Modification of a SERS-active Ag surface to promote adsorption of charged analytes: effect of Cu²⁺ ions

• Bahdan V. Ranishenka,
• Andrei Yu. Panarin,
• Irina A. Chelnokova,
• Sergei N. Terekhov,
• Peter Mojzes and
• Vadim V. Shmanai

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 902–912, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.67

• measurement of Raman scattering was carried out using a 100× objective and a CCD camera Newton 970 EMCCD DU970P-BV (Andor Technology Ltd, UK). Additionally, in some cases, the SERS spectra were recorded using a Raman spectrometer equipped with Spex 270M (Jobin Yvon) spectrograph and liquid-nitrogen-cooled CCD

Silver nanoparticles induce the cardiomyogenic differentiation of bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells via telomere length extension

• Khosro Adibkia,
• Ali Ehsani,
• Asma Jodaei,
• Ezzatollah Fathi,
• Raheleh Farahzadi and
• Mohammad Barzegar-Jalali

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 786–797, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.62

• signaling pathway components. Experimental All cell culture plates as well as cell culture media were purchased form SPL Company Ltd. and Gibco Company (UK), respectively. Sources of other materials are mentioned in the text. The Ag-NPs used in this study were produced by an American company (US Research

Nanogenerator-based self-powered sensors for data collection

• Yicheng Shao,
• Maoliang Shen,
• Yuankai Zhou,
• Xin Cui,
• Lijie Li and
• Yan Zhang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 680–693, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.54

• , Swansea University, Swansea, SA1 8EN, UK 10.3762/bjnano.12.54 Abstract Self-powered sensors can provide energy and environmental data for applications regarding the Internet of Things, big data, and artificial intelligence. Nanogenerators provide excellent material compatibility, which also leads to a

Fate and transformation of silver nanoparticles in different biological conditions

• Barbara Pem,
• Marija Ćurlin,
• Darija Domazet Jurašin,
• Valerije Vrček,
• Rinea Barbir,
• Vedran Micek,
• Raluca M. Fratila,
• Jesus M. de la Fuente and
• Ivana Vinković Vrček

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 665–679, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.53

• and air-drying it at room temperature. The TEM images were then used to measure the primary size (d, nm) of AgNPs for 100 particles per particle type by using the ImageJ software. The hydrodynamic diameter (dH) was determined by DLS at 25 °C using Zetasizer Nano ZS (Malvern Instruments, Malvern, UK

• were calculated from the measured electrophoretic mobility and reported as an average of six measurements. The Zetasizer software (6.32; Malvern Instruments, Malvern, UK) was used for data processing. Experiments with animal tissues Three-month-old male Wistar rats, 320–350 g (b.w.) were bred at the

• doses tested in most in vivo studies [40]. After treatment the animals were sacrificed under general anaesthesia (Narketan, Vetoquinol UK Ltd., 80 mg/kg b.w.; Xylapan, Vetoquinol UK Ltd., 12 mg/kg b.w., intraperitoneal) following whole blood and tissue collection. The blood was collected by intracardiac

Differences in surface chemistry of iron oxide nanoparticles result in different routes of internalization

• Barbora Svitkova,
• Vlasta Zavisova,
• Veronika Nemethova,
• Martina Koneracka,
• Miroslava Kretova,
• Filip Razga,
• Monika Ursinyova and
• Alena Gabelova

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 270–281, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.22

• characteristics of these nanoparticles in the solvent and culture medium are shown in Table 1. Dynamic light scattering (DLS) Particle size distribution and zeta potential of the surface-modified MNPs in stock solution and culture medium were determined by DLS using a Zetasizer Nano-ZS (Malvern Instruments, UK

• the IncuCyte ZOOM™ Live Content Imaging System (Essen BioScience, Hertfordshire, UK) at 2 h intervals. Cell morphology and confluence after exposure to inhibitors were monitored using the IncuCyte ZOOM 2013A software as recommended by the manufacturer. Real-time RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) Total RNA was isolated

The nanomorphology of cell surfaces of adhered osteoblasts

• Christian Voelkner,
• Mirco Wendt,
• Regina Lange,
• Max Ulbrich,
• Martina Gruening,
• Susanne Staehlke,
• Barbara Nebe,
• Ingo Barke and
• Sylvia Speller

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 242–256, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.20

• (effective treatment time to initiate plasma polymerization of allylamine). For Au coating a sputter coater (Cressington 108 auto/SE, UK) was used. The sputter parameters were Ar pressure: 0.06 mbar, sputter current: 30 mA, time: 60 s, and distance between sample and target: 55 mm. The thickness of the

