TY - JOUR A1 - Kumar, Sourabh A1 - Hickel, Tilmann T1 - Grain Boundary Transformation Induced by Boron Segregation N2 - Boron enhances the hardenability of low-alloyed steel and reduces embrittlement at low temperatures, at parts-per-million concentration levels. Ist effectiveness arises from segregation to grain boundaries (GBs)-planar defects- between crystals-yet atomic-scale evidence remains limited.We addressed this gap by synthesizing GBs with controllable geometry and orientation, enabling reproducible comparison with and without boron segregation. Differential phase-contrast imaging directly reveals boron at iron GBs, and in-situ TEM heating (20 °C to 800 °C) allows us to track the dynamic evolution of GB structures. We found that boron segregation induces local structural changes and triggers GB phase transformations, as corroborated by calculated GB defect phase diagrams spanning broad ranges of carbon and boron content. Our findings not only bridge a gap in understanding the interplay between GB structure and chemistry but also lay the groundwork for targeted design and passivation strategies in steel, potentially transforming its resistance to hydrogen embrittlement, corrosion, and mechanical failure. KW - Steel KW - Defect Phases KW - Grain Boundary PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-655812 DO - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-62264-1 VL - 16 SP - 1 EP - 14 PB - Nature Communications AN - OPUS4-65581 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Atila, Achraf A1 - Bakhouch, Yasser A1 - Xie, Zhuocheng T1 - Revealing the void-size distribution of silica glass using persistent homology N2 - Oxide glasses have proven to be useful across a wide range of technological applications. Nevertheless, their medium-range structure has remained elusive. Previous studies focused on ring statistics as a metric of the medium-range structure, but this metric provides an incomplete picture of the glassy structure. Here, we use atomistic simulations and state-of-the-art topological analysis tools, namely persistent homology (PH), to analyze the medium-range structure of the archetypal oxide glass (Silica) at ambient temperatures and with varying pressures. PH presents an unbiased definition of loops and voids, providing an advantage over other methods for studying the structure and topology of complex materials, such as glasses, across multiple length scales. We captured subtle topological transitions in medium-range order and cavity distributions, providing new insights into glass structure. Our work provides a robust way for extracting the void distribution of oxide glasses based on PH. KW - Medium-range KW - Voids KW - Topology KW - Silica glass KW - Atomistic simulations KW - Persistent homology PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-655690 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mtla.2025.102613 VL - 44 SP - 1 EP - 11 PB - Elsevier Inc. AN - OPUS4-65569 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hickel, Tilmann A1 - Waske, Anja A1 - Tehranchi, Ali A1 - Bhattacharya, Biswajit A1 - Stawski, Tomasz M. A1 - Fellinger, Tim-Patrick A1 - Mehmood, Asad A1 - Witt, Julia A1 - Ozcan, Ozlem A1 - Guilherme Buzanich, Ana A1 - Kumar, Sourabh A1 - Mishra, Rajesh Kumar A1 - Holzer, Marco A1 - Stucchi de Camargo, Andrea Simone A1 - Agudo Jácome, Leonardo A1 - Manzoni, Anna A1 - Fantin, Andrea A1 - John, Elisabeth A1 - Hodoroaba, Vasile-Dan A1 - Bührig, Sophia A1 - Murugan, Jegatheesan A1 - Marschall, Niklas A1 - George, Janine A1 - Darvishi Kamachali, Reza A1 - Maaß, Robert A1 - Emmerling, Franziska T1 - Chemically complex materials enable sustainable high-performance materials N2 - Chemically complex materials (CCMats) 􀀀 including high-entropy alloys, oxides, and related multi-principal element systems 􀀀 offer a paradigm shift in materials design by leveraging chemical diversity to simultaneously optimize functional, structural, and sustainability criteria. The vastness of the compositional and structural space in CCMats propels the field into an expanding exploratory state. To reconcile functional and structural performance across this immense parameter space remains an open challenge. This Perspective evaluates the opportunities and challenges associated with harnessing chemical complexity across a broad spectrum of applications, such as hydrogen storage, ionic conductors, catalysis, magnetics, dielectrics, semiconductors, optical materials, and multifunctional structural systems. It is delineated how three central design strategies: targeted substitution (SUB), defect engineering (DEF), and diversity management (DIV) enable the reconciliation of high functional performance with long-term structural stability and environmental responsibility. Advances in computational thermodynamics, microstructure simulations, machine learning, and multimodal characterization are accelerating the exploration and optimization of CCMats, while robust data infrastructures and automated synthesis workflows are emerging as essential tools for navigating their complex compositional space. By fostering cross-disciplinary knowledge transfer and embracing data-driven design, CCMats are poised to deliver next-generation materials solutions that address urgent technological, energy, and environmental demands. KW - Chemically complex materials KW - Structural stability KW - Functional performance KW - Design strategies KW - Sustainability PY - 2026 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-655598 UR - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1359028626000033?via%3Dihub DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cossms.2026.101256 SN - 1359-0286 VL - 42 SP - 1 EP - 26 PB - Elsevier Ltd. CY - Amsterdam AN - OPUS4-65559 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schwibbert, Karin A1 - de Eulate Pérez, Elisa García A1 - Wen, Keqing A1 - Voss, Heike A1 - Thiele, Dorothea A1 - Richter, Anja M. A1 - Bonse, Jörn T1 - Escherichia coli repellence via laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS) on titanium: Critical role of biofilm-associated gene expression N2 - The inconsistency in the observed bacteria-repellent effects of laser-induced surface textures remains a subject of scientific debates. With E. coli TG1 as test strain, we performed biofilm formation assays on ultrashort pulse laser textured titanium. Samples covered with low spatial frequency LIPSS (LSFL) of periods around 750 nm or with high spatial frequency LIPSS (HSFL) featuring smaller periods around 100 nm were processed on polished samples. While LSFL significantly reduce the number of adhering bacteria compared to the polished reference, HSFL do not. Simultaneously, we concentrate our study on bacterial strategies employed for biofilm formation, that is the transcription of the biofilm-associated genes csgB, involved in primary adhesion to a surface, and wza, participating in biofilm maturation. Promoter regions of these genes were cloned into a promotor probe plasmid with the green fluorescent protein GFP+ as reporter and transferred into the test strain. As indicated by the fluorescence intensity of the reporter protein, among the bacteria colonizing LSFL-covered areas, a markedly higher proportion of cells transcribing csgB or wza were detected, compared to the bacterial populations colonizing the polished or HSFL-covered areas. To our knowledge, this is the first study indicating that the antifouling effect of LSFL topographies can be counteracted when bacteria activate biofilm-associated genes. KW - Laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS) KW - Titanium KW - Biofilm KW - Antifouling KW - Gene expression KW - Fluorescence microscopy PY - 2026 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-655572 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2026.166363 SN - 0169-4332 VL - 730 SP - 1 EP - 9 PB - Elsevier B.V. AN - OPUS4-65557 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Shovo, Redoy Gazi A1 - Thünemann, Andreas A1 - Katcharava, Zviadi A1 - Marinvo, Anja A1 - Hoppe, Richard A1 - Woltersdorf, Georg A1 - Du, Mengxue A1 - Androsch, Rene A1 - de Souza e Silva, Juliana Martins A1 - Busse, Karste A1 - Binder, Wolfgang H. T1 - Generating Tagged Micro- and Nanoparticles of Poly(ethylene furanoate) and Poly(ethylene terephthalate) as Reference Materials N2 - Detecting nanoplastic particles in environmental samples and biological tissues remains a significant challenge, especially in view of newly emerging polymers, not yet commercially exploited. Fluorescent labeling provides a tagging strategy to overcome this limitation by reducing the detection limit of individual particles, especially for small-sized particles. We present a method for producing labeled nanoparticles (NP/MP) of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) and poly(ethylene furanoate) (PEF), tagged with Alexa Fluor 633 or Alexa Fluor 647. Our preparations used mechanical grinding or solvent-based approaches (confined impinging jet mixing, ((CIJ, precipitation), generating particles with hydrodynamic diameters of 200–700 nm, displaying long-term stability in water of up to 57 days. Stable suspensions with concentrations of the particles ranging from 10 µg/mL (surfactant-free, by solvent mixing) to 5.88 mg/mL (precipitation, containing surfactant) were generated with zeta-potentials from −5 to −50 mV. Characterization of the nanoparticles by SEC, DSC, and XRD showed no significant changes in molecular weight, thermal behavior, or crystallinity via the solvent-based methods, compared to the pristine polymer, highlighting their suitability for producing standardized nanoparticle dispersions. Fluorescence spectroscopy of the Alexa-dye-labeled particles confirmed the successful incorporation of the Alexa dyes, so improving monitoring of their biological profiles of the PEF-MP/NPs. s-SNOM (near field imaging) could identify individual PEF-particles sized ∼200 nm by direct imaging. KW - Reference Materials KW - Nanoplastics KW - Microplastics KW - Polymer KW - Fluorescence PY - 2026 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-655531 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/marc.202500839 SN - 1521-3927 VL - 47 IS - 4 SP - 1 EP - 11 PB - Wiley VHC-Verlag CY - Weinheim AN - OPUS4-65553 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Appel, Paul Alexander A1 - Prinz, Carsten A1 - Low, Jian Liang A1 - Asres, Nahom Enkubahri A1 - Wu, Shu-Han A1 - Freytag, Annica A1 - Krug von Nidda, Jonas A1 - de Sousa Amadeu, Nader A1 - Fellinger, Tim-Patrick T1 - Core‐Shell: Resolving the Dilemma of Hard Carbon Anodes by Sealing Nanoporous Particles With Semi‐Permeable Coatings N2 - A core-shell strategy is introduced to overcome the dilemma of common non-graphitic hard carbon anodes, linking high reversible storage capacity to practically unacceptable irreversible losses in the first cycle(s). Just as Graphite homogeneously combines effective lithium storage with an electrolyte solvent-sieving function, we show that both of these functions could be strategically integrated into non-graphitic carbons in a heterogeneous structure. Highly porous activated carbons are sealed by kinetically tuned gas-phase deposition of non-graphitic carbon to form a functional core-shell structure. Gas sorption porosimetry on core, shell, core–shell, and cracked core-shell particles confirms preserved core porosity and a semi-permeable shell. Diethyl carbonate sorption analysis is introduced as a more suitable probe than N2 or CO2 sorption, linking first-cycle losses to the liquid–solid interface of carbon anodes. The functional core-shell particles with much reduced diethyl carbonate uptake allow for high storage capacity and reduced first cycle losses. Delivering 400 ± 24 mAh g−1 with 82 ± 2% first-cycle reversibility, it is shown that three-stage Na storage in designed core-shell anodes can compensate for the larger size of sodium compared to lithium stored in graphite anodes (372 mAh g−1). The designed core-shell anodes show state-of-the-art performance with commercial promise. KW - Sodium-ion battery KW - Activated carbon KW - Core-shell KW - Hard carbon anode KW - Diethyl carbonate vapor sorption PY - 2026 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-655346 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202519457 SN - 1433-7851 N1 - Es gibt eine parallele Sprachausgabe (deutsch), ein Link befindet sich im Feld zugehöriger Identifikator - There is a parallel language edition (German), a link is in the field related identifier SP - 1 EP - 9 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim AN - OPUS4-65534 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Appel, Paul Alexander A1 - Prinz, Carsten A1 - Low, Jian Liang A1 - Asres, Nahom Enkubahri A1 - Wu, Shu-Han A1 - Freytag, Annica A1 - Krug von Nidda, Jonas A1 - de Sousa Amadeu, Nader A1 - Fellinger, Tim-Patrick T1 - Kern–Schale: Versiegelung nanoporöser Partikel mit semipermeablen Kohlenstoffschichten befreit Hartkohlenstoffanoden von ihrem Dilemma N2 - In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird eine Kern-Schale-Strategie vorgestellt, die das grundlegende Problem gängiger nichtgraphitischer Hartkohlenstoff-Anoden adressiert: Hohe reversible Kapazitäten gehen bislang typischerweise mit erheblichen irreversiblen Verlusten in den ersten Zyklen einher. Analog zu Graphit, das sowohl Lithiumspeicherung als auch die Abtrennung von Elektrolytlösungsmitteln in einer homogenen Struktur vereint, zeigen wir, dass sich diese beiden Funktionen auch in nichtgraphitischen Kohlenstoffen gezielt in einer heterogenen Architektur kombinieren lassen. Hochporöse Aktivkohlen werden durch kinetisch kontrollierte Gasphasenabscheidung mit einer dünnen Schicht nichtgraphitischen Kohlenstoffs überzogen, sodass eine funktionale Kern-Schale-Struktur entsteht. Gasadsorptionsmessungen an Kern-, Schalen-, Kern-Schale- und mechanisch beschädigte Kern-Schale-Partikeln, bestätigen, dass die Porosität des Kerns erhalten bleibt und die Schale semipermeabel ist. Die Sorption von Diethylcarbonat wird als geeignetere Methode im Vergleich zu N2- oder CO2-Sorptionsmessungen eingeführt, um die irreversiblen Verluste des ersten Zyklus mit der tatsächlichen Flüssig-Fest-Grenzfläche von Kohlenstoffanoden zu verknüpfen. Die funktionalen Kern-Schale-Partikel zeigen eine stark reduzierte Aufnahme von Diethylcarbonat, was hohe reversible Kapazitäten bei deutlich geringeren Erstzyklusverlusten ermöglicht. Bei einer reversiblen Kapazität von 400 ± 24 mAh g−1 und einer initialen Coulombeffizienz von 82 ± 2% zeigt sich, dass die dreistufige Natriumspeicherung in der gezielt entwickelten Kern-Schale-Architektur den größeren Ionenradius von Natrium gegenüber Lithium (372 mAh g−1 in Graphit) kompensieren kann. Die entwickelten Kern-Schale-Anoden erreichen damit ein Leistungsniveau, das für eine kommerzielle Anwendung vielversprechend ist. KW - Kern-Schale-Struktur KW - Natriumionenbatterie KW - Hartkohlenstoffanode KW - Diethylcarbonatdampfsorption KW - Aktivkohle PY - 2026 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-655354 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/ange.202519457 SN - 1521-3757 N1 - Es gibt eine parallele Sprachausgabe (englisch), ein Link befindet sich im Feld zugehöriger Identifikator - There is a parallel language edition (English), a link is in the field related identifier SP - 1 EP - 10 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim AN - OPUS4-65535 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Redda, Zinnabu Tassew A1 - Prinz, Carsten A1 - Yimam, Abubeker A1 - Barz, Mirko A1 - Becker, Katharina A1 - Gizaw, Desta Getachew A1 - Laß-Seyoum, Asnakech T1 - Structural and textural characterization of Brassica carinata biochar to investigate its potential industrial applications N2 - Biochar, a low-cost, and carbon-rich product of the thermal decomposition of biomass under oxygen-limited conditions and at relatively low temperatures, has recently been identified as a promising porous material with a wide range of industrial applications. In the present study, a comprehensive analysis of proximate, ultimate, nutrient profile, structural, and textural properties of a biochar derived from two Ethiopian indigenous Brassica carinata cultivars was conducted. The characterization of the biochar was achieved by employing a variety of well-established methods, including proximate analysis (moisture, volatile matter, ash content, and fixed carbon), ultimate analysis (C, S, and O content), atomic oxygen to carbon ratio (O/C), morphological and elemental composition analysis through scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS). Furthermore, a combination of mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP), dynamic vapor sorption (DVS), and gas adsorption methods such as nitrogen and krypton gas adsorption, were used for an in-depth study of the porous structure. SEM morphological characterization showed that the biochar surfaces showed multiple pores of diverse sizes and shapes. EDS elemental composition analysis revealed that sodium, aluminium, and silicon were not detected, but potassium, calcium, magnesium, and iron were all present in noticeable amounts. Furthermore, ultimate analysis showed that the most prevalent elements were carbon (86 wt.%) and oxygen (10.41‒9.77 wt.%), while sulphur was present in negligible concentrations. MIP analysis demonstrated that the porosities of the biochars varied from 62.68 to 69.99 wt.%, with the Holetta-1 biochar showing the highest porosity. The superior porosity of Holetta-1, as confirmed via MIP analysis, yielded higher values for bulk volume (2.36 mL g− 1), skeletal volume (1.65 mL g− 1), and total intrusion volume (1.65 mL g− 1) compared to the Yellow Dodolla. The most frequent pore diameters were 172.46 μm for Yellow Dodolla and 111.42 μm for Holetta-1. The MIP log differential pore diameter distributions were observed to vary from 18 to 411 μm and 10 to 411 μm, respectively, for Yellow Dodolla and Holetta-1. Despite the biochars’ low specific surface areas (0.17–0.21 m² g⁻¹), krypton sorption was a suitable technique for its characterization compared to DVS and nitrogen sorption methods. In conclusion, the characterization studies confirmed that this carbon-rich porous material possesses unique and valuable properties, with these attributes position it as a promising alternative for diverse industrial applications, contributing to the development of a bio-based circular economy. KW - Morphological characterization KW - Mercury intrusion porosimetry KW - Gas adsorption PY - 2026 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-655325 DO - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-32063-1 SN - 2045-2322 VL - 16 IS - 1 SP - 1 EP - 19 PB - Springer Science and Business Media LLC AN - OPUS4-65532 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Pei, R. A1 - Petrazoller, J. A1 - Atila, Achraf A1 - Arnoldi, S. A1 - Xiao, L. A1 - Liu, X. A1 - Wang, H. A1 - Korte-Kerzel, S. A1 - Berbenni, S. A1 - Richeton, T. A1 - Guénolé, J. A1 - Xie, Z. A1 - Al-Samman, T. T1 - Solute co-segregation mechanisms at low-angle grain boundaries in magnesium: A combined atomic-scale experimental and modeling study N2 - Solute segregation at low-angle grain boundaries (LAGBs) critically affects the microstructure and mechanicalproperties of magnesium (Mg) alloys. In modern alloys containing multiple substitutional elements, understanding solute-solute interactions at microstructural defects becomes essential for alloy design. This study investigates the co-segregation mechanisms of calcium (Ca), zinc (Zn), and aluminum (Al) at a LAGB in a dilute Mg-0.23Al-1.00Zn-0.38Ca (AZX010) alloy by combining atomic-scale experimental and modeling techniques.Three-dimensional atom probe tomography (3D-APT) revealed significant segregation of Ca, Zn, and Al at the LAGB, with Ca forming linear segregation patterns along dislocation arrays characteristic of the LAGB. Clustering analysis showed increased Ca–Ca pairs at the boundary, indicating synergistic solute interactions. Atomistic simulations and elastic dipole calculations demonstrated that larger Ca atoms prefer tensile regions around dislocations, while smaller Zn and Al atoms favor compressive areas. These simulations also found that Ca–Ca co-segregation near dislocation cores is energetically more favorable than other solute pairings, explaining the enhanced Ca clustering observed experimentally. Thermodynamic modeling incorporating calculated segregation energies and solute-solute interactions accurately predicted solute concentrations at the LAGB, aligning with experimental data. The findings emphasize the importance of solute interactionsat dislocation cores in Mg alloys, offering insights for improving mechanical performance through targeted alloying and grain boundary engineering. KW - Atomic probe tomography KW - Atomistic simulation KW - Grain boundary KW - Co-segregation KW - Magnesium alloy PY - 2026 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-655248 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2026.121947 SN - 1359-6454 VL - 306 SP - 1 EP - 13 PB - Elsevier Inc. AN - OPUS4-65524 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rastgou, Masoud A1 - Hülagü, Deniz A1 - Danilenko, Aleksandr A1 - Manoocheri, Farshid A1 - Hertwig, Andreas A1 - Ikonen, Erkki T1 - Comparison of thin-film thickness measurements using ellipsometry and reflectometry with uniform samples N2 - This study evaluates