Nanoarchitectonics to entrap living cells in silica-based systems: encapsulations with yolk–shell and sepiolite nanomaterials

• Celia Martín-Morales,
• Jorge Fernández-Méndez,
• Pilar Aranda and
• Eduardo Ruiz-Hitzky

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 522–534, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.43

• present protocols. Keywords: biohybrids; cell immobilization; encapsulation; microorganism entrapment; silicates; Introduction Bio-inorganic hybrid nanomaterials with highly specific functionalities can be prepared following Nature’s design approaches [1]. A wide range of materials resulting from the

• bionanocomposites that display biomimetic and bioinspired characteristics, derived from their biological components (e.g., polysaccharides, proteins, nucleic acids, enzymes and viruses, etc.) and the inorganic network (e.g., silica and silicates, clay minerals and phosphates) [5][6][7][8]. More complex biohybrid

Unravelling the interfacial interaction in mesoporous SiO₂@nickel phyllosilicate/TiO₂ core–shell nanostructures for photocatalytic activity

• Bridget K. Mutuma,
• Xiluva Mathebula,
• Isaac Nongwe,
• Bonakele P. Mtolo,
• Boitumelo J. Matsoso,
• Rudolph Erasmus,
• Zikhona Tetana and
• Neil J. Coville

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1834–1846, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.165

• asymmetric stretching modes in silica and silicates [49][54]. It was difficult to specify the Si–O–Si stretching bands that are distinct for 1:1 nickel phyllosilicate, due to the broad band observed at 950–1100 cm−1, which also represents the band position for Si–O–Si in silica. In the wavenumber region of

• –Si stretching modes, revealing the presence of silica, silicates, and titania [56]. The intensity of these bands was smaller than that of mSiO2 and mSiO2@NiPS, indicating that the TiO2 particles had coated the mSiO2@NiPS surface. However, it was challenging to ascertain the peaks associated with

• and 1.9 atom % for Si). The binding energy of the Si 2p peaks is 102.3 and 103.5 eV in mSiO2@NiPSs and 101.8 and 102.8 eV in mSiO2@NiPS/TiO2 (Figure 4b), suggesting the presence of both silica and silicates. The binding energy of Si 2p in SiO2 (approx. 103.5 eV) is higher than in silicates (102–103 eV

Helium ion microscope – secondary ion mass spectrometry for geological materials

• Matthew R. Ball,
• Richard J. M. Taylor,
• Joshua F. Einsle,
• Fouzia Khanom,
• Christelle Guillermier and
• Richard J. Harrison

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1504–1515, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.133

• silicates, which make up most geological materials on Earth, requires additional sample preparation, which, if performed incorrectly, can have a negative impact on both qualitative and quantitative use of the instrument. Here, we demonstrate the instrumental sensitivity, capability, and repeatability of the

• for the future [26]. Oxygen is a critical element as it is both one of the main constituents of the most common geological materials, silicates, and one of the best understood isotopic systems [12][27]. However, mapping the distribution of these elements by traditional methods, typically using SEM–EDS

Layered double hydroxide/sepiolite hybrid nanoarchitectures for the controlled release of herbicides

• Ediana Paula Rebitski,
• Margarita Darder and
• Pilar Aranda

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1679–1690, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.163

• double oxides” in the presence of diverse species, e.g., silica nanoparticles [32]. Nanoarchitectonic materials involving the growth of LDH nanoparticles in the presence of fibrous clay silicates were patented several years ago [33]. Direct co-assembly of already formed particles of each component does

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

• -known examples [7]. Besides classical layered silicates, clays showing other morphologies, such as fibrous (sepiolite and palygorskite) and tubular (halloysite and imogolite) clays, could also be interesting nanoparticulated solids in this context [8][9][10][11]. Sepiolite (SEP) and palygorskite are

Photoactive nanoarchitectures based on clays incorporating TiO₂ and ZnO nanoparticles

• Eduardo Ruiz-Hitzky,
• Pilar Aranda,
• Marwa Akkari,
• Nithima Khaorapapong and
• Makoto Ogawa