• coating was measured online by a quartz crystal thickness monitor (Cressington MTM 10, UK) and the sputter process was stopped at a nominal value of approximately 10 nm. The Au layers were only applied to half of the glass area in order to create an in situ reference. Since we observed spread cells

• applied for studying cell–material interactions [63] with similar characteristics to those of primary human osteoblasts [64][65]. Cells were cultured in Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium (DMEM, 31966-021, Life Technologies Limited, Paisley, UK), with 10% fetal calf serum (FCS, Biochrom FCS Superior

Bulk chemical composition contrast from attractive forces in AFM force spectroscopy

• Dorothee Silbernagl,
• Media Ghasem Zadeh Khorasani,
• Natalia Cano Murillo,
• Anna Maria Elert and
• Heinz Sturm

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 58–71, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.5

• accelerator used was 100:90:1 w/w/w, respectively. As an additional organic component, bisphenol A polycarbonate from Makrolon 3108 (Goodfellow, UK) with Mw ≈ 49,550 g/mol and Mn ≈ 21,400, as measured by gel permeation chromatography (GPC), was used. As an inorganic component, boehmite (γ-AlOOH) from two

Effect of different silica coatings on the toxicity of upconversion nanoparticles on RAW 264.7 macrophage cells

• Cynthia Kembuan,
• Helena Oliveira and
• Christina Graf

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 35–48, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.3

• (Supporting Information File 1). Cell culture of RAW 264.7 cells RAW 264.7 cells were provided by the group of Dr. Philipp Seib at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK. The cells were grown in DMEM medium supplemented with 10% FBS, 2 mM L-glutamine, 100 U/mL penicillin, 100 μg/mL streptomycin, and 250

Free and partially encapsulated manganese ferrite nanoparticles in multiwall carbon nanotubes

• Saja Al-Khabouri,
• Salim Al-Harthi,
• Toru Maekawa,
• Mohamed E. Elzain,
• Ashraf Al-Hinai,
• Ahmed D. Al-Rawas,
• Abbsher M. Gismelseed,
• Ali A. Yousif and
• Myo Tay Zar Myint

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1891–1904, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.170

• program (Casa Software Ltd., UK), in which the background was simulated using the Shirley function and the peaks were fitted using the Gaussian–Lorentzian function. The recorded spectra were corrected using the binding energy of aliphatic carbon at 285 eV and the accuracy of the measured binding energy

Towards 3D self-assembled rolled multiwall carbon nanotube structures by spontaneous peel off

• Jonathan Quinson

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1865–1872, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.168

• prepared by following a general approach detailed recently [16]. MWCNTs were synthesized at 800 °C with argon (Ar, 99.999%, BOC) as the carrier flow using an AACVD setup [12][23]. Briefly, MWCNTs were grown on silicon wafer substrates (10 × 20 mm2, Sibert, UK) by using an aerosol CVD setup consisting of a

• Materials at the University of Oxford are thanked for fruitful discussions and for providing consumables and access to equipment. Funding The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), UK, is thanked for supporting this work via an EPSRC-DTA award (EP/J500495/1).

PTCDA adsorption on CaF₂ thin films

• Philipp Rahe

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1615–1622, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.144

• ) of the electron density difference Δρ included. (e–h) Isosurfaces of the molecular orbitals HOMO, LUMO, LUMO+1 and LUMO+2 of the PTCDA/CaF2(111) system. Acknowledgements The author is most thankful to Philip Moriarty (University of Nottingham, UK) for supporting the experimental work and for most

Fabrication of nano/microstructures for SERS substrates using an electrochemical method

• Jingran Zhang,
• Tianqi Jia,
• Xiaoping Li,
• Junjie Yang,
• Zhengkai Li,
• Guangfeng Shi,
• Xinming Zhang and
• Zuobin Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1568–1576, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.139

• and dipped into an aqueous solution of R6G (10−7 mol·L−1) for 20 min. The excess R6G molecules were removed by rinsing with ethanol and a gentle nitrogen flow was used to dry the samples. A micro-Raman inVia spectroscopic system (Renishaw, UK) with 532 and 785 nm lasers was used. The incident optical

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

• Matthew R. Ball Richard J. M. Taylor Joshua F. Einsle Fouzia Khanom Christelle Guillermier Richard J. Harrison Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, UK Carl Zeiss Microscopy Ltd, Cambourne, Cambridgeshire, UK School of Geographical and Earth Sciences, University of Glasgow, UK

• the removal of charge at the edges, but exposure of the sample surface within the analytical area. Figure 1 shows a mass spectrum taken on a natural zircon grain from NW Scotland, UK, mounted in epoxy resin with a carbon coating. Count rates before rastering with the primary beam are shown in red

Self-assembly and spectroscopic fingerprints of photoactive pyrenyl tectons on hBN/Cu(111)