spectroscopic ellipsometry and reflectometry using high-quality SiO2 and Al2O3 thin-films on Si substrates, thereby facilitating a detailed assessment of consistency of measurement results and uncertainty analyses. The results with detailed uncertainty budgets indicate good agreement between the two methods across a broad layer thickness range from 10 nm to 2000 nm, with deviations remaining well within the measurement uncertainties. Ellipsometry results have lower uncertainty than reflectometry results especially with the thinner layers, whereas reflectometry uncertainties are lower with the thickest layers studied. This work underscores the importance of rigorous thickness characterization and reliable uncertainty evaluation as critical factors in advancing both modeling and measurement practices in thin-film metrology. KW - Ellipsometry KW - Reflectometry KW - Thin Film Metrology KW - Measurement Accuracy PY - 2026 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-655209 DO - https://doi.org/10.1088/1681-7575/ae3964 SN - 0026-1394 VL - 63 IS - 1 SP - 1 EP - 14 PB - IOP Publishing CY - Bristol, UK AN - OPUS4-65520 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Krause, Christina A1 - Szymoniak, Paulina A1 - Lohstroh, W. A1 - Juranyi, F. A1 - Zamponi, M. A1 - Frick, B. A1 - Al-Sabbagh, Dominik A1 - Emmerling, Franziska A1 - Zorn, R. A1 - Schönhals, Andreas T1 - Complex molecular dynamics of symmetric model discotic liquid crystals: Comparison of Hexakis(hepta-alkanoyloxy)triphenylene (HOT6) with Hexakis(hexa-alkyloxy)triphenylene (HAT6) N2 - This study investigates the complex molecular dynamics of discotic liquid crystals (DLCs) by comparing two structurally similar compounds: Hexakis(hepta-alkanoyloxy)triphenylene (HOT6) and Hexakis(hexa-alkyloxy)triphenylene (HAT6) having the same triphenyl core and the same length of the alkyl side chain. The difference of both materials is that the alkyl chain is linked by an oxygen bridge to the triphenylene core for HAT6 and by a ester group for HOT6. Using a combination of broadband dielectric spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray scattering, and neutron scattering techniques, the research explores the glass transition phenomena and relaxation processes in these materials. HOT6, featuring ester linkages, exhibits distinct dynamic behavior compared to HAT6, including two separate glass transitions indicated by the 1- and 2-relaxation found by dielectric spectroscopy which are assigned to the glassy dynamics of the alkyl side chain in the intercolumnar space and that of the columns, respectively. The study reveals that the ester group in HOT6 leads to increased molecular rigidity and altered packing in the intercolumnar space, as evidenced by X-ray scattering and the vibrational density of states. Neutron scattering confirms localized methyl group rotations and a further relaxation process which relates to the -relaxation revealed by dielectric spectroscopy. The findings contribute to a deeper understanding of glassy dynamics in partially ordered systems and highlight the influence of molecular architecture on relaxation behavior in DLCs. KW - Discotic Liquid Crystals PY - 2026 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-655171 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/d5sm01247c SN - 1744-6848 SP - 1 EP - 17 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) AN - OPUS4-65517 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gerrits, Ruben A1 - Stepec, Biwen An A1 - Bäßler, Ralph A1 - Becker, Roland A1 - Dimper, Matthias A1 - Feldmann, Ines A1 - Goff, Kira L. A1 - Günster, Jens A1 - Hofmann, Andrea A1 - Hesse, René A1 - Kirstein, Sarah A1 - Klein, Ulrich A1 - Mauch, Tatjana A1 - Neumann-Schaal, Meina A1 - Özcan Sandikcioglu, Özlem A1 - Taylor, Nicole M. A1 - Schumacher, Julia A1 - Shen, Yin A1 - Strehlau, Heike A1 - Weise, Matthias A1 - Wolf, Jacqueline A1 - Yurkov, Andrey A1 - Gieg, Lisa M. A1 - Gorbushina, Anna T1 - A 30-year-old diesel tank: Fungal-dominated biofilms cause local corrosion of galvanised steel N2 - The increased use of biodiesel is expected to lead to more microbial corrosion, fouling and fuel degradation issues. In this context, we have analysed the metal, fuel and microbiology of a fouled diesel tank which had been in service for over 30 years. The fuel itself, a B7 biodiesel blend, was not degraded, and—although no free water phase was visible—contained a water content of ~60 ppm. The microbial community was dominated by the fungus Amorphotheca resinae, which formed thick, patchy biofilms on the tank bottom and walls. The tank sheets, composed of galvanised carbon steel, were locally corroded underneath the biofilms, up to a depth of a third of the sheet thickness. On the biofilm-free surfaces, Zn coatings could still be observed. Taken together, A. resinae was shown to thrive in these water-poor conditions, likely enhancing corrosion through the removal of the protective Zn coatings. KW - Fungal biofilms KW - Biodiesel degradation mechanisms PY - 2026 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-655014 DO - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41529-025-00731-2 SN - 2397-2106 VL - 10 IS - 1 SP - 1 EP - 14 PB - Springer Science and Business Media LLC AN - OPUS4-65501 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Pavlidis, Sotirios A1 - Fischer, Eric W. A1 - Opis-Basilio, Amanda A1 - Bera, Ayan A1 - Guilherme Buzanich, Ana A1 - Álvarez-Sánchez, María A1 - Wittek, Severin A1 - Emmerling, Franziska A1 - Ray, Kallol A1 - Roemelt, Michael A1 - Abbenseth, Josh T1 - Ambiphilic Reactivity and Switchable Methyl Transfer at a T-Shaped Bi(NNN) Complex Enabled by a Redox-Active Pincer Ligand N2 - We report the transition-metal-like reactivity of a geometrically constrained, ambiphilic bismuth(III) trisamide. Planarization of the Bi(III) center unlocks Bi−C bond formation when reacted with mild electrophiles (alkyl iodides and triflates) accompanied by two-electron oxidation of the utilized NNN pincer nligand. The preservation of the bismuth oxidation state is confirmed by single-crystal X-ray diffraction and X-ray absorption spectroscopy and corroborated by theoretical calculations. Sequential reduction of the oxidized ligand framework alters the reactivity of a generated Bi−Me unit, enabling controlled access to methyl cation, radical, and anion equivalents. The full [Bi(Me)(NNN)]+/•/− redox series was comprehensively characterized using NMR and EPR spectroscopy as well as spectro-electrochemistry. This work represents the first example of ligand-assisted, redox-neutral C−X bond splitting at bismuth, establishing a new paradigm for synthetic bismuth chemistry. KW - Pincer ligand KW - XAS KW - Redox PY - 2026 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-654948 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.5c18955 SN - 0002-7863 VL - 148 IS - 2 SP - 2683 EP - 2692 PB - American Chemical Society (ACS) AN - OPUS4-65494 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Yao, Xingyu A1 - Antunes, Margarida M. A1 - Guilherme Buzanich, Ana A1 - Cabanelas, Pedro A1 - Valente, Anabela A. A1 - Pinna, Nicola A1 - Russo, Patrícia A. T1 - Formation, Phase Transition, Surface, and Catalytic Properties of Cubic ZrO 2 Nanocrystals N2 - Pseudocapacitance-type transition metal oxides have been extensively investigated as anodes for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Currently, they are also gaining attention for sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) due to their low volume change and safety. However, their performance in sodium storage remains limited, primarily due to the larger Na+ ion radius. Here, for the first time, an iron niobate is reported with a columbite structure as a high-Performance sodium storage anode. The presence of iron triggers the loss of long-rangeorder through disorder of the FeO6 octahedra local structure, subsequentlyallowing reversible sodium storage in an amorphous phase. Simultaneously, the formation of short-range ordered zigzag-chain structures within the NbO6 planes creates a “skeleton” that offers abundant active sites forpseudocapacitive ion storage and enhanced ion diffusion pathways. These characteristics of FeNb2O6 make it an effective intercalation host, offering high capacity along with fast Na+ kinetics, as demonstrated through operando and ex situ characterizations. It leads to an applicable reversible capacity (>300 mAh g−1) with a favorable average voltage of ≈0.6 V and excellent rate capability (180.4 mAh g−1 at a current density of 2 A g−1). This study provides insights into the development of intrinsically active transition metal oxides for Na+-ion intercalation. KW - XAS KW - Sodium-ion Batteries PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-654955 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.5c01483 SN - 0897-4756 VL - 37 IS - 21 SP - 8568 EP - 8580 PB - American Chemical Society (ACS) AN - OPUS4-65495 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Liu, Yanchen A1 - Guilherme Buzanich, Ana A1 - Alippi, Paola A1 - Montoro, Luciano A. A1 - Lee, Kug‐Seung A1 - Jeon, Taeyeol A1 - Weißer, Kilian A1 - Karlsen, Martin A. A1 - Russo, Patrícia A. A1 - Pinna, Nicola T1 - FeNb 2 O 6 as a High‐Performance Anode for Sodium‐Ion Batteries Enabled by Structural Amorphization Coupled with NbO 6 Local Ordering N2 - Pseudocapacitance-type transition metal oxides have been extensively investigated as anodes for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Currently, they are also gaining attention for sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) due to their low volume change and safety. However, their performance in sodium storage remains limited, primarily due to the larger Na+ ion radius. Here, for the first time, an iron niobate is reported with a columbite structure as a high-performance sodium storage anode. The presence of iron triggers the loss of long-range order through disorder of the FeO6 octahedra local structure, subsequently allowing reversible sodium storage in an amorphous phase. Simultaneously, the formation of short-range ordered zigzag-chain structures within the NbO6 planes creates a “skeleton” that offers abundant active sites for pseudocapacitive ion storage and enhanced ion diffusion pathways. These characteristics of FeNb2O6 make it an effective intercalation host, offering high capacity along with fast Na+ kinetics, as demonstrated through operando and ex situ characterizations. It leads to an applicable reversible capacity (>300 mAh g−1) with a favorable average voltage of ≈0.6 V and excellent rate capability (180.4 mAh g−1 at a current density of 2 A g−1). This study provides insights into the development of intrinsically active transition metal oxides for Na+-ion intercalation. KW - SIB KW - XAS KW - Sodium-ion Batteries PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-654931 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202504100 SN - 0935-9648 VL - 37 IS - 46 SP - 1 EP - 13 PB - Wiley AN - OPUS4-65493 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Faustino, Leandro A. A1 - de Angelis, Leonardo D. A1 - de Melo, Eduardo C. A1 - Farias, Giliandro A1 - dos Santos, Egon C. A1 - Miranda, Caetano R. A1 - Buzanich, Ana G. A1 - Torresi, Roberto M. A1 - de Oliveira, Paulo F.M. A1 - Córdoba de Torresi, Susana I. T1 - Urea synthesis by Plasmon-Assisted N2 and CO2 co-electrolysis onto heterojunctions decorated with silver nanoparticles N2 - The N2 + CO2 co-electrolysis to urea synthesis has become a promising alternative to the energy intensive traditional processes for urea production. However, there are still challenges in this approach, especially due to the competition with HER (Hydrogen Evolution Reaction) leading to low efficiency. Electrochemistry assisted by localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) using metal nanoparticles has been reported to enhance different electrochemical reactions. Here we report an electrochemical LSPR assisted urea synthesis using Ag nanoparticles (NPs) supported on BiVO4/BiFeO3 catalyst mechanochemically synthesized. The electrochemical experiments were performed under dark and upon plasmon excitation at the LSPR region of Ag NPs. Our results demonstrated that exciting in the LSPR range, urea yield rate and Faradic efficiency were considerably improved with reduced overpotential, 19.2 μmol h− 1 g− 1 and FE 24.4% at +0.1 V vs RHE compared to 9.6 μmol h− 1 g− 1 and FE 9.4% at − 0.2 V vs RHE under dark conditions. Further in situ FTIR-RAS experiments for mechanism investigation revealed the presence of N-H and C-N intermediates and the real effect of Ag plasmon excitation on HER and N2 + CO2 co-electrolysis. Theoretical calculations confirm the energy of the species involved in C-N coupling as well the role of the complex catalytic sites, which agrees with XAS measurements. KW - Plasmon-assited KW - XAS KW - Urea KW - Electrocatalysis PY - 2025 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2025.163072 SN - 1385-8947 VL - 513 SP - 1 EP - 13 PB - Elsevier B.V. AN - OPUS4-65492 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bustos, Jenna A1 - Shohel, Mohammad A1 - Guilherme Buzanich, Ana A1 - Zakharov, Lev A1 - Buils, Jordi A1 - Segado‐Centellas, Mireia A1 - Bo, Carles A1 - Nyman, May T1 - Technetium and Rhenium Auto‐reduction, Polymerization and Lability towards Group VII Polyoxometalate Chemistry N2 - AbstractGroup VII Tc and Re have long been studied to develop both radiopharmaceuticals and technologies for nuclear materials management. Fundamental research has targeted understanding this periodic table crossroads where polyoxometalates meets metal‐metal bonded complexes. Here we have isolated green hygroscopic and metastable crystals of (ReVI,oct)2(ReVII,tet)2(OH)2(O)12⋅H2O (ReVI,VII‐green, tet=tetrahedral, oct=octahedral), determined by single‐crystal x‐ray diffraction. In addition to color, Re‐L1 X‐ray absorption near‐edge spectroscopy confirms the reduced oxidation state. ReVI,VII‐green provides the first demonstration of Re autoreduction, long‐observed for Mn and Tc. We also isolated and structurally characterized [Tc4O4(H2O)2(ReO4)14]2− (Tc4Re14) polyanion crystals that contain Tc(V) and Re(VII), consistent with greater stability of reduced Tc compared to reduced Re. Small angle X‐ray scattering of both compounds and prior‐reported polyanion [Tc4O4(H2O)2(TcO4)14]4− (Tc20) dissolved in acetonitrile indicated a qualitative lability order of oxo‐linkages of Re‐O−Re Re‐O−Tc Tc‐O−Tc, and lability of Tc20 was also probed by 99Tc nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Computation provided insight into 99Tc chemical shifts as well as lability. Based on both reducibility and solution phase dynamics of polynuclear compounds investigated here, Re is an imperfect surrogate for Tc, and further expansion of group VII polyoxometalate chemistry seems promising. KW - XANES KW - Polyoxometalate KW - Technetium PY - 2025 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/chem.202404144 SN - 0947-6539 VL - 31 IS - 21 SP - 1 EP - 7 PB - Wiley-VCH Verl. AN - OPUS4-65491 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gugin, Nikita A1 - Schwab, Alexander A1 - Carraro, Francesco A1 - Tavernaro, Isabella A1 - Falkenhagen, Jana A1 - Villajos, Jose A1 - Falcaro, Paolo A1 - Emmerling, Franziska T1 - ZIF-8-based biocomposites via reactive extrusion: towards industrial-scale manufacturing N2 - Mechanochemistry, a sustainable synthetic method that minimizes solvent use, has shown great promise in producing metal–organic framework (MOF)-based biocomposites through ball milling. While ball milling offers fast reaction times, biocompatible conditions, and access to previously unattainable biocomposites, it is a batch-type process typically limited to gram-scale production, which is insufficient to meet commercial capacity. We introduce a scalable approach for the continuous solid-state production of MOF-based biocomposites. Our study commences with model batch reactions to examine the encapsulation of various biomolecules into Zeolitic Imidazolate Framework-8 (ZIF-8) via hand mixing, establishing a foundation for upscaling. Subsequently, the process is scaled up using reactive extrusion, enabling continuous and reproducible kilogram-scale production of bovine serum albumin (BSA)@ZIF-8 with tunable protein loading. Furthermore, we achieve the one-step formation of shaped ZIF-8 extrudates encapsulating clinical therapeutic hyaluronic acid (HA). Upon release of HA from the composite, the molecular weight of HA is preserved, highlighting the industrial potential of reactive extrusion for the cost-effective and reliable manufacturing of biocomposites for drug-delivery applications. KW - Mechanochemistry KW - Extrusion KW - Biocompoites KW - MOFs PY - 2026 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-654777 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/D5TA08276E SN - 2050-7496 SP - 1 EP - 14 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry AN - OPUS4-65477 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schusterbauer, Robert A1 - Mrkwitschka, Paul A1 - Sahre, Mario A1 - Corrao, Elena A1 - Zurutuza, Amaia A1 - Doolin, Alexander A1 - Pellegrino, Francesco A1 - Radnik, Jörg A1 - Donskyi, Ievgen S. A1 - Hodoroaba, Vasile-Dan T1 - Correlative Chemical Imaging to Reveal the Nature of Different Commercial Graphene Materials N2 - Proper physicochemical characterization of advanced materials and complex industrial composites remains a significant challenge, particularly for nanomaterials, whose nanoscale dimensions and mostly complex chemistry challenge the analysis. In this work, we employed a correlative analytical approach that integrates atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with energy‐dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy (EDS), time‐of‐flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF‐SIMS), Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), and Raman spectroscopy. This combination enables detailed chemical and structural characterization with sub‐micrometer spatial resolution. Three commercial graphene‐based materials of varying complexity were selected and investigated to test the analytical performance of this approach. Furthermore, one of the commercial graphene oxide samples was chemically functionalized via amination and fluorination. This allowed us to assess how surface modifications influence both the material properties and the limits of the applied analytical techniques. KW - Analytical methods KW - Commercial products KW - Correlative analysis KW - Graphene KW - Surface imaging PY - 2026 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-654765 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/smtd.202502344 SN - 2366-9608 SP - 1 EP - 10 PB - Wiley VHC-Verlag AN - OPUS4-65476 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bartczak, Dorota A1 - Sikora, Aneta A1 - Goenaga-Infante, Heidi A1 - Altmann, Korinna A1 - Drexel, Roland A1 - Meier, Florian A1 - Alasonati, Enrica A1 - Lelong, Marc A1 - Cado, Florence A1 - Chivas-Joly, Carine A1 - Fadda, Marta A1 - Sacco, Alessio A1 - Rossi, Andrea Mario A1 - Pröfrock, Daniel A1 - Wippermann, Dominik A1 - Barbero, Francesco A1 - Fenoglio, Ivana A1 - Booth, Andy M. A1 - Sørensen, Lisbet A1 - Igartua, Amaia A1 - Wouters, Charlotte A1 - Mast, Jan A1 - Barbaresi, Marta A1 - Rossi, Francesca A1 - Piergiovanni, Maurizio A1 - Mattarozzi, Monica A1 - Careri, Maria A1 - Caebergs, Thierry A1 - Piette, Anne-Sophie A1 - Parot, Jeremie A1 - Giovannozzi, Andrea Mario T1 - Multiparameter characterisation of a nano-polypropylene representative test material with fractionation, light scattering, high-resolution microscopy, spectroscopy, and spectrometry methods N2 - Reference and quality control materials with comparable physicochemical properties to nanoplastic contaminants present in environmental and food nanoplastics are currently lacking. Here we report a nanoplastic polypropylene material prepared using a top-down approach involving mechanical fragmentation of larger plastics. The material was found to be homogeneous and stable in suspension and has been characterised for average particle size, size distribution range, particle number concentration, polypropylene mass fraction and inorganic impurity Content using a wide range of analytical methods, including AF4, cFFF, PTA, (MA)DLS, MALS, SEM, AFM, TEM, STEM, EDS,Raman, ICP-MS and pyGC-MS. The material was found to have a broad size distribution, ranging from 50 nm to over 200 nm, with the average particle size value dependent on the technique used to determine it. Particle number concentration ranged from 1.7–2.4 × 1010 g−1 , according to PTA. Spectroscopy techniques confirmed that the material was polypropylene, with evidence of aging due to an increased level of oxidation. The measured mass fraction was found to depend on the marker used and ranged between 3 and 5 μg g−1 . Inorganic impurities such as Si, Al, Mg, K, Na, S, Fe, Cl and Ca were also identified at ng g−1 levels. Comparability and complementarity across the measurement methods and techniques is also discussed. KW - Polypropylene KW - Nanoplastics KW - Analytics KW - Reference material KW - Scattering methods PY - 2026 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-654680 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/D5EN00917K SN - 2051-8153 SP - 1 EP - 15 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) AN - OPUS4-65468 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Oksal-Kilinc, Sefine