presence of gold NPs is obvious through the high contrast against other particles and background. The mean diameter of the final nanocomposites has reasonably increased after

• formation of desired gold@TMC@Fe3O4 NPs. In order to verify the successful assembly of TMC-coated Fe3O4 NPs and final gold–magnetic nanocomposites, the TMC polymer, Fe3O4, TMC@Fe3O4, and gold@TMC@Fe3O4 NPs were subjected to FTIR analysis. As Figure S1 (Supporting Information File 1) shows, the FTIR spectrum

Intercalation and structural aspects of macroRAFT agents into MgAl layered double hydroxides

• Dessislava Kostadinova,
• Ana Cenacchi Pereira,
• Muriel Lansalot,
• Franck D’Agosto,
• Elodie Bourgeat-Lami,
• Fabrice Leroux,
• Christine Taviot-Guého,
• Sylvian Cadars and
• Vanessa Prevot

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 2000–2012, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.191

• fabricating polymer nanocomposites [20][21][22][23]. To favor the dispersion of LDH platelets into polymers, hybrid surfactant (usually dodecyl sulphate)-intercalated LDH were prepared and incorporated into polymer matrices such as polyethylene [24], polypropylene [25], poly(methyl methacrylate) [26

Organoclay hybrid materials as precursors of porous ZnO/silica-clay heterostructures for photocatalytic applications

• Marwa Akkari,
• Pilar Aranda,
• Abdessalem Ben Haj Amara and
• Eduardo Ruiz-Hitzky

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1971–1982, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.188

• methodology in which it was possible to reach the delamination of layered silicates previously exchanged with long-chain alkylammonium cations (organoclays) [13]. In this way, organo-smectites and organo-vermiculites have been used to prepare a new type of nanocomposites consisting of delaminated layered

• environmental applications. Results and Discussion ZnO/silica-montmorillonite heterostructures The synthesis of ZnO/silica-clay heterostructures was developed following in part the procedure already reported for the preparation of silica-clay nanocomposites [11][12]. The aim is to produce first silica-clay

• samples containing SiO2 the shoulder shifts to higher wavenumbers and even a second shoulder is observable in the 1180–1200 cm−1 range, as the bands ascribed to vibration modes of the silica network overlap those of the clay substrate, as it was also observed in other SiO2-clay nanocomposites [11]. FE-SEM

Effect of nanostructured carbon coatings on the electrochemical performance of Li_1.4Ni_0.5Mn_0.5O_2+x-based cathode materials

• Konstantin A. Kurilenko,
• Oleg A. Shlyakhtin,
• Oleg A. Brylev,
• Dmitry I. Petukhov and
• Alexey V. Garshev

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1960–1970, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.187

• .7.187 Abstract Nanocomposites of Li1.4Ni0.5Mn0.5O2+x and amorphous carbon were obtained by the pyrolysis of linear and cross-linked poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) in presence of Li1.4Ni0.5Mn0.5O2+x. In the case of linear PVA, the formation of nanostructured carbon coatings on Li1.4Ni0.5Mn0.5O2+x particles is

• materials; Li-ion batteries; nanocomposites; nanostructures; Introduction LiNi0.5Mn0.5O2-based electrode materials [1] were proposed as a less expensive alternative to LiCoO2 for high energy density Li-ion batteries containing less toxic elements than cobalt. The reasonable combination of their

• nanocomposites were studied by cyclic voltammetry (CVA) to estimate the influence of carbon coatings on the lithium intercalation–deintercalation in Li1.4Ni0.5Mn0.5O2+x (Figure 4). Concerning the LNM/C composites, the cathodic peaks are substantially narrower than the ones for pure Li1.4Ni0.5Mn0.5O2+x. In the

Controlled supramolecular structure of guanosine monophosphate in the interlayer space of layered double hydroxide

• Gyeong-Hyeon Gwak,
• Istvan Kocsis,
• Yves-Marie Legrand,
• Mihail Barboiu and
• Jae-Min Oh

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1928–1935, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.184

• nanocomposites [5]. Post-synthetic thermal treatment resulted in polymerization of amino acids in LDH. It was also reported that amino acids such as arginine and glutamate were polymerized via peptidic condensation both on the surface and in the interlayer space of clay [6]. In that literature, peptidic

Effective intercalation of zein into Na-montmorillonite: role of the protein components and use of the developed biointerfaces

• Ana C. S. Alcântara,
• Margarita Darder,
• Pilar Aranda and
• Eduardo Ruiz-Hitzky

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1772–1782, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.170

• into the hydrophilic interlayer space of sodium-exchanged montmorillonite. In addition to physicochemical characterization of the resulting materials, these biohybrid interfaces were also evaluated as biofillers in the preparation of diverse ecofriendly nanocomposites. Keywords: biohybrids