• Domenik M. Zimmermann,
• Knud Seufert,
• Luka Ðorđević,
• Tobias Hoh,
• Sushobhan Joshi,
• Tomas Marangoni,
• Davide Bonifazi and
• Willi Auwärter

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1470–1483, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.130

• Domenik M. Zimmermann Knud Seufert Luka Dordevic Tobias Hoh Sushobhan Joshi Tomas Marangoni Davide Bonifazi Willi Auwarter Physics Department E20, Technical University of Munich, James-Franck-Straße 1, D-85748 Garching, Germany The School of Chemistry, Cardiff University, UK-CF10 3AT Cardiff

Protruding hydrogen atoms as markers for the molecular orientation of a metallocene

• Linda Laflör,
• Michael Reichling and
• Philipp Rahe

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1432–1438, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.127

• ]. Acknowledgements We are indebted to Philip J. Moriarty (University of Nottingham, UK) for supporting part of the experiments and for comments on the manuscript. Funding Financial support by the German Research Foundation (DFG) via grant RA2832/1-1 and from the People Programme (Marie Curie Actions) of the European

Transient coating of γ-Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles with glutamate for its delivery to and removal from brain nerve terminals

• Konstantin Paliienko,
• Artem Pastukhov,
• Michal Babič,
• Daniel Horák,
• Olga Vasylchenko and
• Tatiana Borisova

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1381–1393, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.122

• ZetaSizer Nano ZS (Malvern Instruments, Malvern, UK). Ethics statement Wistar rats, males, with a body weight of 250–300 g, were kept in animal facilities of the Palladin Institute of Biochemistry, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, as described in [22] according to the European guidelines

• concentrations was considered as 100% in further calculations. Analysis of the size of γ-Fe2O3 nanoparticles in different media by laser correlation spectroscopy The size of γ-Fe2O3 nanoparticles was measured by dynamic light scattering using a laser correlation spectrometer ZetaSizer-3 (Malvern Instrument, UK

Impact of fluorination on interface energetics and growth of pentacene on Ag(111)

• Qi Wang,
• Meng-Ting Chen,
• Antoni Franco-Cañellas,
• Bin Shen,
• Thomas Geiger,
• Holger F. Bettinger,
• Frank Schreiber,
• Ingo Salzmann,
• Alexander Gerlach and
• Steffen Duhm

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1361–1370, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.120

• close to monolayer coverage. The high-resolution XPS (HR-XPS) and normal-incidence XSW (NIXSW) experiments were performed at beamline I09 at Diamond Light Source (DLS, UK) using both the soft (110–1100 eV) and hard (2.1–18 keV) X-ray beams [104][105]. Sample preparation and measurements were performed

Uniform Fe₃O₄/Gd₂O₃-DHCA nanocubes for dual-mode magnetic resonance imaging

• Miao Qin,
• Yueyou Peng,
• Mengjie Xu,
• Hui Yan,
• Yizhu Cheng,
• Xiumei Zhang,
• Di Huang,
• Weiyi Chen and
• Yanfeng Meng

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1000–1009, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.84

• . Characterization of nanocubes and nanoparticles A high-resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM, JEM-2010F, Japan), operated at an acceleration voltage of 200 kV, was used to investigate the morphology and size of the nanocubes. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS, Oxford, X-MaxN, UK) was used to

Wet-spinning of magneto-responsive helical chitosan microfibers

• Dorothea Brüggemann,
• Johanna Michel,
• Naiana Suter,
• Matheus Grande de Aguiar and
• Michael Maas

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 991–999, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.83

• , Telford, UK) for wet-spinning in a custom-built setup (Figure S1, Supporting Information File 1). Injection syringes (Braun, Melsungen, Germany) were filled with a chitosan–IOP solution and mounted on a syringe pump (World Precision Instruments GmbH, Berlin, Germany). Needles with an inner diameter of

Identification of physicochemical properties that modulate nanoparticle aggregation in blood

• Ludovica Soddu,
• Duong N. Trinh,
• Eimear Dunne,
• Dermot Kenny,
• Giorgia Bernardini,
• Ida Kokalari,
• Arianna Marucco,
• Marco P. Monopoli and
• Ivana Fenoglio

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 550–567, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.44

• diameter and polydispersity index (PDI) of the NPs were obtained using a Zetasizer (Nano ZS Malvern Instruments, UK) instrument based on the dynamic light scattering (DLS) technique. The measurements were performed on purified NPs by analysing 0.5 mL of the suspension in ultrapure water, placed in a square

• Nanosight NS300 (Malvern, UK) instrument equipped with a blue laser (488 nm) and a quartz chamber for sample injection, equipped with an O-ring top plate. For the NP/hard protein corona complexes, the samples were diluted in PBS (0.01 M, pH 7.4). The dilution factor was chosen in order to obtain 30