A1 - Altmann, Korinna A1 - Seiwert, Bettina A1 - Reemtsma, Thorsten A1 - Ruess, Liliane T1 - Grinding method and oxidative aging modulate the impact of tire wear microplastics on the reproduction of the nematode C. elegans N2 - Rationale Tire abrasion is one of the largest sources of microplastic in aquatic and terrestrial environments. Despite this fact, research on tire wear microplastic (TWP) and its effects on soil ecosystems is scarce, especially regarding natural weathering processes. This leaves a large knowledge gap on the interactions of TWP with soil biota. Methodology Cryo-milled tire tread (CMTT) and diamond-ground tire tread (DGTT) were artificially weathered through dry ozone treatment and heat exposure. Particles were analyzed via scanning electron microscopy, particle size distribution, and shape characterization. TWP leachate composition was examined using liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry. The impact on the reproduction of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, a widely used toxicological model, was tested for leachate concentration, exposure duration and TWP aging status, using offspring per adult as the endpoint. Results The comminution method significantly influenced TWP particle size distribution, with diamond grinding yielding smaller particles and a more structured surface morphology than cryo-milling. Aging with ozone (180 min) and heat (20 min at 100 °C) reduced DGTT particle sizes by 27-58%, but not in CMTT. Additionally, aging increased carboxylic functional groups and led to a brittle structure in both TWP types. Leachate composition varied with comminution method and aging. Benzothiazole, N-Cyclo-N-phenylurea, and aniline were more abundant in pristine and aged CMTT and aged DGTT. Diphenylguanidine had the highest concentration in all leachates. Aged TWP leachates, regardless of comminution, had significant toxic effects on C. elegans. Leachate from pristine CMTT was more toxic than from pristine DGTT. Nematode offspring correlated negatively with ozone exposure duration in aged DGTT. Tests with aged CMTT leachate showed even short-term exposure reduced offspring numbers. Discussion The results underscore the importance of oxidative and mechanical weathering in TWP toxicity and challenge the use of pristine particles in toxicological assays for risk assessment in the natural environment. KW - Microplastics KW - Tire abrasion KW - Environment PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-654672 DO - https://doi.org/10.1071/EN25051 SN - 1448-2517 VL - 23 IS - 2 SP - 1 EP - 16 PB - CSIRO Publishing AN - OPUS4-65467 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wiesner, Yosri A1 - Eisentraut, Paul A1 - Altmann, Korinna T1 - One Year Observation of Microplastic Concentrations in the River Rhine N2 - In recent years, the quantification of microplastics (MP) in aquatic environments has gained increasing attention, particularly regarding their environmental distribution and potential exposure levels. Environmentally relevant exposure data are still essential for a realistic risk assessment of the harmful health potential of microplastics in freshwater systems. This study addresses a large data set of MP concentrations analyzed and processed under statistical aspects and provides mass concentrations as well as associated size fractions of the detected MP. Over a 12 month period, samples were collected at three locations and analyzed across three particle size fractions (100−500 μm, 50−100 μm, and 10−50 μm) using thermalextraction desorption-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (TED-GC/MS). The most prevalent polymers identified were polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), styrene−butadiene rubber (SBR), and natural rubber (NR). Statistical analyses, including principal component and cluster analysis, revealed size-dependent patterns,minor seasonal variation and spatial variations. These findings are particularly significant for ecotoxicological research and regulatory development, especially regarding tire abrasion a rarely quantified but potentially harmful MP source. The study contributes aluable data for future environmental monitoring and supports EU directives on wastewater and drinking water quality KW - TED-GC/MS KW - Microplastics KW - Environment KW - Monitoring KW - Reference data PY - 2026 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-654669 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/acsestwater.5c00530 SN - 2690-0637 SP - 1 EP - 10 PB - American Chemical Society (ACS) AN - OPUS4-65466 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - George, Janine A1 - Ouellet-Plamondon, Claudiane A1 - Reyes, Kristofer T1 - Introduction to the “Accelerate Conference 2023–2024” themed collection N2 - The collection showcases the ways in which automation, machine learning and robotics are transforming experimental materials science and chemistry into continuous, computationally integrated processes. It features innovations regarding autonomous laboratories, Bayesian optimisation, high-throughput experimentation and computation, and AI-driven literature extraction, which simplify and scale up materials discovery. Together, these works outline a modular, responsible framework for accelerating scientific progress through human-guided, data-driven autonomy. KW - Automation KW - Materials Acceleration Platforms KW - Synthesizability KW - Workflows KW - Large Language Models KW - Ontologies KW - Materials Discovery PY - 2026 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-654658 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/d5dd90057c SN - 2635-098X SP - 1 EP - 2 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) AN - OPUS4-65465 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gladrow, K. A1 - Unkovskiy, A. A1 - Yassine, J. A1 - Gaertner, N. A1 - Topolniak, Ievgeniia A1 - Henning, N. A1 - Schmidt, F. T1 - The effect of nitrogen atmosphere during post-curing on cytotoxicity, polishability, flexural strength, and surface hardness of 3D-printed denture bases: an in vitro study N2 - 3D printing is increasingly utilized in dentistry. Compared to traditional manufacturing methods, 3D printing provides advantages such as faster production times and the ability to create complex structures. Although biocompatible materials are available, many are only suitable for temporary applications. This study examines the impact of nitrogen-aided post-processing on the mechanical properties and cytotoxicity of 3D-printed denture bases, with the hypothesis that this post-processing will enhance material properties and decrease cytotoxicity. Specimens were fabricated from V-print dentbase (Voco GmbH, Cuxhaven, Germany) and post-processed either in nitrogen or air. The specimens were categorized into aged and non-aged groups. For comparison, specimens made from milled material were utilized. Vickers hardness, flexural strength, polishability, cytotoxicity, and degree of conversion were then assessed for all groups. The data were analyzed using a one-way ANOVA and Tukey HSD test for multiple comparisons, with a significance threshold of p < 0.05. Post-curing with nitrogen improved the degree of conversion, surface hardness, and biocompatibility of 3D-printed dental materials, confirming reduced cytotoxicity without impairing mechanical properties. Nitrogen increased polymerization and decreased harmful monomers, making it ideal for clinical applications in contact with the oral mucosa. Optimizing post-processing steps, such as curing in nitrogen, enhances biocompatibility while maintaining strength and hardness, ensuring better patient care in dental applications. KW - Biocompatibility KW - V-Print KW - Cytotoxicity KW - Nitrogen KW - Dentistry PY - 2026 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-654504 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10856-026-07006-5 SN - 1573-4838 VL - 37 IS - 1 SP - 1 EP - 13 PB - Springer Science and Business Media LLC AN - OPUS4-65450 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Adhami, Forogh A1 - Safavi, Maliheh A1 - Ehsani, Maryam A1 - Ardestani, Sussan K. A1 - Emmerling, Franziska A1 - Simyari, Farzaneh T1 - Synthesis, crystal structure, and cytotoxic activity of novel cyclic systems in [1,2,4]thiadiazolo[2,3-a]pyridine benzamide derivatives and their copper(ii) complexes N2 - Three N-(pyridine-2-ylcarbamothioyl)benzamide derivatives were synthesized by the reaction of potassium thiocyanate, benzoyl chloride, and 2-amino pyridine derivatives in one pot. The obtained derivatives were oxidized using copper(II) chloride. During the oxidation, two hydrogen atoms were removed, cyclization of the derivatives occurred, and finally, three new N-(2H-[1,2,4]thiadiazolo[2,3-a]pyridine-2-ylidene)benzamide derivatives were produced. Coordination of these three new derivative ligands to the copper(II) ion resulted in the formation of three new complexes: dichlorobis(N-(2H-[1,2,4]thiadiazolo[2,3-a]pyridine-2-ylidene)benzamide)copper(II), dichlorobis(N-(7-methyl-2H-[1,2,4]thiadiazolo[2,3-a]pyridine-2ylidene)benzamide)copper(II), and dichlorobis(N-(5-methyl-2H-[1,2,4]thiadiazolo[2,3-a]pyridine-2-ylidene)benzamide)copper(II). All the synthesized products were characterized by IR, 1H NMR, and 13C NMR spectroscopies. Crystal structures of the obtained N-(pyridine-2-ylcarbamothioyl)benzamide derivatives, N-(2H-[1,2,4]thiadiazolo[2,3-a]pyridine-2-ylidene)benzamide derivatives, and complexes were determined using X-ray single-crystal diffraction; the positions of atoms, bond lengths, bond angles, and dihedral angles were also determined. In all complexes, the coordination of two large monodentate ligands and two chloride anions to the copper(II) ion resulted in the formation of a stable planar geometry around the central ion. Three N-(pyridine-2-ylcarbamothioyl)benzamide derivatives, three N-(2H-[1,2,4]thiadiazolo[2,3-a]pyridine-2-ylidene)benzamide derivatives, and three complexes were evaluated for their cytotoxicity against five human cancer cell lines (breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-231, neuroblastoma cell line SK-N-MC, prostate adenocarcinoma cell line LNCap, nasopharyngeal epidermoid carcinoma cell line KB, and liver cancer cell line HEPG-2) using an in vitro analysis. The N-(pyridine-2-ylcarbamothioyl)benzamide derivatives showed no cytotoxic activity, whereas the N-(2H-[1,2,4]thiadiazolo[2,3-a]pyridine-2-ylidene)benzamide derivatives and their complexes showed significant cytotoxicity, especially against MDA-MB-231 and LNCap cell lines. The complexes demonstrated smaller IC50 values than N-(2H-[1,2,4]thiadiazolo[2,3-a]pyridine-2-ylidene)benzamide derivatives. KW - Copper complexes PY - 2014 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/c3dt52905c SN - 1477-9226 VL - 43 IS - 21 SP - 7945 EP - 7957 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) AN - OPUS4-65449 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Merino, E. A1 - Cere, S. A1 - Özcan Sandikcioglu, Özlem A1 - Dimper, Matthias A1 - Sobrados, I. A1 - Durán, A. A1 - Castro, Y. T1 - Influence of the BF3·O(C2H5)2 on the corrosion resistance of hybrid silica sol-gel coatings deposited on flash-PEO-treated Mg alloy N2 - Achieving highly cross-linked sol-gel coatings to provide effective corrosion protection of Mg alloys remains a challenging task. The aim of this work is to evaluate the effect boron trifluoride diethyl etherate (BF3·O(C2H5)2) as catalyst to epoxy group in a GPTMS/TEOS/SiO2 sol and assesses its effect on the structure and corrosion resistance properties of Flash-PEO coated pre-treated Mg alloy. 29Si MAS NMR and 13C CPMAS-NMR demonstrated that (BF3·O(C2H5)2) efficiently promotes the epoxy polymerization of the GPTMS and the formation of a hybrid silica network. However, the amount of (BF3·O(C2H5)2) should be optimized to minimize the formation of undesirable byproducts such as ethyl ether terminal units. Therefore, GPTMS/TEOS/SiO2 sols containing different amounts of (BF3·O(C2H5)2) were synthesized and deposited onto the Flash-PEO coated Mg alloy, leading to bilayer systems with a total thickness of ⁓8 μm. The corrosion behavior of the bilayer coatings in 3.5 wt% NaCl solution was evaluated by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and Scanning Kelvin probe microscope (SKPFM). The results revealed that the barrier properties of the coatings with enhanced cross-linked structure showed impedance modulus (│Z│f:0.1 Hz) approximately four orders of magnitude higher than the bare magnesium alloy and two orders of magnitude higher than the F-PEO coated sample. A suitable compromise between (BF3·O(C2H5)2) amount and sol-gel film structure is required to obtain a more durable barrier coating capable to extend the protective lifespan of the magnesium alloy. KW - Sol-gel KW - Corrosion KW - AZ31B Mg alloy KW - Chemical structure KW - SKPFM PY - 2026 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.surfcoat.2025.133055 SN - 0257-8972 VL - 522 SP - 1 EP - 13 PB - Elsevier B.V. AN - OPUS4-65416 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Pomorska Gawel, A. A1 - Dąbkowska, M. A1 - Kosior, D. A1 - Batys, P. A1 - Szatanik, A. A1 - Witt, Julia A1 - Özcan Sandikcioglu, Özlem A1 - Michna, A. T1 - Multiscale insights into fibroblast growth factor 23 adsorption on polyelectrolyte layers: From molecular properties to biointerfaces N2 - Fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23) is a clinically significant protein hormone regulating phosphate and vitamin D metabolism, with elevated levels linked to chronic kidney disease, cardiovascular disorders, and impaired bone homeostasis. Despite its relevance as both a biomarker and a therapeutic target, its interactions with functional biomaterials remain poorly understood. In this work, we investigate the FGF23 adsorption on polyelectrolyte layers using a combination of theoretical modeling and experimental methods. Theoretical calculations provided insights into the protein's charge distribution and diffusion properties, while experimental measurements quantified its hydrodynamic diameter, electrophoretic mobility, and electrokinetic charge over a broad range of pH values. Microscale thermophoresis revealed quantitative binding affinities of FGF23 to hyaluronic acid, chitosan, and poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride). Adsorption studies on mica, silica, and polyelectrolyte mono- and bilayers showed that FGF23 binds to both negatively and positively charged substrates, with binding affinities following: hyaluronic acid < poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) < chitosan. Desorption occurred more readily from negatively charged surfaces (mica, silica and hyaluronic acid), indicating weaker interactions compared to positively charged layers. These results reveal fundamental aspects of protein –polyelectrolyte interactions and highlight the reversible binding capacity of FGF23 to negatively charged surfaces. Such adsorption behavior provides a physicochemical framework for considering FGF23-polyelectrolyte systems in the design of therapeutic carriers and bioactive materials. However, any direct relevance to wound healing, chronic kidney disease, or cardiovascular disorders remains prospective and requires dedicated biological validation. KW - Molecular dynamics KW - Streaming potential measurements KW - Adsorption KW - Stability KW - Binding affinity PY - 2026 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2026.150221 SN - 0141-8130 VL - 341 IS - Part 1 SP - 1 EP - 14 PB - Elsevier B.V. AN - OPUS4-65415 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rahner, E. A1 - Thiele, T. A1 - Voss, Heike A1 - Müller, F.A. A1 - Bonse, Jörn A1 - Gräf, S. T1 - Objective, high-throughput regularity quantification of laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS) N2 - The growing demand for precise surface functionalization through laser-generated periodic surface structures highlights the necessity for efficient, reproducible, and objective evaluation methods to evaluate their structural regularity. We introduce ReguΛarity (v.1.2.7), a freely available, Python-based software with a graphical user interface for the automated, quantitative assessment of the regularity of laser-induced periodic surfaces structures (LIPSS), obtained from optical microscopy, SEM, or AFM. The software integrates image segmentation, one- and two-dimensional Fourier analyses, and gradient-based orientation determination to facilitate a comprehensive regularity analysis of grating-like (quasi-)periodic surface patterns with spatial periods Λ. This is achieved through the proposed regularity tuple R, composed of five key parameters: the normalized spread of the spatial period RΛ,2D (from 2D-FT), the normalized variation of the most frequent spatial period RΛ (from 1D-FT), the Gini coefficient G, the Dispersion of the LIPSS Orientation Angle δθ (DLOA), and the mean phase deviation . To demonstrate its applicability, we compare ideal sinusoidal patterns with SEM images obtained from LIPSS on stainless steel (AISI 316L) and aluminum alloy (AlMg5) surfaces, confirming the software’s ability to objectively distinguish between varying levels of structural regularity. ReguΛarity facilitates high-throughput analysis and data-driven process optimization in surface engineering and laser materials processing. KW - Laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS) KW - Image processing KW - Regularity quantification KW - Fourier analysis KW - Structural homogeneity PY - 2026 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-654070 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2026.165919 SN - 0169-4332 VL - 726 SP - 1 EP - 12 PB - Elsevier B.V. AN - OPUS4-65407 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Stolar, Tomislav A1 - Bayram, Dilara A1 - May, Anastasia A1 - Sundermann, Remie A1 - Prinz, Carsten A1 - Meyer, Klas A1 - Myxa, Anett A1 - Falkenhagen, Jana A1 - Emmerling, Franziska T1 - Selective mechanochemical conversion of post-consumer polyethylene terephthalate waste into hcp and fcu UiO-66 metal–organic frameworks N2 - Single-use plastics strongly contribute to plastic pollution, and less than 10% of plastic waste is recycled globally. Here, we present a selective mechanochemical protocol for converting post-consumer polyethylene terephthalate (PET) transparent bottles and coloured textile waste into the porous metal–organic framework (MOF) UiO-66 materials. We used time-resolved in situ (TRIS) synchrotron powder X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy to monitor the depolymerization of PET during ball milling. To convert disodium terephthalate to UiO-66, we developed base and base-free synthetic routes that lead to fcu and hcp UiO-66 phases, respectively, including the first ever synthesis of hcp UiO-66 by mechanochemistry. Our results demonstrate the potential of mechanochemistry to selectively access fcu and hcp UiO-66 phases using post-consumer PET waste. KW - Mechanochemistry PY - 2026 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-653958 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/D4MR00126E SN - 2976-8683 SP - 1 EP - 8 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) AN - OPUS4-65395 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Stolar, Tomislav A1 - Alić, Jasna A1 - Casali, Lucia A1 - Gugin, Nikita A1 - Baláž, Matej A1 - Michalchuk, Adam A.L. A1 - Emmerling, Franziska ED - Stolar, Tomislav T1 - Mechanochemistry: Looking back and ahead N2 - Starting with the discovery of fire and the preparation of food in prehistoric times, mechanochemistry is the oldest form of chemistry that humans have controlled. Mechanochemical practices, such as grinding with a mortar and pestle, continued into the Middle Ages until dedicated scientific studies began in the 19th century. Since then,research in mechanochemistry has shown that many chemicalreactions can be performed via mechanical force without or with small amounts of solvent. Besides being time, material, and energy efficient, mechanochemical reactions often yield products that differ from those obtained in solution. Therefore, not only is mechanochemistry greener and more sustainable than conventional solution chemistry, but it also has the added value of providing new reactivity and selectivity. This is especially important today, when chemists need to invent high-performance materials, intermediates, and products with the use of sustainable feedstocks and develop environmental remediation pathways. At the same time, time-resolved in situ monitoring and computational modeling are necessary for addressing fundamental questions about the atomistic, molecular, and electronic nature of mechanochemical reactivity. Integrating digitalization, robotics, and artificial intelligence tools promises to increase the reproducibility and scalability of mechanochemical processes. Further evolution of mechanochemistry is expected to have a transformative effect on the chemical industry. KW - Mechanochemistry PY - 2026 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-653962 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chempr.2025.102880 SN - 2451-9294 SP - 1 EP - 27 PB - Elsevier BV AN - OPUS4-65396 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Weidner, Steffen A1 - Meyer, Andreas A1 - Falkenhagen, Jana A1 - Kricheldorf, Hans R. T1 - Cyclic polyglycolide by means of metal acetylacetonates N2 - Glycolide was polymerized in bulk at 