Functional diversity of resilin in Arthropoda

• Jan Michels,
• Esther Appel and
• Stanislav N. Gorb

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1241–1259, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.115

• transparent or sometimes, when the sclerotisation is very pronounced, not transparent at all. When immersed in aqueous media and in many anhydrous hydrophilic liquids, resilin exhibits an isotropic swelling, which is reversible and depends on the pH. (It is least pronounced at pH values of about 4.) In its

Experimental and simulation-based investigation of He, Ne and Ar irradiation of polymers for ion microscopy

• Lukasz Rzeznik,
• Yves Fleming,
• Tom Wirtz and
• Patrick Philipp

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1113–1128, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.104

• , Ne and Ar in polymers are sufficiently high to prevent any accumulation of rare gas atoms in the polymers which could lead to some swelling and bubble formation. Roughness formation was also not observed. Preferential sputtering is more of a problem, with enrichment of carbon up to surface

• allows molecular fragments to desorb. The degradation of organic molecules and their fragmentation are not the only important parameters for imaging in SIMS using light primary ions. For inorganic matter, the swelling of samples under ion bombardment has been observed for He+ and Ne+ bombardment of Si

• shows that roughness formation does not seem to be a major issue for polymers under rare gas irradiation, opposite to what is observed for inorganic materials where the implantation of the rare gas species leads to irradiation-induced roughness formation, swelling and bubble formation. To understand how

Direct formation of gold nanorods on surfaces using polymer-immobilised gold seeds

• Majid K. Abyaneh,
• Pietro Parisse and
• Loredana Casalis

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 809–816, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.72

• higher Mw, shown in Figure 1b, exhibits a different morphology with micro-roughening and larger swelling domains than P1, caused by UV exposure. It is known that Mw can influence the PMMA surface morphology after UV irradiation [36]. All these chemical and physical changes in the polymer surface induced

Cantilever bending based on humidity-actuated mesoporous silica/silicon bilayers

• Christian Ganser,
• Gerhard Fritz-Popovski,
• Roland Morak,
• Parvin Sharifi,
• Benedetta Marmiroli,
• Barbara Sartori,
• Heinz Amenitsch,
• Thomas Griesser,
• Christian Teichert and
• Oskar Paris

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 637–644, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.56

• structures that swell anisotropically and differently between the two layers upon the change of relative humidity (RH) [8]. This bilayer principle has been used to build simple artificial actuators based on the swelling of paper–plastic bilayers [9], and also more general routes have been proposed to create

• directional movement by using swelling of polymers in combination with controllable anisotropy [10]. However, to our knowledge such concepts have not been used so far to create ceramic or metallic bilayer structures, which would have the advantage of their applicability at higher temperatures and in harsh

Hydration of magnesia cubes: a helium ion microscopy study

• Ruth Schwaiger,
• Johannes Schneider,
• Gilles R. Bourret and
• Oliver Diwald

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 302–309, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.28

• morphologically well-defined MgO particle systems was investigated. We observed unexpected transformations ranging from swelling of the metal oxide nanostructure core to dissolution–recrystallization steps that give rise to the formation of hydroxides with entirely different microstructures [21]. Experimental All

• that were not in contact with the substrate did not show any swelling after the four day period (see arrows in Figure 4), and second, no morphological changes were observed when the cubes were pressed into the vacuum-annealed indium foil (Figure S3, Supporting Information File 1) and imaged with

3D solid supported inter-polyelectrolyte complexes obtained by the alternate deposition of poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) and poly(sodium 4-styrenesulfonate)

• Eduardo Guzmán,
• Armando Maestro,
• Sara Llamas,
• Jesús Álvarez-Rodríguez,
• Francisco Ortega,
• Ángel Maroto-Valiente and
• Ramón G. Rubio

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 197–208, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.18

• modify the multilayer growth, but it contributes to the total adsorbed mass of the film. The water associated with the polyelectrolyte films leads to their swelling and plastification. The use of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy has allowed for deeper insights on the internal structure and composition of

• the polyelectrolyte multilayers. Keywords: charge compensation; hydration; polyelectrolyte multilayers; stratification; swelling; Introduction The new requirements of science and technology have created an increasing interest for the fabrication of materials with reduced dimensionality for their