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1140–1156, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.114

• silicates showing diverse structural arrangements and morphologies (Figure 1) with topologies able to accommodate a variety of NPs of semiconductors such as TiO2 and ZnO. TiO2 and, to a minor extent, ZnO NPs in the form of anatase and wurtzite phases (Figure 1E and 1F, respectively), are semiconducting

• materials that have been assembled at the nanometer scale with clay silicates and deeply investigated due to their useful properties for various applications, including heterogeneous photocatalysis, antibacterial activity, and water splitting [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. Both semiconducting solids

• irradiation (Table 1). Among the 2D clay-based solids (layered silicates), montmorillonite and other smectites used for assembly with diverse NPs exhibit excellent adsorption, rheological, ion-exchange, and swelling properties as well as a large relative surface area for incorporating the NPs. Kaolinite clay

Magnetic and luminescent coordination networks based on imidazolium salts and lanthanides for sensitive ratiometric thermometry

• Pierre Farger,
• Cédric Leuvrey,
• Mathieu Gallart,
• Pierre Gilliot,
• Guillaume Rogez,
• João Rocha,
• Duarte Ananias,
• Pierre Rabu and
• Emilie Delahaye

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2775–2787, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.259

• -configurational spin-forbiden 4f8→4f75d1 transition of Tb3+ because its energy is similar to the energy reported for layered Tb3+ silicates [60]. The additional sharp lines in the spectra of [Tb(L)(ox)(H2O)] are ascribed to the intra-4f8 7F6→5D2-4, 5GJ and 5H7 transitions of Tb3+. Although with a lower relevance

Calcium fluoride based multifunctional nanoparticles for multimodal imaging

• Marion Straßer,
• Joachim H. X. Schrauth,
• Sofia Dembski,
• Daniel Haddad,
• Bernd Ahrens,
• Stefan Schweizer,
• Bastian Christ,
• Alevtina Cubukova,
• Marco Metzger,
• Heike Walles,
• Peter M. Jakob and
• Gerhard Sextl

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1484–1493, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.148

• imaging and diagnosis [2]. One possibility is the synthesis of core/shell-structured NPs. Core and shell materials can be matched individually to specific detection methods. For example, the coating of a magnetic core with silicates or polymer shells doped with organic fluorophores or quantum dots (QDs

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

• microparticulated layered silicates of the smectite family, giving rise to materials exhibiting interesting properties [8][9]. The immobilization of those NP on clay surfaces represents an advantage for the easier recovering of the photocatalyst from the reaction medium compared to ZnO NP alone. In recent years

• 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

• silicates assembled to diverse inorganic NP [10][14]. Moreover, those containing silica-clay entities appear as very attractive materials in view of their elevated specific surface area and the possibility of further functionalization. The more common silica sources used to prepare them are

In situ observation of biotite (001) surface dissolution at pH 1 and 9.5 by advanced optical microscopy

• Chiara Cappelli,
• Daniel Lamarca-Irisarri,
• Jordi Camas,
• F. Javier Huertas and
• Alexander E. S. Van Driessche

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 665–673, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.67

• silicates and the high cation-exchange capacity of some phyllosilicates contribute to the pH stability of natural waters, the mobility of metals and the control of potentially toxic elements [2][3]. Flow-through reactors filled with powdered samples are frequently used to study the reaction mechanisms of

• aluminosilicate minerals (talc, phlogopite and saponite) could precipitate (SI > 0, Table 2). Although the derivation of the surface charge of multi-oxide silicates as a function of pH is complex and requires the knowledge of all zero point charge parameters (e.g., isoelectric point, point of zero net proton

Poly(styrene)/oligo(fluorene)-intercalated fluoromica hybrids: synthesis, characterization and self-assembly

• Giuseppe Leone,
• Francesco Galeotti,
• William Porzio,
• Guido Scavia,
• Luisa Barba,
• Gianmichele Arrighetti,
• Giovanni Ricci,
• Chiara Botta and
• Umberto Giovanella