160 °C using various metal acetylacetonates as catalysts. Zirconium acetylacetonate was particularly efficient, enabling rapid polymerization even at 130 °C. The formation of cyclic poly(glycolic acid) (PGA), most likely via a ring-expansion polymerization (REP) mechanism, was proven by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry. Depending on the polymerization conditions, the formation of even-numbered cycles was favored to varying degrees. Number-average molecular weights (Mn) in the range of 2000–3500 g mol−1 were achieved with dispersities below 2.0. Wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS) powder patterns showed that the crystal lattice was the same as that of known linear PGAs, regardless of the Mn values. These patterns enabled a comparison of crystallinities with values derived from DSC measurements. KW - MALDI-TOF MS KW - Polyglycolide KW - Crystallization KW - Small-angle X-ray scattering KW - Cyclization PY - 2026 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-653731 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/d5ra07961f SN - 2046-2069 VL - 16 IS - 2 SP - 1757 EP - 1764 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) AN - OPUS4-65373 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Oskoei, Párástu A1 - Afonso, Rúben A1 - Bastos, Verónica A1 - Nogueira, João A1 - Keller, Lisa-Marie A1 - Andresen, Elina A1 - Saleh, Maysoon I. A1 - Rühle, Bastian A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute A1 - Daniel-da-Silva, Ana L. A1 - Oliveira, Helena T1 - Upconversion Nanoparticles with Mesoporous Silica Coatings for Doxorubicin Targeted Delivery to Melanoma Cells N2 - Melanoma is one of the most aggressive skin cancers and requires innovative therapeutic strategies to overcome the limitations of conventional therapies. In this work, upconversion nanoparticles coated with mesoporous silica and functionalized with folic acid (UCNP@mSiO2-FA) were developed as a targeted nanocarrier system for the delivery of doxorubicin (DOX). The UCNPs were synthesized via thermal decomposition, coated with mesoporous silica shells, and functionalized with folic acid (FA) to enable receptor-mediated targeting. DOX was then loaded into the mesoporous silica coating by adsorption, yielding UCNP@mSiO2-FA-DOX. The different UCNPs were characterized for size, composition, colloidal stability, and loading and release of DOX. This comprehensive physicochemical characterization confirmed a high DOX loading efficiency and a slightly increased drug release under acidic conditions, mimicking the tumour microenvironment. In vitro assays using four melanoma cell lines (A375, B16-F10, MNT-1, and SK-MEL-28) revealed an excellent biocompatibility of UCNP@mSiO2-FA and a significantly higher cytotoxicity of UCNP@mSiO2-FA-DOX compared to unloaded UCNPs, in a dose-dependent manner. Cell cycle analysis demonstrated G2/M phase arrest after treatment with UCNP@mSiO2-FA-DOX, confirming its antiproliferative effect. Overall, UCNP@mSiO2-FA-DOX represents a promising nanoplatform for targeted melanoma therapy, combining active tumour targeting and enhanced anticancer efficacy. KW - Fluorescence KW - Synthesis KW - Nano KW - Particle KW - Silica KW - Cell KW - Uptake KW - Drug KW - Characterization KW - DOX KW - Imaging KW - Toxicity KW - Release KW - pH PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-653596 DO - https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules31010074 SN - 1420-3049 VL - 31 IS - 1 SP - 1 EP - 18 PB - MDPI AG AN - OPUS4-65359 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Chakraborty, Gouri A1 - Das, Prasenjit A1 - Bhattacharya, Biswajit A1 - Prinz, Carsten A1 - Emmerling, Franziska A1 - Thomas, Arne T1 - Room-temperature superprotonic conductivity in COOH-functionalized multicomponent covalent organic frameworks N2 - In solid materials, the development of hydrogen bonding (H-bonding) networks within pores is crucial for efficient proton conductance. In this study, a chemically stable carboxylic acid-functionalized, quinoline-linked 2D microporous covalent organic framework (COF) (Qy-COOH) was synthesized using the Doebner multicomponent reaction (MCR) and compared to a similar framework lacking the –COOH functionality (Qy-H), prepared via an MC Domino reaction. The proton conductivity of the –COOH-functionalized MCR-COF was significantly enhanced, reaching 10−2 S cm−1, attributed to strong H-bonding interactions between water molecules and the dangling –COOH groups within the COF pores. In contrast, the analogous Qy-H framework exhibited a much lower proton conductivity of 10−5 S cm−1, while an imine-based COF showed only 10−6 S cm−1. This work represents the first demonstration of a general strategy to achieve efficient proton conduction in a class of layered 2D –COOH-functionalized COFs, offering superprotonic conductivity without requiring additives at room temperature. The MCR-COF design approach provides a promising pathway for developing highly stable and high-performance proton-conducting materials. KW - Multicomponebt KW - COF KW - Proton Conductivity KW - Superprotonic PY - 2026 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-653526 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/D5SC06953J SN - 2041-6520 SP - 1 EP - 9 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) AN - OPUS4-65352 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Dalgic, Mete‐Sungur A1 - Kumar, Sourabh A1 - Weidner, Steffen T1 - Quantitative Analysis of Polymers by MALDI‐TOF Mass Spectrometry: Correlation Between Signal Intensity and Arm Number N2 - The signal intensities of linear and star‐shaped poly(L‐lactides) (PLA) and poly (ethylene oxides) (PEO) were compared to determine the influence of the number of arms on the ionization in matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionization time‐of‐flight (MALDI‐TOF) mass spectrometry. In this study, a variety of blends were prepared and investigated, including binary and ternary combinations of linear and star‐shaped polymers with similar molecular masses. The focus was on examining their intensity ratios. In equimolar binary PLA blends, polymer stars were observed to exhibit higher intensities than their linear counterparts. This result was supported by experiments with equimolar ternary PLA blends, which clearly demonstrated an intensity dependence on the number of polymer arms. It was observed that four‐arm PLA exhibited higher intensities than three‐arm PLA. A similar trend was observed in investigations involving acetylated polymer end groups, suggesting that differences in ionization are primarily influenced by polymer architecture rather than end groups. In order to validate this assumption, the binding energies for [polymer‐K] + adduct ions utilizing the most stable geometry obtained from GOAT (Global Optimizer Algorithm) were calculated, revealing that star‐shaped lower mass oligomers have slightly higher binding energies. KW - MALDI-TOF MS KW - Starlike polymers KW - Quantification KW - Topology PY - 2026 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-653401 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/jms.70023 SN - 1076-5174 VL - 61 IS - 1 SP - 1 EP - 12 PB - John Wiley & Sons Ltd. AN - OPUS4-65340 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Putzu, Mara A1 - Wiesner, Yosri A1 - Weimann, Christiane A1 - Hodoroaba, Vasile-Dan A1 - Muniategui Lorenzo, Soledad A1 - Fernández-Gonzáles, Verónica A1 - Booth, Andy M. A1 - Igartua, Amaia A1 - Benismail, Nizar A1 - Coïc, Laureen A1 - Chivas-Joly, Carine A1 - Fenoglio, Ivana A1 - Rossi, Andrea Mario A1 - Giovannozzi, Andrea Mario A1 - Altmann, Korinna T1 - Optimization of tablet processing as a reference material for microplastic detection methods N2 - Reference materials (RMs) are essential and highly demanded tools for the development and validation of methods for microplastic (MP) quantification in complex matrices, to ensure comparable and harmonized approaches aligned with EU commission criteria for monitoring MPs (e.g., Drinking Water Directive and Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive). This study investigates different approaches for optimizing the production of polypropylene (PP) RMs in the form of water-soluble tablets, which were carefully evaluated for their homogeneity and stability according to ISO Guide 30, ISO 33401, and ISO 33405. PP particles (1–100 μm) were produced by cryomilling and embedded in a lactose/PEG matrix, then pressed into tablets (18 µg theoretical PP mass). The production process was optimized by varying (i) the size distribution of the matrix components and (ii) the mixer instrument. The materials obtained were characterized by thermogravimetric analysis to assess the homogeneity distribution of MPs with respect to PP mass in the individual tablets and their stability over a 4-month period. The most promising approach, with a homogenous mass of 19 μg (standard deviation of 4 μg), relative standard deviation of 19%, was further investigated for homogeneity by comparison with thermo-analytical mass determination methods, such as TED-GC/MS (thermal extraction desorption-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry) and Py-GC/MS (pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry), and for number-based characterization using micro-Raman spectroscopy. Material characterization was also examined using laser diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and ATR-FTIR. Based on the results, the optimized processing protocol yields a PP RM suitable for quality control and method performance studies supporting standardization. KW - Microplastics KW - TED-GC/MS KW - Reference materials KW - Polypropylene PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-653290 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-025-06271-7 SN - 1618-2642 SP - 1 EP - 14 PB - Springer Science and Business Media LLC AN - OPUS4-65329 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Haugen, Øyvind P. A1 - Polanco-Garriz, Itziar A1 - Alcolea-Rodriguez, Victor A1 - Portela, Raquel A1 - Bæra, Rita A1 - Sadeghiankaffash, Hamed A1 - Hildebrandt, Jana A1 - Ciornii, Dmitri A1 - Altmann, Korinna A1 - Barbero, Francesco A1 - Fenoglio, Ivana A1 - Reinosa, Julián J. A1 - Fernández, José F. A1 - Katsumiti, Alberto A1 - Camassa, Laura M.A. A1 - Wallin, Håkan A1 - Zienolddiny-Narui, Shan A1 - Afanou, Anani K. T1 - Activation of Toll-like receptor 2 reveals microbial contamination beyond endotoxins on micro- and nanoplastics N2 - Current literature on health hazards associated with micro- and nanoplastics (MNPs) is largely influenced by studies that insufficiently account for potential microbial contamination of their test materials. This may lead to misinterpretation of outcomes, as the test materials may be incorrectly considered pristine MNPs. The present study screened eight MNP test materials for microbial contaminants using Toll-like receptor (TLR) reporter cells for TLR2 and TLR4 and the commonly used Limulus amebocyte lysate (LAL) assay. Our results show that MNPs testing negative for endotoxins, based on the absence of TLR4 activation and negative LAL results, may still contain microbial ligands that selectively activate TLR2. Moreover, five of the eight MNP test materials contained microbial ligands capable of activating TLR2 and/or TLR4. Compared to the LAL assay, TLR4-based screening effectively detected endotoxin contamination. Overall, we found that the TLR reporter cell assay provides broader coverage than the LAL assay in detecting microbial ligands, which appear to be highly prevalent in MNP test materials. KW - Nanoplastics KW - Microplastics KW - Microbial contamination PY - 2026 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-653286 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tiv.2025.106190 SN - 0887-2333 VL - 112 SP - 1 EP - 8 PB - Elsevier Ltd. AN - OPUS4-65328 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Cosimi, Andrea A1 - Stöbener, Daniel D. A1 - Nickl, Philip A1 - Schusterbauer, Robert A1 - Donskyi, Ievgen A1 - Weinhart, Marie T1 - Interfacial nanoengineering of hydrogel surfaces via block copolymer self-assembly N2 - Synthetic polymer hydrogels are valuable matrices for biotransformations, drug delivery, and soft implants. While the bulk properties of hydrogels depend on chemical composition and network structure, the critical role of interfacial features is often underestimated. This work presents a nanoscale modification of the gel−water interface using polymer brushes via a straightforward “grafting-to” strategy, offering an alternative to more cumbersome “grafting-from” approaches. Functional block copolymers with photoreactive anchor blocks are successfully self-assembled and UV-immobilized on hydrogel substrates despite their low solid content (<30 wt %). This versatile technique works on both bulk- and surface-immobilized hydrogels, demonstrated on poly(hydroxypropyl acrylate), poly(N-isopropylacrylamide), and alginate gels, allowing precise control over grafting density. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry revealed a homogeneous bilayered architecture. By “brushing-up”, the hydrogels’ interface can be tailored to enhance protein adsorption, improve cell adhesion, or impair the diffusive uptake of small molecules into the bulk gels. This effective interfacial nanoengineering method is broadly applicable for enhancing hydrogel performance across a wide range of applications. KW - Brushing-up KW - Benzophenone KW - LCTS-type polymer KW - Poly(glycidyl ether) (PGE) KW - Fibroblast adhesion KW - XPS KW - ToF-SIMS PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-652966 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.4c18632 SN - 1944-8244 VL - 17 IS - 6 SP - 10073 EP - 10086 PB - American Chemical Society (ACS) CY - Washington, DC AN - OPUS4-65296 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Smerechuk, Anastasiia A1 - Guilherme Buzanich, Ana A1 - Büchner, Bernd A1 - Wurmehl, Sabine A1 - Morrow, Ryan T1 - Synthesis and properties of Sr2La2NiW2O12, a new S = 1 triangular lattice magnet N2 - Magnetic materials featuring triangular arrangements of spins are frequently investigated as platforms hosting magnetic frustration. Hexagonal perovskites with ordered vacancies serve as excellent candidates for two-dimensional triangular magnetism due to the considerable separation of the magnetic planes. In this work, the effects of chemical pressure on the ferromagnetic ground state of Ba2La2NiW2O12 by substitution of Ba2+ with Sr2+ to produce Sr2La2NiW2O12 are investigated. The two materials are characterized using synchrotron-based XRD, XANES and EXAFS in addition to magnetometry in order to correlate their crystal structures and magnetic properties. Both materials form in space group R 3, yet as a result of the enhanced bending of key bond angles due to the effects of chemical pressure, the T C value of the magnetic Ni2+ sublattice is reduced from ∼6 K in Ba2La2NiW2O12 to 4 K in Sr2La2NiW2O12. KW - XRD KW - Magnetic materials KW - EXAFS PY - 2024 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-652982 DO - https://doi.org/10.1107/S2052520624007091 SN - 2052-5206 VL - 80 IS - 5 SP - 467 EP - 473 PB - International Union of Crystallography (IUCr) AN - OPUS4-65298 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Dumit, Verónica I. A1 - Furxhi, Irini A1 - Nymark, Penny A1 - Afantitis, Antreas A1 - Ammar, Ammar A1 - Amorim, Monica J. B. A1 - Antunes, Dalila A1 - Avramova, Svetlana A1 - Battistelli, Chiara L. A1 - Basei, Gianpietro A1 - Bossa, Cecilia A1 - Cimpan, Emil A1 - Cimpan, Mihaela Roxana A1 - Ciornii, Dmitri A1 - Costa, Anna A1 - Delpivo, Camilla A1 - Dusinska, Maria A1 - Fonseca, Ana Sofia A1 - Friedrichs, Steffi A1 - Hodoroaba, Vasile-Dan A1 - Hristozov, Danail A1 - Isigonis, Panagiotis A1 - Jeliazkova, Nina A1 - Kochev, Nikolay A1 - Kranjc, Eva A1 - Maier, Dieter A1 - Melagraki, Georgia A1 - Papadiamantis, Anastasios G. A1 - Puzyn, Tomasz A1 - Rauscher, Hubert A1 - Reilly, Katie A1 - Jiménez, Araceli Sánchez A1 - Scott‐Fordsmand, Janeck J. A1 - Shandilya, Neeraj A1 - Shin, Hyun Kil A1 - Tancheva, Gergana A1 - van Rijn, Jeaphianne P. M. A1 - Willighagen, Egon L. A1 - Wyrzykowska, Ewelina A1 - Bakker, Martine I. A1 - Drobne, Damjana A1 - Exner, Thomas E. A1 - Himly, Martin A1 - Lynch, Iseult T1 - Challenges and Future Directions in Assessing the Quality and Completeness of Advanced Materials Safety Data for Re‐Usability: A Position Paper From the Nanosafety Community N2 - Ensuring data quality, completeness, and interoperability is crucial for progressing safety research, Safe‐and‐Sustainable‐by‐Design approaches, and regulatory approval of nanoscale and advanced materials. While the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Re‐usable) principles aim to promote data re‐use, they do not address data quality, essential for data re‐use for advancing sustainable and safe innovation. Effective quality assurance procedures require (meta)data to conform to community‐agreed standards. Nanosafety data offer a key reference point for developing best practices in data management for advanced materials, as their large‐scale generation coincided with the emergence of dedicated data quality criteria and concepts such as FAIR data. This work highlights frameworks, methodologies, and tools that address the challenges associated with the multidisciplinary nature of nanomaterial safety data. Existing approaches to evaluating the reliability, relevance, and completeness of data are considered in light of their potential for integration into harmonized standards and adaptation to advance material requirements. The goal here is to emphasize the importance of automated tools to reduce manual labor in making (meta)data FAIR, enabling trusted data re‐use and fostering safer, more sustainable innovation of advanced materials. Awareness and prioritization of these challenges are critical for building robust data infrastructures. KW - Advanced materials KW - Safety data KW - Re-usability KW - Nanosafety KW - SSbD KW - FAIR KW - Standardisation PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-652918 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/adsu.202500567 SN - 2366-7486 SP - 1 EP - 18 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim AN - OPUS4-65291 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kricheldorf, Hans R. A1 - Weidner, Steffen A1 - Meyer, Andreas T1 - Poly(butylene terephthalate): About condensation, cyclization, degradation and elimination reactions in the solid state, and the role of smooth crystal surfaces N2 - Three commercial poly(butylene terephthalate) (PBT) samples - Pocan B1300 (B13), Pocan B1600 (B16), and Addigy P 1210 (AP121) - served as the starting materials for the annealing experiments, which were conducted with and without the addition of esterification and transesterification catalysts. The catalysts used were Sn(II) 2-ethylhexanoate (SnOct₂), Zr(IV) acetylacetonate, and 4-toluene sulfonic acid (TSA). Temperatures varied between 150 and 210 °C. The PBT samples were characterized using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), gel permeation chromatography (GPC), small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (MALDI TOF) mass spectrometry. The MALDI mass spectra of all three samples differed greatly but displayed mass peaks of cycles. Similar results were produced by annealing with SnOct₂ or Zr(acac)₄, which favored the formation of even-numbered cycles within the mass range below m/z 5000, along with slow degradation. TSA favored a more intensive degradation without the formation of cycles or even with the destruction of cycles. PBT chains with two carboxylic (COOH) end groups were the most stable species under all circumstances. The origin of the extremely high melting point of AP121 (241–242 °C) can be explained by the smoothing of crystallite surfaces via transesterification. The results suggest that combining MALDI mass spectrometry and SAXS measurements provides a new way to better understand the solid-state chemistry of PBT and related polyesters. KW - MALDI-TOF MS KW - Polybutylene Terephthalate KW - Crystallization KW - solid state KW - cyclization PY - 2026 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-652844 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymdegradstab.2025.111862 SN - 0141-3910 VL - 245 SP - 1 EP - 11 PB - Elsevier Ltd. AN - OPUS4-65284 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Habibimarkani, Heydar A1 - Radnik, Jörg A1 - Hodoroaba, Vasile-Dan A1 - John, Elisabeth T1 - Probing Surface Changes in Fe–Ni Oxide Nanocatalysts with a ToF-SIMS-Coupled Electrochemistry Setup and Principal Component Analysis N2 - Understanding catalyst surface dynamics under operating conditions is essential for improving electrocatalytic performance. Here, we present a novel approach combining electrochemical treatment with contamination-free transfer to Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (ToF-SIMS), followed by principal component analysis (PCA), to probe surface and interfacial changes in Ni–Fe oxide nanoparticles stabilized by polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) during the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). The surface analysis at three distinct treatment stages revealed distinct chemical fingerprints across pristine nanoparticles, after exposure to 1 M KOH electrolyte, and after cyclic voltammetry treatment. The results highlight a progressive transition from