• interactions occurring in the system and the polymer conformation, without effects due to the hydration/swelling phenomena associated with the uptake/release of water. Even though the N dependence of the adsorbed mass is not changed by the drying process, other aspects are strongly modified by the film drying

pH-Triggered release from surface-modified poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) nanoparticles

• Manuel Häuser,
• Klaus Langer and
• Monika Schönhoff

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2504–2512, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.260

• contrast, measurements performed in sodium hydroxide solution (pH 11), show a drastic swelling behaviour for PAA adsorbed at pH 3, but only a slight increase in particle size for PAA adsorbed at pH 5 and pH 7, respectively. This observation can be attributed to different chain conformations of PAA during

• adsorbs in a coiled conformation to yield a thick film. In ultrapure water (pH approx. 6), the degree of dissociation in the outermost PAA layer is increasing, causing a layer swelling due to electrostatic self-repulsion. Particularly noteworthy is the massive increase in hydrodynamic radius by more than

• 100 nm, see Table 1. This implies a significant stretching of single chains after adsorption rather than a swelling of a compact film, as schematically depicted in Figure 1. This behaviour is in agreement with earlier work, where it was shown that particle radii can increase by values on the order of

Nanoscale rippling on polymer surfaces induced by AFM manipulation

• Mario D’Acunto,
• Franco Dinelli and
• Pasqualantonio Pingue

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2278–2289, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.234

• residual solvent molecules is responsible for weakening the mechanical properties. This phenomenon is known by the name of ‘plasticization’ [42]. It depends on the fact that solvent molecules are intercalated into the polymer molecules and the final result is a film swelling depending on the amount of

Fabrication of hybrid nanocomposite scaffolds by incorporating ligand-free hydroxyapatite nanoparticles into biodegradable polymer scaffolds and release studies

• Balazs Farkas,
• Marina Rodio,
• Ilaria Romano,
• Alberto Diaspro,
• Romuald Intartaglia and
• Szabolcs Beke

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2217–2223, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.227

• illustrates the degradation, the scaffold swelling, and HA NPs release during degradation in Dulbecco's Modified Eagle's Medium (DMEM). In order to test the release of HA NPs from the bulk scaffolds, 20 layer of 3 mm diameter porous (400 μm pore size) scaffolds were fabricated from HA NPs–PPF resins

Nanofibers for drug delivery – incorporation and release of model molecules, influence of molecular weight and polymer structure

• Jakub Hrib,
• Jakub Sirc,
• Radka Hobzova,
• Zuzana Hampejsova,
• Zuzana Bosakova,
• Marcela Munzarova and
• Jiri Michalek

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1939–1945, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.198

• variable water content between nanofibers, which is the result of their variable swelling. The release experiments revealed two trends – the release rate depends on the molecular weight of model PEGs as well as on the type of nanofibrous carrier. Although we expected that long molecules will be anchored in

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

• used to study the mechanisms controlling the biotite (001) surface dissolution at pH 1 (11 and 25 °C) and pH 9.5 (50 °C). Step edges are the preferential sites of dissolution and lead to step retreat, regardless of the solution pH. At pH 1, layer swelling and peeling takes place, whereas at pH 9.5

• visible terrace limits. The darker the outline (i.e., contrast), the higher the step. The same surface reacted for ca. 17 h at pH 1 and 25 °C shows edge retreat, layer swelling and peeling (Figure 1b), the latter processes being a consequence of biotite dissolution. Aldushin et al. [10] suggested that the

• the dissolution rate is similar in all crystallographic directions. Interestingly, new dissolution fronts break away from slower moving step edges (white arrows, Figure 2b), indicating that upper layers move faster than lower ones. Basal plane swelling and a general increase of roughness were also

Conformal SiO₂ coating of sub-100 nm diameter channels of polycarbonate etched ion-track channels by atomic layer deposition

• Nicolas Sobel,
• Christian Hess,
• Manuela Lukas,
• Anne Spende,
• Bernd Stühn,
• M. E. Toimil-Molares and
• Christina Trautmann