• particles per frame, as suggested by the manufacturer’s recommendations. The measurement duration was set at 60 s. Zeta potential Zeta-potential measurements were performed based on the electrophoretic light scattering (ELS) technique, using a Zetasizer (Nano ZS Malvern Instruments, UK) instrument, as a

Evolution of Ag nanostructures created from thin films: UV–vis absorption and its theoretical predictions

• Robert Kozioł,
• Marcin Łapiński,
• Paweł Syty,
• Damian Koszelow,
• Wojciech Sadowski,
• Józef E. Sienkiewicz and
• Barbara Kościelska

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 494–507, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.40

• three-dimensional simulation of electromagnetic field propagation through a selected sample (thickness 7 nm, annealed at 550 °C for 15 min) was performed using the FDTD method [14], implemented in the OmniSim package, produced by Photon Design, UK. Positions and sizes of the silver nanoparticles

Synthesis and enhanced photocatalytic performance of 0D/2D CuO/tourmaline composite photocatalysts

• Changqiang Yu,
• Min Wen,
• Zhen Tong,
• Shuhua Li,
• Yanhong Yin,
• Xianbin Liu,
• Yesheng Li,
• Tongxiang Liang,
• Ziping Wu and
• Dionysios D. Dionysiou

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 407–416, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.31

• NANO ZS90 instrument (Malvern, UK). Photocatalytic activity evaluation The photocatalytic performance was examined by the degradation of MB with light irradiation simulated by a 300 W Xe lamp with a 420 nm cut-off filter. In detail, 0.05 g of the as-synthesized photocatalyst was added into 100 mL of

Poly(1-vinylimidazole) polyplexes as novel therapeutic gene carriers for lung cancer therapy

• Gayathri Kandasamy,
• Elena N. Danilovtseva,
• Vadim V. Annenkov and
• Uma Maheswari Krishnan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 354–369, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.26

• 100, Perkin Elmer, USA). Dynamic light scattering (DLS) and zeta potential measurements: The hydrodynamic size of the PVI–siRNA polyplexes was measured on a Zetasizer Nano ZS (Malvern instruments, UK). Samples at different volume ratios containing a final siRNA concentration of 100 nM were used for

The different ways to chitosan/hyaluronic acid nanoparticles: templated vs direct complexation. Influence of particle preparation on morphology, cell uptake and silencing efficiency

• Arianna Gennari,
• Julio M. Rios de la Rosa,
• Erwin Hohn,
• Maria Pelliccia,
• Enrique Lallana,
• Roberto Donno,
• Annalisa Tirella and
• Nicola Tirelli

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2594–2608, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.250

• Sigma-Aldrich (Gillingham, UK) and purified prior to use as previously described (boiling in 2% acetic acid, filtration, precipitation with NaOH, ultrafiltration and freeze drying) [16]. Chitosan with = 36 kDa and a DD = 85% (hereafter referred to as Chit35 or low-MW chitosan) was obtained by oxidative

• nanoparticles were prepared under sterile conditions (Cat. II cabinet) with surfaces previously treated with RNaseZap® solution (Thermo Scientific, UK) for the handling of nucleic acids. All the steps were performed under vigorous magnetic stirring (1,000 rpm) and at 25 °C in 2 mL round bottom Eppendorf tubes

• samples at 25 °C using a Zetasizer Nano ZS instrument (Model ZEN3600, Malvern Instruments Ltd., UK) equipped with a solid state HeNe laser (λ = 633 nm) at a scattering angle of 173°. Size measurement data were obtained by using the General Purpose algorithm. The electrophoretic mobility of nanoparticles

Long-term stability and scale-up of noncovalently bound gold nanoparticle-siRNA suspensions

• Anna V. Epanchintseva,
• Julia E. Poletaeva,
• Dmitrii V. Pyshnyi,
• Elena I. Ryabchikova and
• Inna A. Pyshnaya

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2568–2578, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.248

• (Honeywell, Germany); formvar (SPI-Chem, USA); nutrient Dulbecco's Modified Eagle's Medium (DMEM, Life Technologies, UK). The other reactants and solvents were from Fluka (Belgium), Merck (Germany), and PanReac (Spain). Water was purified on a Simplicity 185 system (Millipore) and had a resistance of 18.2 MΩ

• Zetasizer Nano instrument (Malvern Instruments, UK). The measurements were performed at least in triplicate. Electrophoresis The electrophoresis experiments in agarose or acrylamide gel were as performed as described in [16]. Desorption of siRNA from the surface of AuNPs The AuNP-siRNA suspension (5 µL) was