ligand-rich to ligand-depleted interfaces, with PVP-related fragments dominant in the early stages and metal- and electrolyte-derived species emerging after activation. Complementary ToF-SIMS analysis of electrolyte deposited on Si wafers after each treatment step confirms the concurrent leaching of PVP and Fe–Ni-based fragments during OER. These findings underscore the dynamic nature of catalyst–electrolyte interfaces and demonstrate a robust strategy for monitoring surface-sensitive chemical changes associated with the nanoparticles, especially during the initial cycles of the OER. KW - Fe-Ni oxide KW - Nanocatalysts KW - ToF-SIMS KW - Electrochemistry KW - PCA (principal component analysis) KW - OER PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-652667 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.5c03894 SN - 0003-2700 SP - 1 EP - 8 PB - American Chemical Society (ACS) AN - OPUS4-65266 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rossi, Andrea A1 - Corrao, Elena A1 - Alladio, Eugenio A1 - Drobne, Damjana A1 - Hodoroaba, Vasile-Dan A1 - Jurkschat, Kerstin A1 - Kononenko, Veno A1 - Madbouly, Loay Akmal A1 - Mrkwitschka, Paul A1 - Yasamin, Nakhli A1 - Novak, Sara A1 - Radnik, Jörg A1 - Saje, Špela A1 - Santalucia, Rosangela A1 - Sordello, Fabrizio A1 - Pellegrino, Francesco T1 - Multivariate optimization and characterization of graphene oxide via design of experiments and chemometric analysis N2 - Controlling the structure and properties of graphene oxide (GO) remains a challenge due to the poor reproducibility of conventional synthetic protocols and limited understanding of parameter-property relationships. In this study, we present an integrated analytical framework that combines Design of Experiments (DoE) with chemometric modelling to systematically assess the effects of eight synthesis variables on GO’s physicochemical and functional features. A Plackett–Burman experimental design enabled efficient screening of synthesis conditions, while comprehensive characterization (spanning UV–Vis spectroscopy, XPS, SEM–EDX, TEM–EDX, and XRD) was coupled with multivariate tools (Principal Component Analysis and Multiple Linear Regression) to identify statistically significant correlations between synthetic inputs and material responses. Notably, we demonstrate that UV–Vis spectra can serve as a robust proxy for oxidation state, offering a rapid and accessible alternative to surface-sensitive methods. The approach yields a predictive analytical toolkit for guiding GO synthesis and highlights a generalizable strategy for the rational design of flat nanomaterials. This work supports reproducible, resource-efficient material development aligned with Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) principles. KW - Graphene oxide KW - 2D-materials KW - Design of Experiment KW - Synthesis KW - Chemometric analysis PY - 2026 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-652576 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.flatc.2025.100988 SN - 2452-2627 VL - 55 SP - 1 EP - 9 PB - Elsevier B.V. AN - OPUS4-65257 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Madbouly, Loay Akmal A1 - Sturm, Heinz A1 - Doolin, Alexander A1 - Hodoroaba, Vasile-Dan A1 - Radnik, Jörg T1 - Chemical Analysis of Commercial Functionalized Graphene Nanoplatelets along the Production Process with Raman Spectroscopy and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy N2 - Commercial applications increasingly rely on functionalized graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) supplied as powders, aqueous suspensions, and printable inks, yet their process−structure−property relationships across the production chain remain to be fully mapped. Here we apply a correlative Raman spectroscopy (Raman) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) workflow to nine independent industrial graphene batches spanning three surface chemistries, raw (R), fluorinated (F), and nitrogen-functionalized (N), in all three physical forms which are powders, suspensions, and inks. Raman mapping (with a 532 nm excitation laser) showed that I2D/IG is highest for N samples and lowest for R-ink. A 2D-vs-G correlation places all samples on a trajectory parallel to the pure-doping vector, which can correlate to holes in the graphene lattice. The mean point-defect spacing is LD = 8.4−10.0 nm. High-resolution XPS resolves the accompanying chemical changes: F-powder exhibits distinct C−F (289 eV), C−F2 (292 eV), and C−F3 (293 eV) components and loses roughly half its F content upon dispersion in deionized water or ink formulation; inks of all chemistries show a pronounced O−C=O peak near 289−290 eV originated from the ink compounds. N-functionalized samples showed a prominent C−N (285.5 eV) only for the ink formulated N-functionalized sample. This study establishes a process-aware blueprint linking the functionalization route and formulation step to lattice disorder and surface chemistry, offering transferable quality-control metrics for graphene supply chains in industrial products/applications such as coatings, storage devices, and printed electronics. KW - Functionalized graphene KW - Raman Spectroscopy KW - XPS KW - Chemical analysis PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-652548 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.5c06820 SN - 1932-7447 VL - 129 IS - 50 SP - 22033 EP - 22040 PB - American Chemical Society (ACS) AN - OPUS4-65254 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Amiri, Hesam A1 - Nikookhesal, Aidin A1 - Murugan, Divagar A1 - Scholz, Stefan A1 - Frentzen, Michael A1 - Cao, Yuan A1 - Nickl, Philip A1 - Radnik, Jörg A1 - Stockmann, Jörg M. A1 - Vu, Xuan-Thang A1 - Narayanan, Madaboosi S. A1 - Knoch, Joachim A1 - Ingebrandt, Sven A1 - Adeli, Mohsen A1 - Pachauri, Vivek T1 - High precision correlative analysis of dielectric behavior evolution and anisotropy in graphene oxide thin film as a function of thermal annealing parameters N2 - Graphene oxide (GO) and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) attract keen interest from different science and technology sectors owing to their tunable material characteristics dependent on C/O ratio. Thermal annealing in different gaseous environments serves as an effective approach to manipulate the C/O ratio in graphitic lattice, making it suitable for various electronic, optical and composites applications. Despite regular use of thermal annealing, systematic studies on dielectric properties evolution in GO against different annealing parameters remain elusive. This work reports on a reliable approach that adopts a joint Raman Spectroscopy, Mueller Matrix Spectroscopic Ellipsometry (MMSE) and high-precision electrical impedance spectroscopy (HP-EIS) framework for studying the evolution of dielectric behavior and anisotropies in GO. The experimental platform involved lithography-defined GO patterns connected to metal microelectrodes and glass passivation for protection from gaseous environments during annealing and measurements using Raman, MMSE and HP-EIS. The presented study delineates the effects of annealing parameters such as temperature, heating rate, and gaseous environment on GO permittivity. Novel findings include the discovery of a direct relationship between heating rate and dielectric properties, as well as determination of vertical limitation of MMSE for permittivity distribution characterization in GO, for the first time, to be around 8 nm. KW - Thermal annealing KW - Reduced graphene oxide KW - Thin films KW - 2D materials KW - Spectroscopic ellipsometry PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-652428 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nwnano.2025.100130 SN - 2666-9781 VL - 11 SP - 1 EP - 10 PB - Elsevier Ltd. AN - OPUS4-65242 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Durlo Tambara, Luís Urbano A1 - Nikoonasab, Ali A1 - Radtke, Martin A1 - de Oliveira Guilherme Buzanich, Ana A1 - Gluth, Gregor T1 - Determination of the oxidation depths of ground granulated blast furnace slag-containing cement pastes using Mn K-edge X-ray absorption near-edge structure spectroscopy N2 - The redox potential of the pore solution of hardened cements containing ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) affects reinforcement corrosion and immobilization of radioactive waste. Here, Mn K-edge X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy was applied to determine the depth profile of the oxidation state of manganese in hardened GGBFS-containing cement pastes. Manganese was oxidized in the outer regions of some of the pastes, but the depth to which this occurred was not identical with the ‘blue-green/white color change front’, usually interpreted as indicating oxidation of sulfur species. For CEM III/B, the color change of the material was gradual and thus unsuitable for a precise determination of the oxidation depth, while for the alkali-activated slag, a distinct color change front was found, but full oxidation of manganese and sulfur had not occurred in the brighter region. Mn K-edge XANES spectroscopy is thus a more reliable method than the determination of the visual color change front to follow the ingress of the oxidation front. KW - Manganese KW - Oxidation KW - Sulfide KW - Alkali-activated materials KW - Redox conditions PY - 2026 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-651469 DO - https://doi.org/10.1111/jace.70445 SN - 0002-7820 SN - 1551-2916 VL - 109 IS - 1 SP - 1 EP - 11 PB - Wiley CY - Oxford AN - OPUS4-65146 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schmalz, Alina A1 - Eby, Charles Gaston A1 - Moss, Caitlin A1 - Bhattacharya, Biswajit A1 - Emmerling, Franziska T1 - Thermally Robust 1D Cu(I) Phosphonate Coordination Polymer Exhibiting Enhanced Proton Conductivity via Humidity‐Driven Pathways N2 - The development of thermally stable solid-state proton conductors (SSPCs) is crucial for advancing energy-conversion devices such as proton-exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). In this work, we report the solvothermal synthesis and characterization of a novel, 1D Cu(I) coordination polymer, {Cu(ADP)0.5(BPY)}n (BAM-5), based on anthracenediylphosphonate (H2ADP) and 4,40 -bipyridine (BPY). Single-crystal X-ray diffraction revealed that BAM-5 crystallizes in the triclinic space group P1 and shows a 1D ladder structure connected by the H2ADP and organic BPY linkers, which is assembled into a 2D layer via O−H···O hydrogen bonding interactions between uncoordinated oxygen and the O−H of the phosphonate group. Thermogravimetric and dynamic water sorption analysis demonstrated exceptional thermal robustness of BAM-5 until 230°C and notable water affinity. Proton conductivity measurements found increasing proton conductive properties with increasing temperature and relative humidity.The latter is correlated with the material’s water uptake since the structure itself does not contain any permanent lattice water molecules. A maximum proton conductivity of 6.6 × 10−6 S cm−1 was found at 80°C and 98% RH. To the best of our knowledge, no dense, nonporous 1D coordination polymer without lattice or coordinated solvent molecules has shown comparable proton con� ductivity. The high activation energy suggests a combination of both, a Grotthuss-type proton hopping through the hydrogen� bonded framework, and a vehicular process, in which protons are carried along with absorbed water molecules. KW - Coordination polymers KW - Phosphonate ligand KW - Proton conduction KW - X-ray diffraction PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-651382 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/zaac.202500187 SN - 0044-2313 SP - 1 EP - 8 PB - Wiley VHC-Verlag AN - OPUS4-65138 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schusterbauer, Robert A1 - Schünemann, Pia A1 - Nickl, Philip A1 - Er, Jasmin A1 - Kämmer, Victoria A1 - Junge, Florian A1 - Fazzani, Salim A1 - Mrkwitschka, Paul A1 - Meermann, Björn A1 - Haag, Rainer A1 - Donskyi, Ievgen T1 - Bifunctional Reduced Graphene Oxide Derivatives for PFOA Adsorption N2 - Innovative materials are crucial for removing persistent pollutants per‐ and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) from water. Here, a novel bifunctional reduced graphene oxide (TRGO) adsorbent is developed and characterized by advanced surface sensitive methods. Compared to pristine TRGO, the functionalized TRGO shows markedly improved PFAS removal efficiency and demonstrates strong potential for water purification applications. KW - Adsorber KW - PFAS KW - HR-CS-GFMAS PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-651238 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/ceur.202500240 SN - 2751-4765 SP - 1 EP - 7 PB - Wiley VHC-Verlag AN - OPUS4-65123 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kittner, Maria A1 - Bauer, Vanessa A1 - Altmann, Korinna A1 - Kraft, Oliver A1 - Nordmann, Thomas A1 - Kalbe, Ute T1 - Mikroplastik-Austrage aus Kunststoffrasenplatzen ins Grundwasser N2 - Sportplätze aus Kunststoffrasen haben sich im Breitensport etabliert, weshalb ihre Anzahl jährlich zunimmt. Dabei werden Umwelt- und Gesundheitsrisiken, insbesondere durch Mikroplastik-Austräge, kontrovers diskutiert. Um die ungenügende Datenlage zur Menge des Austrages an Mikroplastik zu verbessern, haben sich zwei individuelle Studien mit dieser Forschungsfrage mit Fokus auf den Boden-Grundwasser-Pfad befasst, deren Ergebnisse hier erstmalig gemeinsam vorgestellt werden. Die erste Studie simulierte unter Laborbedingungen Mikroplastik-Emissionen von drei Kunststoffrasen-Szenarien in unterschiedlichen Alterungszuständen und analysierte thermoanalytisch. Die zweite Studie untersuchte Grundwasser-Proben von zwei Realsportplätzen, die 1 m unter dem Grundwasserspiegel entnommen und spektroskopisch untersucht wurden. Dies ermöglicht erstmalig einen Vergleich von Mikroplastik-Austrägen über das Sickerwasser in verschiedenen Bodentiefen. Die Labor-Ergebnisse ergaben je nach Alterungszustand des Kunststoffrasenplatzes Mikroplastik-Emissionen zwischen < 0,1 μg/L und 26,8 μg/L in 30 cm Bodentiefe. Wohingegen in den Grundwasser-Proben der Realsportplätze ab 4 m Bodentiefe keine Kunststoffrasen-Partikel detektiert wurden. Dies deutet darauf hin, dass vermehrt Mikroplastik durch Alterung aus Kunststoffrasen entsteht und im Sickerwasser ausgetragen wird, aber der Boden Mikroplastik- Partikel ≥ 5 μm durch Filtrationseffekte zurückhält, sodass diese im Grundwasser nicht nachweisbar waren. KW - Kunststoffrasen, Alterung, Mikroplastik, Elution, Schadstoffe PY - 2025 DO - https://doi.org/10.37307/j.1868-7741.2025.04.05 SN - 1868-7741 VL - 30 IS - 4 SP - 156 EP - 161 PB - Erich Schmidt Verlag GmbH & Co. KG AN - OPUS4-65098 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hachet, G. A1 - Wei, S. A1 - Tehranchi, Ali A1 - Dong, X. A1 - Lestang, J. A1 - Zhang, A. A1 - Sun, B. A1 - Zaefferer, S. A1 - Gault, B. A1 - Ponge, D. A1 - Raabe, D. ED - Tehranchi, Ali T1 - Protection of metal interfaces against hydrogen-assisted cracking N2 - Enabling a hydrogen economy requires the development of materials resistant to hydrogen embrittlement (HE). More than 100 years of research have led to several mechanisms and models describing how hydrogen interacts with lattice defects and leads to mechanical property degradation. However, solutions to protect materials from hydrogen are still scarce. Here, we investigate the role of interstitial solutes in protecting critical crystalline defects sensitive to hydrogen. Ab initio calculations show that boron and carbon in solid solutions at grain boundaries can efficiently prevent hydrogen segregation. We then realized this interface protection concept on martensitic steel, a material strongly prone to HE, by doping the most sensitive interfaces with different concentrations of boron and carbon. These segregations, in addition to stress relaxations, critically reduce the hydrogen ingress by half, leading to an unprecedented resistance against HE. This tailored interstitial segregation strategy can be extended to other metallic materials susceptible to hydrogen-induced interfacial failure. KW - Hydrogen embrittlement KW - interstitial PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-650881 DO - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-67310-6 SN - 2041-1723 VL - 16 SP - 1 EP - 11 PB - Springer Science and Business Media LLC AN - OPUS4-65088 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - del Rocío Silva-Calpa, Leydi A1 - de Souza Bernardes, Andrelaine A1 - de Avillez, Roberto Ribeiro A1 - Smales, Glen J. A1 - Camarena, Mariella Alzamora A1 - Ramos Moreira, Carla A1 - Zaitsev, Volodymyr A1 - Archanjo, Braulio Soares A1 - Letichevsky, Sonia T1 - From support to shell: An innovative design of air-stable nano zero-valent iron–nickel catalysts via structural self-assembly N2 - This work presents the design of air-stable core–shell zero-valent iron–nickel nanofilaments supported on silica and zeolite, developed to overcome the oxidation limitations of nano zero-valent iron in environmental catalysis. The nanofilaments feature ∼ 100 nm iron–nickel cores surrounded by ultrafine iron-rich threads embedded with aluminates and silicates, originating from partial support dissolution during synthesis. By varying the iron reduction time, three catalysts were prepared: one on silica reduced for 30 min, and two on zeolite reduced for 30 and 15 min. They were thoroughly characterized using nitrogen physisorption, X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy with elemental analysis, Mössbauer spectroscopy, and small-angle X-ray scattering. The zeolite-supported catalyst reduced for 15 min showed the highest activity for hexavalent chromium reduction (rate constant 8.054 min−1), attributed to a higher fraction of reactive iron–nickel phases formed under shorter reduction. Its tailored core–shell structure improves air stability and surface reactivity, highlighting its potential as a next-generation zero-valent iron nanocatalyst for aqueous remediation KW - nanofilaments KW - Core–shell nanostructures KW - Air-stable nanomaterials KW - Structure-controlled FeNi nanoparticles KW - Hexavalent chromium reduction KW - X-ray scattering KW - MOUSE PY - 2025 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mtcomm.2025.114142 SN - 2352-4928 VL - 49 SP - 1 EP - 15677 PB - Elsevier Ltd. AN - OPUS4-65087 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Berry, Charlotte A. A1 - Reinart, Katre A1 - Smales, Glen J. A1 - Wilkinson, Holly N. A1 - Hardman, Matthew J. A1 - Marchesini, Sofia A1 - Lee, William A1 - Nery, Eveliny Tomás A1 - Moghaddam, Zarrin A1 - Hoxha, Agron A1 - Felipe-Sotelo, Mónica A1 - Gutierrez-Merino, Jorge A1 - Carta, Daniela T1 - Hierarchically porous copper and gallium loaded sol–gel phosphate glasses for enhancement of wound closure N2 - In this work, we have developed hierarchically porous phosphate-based glasses (PPGs) as novel materials capable of promoting wound closure and simultaneously delivering antibacterial effects at the glass-biological tissue interface. PPGs are characterised by extended porosity, which enhances the controlled release of therapeutic ions, whilst facilitating cell infiltration and tissue growth. Two series of PPGs in the systems P2O5–CaO–Na2O–CuO and P2O5–CaO–Na2O–Ga2O3 with (CuO and Ga2O3 0, 1, 5 and 10 mol%) were manufactured using a supramolecular sol–gel synthesis strategy. Significant wound healing promotion (up to 97%) was demonstrated using a human ex vivo wound model. A statistically significant reduction of the bacterial strains Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli was observed in both series of PPGs, particularly those containing copper. All PPGs exhibited good cytocompatibility on keratinocytes (HaCaTs), and analysis of PPG dissolution products over a 7-day period demonstrated controlled release of phosphate anions and Ca, Na, Cu, and Ga cations. These findings indicate that Cu- and Ga-loaded PPGs are promising materials for applications in soft tissue regeneration given their antibacterial capabilities, in vitro biocompatibility with keratinocytes and ex vivo wound healing properties at the biomaterial-human tissue interface. KW - Porous glass KW - Phosphates KW - Wound healing materials KW - Antibacterial KW - X-ray scattering KW - MOUSE PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-650867 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/d5tb01945a SN - 2050-750X VL - 13 IS - 48 SP - 15662 EP - 15677 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) AN - OPUS4-65086 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ankli, P. P. A1 - Abdelwahab, A. A. A1 - Logachov, A. A1 - Bugiel, R. A1 - Drobne, D. A1 - Novak, S. A1 - Kranjc, E. A1 - Saje, S. A1 - Pellegrino, F. A1 - Alladio, E. A1 - Sordello, F. A1 - Corrao, E. A1 - Hodoroaba, Vasile-Dan A1 - Radnik, Jörg A1 - Mrkwitschka, Paul A1 - Madbouly, Loay Akmaal A1 - Akdemir, Yücel A1 - Gulumian, M. A1 - Wepener, V. A1 - Andraos, C. A1 - Boodhia, K. A1 - Jones, E. A1 - Doolin, A. A1 - Leuchtenberg, K. A1 - Valsami Jones, E. A1 - Rocca, C. A1 - Ibrahim, B. A1 - Singh, D. A1 - Chakraborty, S. A1 - Jurkschat, K. A1 - Johnston, C. A1 - Van Der Zande, M. A1 - Fernandez, D. A1 - Queipo, P. A1 - Clifford, C. A1 - Hardy, B. T1 - Knowledge Infrastructure supporting image-based characterisation of 2D graphene materials N2 - As part of the European Horizon ACCORDs project, advanced methods are being developed for the image-based characterisation of 2D nanomaterials. Given