• flexibility and stretchability of the biopolymer matrix. In the bionanocomposite films, a reduced mobility of the zein and starch chains after incorporation of the biofiller can take place, as observed in other clay-reinforced polymer nanocomposites [39]. Although this preliminary study would require

Properties of Ni and Ni–Fe nanowires electrochemically deposited into a porous alumina template

• Alla I. Vorobjova,
• Dmitry L. Shimanovich,
• Kazimir I. Yanushkevich,
• Sergej L. Prischepa and
• Elena A. Outkina

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1709–1717, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.163

• heights is presented. The structural properties of PA/Ni and PA/Ni–Fe NWs, as well as the temperature dependence of the specific magnetization of these nanocomposites are investigated and discussed. Experimental Preparation of porous alumina template The preparation technique and the thickness of the PA

• electronically measuring galvanostatic/potentiostatic power supply P-5827M (potentiostat). The morphology of PA/Ni and PA/Ni–Fe nanocomposites formed with different alumina template thicknesses and deposition durations was studied by scanning electron microscopy (Philips XL 30 S FEG). The crystal structure of

Role of RGO support and irradiation source on the photocatalytic activity of CdS–ZnO semiconductor nanostructures

• Suneel Kumar,
• Rahul Sharma,
• Vipul Sharma,
• Gurunarayanan Harith,
• Vaidyanathan Sivakumar and
• Venkata Krishnan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1684–1697, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.161

• with other semiconductor materials to form nanocomposites, they turn out be an efficient photocatalyst [25]. Recently, there have been few reports available in literature on CdS–ZnO coupled photocatalytic systems with enhanced activity [26]. On illumination of light, charge transfer takes place from

• conductivity (5000 W·m−1·K−1) [30]. Its optical transmittance is about 97.7% and possesses superior electron mobility (200000 cm2·V−1·s−1), which makes it an ideal material for photocatalyst support [31]. Several semiconductor nanocomposites supported on graphene have been used as photocatalysts for the

• nanocomposites has not been fully explored. Furthermore, the photocatalytic activity is also influenced by the irradiation source. With regard to this, we focused our studies on determining the role of the RGO support and the irradiation source on the photocatalytic activity of CdS–ZnO semiconductor

An efficient recyclable magnetic material for the selective removal of organic pollutants

• Clément Monteil,
• Nathalie Bar,
• Agnès Bee and
• Didier Villemin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1447–1453, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.136

• studied [7][8]. At the same time, the emergence of nanotechnologies has led to a new generation of organic/inorganic nanocomposites with embedded magnetic nanoparticles (NPs) [9][10][11][12][13]. The application of a simple magnetic field is sufficient to collect them, which fosters the development of low

Fracture behaviors of pre-cracked monolayer molybdenum disulfide: A molecular dynamics study

• Qi-lin Xiong,
• Zhen-huan Li and
• Xiao-geng Tian

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1411–1420, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.132

• probe tips, high strength nanocomposites and nanostructures, mechanical devices, and electronics [5][6]. In order to develop MoS2-based nanocomposites and nanostructures with improved their performance, further fundamental and applied research on MoS2 is essential [7]. Since the desired applications

• including high strength nanocomposites and nanostructures require MoS2 to undergo the mechanical loadings such as tension, a thorough understanding of the mechanical behavior of MoS2 under mechanical loading is essential for its applications in nanocomposites and nanostructures. The mechanical properties of

Fabrication and characterization of branched carbon nanostructures

• Sharali Malik,
• Yoshihiro Nemoto,
• Hongxuan Guo,
• Katsuhiko Ariga and
• Jonathan P. Hill

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1260–1266, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.116

• efficient nanocomposites: a) inhomogeneous dispersion of the filler [10] and (b) insufficient strength of the interphase between the filler and the matrix [11]. However, these issues can be addressed by utilizing branched multiwalled carbon nanotubes (b-MWCNTs). It is known from theory and simulation

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

• Rasheed Atif Fawad Inam Northumbria University, Faculty of Engineering and Environment, Department of Mechanical and Construction Engineering, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8ST, United Kingdom 10.3762/bjnano.7.109 Abstract One of the main issues in the production of polymer nanocomposites is the

• for both current and prospective researchers in the field of MLG- and CNT-based polymer nanocomposites to achieve maximum enhancement in mechanical, thermal, and electrical properties of produced polymer nanocomposites. Keywords: agglomeration; carbon nanotubes (CNTs); dispersion state; multilayered

• graphene (MLG); polymer nanocomposites; Introduction It has been well known for about hundred years that the addition of nano-fillers to polymers, polymer glasses, and semicrystalline polymers can remarkably improve the performance of polymers [1]. The important structural characteristics of nano-fillers