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2450–2458, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.254

• ordered microporous films. Keywords: breath figures; fluoromica; layered silicates; oligo(fluorene); photostability; self-assembly; Introduction The functionalization of inorganic structures is an effective approach for enriching the potential applications of existing nanomaterials [1][2][3][4][5][6][7

• ]. Among the inorganic nano-scaled materials, layered silicates have been widely used as hosts for functional π-conjugated molecules (dyes) [8][9][10], and polymers [11][12][13][14][15], owing to their adsorption properties, ion-exchange ability, high specific surface area, and a two-dimensional (2D

• silicates, while the polymer matrix is completely dark, which confirms that the whole amount of the emissive TF is confined in between the fluoromica layers. The AFM images reported as inset of Figure 4a–c confirm the large-scale morphology observed by fluorescence microscopy and reveal an organization and

Biopolymer colloids for controlling and templating inorganic synthesis

• Laura C. Preiss,
• Katharina Landfester and
• Rafael Muñoz-Espí

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2129–2138, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.222

• conventional sol–gel methods. The preparation of sol–gel silicates have been reported by several research groups [71][72]. Nevertheless, the use of chitosan is not limited to silicates and titanates. El Kadib et al. [73] demonstrated the use of chitosan microspheres as templates for vanadium, tungsten, and

• further used for silicates. Zhang et al. [90] presented the in situ formation of silica in a cellulose aerogel (Figure 8). The addition of the silicate precursor (TEOS) takes place first, followed by a sol–gel process and the cellulose/silica composite formation. The aerogel is formed by drying with

The surface properties of nanoparticles determine the agglomeration state and the size of the particles under physiological conditions

• Christoph Bantz,
• Olga Koshkina,
• Thomas Lang,
• Hans-Joachim Galla,
• C. James Kirkpatrick,
• Roland H. Stauber and
• Michael Maskos

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1774–1786, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.188

• (aqueous solutions of alkali silicates, e.g., Na2SiO3, Na4SiO4). Typically, this neutralization is performed by using ion exchange resins where particle sizes of around 5 to 500 nm in diameter can be realized [55][56][57]. 2. Pyrogenic silica (also referred to as “fumed silica”) is produced on the

Pyrite nanoparticles as a Fenton-like reagent for in situ remediation of organic pollutants

• Carolina Gil-Lozano,
• Elisabeth Losa-Adams,
• Alfonso F.-Dávila and
• Luis Gago-Duport

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 855–864, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.97

• capacity of mineral suspensions (e.g., silicates, oxides and sulfides) to continuously generate H2O2 at surface defect sites [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]. Since the catalytic performance of the particles depends on the surface area-to-volume ratio (i.e., better performance is enabled by higher ratios

Synthesis and catalytic applications of combined zeolitic/mesoporous materials

• Jarian Vernimmen,
• Vera Meynen and
• Pegie Cool

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 785–801, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.87

• expensive alternative. The most promising, but also most expensive, carbon templates are the CMKs. These carbons are replicas or inverse replicas of existing mesoporous silicates, such as MCM-48 (CMK-1) [106] and SBA-15 (CMK-3 [107] and CMK-5 [108]). By impregnation of the CMKs with zeolite nanoparticles

Novel acridone-modified MCM-41 type silica: Synthesis, characterization and fluorescence tuning

• Maximilian Hemgesberg,
• Gunder Dörr,
• Yvonne Schmitt,
• Andreas Seifert,
• Zhou Zhou,
• Robin Klupp Taylor,
• Sarah Bay,
• Stefan Ernst,
• Markus Gerhards,
• Thomas J. J. Müller and
• Werner R. Thiel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 284–292, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.33

• ; fluorescence; scandium; MCM-41; Introduction Mesoporous silicates are widely used for a variety of applications such as gas storage and heterogeneous catalysis, e.g., the synthesis of ε-caprolactam [1], or the decomposition of nitrous oxides [2]. MCM-41, MCM-48 and other silica materials can normally be