the complexity of this task, robust nd wellorganised data management is critical to ensuring high-quality outcomes. To support this, we have established a knowledge infrastructure that serves as the central repository for protocols, images and experimental data which are stored in a standardised, harmonised manner and in accordance with the FAIR principles – Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable and open science. This machine-readable framework enables the systematic and computationally automated correlation of image features with experimental descriptors, facilitating accurate material characterisation and transparent reporting which is all integrated in the ACCORDs KI. KW - Graphene-related 2D materials (GR2M) KW - 2D materials KW - Knowledge infrastructure KW - Characterisation PY - 2025 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.toxlet.2025.07.660 SN - 0378-4274 VL - 411 SP - S281 EP - S282 PB - Elsevier B.V. AN - OPUS4-65061 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Tavernaro, Isabella A1 - Rajotte, Isabelle A1 - Thibeault, Marie-Pier A1 - Sander, Philipp C. A1 - Kodra, Oltion A1 - Lopinski, Gregory A1 - Radnik, Jörg A1 - Johnston, Linda J. A1 - Brinkmann, Andreas A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute T1 - Quantifying surface groups on aminated silica nanoparticles of different size, surface chemistry, and porosity with solution NMR, XPS, optical assays, and potentiometric titration N2 - We assessed the quantification of surface amino functional groups (FGs) for a large set of commercial and custom-made aminated silica nanoparticles (SiO2 NPs) with sizes of 20–100 nm, prepared with different sol–gel routes, different amounts of surface amino FGs, and different porosity with four methods providing different, yet connected measurands in a bilateral study of two laboratories, BAM and NRC, with the overall aim to develop standardizable measurements for surface FG quantification. Special emphasis was dedicated to traceable quantitative magnetic resonance spectroscopy (qNMR) performed with dissolved SiO2 NPs. For the cost efficient and automatable screening of the amount of surface amino FGs done in a first step of this study, the optical fluorescamine assay and a potentiometric titration method were utilized by one partner, i.e., BAM, yielding the amount of primary amino FGs accessible for the reaction with a dye precursor and the total amount of (de)protonatable FGs. These measurements, which give estimates of the minimum and maximum number of surface amino FGs, laid the basis for quantifying the amount of amino silane molecules with chemo-selective qNMR with stepwise fine-tuned workflows, involving centrifugation, drying, weighting, dissolution, measurement, and data evaluation steps jointly performed by BAM and NRC. Data comparability and relative standard deviations (RSDs) obtained by both labs were used as quality measures for method optimization and as prerequisites to identify method-inherent limitations to be later considered for standardized measurement protocols. Additionally, the nitrogen (N) to silicon (Si) ratio in the near-surface region of the SiO2 NPs was determined by both labs using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), a well established surface sensitive analytical method increasingly utilized for microparticles and nano-objects which is currently also in the focus of international standardization activities. Overall, our results underline the importance of multi-method characterization studies for quantifying FGs on NMs involving at least two expert laboratories for effectively identifying sources of uncertainty, validating analytical methods, and deriving NM structure–property relationships. KW - Advanced Materials KW - Amino Groups KW - Calibration KW - Characterization KW - Functional groups KW - Method Comparison KW - Nano Particle KW - Validation KW - XPS KW - Optical Assay KW - Quantification KW - Surface Analysis KW - Reference Materials KW - Synthesis KW - Fluorescence PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-649992 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/d5na00794a VL - 7 IS - 21 SP - 6888 EP - 6900 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry AN - OPUS4-64999 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Tehranchi, Ali A1 - Hickel, Tilmann A1 - Neugebauer, J. T1 - Hydrogen enhanced dislocation cross-slip in polycrystalline nickel N2 - Hydrogen embrittlement (HE), degradation of the mechanical properties of metals due to the presence of hydrogen, is a persistent problem that has been attracting the attention of the material science community for about fifteen decades. Extensive experimental observations indicate the presence of nanovoids and the increase of free volume at the grain boundaries in hydrogen contaminated metals. This rate-dependent phenomenon motivates theoretical investigations of the underlying mechanisms. Here, a hydrogen enhanced cross-slip (HECS) mechanism in the close vicinity of the grain boundaries is demonstrated by direct molecular dynamics simulations and theoretical calculations. To this end, the interaction of screw dislocations with a variety of symmetric tilt grain boundaries in H-charged and H-free bicrystalline nickel is examined. The presence of segregated H atoms at the grain boundaries induces a stress field in their vicinity, and thus,- the barrier for cross-slip of screw dislocations considerably decreases. The enhanced cross-slip of dislocations facilitates the formation of jogs on bowedout dislocations. These jogs can form vacancies during the glide process. This mechanism of defect production shows nanoscale evidence of enhanced vacancy formation and subsequent increase in the free volume along the grain boundaries in the presence of H. KW - Hydrogen embrittlement KW - Dislocation KW - Grain boundary KW - Void formation PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-649858 DO - https://doi.org/10.1103/7l8f-3fbm SN - 2475-9953 VL - 9 IS - 12 SP - 1 EP - 16 PB - American Physical Society (APS) AN - OPUS4-64985 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Parthasarathy, Thiyagaraj A1 - Bhowmik, Aritra A1 - Bhattacharya, Biswajit A1 - Mishra, Manish Kumar A1 - Ghosh, Soumyajit T1 - Reversible twisting-induced crystalline–polycrystalline transformation in cyanoacrylate crystals N2 - Centimeter-long single crystals of cyanoacrylate derivatives exhibit 1D elasticity, 2D plasticity and can be manually twisted and untwisted without any visible fractures, demonstrating exceptional mechanical flexibility and structural resilience. KW - Weak intermolecular interactions KW - Crystals KW - Mechanical flexiblity KW - Micro-focus Raman spectroscopy KW - Single-crystal X-ray diffraction PY - 2025 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/D5CC05852J SN - 1359-7345 SP - 1 EP - 4 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) AN - OPUS4-64962 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Heinekamp, Christian A1 - Palmer, Tahlia M. A1 - Al‐Sabbagh, Dominik A1 - May, Anastasia A1 - Prinz, Carsten A1 - Michalik, Stefan A1 - Michalchuk, Adam A. L. A1 - Emmerling, Franziska T1 - Pre‐Activation as a Route for Tuning the Kinetics of Mechanochemical Transformations N2 - Learning to control reaction kinetics is essential for translating any chemical technology into real‐world application. Based on time‐resolved in situ powder X‐ray diffraction data, we demonstrate the opportunity to tune mechanochemical reaction rates through the pre‐activation of the starting reagents. For three model co‐crystal systems, the pre‐activation of the most stable reagent yields up to a ca 10‐fold increase in the reaction rate, whilst negligible kinetic enhancement is seen when the less stable reagent is pre‐activated. Moreover, we demonstrate how the polymorphic outcome of mechano‐co‐crystallization is also sensitive to pre‐activation of the starting material. Our results suggest that reproducibility of mechanochemical processes requires detailed understanding over the origin and history of reagent powders, whilst providing a new conceptual framework to design and control mechanochemical reactions. KW - Mechanochemistry KW - In situ synthesis PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-649409 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202516632 SN - 1433-7851 SP - 1 EP - 7 PB - Wiley VHC-Verlag AN - OPUS4-64940 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Eiby, Simon H. J. A1 - Tobler, Dominique J. A1 - Voigt, Laura A1 - van Genuchten, Case M. A1 - Bruns, Stefan A1 - Jensen, Kirsten M. Ø. A1 - Stawski, Tomasz M. A1 - Wirth, Richard A1 - Benning, Liane G. A1 - Stipp, S. L. S. A1 - Dideriksen, Knud T1 - Topotactic Redox-Catalyzed Transformation of Iron Oxides N2 - Fe oxides frequently exist in systems containing both Fe(II) and Fe(III), where their reactivity is enhanced and where interfacial electron transfer from Fe(II) adsorbed to the solids causes the transformation of metastable Fe oxides. Here, we contribute to the understanding of such a transformation using green rust sulfate (GR) synthesized in the presence or absence of Si or Al as the starting material. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and pair distribution function (PDF) analyses showed that (i) rapid oxidation by Cr(VI) caused transformation to Fe oxyhydroxide with short-range ordering, with a pattern identical to that reported for the oxidation of isolated GR hydroxide sheets (i.e., a trilayer of Fe with both edge- and corner-sharing polyhedra) and (ii) goethite formed at the expense of the short-range-ordered Fe oxyhydroxide when residual Fe(II) was present, particularly when Si was absent. This is consistent with the Fe(II)-catalyzed transformation of the short-range-ordered Fe oxyhydroxide. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM) showed that the two oxidation products coexisted within individual particles and that particle shape and the crystallographic orientation of both products were inherited from the original GR crystals, i.e., they had formed through topotactic transformation. We interpret that the structural reorganization to goethite occurred either in response to distortions caused by polaron movement or as a result of electron transfer reactions occurring at internal surfaces. Once nucleated, goethite growth can be sustained by dissolution–reprecipitation. KW - Iron oxide KW - Electron microscopy KW - Pair distribution funvtion KW - Total scattering PY - 2025 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/acsearthspacechem.5c00220 SN - 2472-3452 SP - 1 EP - 12 PB - American Chemical Society (ACS) AN - OPUS4-64924 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rösler, Alexander A1 - Weidner, Steffen A1 - Klamroth, Tillmann A1 - Müller, Axel HE A1 - Schlaad, Helmut T1 - Kinetics of anionic polymerization of β‐myrcene in hydrocarbon solvents N2 - AbstractThe kinetics of anionic polymerization of β‐myrcene initiated by sec‐butyllithium were examined in saturated and unsaturated hydrocarbon solvents, i.e. cyclohexane, cyclohexene, 4‐vinylcyclohexene and dl‐limonene. Polymerizations usually proceeded in a living manner, i.e. in the absence of termination and chain transfer reactions, in all solvents, to produce well‐defined polymyrcenes with high content (85%) of cis‐1,4 units. However, polymyrcenyllithium chains exhibited limited long‐term stability in 4‐vinylcyclohexene solution, most probably due to chain transfer to solvent. Reaction orders with respect to the concentration of active chains were found to be one‐quarter in cyclohexane increasing to one‐half in unsaturated solvents, indicating that the polymyrcenyllithium chains are present as tetrameric or dimeric associates, respectively. Apparent activation energies were found to be 81 kJ mol−1 in cyclohexane and 77 kJ mol−1 in dl‐limonene solution, which are close to the values obtained by quantum chemical calculations. © 2025 The Author(s). Polymer International published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry. KW - Myrcene KW - Anionic polymerization KW - MALDI TOF MS PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-649039 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/pi.6772 SN - 0959-8103 SP - 1 EP - 8 PB - Wiley AN - OPUS4-64903 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bui, Minh A1 - Heinekamp, Christian A1 - Fuhry, Emil A1 - Weidner, Steffen A1 - Radnik, Jörg A1 - Ahrens, Mike A1 - Scheurell, Kerstin A1 - Balasubramanian, Kannan A1 - Emmerling, Franziska A1 - Braun, Thomas T1 - Lewis-acid induced mechanochemical degradation of polyvinylidene fluoride: transformation into valuable products N2 - Polyvinylidene fluoride (–[CH2CF2]n–, PVDF) waste poses significant environmental challenges due to its recalcitrant nature and widespread use. This study addresses the end-of-life management of PVDF by introducing a novel, sustainable mechanochemical approach for its valorisation. We investigated the degradation of PVDF into value-added materials using ball milling with anhydrous AlCl3 to achieve a quantitative mineralisation producing AlF3 and halide-functionalised graphite, along with gaseous products (HCl and CH4). Mechanistic key steps involve Lewis-acid catalysed C–F bond activation, dehydrofluorination and aromatisation. This approach provides an effective solution for PVDF waste management while offering a promising route for the production of high-value materials from polymer waste streams. Our findings contribute to sustainable practices in polymer recycling and resource recovery, respond to pressing environmental concerns associated with fluoropolymer disposal, and demonstrate the potential to convert polymer wastes into useful products. KW - Mechanochemistry KW - Polyvinylidenfluoride KW - Degradation KW - Ball mill PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-649015 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/d5sc05783c SN - 2041-6520 VL - 16 IS - 40 SP - 18903 EP - 18910 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) AN - OPUS4-64901 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Risse, Kerstin A1 - Nikiforidis, Constantinos V. A1 - Morris, Imogen A1 - Thünemann, Andreas A1 - Drusch, Stephan T1 - Regulating the heat stability of protein-phospholipid stabilised oil-water emulsions by changing the phospholipid headgroup or fatty acyl chain N2 - Stabilising oil–water emulsions remains a central challenge across food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic applications. β-lactoglobulin (β-LG) and phospholipids (PLs) can act synergistically at oil-water interfaces: PLs adsorb rapidly, while β-LG forms a viscoelastic protein network that enhances long-term stability. However, competitive adsorption between proteins and PLs can disrupt interfacial structure. In addition, for commercial production, emulsions are often exposed to heat treatment during or after manufacture, for instance due to food safety requirements. Yet, the combined effects of PL structure and heat treatment on interfacial organisation and emulsion stability remain poorly understood. Here we show that PL saturation and processing temperature jointly determine interfacial organisation, protein-PL interactions and emulsion stability. Using β-LG-PL emulsions, we combined ζ-potential measurements, small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), micro-differential scanning calorimetry (μDSC), X-ray diffraction and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) to link interfacial composition with functional stability. Below the β-LG denaturation temperature (≤75 °C), saturated PLs promoted partial unfolding of β-LG at the interface without displacement, producing mixed protein-PL networks with enhanced viscoelasticity and stability. Unsaturated PLs displaced β-LG, yielding less elastic interfaces and promoting protein aggregation in the bulk. At ≥75 °C, increased hydrophobicity intensified protein-protein interactions irrespective of PL type. Our findings reveal that saturated PLs shift the β-LG denaturation temperature upward by restricting molecular mobility, without preventing quaternary-level protein-protein interactions. Thermal denaturation, regardless of PL type, promoted interfacial multilayer formation at 90 °C. These results provide a mechanistic framework for tailoring emulsion stability via lipid saturation and processing temperature. KW - Small-angle X-ray scattering KW - SAXS KW - Nanostructure KW - Reference Method KW - Colloid KW - Nanoparticle PY - 2026 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-648956 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcis.2025.139530 SN - 0021-9797 VL - 705 SP - 1 EP - 25 PB - Elsevier Inc. AN - OPUS4-64895 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hoque, Maroof Arshadul A1 - Sommerfeld, Thomas A1 - Lisec, Jan A1 - Das, Prasenjit A1 - Prinz, Carsten A1 - Heinekamp, Christian A1 - Stolar, Tomislav A1 - Etter, Martin A1 - Rosenberger, David A1 - George, Janine A1 - Bhattacharya, Biswajit A1 - Emmerling, Franziska T1 - Mechanochemically Synthesized Covalent Organic Framework Effectively Captures PFAS Contaminants N2 - Per‐ and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are persistent environmental contaminants that pose significant health risks, prompting urgent efforts to develop effective removal methods and adsorbers. Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are metal‐free adsorbers with high stability and tunable porosity. A highly crystalline COF is synthesised mechanochemically using 1,3,5‐tris(4‐aminophenyl)benzene (TAPB) and 1,3,5‐triformylbenzene (TFB). The formation dynamics are monitored in real time with time‐resolved in situ synchrotron X‐ray diffraction. The TAPB‐TFB COF demonstrates good efficiency in eliminating PFAS from water. Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) are effectively extracted, and most of the adsorption occurred within the first 10 min. Additionally, X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and DFT calculations are employed to elucidate the molecular interactions between PFAS and the COF framework. The rapid and efficient removal of PFAS makes TAPB‐TFB COF a promising material for water treatment applications. KW - COFs KW - Ball-milling KW - PFAS PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-648712 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.202509275 SN - 1613-6810 VL - 21 IS - 44 SP - 1 EP - 8 PB - Wiley CY - Weinheim AN - OPUS4-64871 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Adamski, Paweł A1 - Zgrzebnicki, Michał A1 - Albrecht, Aleksander A1 - Jurkowski, Artur A1 - Wojciechowska, Agnieszka A1 - Ekiert, Ewa A1 - Sielicki, Krzysztof A1 - Mijowska, Ewa A1 - Smales, Glen J. A1 - Maximenko, Alexey A1 - Moszyński, Dariusz T1 - Ammonia synthesis over γ-Al2O3 supported Co-Mo catalysts N2 - Novel ammonia synthesis catalysts are sought due to energetic transformation and increasing environmental consciousness. Materials containing cobalt and molybdenum are showing state-of-art activities in ammonia synthesis. The application of γ-alumina support was proposed to enhance the properties of Co-Mo nanoparticles. The wet impregnation of the support was conducted under reduced pressure. The active catalysts were obtained by ammonolysis of precursors. The chemical and phase composition, as well as morphology, porosity, and surface composition of precursors and catalysts, were characterized. The Co-Mo nanoparticles phase composition as well as their size and dispersion were determined using X-ray absorption spectroscopy utilizing synchrotron radiation, electron microscopy, and X-ray scattering. The catalytic activity was tested in the ammonia synthesis process under atmospheric pressure. The activity and stability of the supported catalysts were compared with unsupported cobalt molybdenum nitride Co3Mo3N, revealing the superiority of the present approach. KW - Ammonia synthesis KW - Supported catalyst KW - Cobalt molybdenum nitrides KW - Scattering KW - X-ray scattering KW - Gamma-alumina KW - Stability PY - 2025 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mcat.2025.114907 SN - 2468-8231 VL - 575 SP - 1 EP - 9 PB - Elsevier B.V. AN - OPUS4-64827 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Silbernagl, Dorothee A1 - Kömmling, Anja A1 - Zaghdoudi, Maha A1 - Ghasem Zadeh Khorasani, Media A1 - Jaunich, Matthias T1 - Data-driven nanomechanical study of filled fluoroelastomer aged in air and hydrogen atmosphere N2 - Fluoroelastomer (FKM) composites are typically used as sealing materials in challenging non-ambient environments. Depending on the environment, two main aging mechanisms, chemical aging, and physical aging, can be identified. Chemical aging, the degradation of the elastomer, is present for example in thermal-oxidative conditions and can be directly observed as it affects the bulk. Physical aging, relaxation and rearrangement of the elastomers segmental conformation is commonly observed at elevated temperatures and effects predominantly the elastomer interphase. As a highly localized nanoscopic effect it is usually observed indirectly by phenomological approaches and not systematically understood. In this study, as a typical example for chemical aging, filled FKM was aged in air (150°C, 100 days). Physical aging of FKM was realized by exposure to chemically inert H2 (150°C, 50 bar, 100 days), since temperature and gas-induced swelling is known to promote physical aging. The effects of both