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 472–479, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.48

• properties such as diameter and conformation variations due to dangling bonds, swelling, or surface charge variations from pH changes of the solution, are to a large extent unknown but can influence ion transport and the control of surface modification steps in a crucial manner. A homogeneous conformal

Multifunctional layered magnetic composites

• Maria Siglreitmeier,
• Baohu Wu,
• Tina Kollmann,
• Martin Neubauer,
• Gergely Nagy,
• Dietmar Schwahn,
• Vitaliy Pipich,
• Damien Faivre,
• Dirk Zahn,
• Andreas Fery and
• Helmut Cölfen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 134–148, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.13

• protocol to the layered organic matrix does not affect the magnetic nature of the material. Swelling studies In order to probe structural changes of the nanocomposite during gelatin infiltration as well as during magnetite synthesis, swelling studies were performed. The swelling capacity of the insoluble

• nacre matrix, the gelatin infiltrated chitin matrix and the magnetic nanocomposite are shown in Figure 8. The swelling degree, Sd, is defined as: where Ws stands for the weight of the swollen sample after swelling equilibrium was reached and Wd stands for the dry weight before water uptake. In the case

• of nacre matrix infiltrated with gelatin a distinct increase in swelling can be observed as compared to the insoluble matrix alone. This effect is not surprising as gelatin alone shows a higher swelling capacity as the insoluble organic matrix. The gravimetric water uptake of the gelatin–chitin

Materials and characterization techniques for high-temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells

• Roswitha Zeis

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 68–83, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.8

• further increase in current density to 300 mA/cm2 and 500 mA/cm2 did not lead to a significant additional swelling of the membrane. After returning to zero current, the membrane thickness was restored to the original value before the load cycle. The swelling of the membrane can be explained by hydration

Intake of silica nanoparticles by giant lipid vesicles: influence of particle size and thermodynamic membrane state

• Florian G. Strobl,
• Florian Seitz,
• Christoph Westerhausen,
• Armin Reller,
• Adriano A. Torrano,
• Christoph Bräuchle,
• Achim Wixforth and
• Matthias F. Schneider

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2468–2478, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.256

• Angelova et al. [55]. In short, lipids in the desired ratio and 0.05 mol % of the fluorescent marker DiOC14 were mixed in chloroform and spread onto indium tin oxide (ITO)-coated glass slides. The solvent is thoroughly removed through vacuum evaporation. For the swelling procedure, a chamber was assembled

Functionalized polystyrene nanoparticles as a platform for studying bio–nano interactions

• Cornelia Loos,
• Tatiana Syrovets,
• Anna Musyanovych,
• Volker Mailänder,
• Katharina Landfester,
• G. Ulrich Nienhaus and
• Thomas Simmet

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2403–2412, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.250

• show signs of apoptosis at this time point [41]. These data are in agreement with the previously proposed ‘‘proton-sponge’’ hypothesis, which refers to a continuous activation of the lysosomal proton pump, lysosomal swelling and rupture by particles carrying amino groups on their surface [20][41][50

Imaging the intracellular degradation of biodegradable polymer nanoparticles

• Anne-Kathrin Barthel,
• Martin Dass,
• Melanie Dröge,
• Jens-Michael Cramer,
• Daniela Baumann,
• Markus Urban,
• Katharina Landfester,
• Volker Mailänder and
• Ingo Lieberwirth

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1905–1917, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.201

• with residence time compared to the pristine particles (Figure 8A). However, for the largest residence time (336 h = 14 days), the mean PLLA diameter increased to a value way above the average pristine value. Any explanation for this is highly speculative. Swelling of the PLLA nanoparticles due to the

Experimental techniques for the characterization of carbon nanoparticles – a brief overview

• Wojciech Kempiński,
• Szymon Łoś,
• Mateusz Kempiński and
• Damian Markowski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1760–1766, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.186

• pure ACFs) to 3.33 Å and 3.30 Å for CCl4- and water-filled fibers, respectively. Such significant changes appear due to the so-called quasi-high pressure effect, which appear in confined liquids (e.g., adsorbed inside small pores). This causes swelling of pores of a certain width due to the decrease of