conditions are directly compared with the initial unaged material. We use atomic force microscopy (AFM) force spectroscopy as a method to resolve nanoscopic heterogeneous FKM. With this method the effect of aging on the spatially distinguishable material phases was directly observed. In thermal oxidative aged FKM the matrix shows a decrease in van der Waals interactions and stiffness, indicating dehydrofluorination and chain scission. In H2 aged FKM, the development of an immobilized amorphous interphase (IAP) was observed, indicating physical aging. By additionally evaluating a larger data set with supervised machine learning, these observations were validated for a larger, statistically representative sample area, allowing conclusions to be drawn about the macroscopic behaviour of the material. KW - Fluoroelastomer KW - Atomic force microscopy KW - Data-driven KW - Hydrogen KW - Ageing mechanism KW - Physical aging KW - Polymer interphase PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-648154 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymdegradstab.2025.111715 SN - 0141-3910 VL - 242 SP - 1 EP - 10 PB - Elsevier Ltd. CY - Amsterdam AN - OPUS4-64815 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Batatia, Ilyes A1 - Benner, Philipp A1 - Chiang, Yuan A1 - Elena, Alin M. A1 - Kovács, Dávid P. A1 - Riebesell, Janosh A1 - Advincula, Xavier R. A1 - Asta, Mark A1 - Avaylon, Matthew A1 - Baldwin, William J. A1 - Berger, Fabian A1 - Bernstein, Noam A1 - Bhowmik, Arghya A1 - Bigi, Filippo A1 - Blau, Samuel M. A1 - Cărare, Vlad A1 - Ceriotti, Michele A1 - Chong, Sanggyu A1 - Darby, James P. A1 - De, Sandip A1 - Della Pia, Flaviano A1 - Deringer, Volker L. A1 - Elijošius, Rokas A1 - El-Machachi, Zakariya A1 - Fako, Edvin A1 - Falcioni, Fabio A1 - Ferrari, Andrea C. A1 - Gardner, John L. A. A1 - Gawkowski, Mikołaj J. A1 - Genreith-Schriever, Annalena A1 - George, Janine A1 - Goodall, Rhys E. A. A1 - Grandel, Jonas A1 - Grey, Clare P. A1 - Grigorev, Petr A1 - Han, Shuang A1 - Handley, Will A1 - Heenen, Hendrik H. A1 - Hermansson, Kersti A1 - Ho, Cheuk Hin A1 - Hofmann, Stephan A1 - Holm, Christian A1 - Jaafar, Jad A1 - Jakob, Konstantin S. A1 - Jung, Hyunwook A1 - Kapil, Venkat A1 - Kaplan, Aaron D. A1 - Karimitari, Nima A1 - Naik, Aakash A. A1 - Csányi, Gábor T1 - A foundation model for atomistic materials chemistry N2 - Atomistic simulations of matter, especially those that leverage first-principles (ab initio) electronic structure theory, provide a microscopic view of the world, underpinning much of our understanding of chemistry and materials science. Over the last decade or so, machine-learned force fields have transformed atomistic modeling by enabling simulations of ab initio quality over unprecedented time and length scales. However, early machine-learning (ML) force fields have largely been limited by (i) the substantial computational and human effort required to develop and validate potentials for each particular system of interest and (ii) a general lack of transferability from one chemical system to the next. Here, we show that it is possible to create a general-purpose atomistic ML model, trained on a public dataset of moderate size, that is capable of running stable molecular dynamics for a wide range of molecules and materials. We demonstrate the power of the MACE-MP-0 model—and its qualitative and at times quantitative accuracy—on a diverse set of problems in the physical sciences, including properties of solids, liquids, gases, chemical reactions, interfaces, and even the dynamics of a small protein. The model can be applied out of the box as a starting or “foundation” model for any atomistic system of interest and, when desired, can be fine-tuned on just a handful of application-specific data points to reach ab initio accuracy. Establishing that a stable force-field model can cover almost all materials changes atomistic modeling in a fundamental way: experienced users obtain reliable results much faster, and beginners face a lower barrier to entry. Foundation models thus represent a step toward democratizing the revolution in atomic-scale modeling that has been brought about by ML force fields. KW - Materials Design KW - Thermal Conducitivity KW - Nanoparticles KW - Batteries PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-647829 DO - https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0297006 SN - 0021-9606 VL - 163 IS - 18 SP - 1 EP - 89 PB - AIP Publishing AN - OPUS4-64782 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mishra, Rajesh K. A1 - Minussi, F.B. A1 - Kumari, Priyanka A1 - Shahi, Rohit R. A1 - Yadav, R.P. A1 - Emmerling, Franziska A1 - Araújo, E.B. T1 - Effect of sintering temperature on structural, microstructural, and dielectric properties of (Co0.2Fe0.2Ni0.2Al0.2Ti0.2)3O4 multi-cations high entropy oxides N2 - The study reports the effect of sintering temperature on structural, microstructural, and dielectric properties of (Co0.2Fe0.2Ni0.2Al0.2Ti0.2)3O4 spinel high-entropy oxides (HEOs) synthesized through the solid-state mechanochemistry method. The sintering of the ceramic powders was accomplished at three different temperatures (1000 ◦C, 1100 ◦C, and 1250 ◦C), followed by air quenching. XRD analysis along with Le-Bail refinement confirms that 1100 ◦C and 1250 ◦C sintered oxides comprised of a single cubic spinel phase (Fd3m), while 1000 ◦C sintered oxide contains constituent oxides and a spinel phase. The phase formation of oxides sintered at 1100 ◦C and 1250 ◦C has also been confirmed by Raman spectroscopic analysis. Microstructural analysis revealed that the aggregated particle size increases with the rise in sintering temperature. With the change in sintering temperature, the dielectric behavior of the ceramic changed extensively. The 1100 ◦C sintered ceramic exhibits high frequency-dependent behavior, whereas the 1250 ◦C sintered ceramic yields low frequency-dependent behavior. The 1250 ◦C sintered HEO exhibits low-loss tangent (tan δ = 0.01) with higher dielectric permittivity (εʹ = 44) at high frequency (1 MHz) compared to the 1100 ◦C sintered ceramic and many other conventional dielectrics. Fractal concept and impedance analysis have been employed to correlate the microstructure-dielectric property relation of (Co0.2Fe0.2Ni0.2Al0.2Ti0.2)3O4 spinel HEOs. The found Hurst exponent values for both different temperature-sintered HEOs are less than 0.5, indicating the anti-persistent behavior. This signifies that the height variations at neighboring pixels are negatively correlated. The present work is of fundamental importance in employing fractal analysis for the first time on spinel HEOs and correlating their properties. It also shows that processing conditions can effectively tailor the dielectric properties of the materials. KW - Multi-cations high entropy oxide KW - Mechanochemistry KW - Spinel structure KW - Fractal and impedance spectroscopic analysis PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-647584 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ceramint.2025.09.256 SN - 0272-8842 VL - 51 IS - 27 SP - 55341 EP - 55354 PB - Elsevier Ltd. AN - OPUS4-64758 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hallier, Dorothea C. A1 - Radnik, Jörg A1 - Dietrich, Paul M. A1 - Seitz, Harald A1 - Hahn, Marc Benjamin T1 - Radiation damage to amino acids, peptides and DNA-binding proteins: the influence of water directly monitored by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy N2 - Ionizing radiation damage to biomolecules plays a crucial role in radiotherapy as a cancer treatment. Among these, DNA-binding proteins are of particular interest due to their pivotal roles in shielding DNA and facilitating its repair. Hence, in this study, we present first-ever recorded data of radiation damage to a protein monitored directly with near-ambient pressure (NAP) X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) under a water atmosphere. This surface sensitive technique was used to in situ damage and probe gene-V protein (G5P, a model DNA-binding protein) under wet NAP conditions and dry vacuum (UHV) conditions to determine the effect of water on the radiation response. In addition, the X-ray radiation damage to selected pure amino acids and short homopeptides was determined to better understand the variety of damage mechanisms within the complex protein. In dry samples, drastic chemical changes were detected in all biomolecules dominated by fragmentation processes. Here, the breakage of peptide bonds in the peptides and the protein are dominant. Surprisingly, hydration – despite introducing additional indirect damage pathways via water radiolysis – led to a reduction in overall radiation damage. This behaviour was attributed to hydration-dependent changes in reaction rates and respective deexcitation and damaging channels within the molecules and secondary species such as low-energy (LEE), (pre)-hydrated/(pre)-solvated electrons and radical species such as hydroxyl radicals. KW - Radiation damage KW - (Near-ambient pressure) X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy KW - Ultra-high vacuum PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-647565 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/d5cp01887k VL - 27 IS - 48 SP - 1 EP - 22 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry AN - OPUS4-64756 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Cancella, Erick Paiva A1 - de Paula Guarnieri, Guilherme A1 - de Sousa Amadeu, Nader A1 - Radtke, Martin A1 - Garcia, Rodrigo Henrique A1 - de Azevedo, Eduardo Ribeiro A1 - Cosentino, Ivana Conte A1 - Mascarenhas, Yvonne Primerano A1 - Nery, José Geraldo T1 - Synthesis and physicochemical characterization of a novel bismuth silicate templated by tetrapropylammonium bromide and polydiallyldimethylammonium chloride N2 - A bismuth silicate (BiSi-1) was hydrothermally synthesized using tetrapropylammonium bromide (TPA·Br) as the organic structure-directing agent and shown by multi-scale characterization to be distinct from known Bi–silicates. Powder X-ray diffraction is indexable with an orthorhombic metric (a = 23.234 Å, b = 17.109 Å, c = 3.897 Å), consistent with a highly anisotropic, possibly layered framework. High-resolution TEM/SAED reveals nanocrystalline, plate-like domains assembled into sub-micrometric aggregates with locally oriented lamellae; lattice fringes (0.27–0.32 nm) match the strongest XRD spacings. Solid-state NMR establishes a silica-rich network with a dominant Q4 population (77%) and minor Q3 (11%) and Q2 (12%) sites; the contact-time dependence of 1H to 29Si cross-polarization is consistent with increasing proximal-proton density from Q4 to Q2. Aging to 24 h sharpens the 29Si lineshape, while calcination progressively removes the OSDA and vicinal hydroxyls; at 750 °C, 29Si spectra indicate framework densification/rearrangement. XANES/EXAFS places bismuth predominantly as Bi3+ in an oxide-like environment with a pronounced Bi–O first shell and no detectable Bi⁰ or Bi–Br contributions. ICP–OES yields a reproducible Bi/Si atomic ratio of 1:3. Thermogravimetry shows stepwise desorption, dehydroxylation, and template removal, with thermal stability maintained to 750 °C. Nitrogen sorption confirms mesoporosity in the as-made and Soxhlet-extracted solids (the latter exhibiting the highest surface area), whereas high-temperature calcination reduces porosity. Collectively, BiSi-1 emerges as a nanocrystalline, anisotropic Bi–silicate whose connectivity, local Bi–O environment, and accessible texture are tunable by aging and post-treatments, positioning it as a promising platform for heterogeneous catalysis and environmental remediation. KW - 29Si NMR KW - Bismuth KW - Silicate PY - 2025 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-025-11732-6 SN - 0022-2461 VL - 60 IS - 45 SP - 22615 EP - 22635 PB - Springer Science and Business Media LLC AN - OPUS4-64755 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Dudziak, Mateusz A1 - Riechers, Birte A1 - Maaß, Robert A1 - Michalchuk, Adam A1 - Schönhals, Andreas A1 - Szymoniak, Paulina T1 - Beyond conventional calorimetry: Unlocking thermal characterization with fast scanning techniques N2 - Fast scanning calorimetry (FSC) has emerged as a transformative technique in thermal analysis, enabling the investigation of rapid and kinetically driven thermal transitions that are inaccessible to conventional differential scanning calorimetry. This review highlights the capabilities enabled by FSC for studying a wide range of materials under extreme thermal conditions, including polymers, pharmaceuticals, metallic glasses, nanocomposites, and hydrogels. By employing ultrafast heating and cooling rates, FSC allows for the suppression of crystallization, resolution of weak transitions, and analysis of thermally labile or size-limited samples. The technique is particularly valuable for probing glass transitions, relaxation phenomena, and phase behavior in systems with complex morphologies or confined geometries. Case studies demonstrate the use of FSC in characterizing vitrification, physical aging, and interfacial dynamics, as well as its application in emerging fields such as additive manufacturing, supramolecular systems, and neuromorphic materials. Together, these examples underscore the role that FSC plays in advancing the understanding of structure-property relationships across diverse material classes. KW - Flash DSC KW - Calorimetry KW - Glass transition PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-647405 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tca.2025.180177 VL - 754 SP - 1 EP - 14 PB - Elsevier B.V. AN - OPUS4-64740 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gomes, Bruna F. A1 - Prokop, Martin A1 - Bystron, Tomas A1 - Loukrakpam, Rameshwori A1 - Melke, Julia A1 - Lobo, Carlos M. S. A1 - Fink, Michael A1 - Zhu, Mengshu A1 - Voloshina, Elena A1 - Kutter, Maximilian A1 - Hoffmann, Hendrik A1 - Yusenko, Kirill V. A1 - de Oliveira Guilherme Buzanich, Ana A1 - Röder, Bettina A1 - Bouzek, Karel A1 - Paulus, Beate A1 - Roth, Christina T1 - Following Adsorbed Intermediates on a Platinum Gas Diffusion Electrode in H3PO3-Containing Electrolytes Using In Situ X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy N2 - One of the challenges of high-temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells is the poisoning of the Pt catalystwith H3PO4. H3PO4 is imbibed into the routinely used polybenzimidazole-based membranes, which facilitate Proton conductivity in the temperature range of 120−200 °C. However, when leached out of the membrane by water produced during operation, H3PO4 adsorbs on the Pt catalyst surface, blocking the active sites and hindering the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). The reduction of H3PO4 to H3PO3, which occurs at the anode due to a combination of a low potential and the presence of gaseous H2, has been investigated as an additional important contributing factor to the observed poisoning effect. H3PO3 has an affinity toward adsorption on Pt surfaces even greater than that of H2PO4 −. In this work, we investigated the poisoning effect of both H3PO3 and H3PO4 using a half-cell setup with a gas diffusion electrode under ambient conditions. By means of in situ X-ray absorption spectroscopy, it was possible to follow the signature of different species adsorbed on the Pt nanoparticle catalyst (H, O, H2PO4 −, and H3PO3) at different potentials under ORR conditions in various electrolytes (HClO4, H3PO4, and H3PO3). It was found that H3PO3 adsorbs in a pyramidal configuration P(OH)3 through a Pt−P bond. The competition between H3PO4 and H3PO3 adsorption was studied, which should allow for a better understanding of the catalyst poisoning mechanism and thus assist in the development of strategies to mitigate this phenomenon in the future by minimizing H3PO3 generation by, for example, improved catalyst design or adapted operation conditions or changes in the electrolyte composition. KW - H3PO4 life cycle KW - XAS KW - In situ coupling KW - High-temperature fuel cells KW - H3PO3, KW - Δμ XANES PY - 2022 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/acscatal.2c02630 SN - 2155-5435 VL - 12 IS - 18 SP - 11472 EP - 11484 PB - American Chemical Society (ACS) AN - OPUS4-64733 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Chemello, Giovanni A1 - Radnik, Jörg A1 - Hodoroaba, Vasile-Dan T1 - XPS–SEM/EDS Tandem Analysis for the Elemental Composition of Functionalized Graphene Nanoplatelets N2 - Over the past decade, energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS) with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) has advanced to enable the accurate analysis of light elements such as C, N, or O. For this reason, EDS is becoming increasingly interesting as an analytical method for the elemental analysis of functionalized graphene and could be an attractive alternative to Xray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), which is considered the most important method for elemental analysis. In this study, comparative XPS and EDS investigations under different excitation conditions are carried out on commercially available powders containing graphene particles with different morphologies. The slightly different XPS/HAXPES and EDS results can be explained by the different information depths of the methods and the functionalization of the particle surfaces. For the material with smaller graphene particles and higher O/C ratios, all methods reported a lower O/C ratio in pellets compared with the unpressed powder samples. This clearly shows that sample preparation has a significant influence on the quantification results, especially for such a type of morphology. Overall, the study demonstrates that EDS is a reliable and fast alternative to XPS for the elemental quantification of functionalized graphene particles, provided that differences in the information depth are taken into account. Particle morphology can be examined in parallel with quantitative element analysis, since EDS spectrometers are typically coupled with SEM, which are available in a huge number of analytical laboratories. KW - Graphene oxide KW - SEM/EDS KW - XPS/HAXPES KW - Elemental composition KW - Functionalization PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-647294 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.5c07830 SN - 2470-1343 SP - 1 EP - 7 PB - American Chemical Society (ACS) AN - OPUS4-64729 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Monikh, Fazel A. A1 - Materić, Dušan A1 - Valsami-Jones, Eugenia A1 - Grossart, Hans-Peter A1 - Altmann, Korinna A1 - Holzinger, Rupert A1 - Lynch, Iseult A1 - Stubenrauch, Jessica A1 - Peijnenburg, Willie T1 - Challenges in studying microplastics in human brain N2 - Human exposure to microplastics and nanoplastics (MNPs) is an emerging concern with potential implications for health. As awareness of this issue grows, it has prompted increasing scientific attention toward understanding if, and how, MNPs accumulate in human tissues. In a recent study, Nihart et al.1 used the analytical technique of pyrolysis gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (Py-GC–MS) to detect MNPs in human liver, kidney and brain, reporting the highest concentrations in the brain, with polyethylene as the predominant polymer. The study as reported appears to face methodological challenges, such as limited contamination controls and lack of validation steps, which May affect the reliability of the reported concentrations. In this Matters Arising, we highlight methodological limitations that have General relevance for advancing robust and reproducible MNP detection in human biomonitoring studies. KW - Microplastics KW - Nanoplastics KW - Py-GC-MS PY - 2025 DO - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-025-04045-3 SN - 1078-8956 VL - 31 IS - 12 SP - 1 EP - 3 PB - Springer Science and Business Media LLC AN - OPUS4-64698 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hörmann, Anja F. A1 - Simon, Miriam A1 - Brückner, Christoph A1 - Rogers, Sarah E. A1 - Porcar, Lionel A1 - Hoffmann, Ingo A1 - Gradzielski, Michael T1 - Line tension controls the spontaneous formation of vesicles N2 - Mixtures of the zwitterionic surfactant TDMAO and the anionic surfactant LiPFOS spontaneously self-assemble into well defined vesicles. The size of these vesicles is determined by the ratio of bending rigidity and line tension. By partially charging TDMAO, and thereby moving more to a catanionic system, the size of these vesicles can be controlled. Using stopped flow small angle neutron scattering we monitor the kinetics of vesicle formation and obtain their final size. Neutron spin echo spectroscopy allows for an independent measurement of the vesicle’s bending rigidity. Combining this bending rigidity with the radius of newly formed vesicles, which is determined by the ratio of bending rigidity and line tension, we can determine the line tension. We find that it is the line tension that controls the trend in size of the vesicles. In summary, this means that here one has a surfactant mixture that delivers well-defined vesicles, whose size is controlled by the electrostatic interactions of the head groups. KW - Self-assembly KW - Small unilamellar vesicles KW - Small-angle neutron scattering KW - Line tension KW - Neutron spin-echo spectroscopy KW - Stopped-flow KW - Bending rigidity KW - Surfactant mixture PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-646964 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/D5SM00600G