Non-covalent and reversible functionalization of carbon nanotubes

• Antonello Di Crescenzo,
• Valeria Ettorre and
• Antonella Fontana

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1675–1690, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.178

• , makes CNTs bundles precipitation more difficult, dehydrate the CNT interface and reduce water ordering around the CNTs [71] (see Figure 4). Unlikely, in none of our simulations we have observed hydrophilic chains extending and swelling in the aqueous environment. Nevertheless, our simulations considered

Liquid fuel cells

• Grigorii L. Soloveichik

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1399–1418, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.153

• current densities (10 mA/cm2) [91]. The crossover of neat IPA through the SPEEK PEM was about the same as for the 1 M solution due to lower swelling [91]. A similar LFC operating on 2 M IPA at 90 °C exhibited a high OCV (0.86 V) and achieved a peak power density of 128 mW/cm2 [89]. The cell voltage was ca

Surface topography and contact mechanics of dry and wet human skin

• Alexander E. Kovalev,
• Kirstin Dening,
• Bo N. J. Persson and
• Stanislav N. Gorb

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1341–1348, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.147

• cellulose fibers. In fact, cellulose fibers exhibit elastoplastic properties very similar to the stratum corneum: Both absorb water strongly and swell by wetting, both have elastic moduli of the order of 10 MPa in the wet state and of the order of 1 GPa in the dry state [11]. The swelling (and elastic

Model systems for studying cell adhesion and biomimetic actin networks

• Dorothea Brüggemann,
• Johannes P. Frohnmayer and
• Joachim P. Spatz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1193–1202, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.131

• bilayers, which are only 4 nm thick [46]. For the preparation of GUVs several methods exist, amongst which are electroformation on platinum wires or indium tin oxide (ITO) electrodes as well as spontaneous swelling. The specifics of GUVs, their detailed preparation methods and wide ranging applications are

• embedded into GUV membranes either by mixing protein-reconstituted liposomes of 0.1 to 0.2 μm diameter with a lipid-containing oil phase (lipid cosolvent method) [49] or by swelling of a tissue-like giant vesicle film [50]. For the first time, Dezi et al. recently incorporated different transmembrane

• [55]. Sackmann and co-workers later studied GUVs with enclosed actin networks, which were formed by spontaneous swelling in a buffer containing actin monomers. They also observed shape transitions in these model cells following actin polymerisation, but osmotic effects due to the addition of MgCl2

Manipulation of isolated brain nerve terminals by an external magnetic field using D-mannose-coated γ-Fe₂O₃ nano-sized particles and assessment of their effects on glutamate transport

• Tatiana Borisova,
• Natalia Krisanova,
• Arsenii Borуsov,
• Roman Sivko,
• Ludmila Ostapchenko,
• Michal Babic and
• Daniel Horak

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 778–788, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.90

• through swelling-activated anion channels, cysteine/glutamate exchange, trans-membrane diffusion and volume-sensitive Cl− channels [19][20][21]. In this set of experiments, the extracellular level and unstimulated release of glutamate from nerve terminals in the presence of D-mannose-coated γ-Fe2O3

Fabrication of carbon nanomembranes by helium ion beam lithography

• Xianghui Zhang,
• Henning Vieker,
• André Beyer and
• Armin Gölzhäuser

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 188–194, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.20

• that an excessive exposure to He+ ions (>4000 µC/cm2) leads to a damage of the CNMs, which is attributed to the swelling of the Au substrate from ion implantation [24]. A complete cross-linking of NBPT SAMs by He+ ion irradiation requires an exposure dose of approximately 850 µC/cm2, which is roughly

Digging gold: keV He⁺ ion interaction with Au

• Vasilisa Veligura,
• Gregor Hlawacek,
• Robin P. Berkelaar,
• Raoul van Gastel,
• Harold J. W. Zandvliet and
• Bene Poelsema

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 453–460, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.53

• swelling of several materials (Er, Nb and Ni) under helium irradiation is compared. The general trend of the expansion is similar to the one described in this work. The initial linear expansion was found to be energy-independent as well. In the work of Terreault et al. [31], the authors studied helium