SN - 1744-683X VL - 21 IS - 43 SP - 8360 EP - 8367 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) AN - OPUS4-64696 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Putzu, Mara A1 - Barbaresi, Marta A1 - Fadda, Marta A1 - Sacco, Alessio A1 - Piergiovanni, Maurizio A1 - Masino, Matteo A1 - Bianchi, Federica A1 - Altmann, Korinna A1 - Benismail, Nizar A1 - Coïc, Laureen A1 - Fenoglio, Ivana A1 - Mattarozzi, Monica A1 - Rossi, Andrea Mario A1 - Careri, Maria A1 - Giovannozzi, Andrea Mario T1 - Accuracy assessment of a micro-Raman spectroscopy method for small microplastic particles in infant milk formula N2 - The presence of microplastics (MPs) in the food chain is increasingly documented, raising concerns over potential risks to human health. Despite growing efforts, standardized methods for MPs detection in food matrices remain limited. This study presents an interlaboratory comparison (ILC) aimed at assessing the accuracy and comparability of an analytical approach for the identification and quantification of small MPs (5–100 μm) in infant milk powder using μ-Raman spectroscopy and a representative polyethylene terephthalate (PET) reference material (RM). The RM, formulated as water-soluble tablets, was designed to replicate the morphology, size distribution, and polymer composition of environmentally relevant MPs, and was previously assessed for homogeneity and stability for mass fraction and particle numbers. The approach was assessed using two PET RM batches with different MPs particle numbers (high load batch: 1759 ± 141 MPs; low load batch: 160 ± 22 MPs), subjected to an enzymatic–chemical digestion, followed by μ-Raman analysis performed independently in two laboratories with different instruments and operators. Results are reported as absolute particle counts per analyzed sample and demonstrated excellent recovery across all size classes, including the smallest particles (down to 5 μm), with recovery rates ranging from 82 % to 88 %, in good agreement with the RM reference values. The analytical approach proved to be robust, reproducible, and suitable for low-level MPs quantification in complex food matrices, supporting ongoing efforts toward method harmonization and standardization for reliable MPs monitoring in the food sector. KW - Microplastics KW - Milk KW - Raman microspectroscopy PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-646239 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.talo.2025.100586 SN - 2666-8319 VL - 12 SP - 1 EP - 8 PB - Elsevier B.V. AN - OPUS4-64623 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Macchietti, Laura A1 - Casali, Lucia A1 - Emmerling, Franziska A1 - Braga, Dario A1 - Grepioni, Fabrizia T1 - Deriving kinetic insights from mechanochemically synthesized compounds using multivariate analysis (MCR-ALS) of powder X-ray diffraction data N2 - Kinetics information on the progress of the mechanochemical reactions is key to their understanding and subsequent scale-up. For crystalline materials, the most robust and tested method for obtaining kinetic data is the Quantitative Phase Analysis (QPA) via Rietveld refinement. In this work, we tested the feasibility of the Multivariate Curve Resolution-Alternating Least Squares (MCR-ALS) method on powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) data of mechanochemical processes by studying the system theophylline (TP) and malonic acid (MA) in a 1 : 1 stoichiometric ratio at different milling conditions. We have highlighted the strengths and weaknesses of the MCR-ALS method, and we demonstrated why it may be an alternative route to obtain quantitative information on mechanochemical kinetics. KW - Mechanochemistry PY - 2024 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-646115 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/d3mr00013c SN - 2976-8683 VL - 1 IS - 1 SP - 106 EP - 115 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) AN - OPUS4-64611 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Lopes, Chrystal A1 - Casali, Lucia A1 - Emmerling, Franziska A1 - Leyssens, Tom A1 - Dupray, Valérie A1 - Brandel, Clement A1 - Cartigny, Yohann T1 - Efficient racemization of the pharmaceutical compound Levetiracetam using solvent-free mechanochemistry N2 - We present the racemization of an active pharmaceutical ingredient Levetiracetam using a novel approach. We demonstrate the design of a 100% solvent-free process that proceeds by high energy milling inside a regular mixer mill. The kinetics of the racemization process is drastically improved compared to the solution-based approach and illustrates the tremendous potential of mechanochemistry. In this study, we highlight the importance of mixing efficiency regarding data reproducibility, and we show, in particular, that water contamination has a negative impact on the reaction rate. Moreover, in situ X-ray diffraction gives us first insights into the mechanisms involved in the solid state during the mechanochemical racemization process. KW - Mechanochemistry PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-646108 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/d4mr00103f SN - 2976-8683 VL - 2 IS - 1 SP - 83 EP - 90 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) AN - OPUS4-64610 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ferreira, Daniela R. A1 - Portet, Anaïs A1 - Alves, Paula C. A1 - Rijo, Patrícia A1 - Gomes, Clara S. B. A1 - Duarte, M. Teresa A1 - Halasz, Ivan A1 - Colacino, Evelina A1 - Emmerling, Franziska A1 - André, Vânia T1 - Modulating the crystalline forms of silver–sulfadiazine complexes by mechanochemistry N2 - Mechanochemical synthesis of pharmaceutical compounds has gained significant attention due to its potential to overcome traditional synthetic challenges while offering the possibility of improving the physicochemical properties of drugs. This study delves into the mechanochemical synthesis of silver sulfadiazine (AgSD) coordination compounds, obtained under different mechanochemical stress and processing conditions. The aim of this work was to investigate the influence of mechanochemical conditions on the selectivity in the preparation of AgSD coordination compounds. Through a series of experiments, we demonstrate the successful synthesis of two different AgSD coordination networks, using high-energy ball milling. By strategically manipulating the starting materials and milling parameters — including milling time, milling frequency, type of mechanical stress (as determined by different milling devices), and the presence of co-milling agents — we were able to control the product outcome. As a result, we achieved two different forms of silver-sulfadiazine metal frameworks, one of which was not previously disclosed. The crystal structure of the new form, obtained from high resolution PXRD synchrotron data, was compared with the previously known structure of a silver sulfadiazine compound. The in-depth antimicrobial activity systematic study of these AgSD forms on the generic systems showed increased antibacterial activity when compared to sulfadiazine. This research sheds light on the mechanochemical synthesis of silver sulfadiazine complexes. The obtained knowledge may guide the development of novel synthetic strategies for other drug molecules, leading to improved drug performance, stability, and therapeutic outcomes. KW - Mechanochemistry KW - Structure solution PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-646099 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/d5ce00572h SN - 1466-8033 SP - 1 EP - 12 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) AN - OPUS4-64609 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Batteas, James A1 - Blank, Kerstin G. A1 - Colacino, Evelina A1 - Emmerling, Franziska A1 - Friščić, Tomislav A1 - Mack, James A1 - Moore, Jeffrey A1 - Rivas, Maria Elena A1 - Tysoe, Wilfred T1 - Moving mechanochemistry forward N2 - Arguably mechanochemistry is one of the oldest, and at the same time one of the newest, areas of chemistry. One of the oldest, because it has been theorized that early hominids were able to develop rapidly due to their ability to heat and mechanically process their food to make it easier to digest. Old, because the ancient Greeks knew that mechanically activating stones (consisting of cinnabar) with vinegar in a copper pestle and mortar caused them to convert into mercury. We might be forgiven for thinking that this could have led our alchemical forbears to wonder if there were other stones that might also be persuaded to convert into gold. Early chemical luminaries such as Michael Faraday and Wilhelm Röntgen dabbled in mechanochemistry. However, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the field developed separately in many areas. Perhaps most significantly, synthetic chemists realized that reactions could be carried out with surprisingly high yields and selectivities by shaking them in a ball mill, and that they could even make novel compounds that their colleagues just using heat were not able to. Physicists were mechanically rearranging atoms into new configurations (i.e., doing chemistry) using exotic means such as atomic force microscope tips and optical tweezers. Scientists and engineers studying the formation of lubricious and anti-wear films realized that they were mechanochemically formed. Biochemists found molecular motor proteins, such as myosin and kinesin, that were able to convert chemical energy into motion or, vice versa, mechanical energy into the biochemical energy storage molecule adenosine triphosphate. In 2023, this confluence of advances convinced the Royal Society of Chemistry that the time was ripe to establish a new journal dedicated to the field of mechanochemistry. It is rare that a journal has the privilege of helping to create a new sub-branch of chemistry but, having done so, it has the obligation of helping to define the field and, optimistically, suggesting how the field might develop. This editorial has two major goals. The first is to bring to the attention of the scientific community the challenges faced by the field to set people thinking about how they might contribute and, second, to form the basis for more thorough discussions in the future. The sub-topics below outline current thoughts brought forward from members of our editorial board. We lay out areas and topics here with the intent of establishing a new editorial series, which we invite the community to contribute to, and outline topics and hopefully lay out challenges, which will enable us as a community to come together to move mechanochemistry forward. KW - Mechanochemistry PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-646086 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/d4mr90021a SN - 2976-8683 VL - 2 IS - 1 SP - 10 EP - 19 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) AN - OPUS4-64608 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Cope, Elana J. A1 - Bustamante, Joana A1 - Johnson, Zöe M. A1 - Lancaster, Alicia A1 - Gurunathan, Ramya A1 - George, Janine A1 - Agne, Matthias T. T1 - Heat capacity estimation of complex materials for energy technologies N2 - The control of heat in energy materials is one of the greatest current engineering challenges. Accurate estimations of heat capacity are key in creating and using materials safely and efficiently. Current models for heat capacity are often limited due to crude estimations of the phonon density of states, which is a key component of the thermodynamic definition of heat capacity. Utilization of a more detailed phonon density of states, which can easily be obtained from machine-learned algorithms, combined with dilation and electronic contributions, yields heat capacity estimations that are 29% better than the widely utilized Debye model and are comparable to state-of-the-art quantum mechanical calculations. The framework and necessary tools for heat capacity estimations demonstrated herein can be built into more detailed models and analyses, such as high-throughput characterization, transport models, or other thermodynamic assessments. Consequently, the so-called vibrational + dilation + electronic (VDE) model of heat capacity developed in this work better enables the informed design of next-generation devices. KW - Materials Design KW - Heat Capacity KW - Machine learning potentials KW - Thermal Management PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-645711 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joule.2025.102054 SN - 2542-4351 VL - 9 IS - 8 SP - 1 EP - 12 PB - Elsevier Inc. AN - OPUS4-64571 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kittner, Maria A1 - Coesfeld, Bianca A1 - Schlau, Sven A1 - Werischak, Thomas A1 - Altmann, Korinna A1 - Kalbe, Ute T1 - Simultaneous sampling for microplastics and environmental contaminants from artificial turf: development of a new integrated microplastics eluate lysimeter N2 - To get a better understanding of potentially harmful contaminant emissions from soils or materials into the environment, politics demand practical and holistic sampling concepts for environmental samples such as leachates containing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) or heavy metals, and hazardous particulate matter like microplastics (MP). Of particular concern are MP emissions from artificial turf sports pitches. So far, there has been only very limited data on MP mass emissions from artificial turf potentially posing a risk to the groundwater and no sampling device that allowed simultaneous sampling for dissolved and particulate contaminants. In this study, a novel integrative microplastics eluate lysimeter was developed to determine contaminant emissions from three artificial turf systems at different ageing states (fabric-new, artificially aged, real-time aged). For the accelerated ageing, all environmental simulation parameters were based on Central German conditions and simulated outdoor stress during the turf service lifespan of 15 years. MP masses from eluates were analysed using thermal extraction desorption-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, PAH concentrations using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry and heavy metals using inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy. Results showed that no PAH or heavy metal concentrations from the seepage water were above German legal limits for alternative granular construction materials considering soil and groundwater protection. Furthermore, it was found that only minimal MP emissions were released from new turf systems into the seepage water (< 1 mg/m2). Ageing of the artificial turf increased MP formation, especially from rubber infill and grass fibres, which are then carried into the seepage water. The highest total MP emissions over a simulated turf lifespan of 15 years were detected in two real-time aged turf systems ranging from 136.4–252.5 mg/m2. Considerably less total MP emissions were detected in accelerated aged artificial turf systems, one of which contained a synthetic rubber infill (5.4–8.0 mg/m2) and one without rubber infill (0.2–5.3 mg/m2). In summary, it was demonstrated that the newly developed MEL generated reliable and reproducible data and has thus proven itself as an integrated, straightforward and automated sampling device for simultaneous monitoring of particulate and dissolved pollutant emissions from simple soil matrices. KW - Lysimeter KW - Microplastics KW - Artificial turf KW - Thermal extraction desorption-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry KW - TED-GC/MS KW - Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons KW - PAH KW - Heavy metals KW - Soil samples PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-645301 DO - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12302-025-01235-1 SN - 2190-4715 VL - 37 IS - 1 SP - 1 EP - 15 PB - Springer Open AN - OPUS4-64530 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Thiodjio Sendja, Bridinette A1 - Tchouank Tekou, Carol Trudel A1 - Prinz, Carsten A1 - de Oliveira Guilherme Buzanich, Ana T1 - Adsorptive performance of single-walled carbon nanotubes for divalent manganese sorption characterized by X-ray absorption spectroscopy N2 - The adsorptive performance of divalent manganese onto single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) is investigated by X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS). The study is focused on the one hand, on the use of SWCNT as adsorbent to remove divalent manganese II) pollutant controlling batch parameters such as pH, adsorbent dose and contact time; and on the other hand, on the characterization of manganese adsorbed by SWCNT (Mn-SWCNT) adsorbent to probe the chemical composition, oxidation state, and local structural environment of Mn absorber. Freundlich adsorption isotherm well fitted the experimental data and suggested the maximum adsorption capacity at pH 2. Ion exchange was proposed as the main adsorption mechanism for removing manganese using SWCNT. XAS results revealed the change in the oxidation state of manganese. The effect of pH, adsorbent dose, and contact time is shown. XAS also showed that Mn-SWCNT material is principally composed of MnCl2, Mn2O3, MnO2, Mn3O4, and MnO in decreasing order with MnCl2 and Mn2O3 as major compounds. KW - Local environment KW - Single-walled carbon nanotubes KW - Divalent manganese KW - Adsorptive performance KW - X-ray absorption spectroscopy KW - Oxidation state PY - 2025 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s11696-025-04418-5 SN - 0366-6352 SP - 1 EP - 15 PB - Springer Science and Business Media LLC AN - OPUS4-64492 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Altmann, Korinna A1 - Portela, Raquel A1 - Barbero, Francesco A1 - Breuninger, Esther A1 - Camassa, Laura Maria Azzurra A1 - Velickovic, Tanja Cirkovic A1 - Charitidis, Costas A1 - Costa, Anna A1 - Fadda, Marta A1 - Fengler, Petra A1 - Fenoglio, Ivana A1 - Giovannozzi, Andrea M. A1 - Haugen, Øyvind Pernell A1 - Kainourgios, Panagiotis A1 - von der Kammer, Frank A1 - Kirchner, Markus J. A1 - Lomax-Vogt, Madeleine A1 - Lujic, Tamara A1 - Milczewski, Frank A1 - Moussawi, Mhamad Aly A1 - Ortelli, Simona A1 - Parac-Vogt, Tatjana N. A1 - Potthoff, Annegret A1 - Jimenez Reinosa, Julian J. A1 - Röschter, Sophie A1 - Sacco, Alessio A1 - Wimmer, Lukas A1 - Zanoni, Ilaria A1 - Dailey, Lea Ann T1 - Characterizing nanoplastic suspensions of increasing complexity: inter-laboratory comparison of size measurements using dynamic light scattering N2 - Understanding the potential human health risks associated with micro- and nanoplastic exposure is currently a priority research area. Nanoplastic toxicity studies are complicated by the lack of available, well-characterized test and reference materials. Further, many nanoplastic test materials are inherently more polydisperse and heterogenous in shape compared to polystyrene beads, making accurate and representative size distribution measurements particularly challenging. The aim of this study was to conduct an inter-laboratory comparison of dynamic light scattering measurements, the most commonly used particle sizing method for nanomaterials. Using a published standard operating procedure, size measurements in water and a standardized cell culture medium (CCM) were generated for spherical, carboxy-functionalized polystyrene nanoparticles (PS-COOH; 50 nm; benchmark material), and for increasingly complex in-house produced spherical poly(ethylene terephthalate) (nanoPET) and irregular shaped polypropylene (nanoPP) test materials. The weighted mean of hydrodynamic diameters of PS-COOH dispersed in water (55 ± 5 nm) showed moderate variation between labs (coefficient of variation, CV = 8.2%) and were similar to literature reports. Measurements of nanoPET (82 ± 6 nm) and nanoPP (182 ± 12 nm) in water exhibited similar CV values (nanoPET: 7.3% and nanoPP; 6.8%). Dispersion of PS-COOH and nanoPET in CCM increased the CV to 15.1 and 14.2%, respectively, which is lower than literature reports (CV = 30%). We conclude with a series of practical recommendations for robust size measurements of nanoplastics in both water and complex media highlighting that strict adherence to a standard operating procedure is required to prevent particle agglomeration in CCM KW - Nanoplastics KW - Reference materials KW - Polypropylene PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-644571 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/d5en00645g SN - 2051-8153 SP - 1 EP - 15 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) AN - OPUS4-64457 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mikhlin, Yuri A1 - Muzikansky, Anya A1 - Zysler, Melina A1 - Thünemann, Andreas A1 - Zitoun, David T1 - Emerging electrochemistry of high-concentration colloids: Redox-activity, wide potential window and electrophoretic transport of iron oxide nanoparticles N2 - High-concentration, steric stabilizer free colloids and particularly their electrochemical behavior remains almost unexplored. Herein, we report on the electrochemistry (cyclic voltammetry, impedance spectroscopy, etc.) of highly concentrated aqueous colloidal dispersion up to 800 g/L of citrate-capped ∼11 nm Fe3-xO4 nanoparticles (NPs) without background electrolyte on glassy carbon electrodes. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy was applied to analyze the reaction products. Solid-state Fe(II)/Fe(III) conversion was concluded to determine the cathodic and anodic faradaic reactions of the particles, with the currents depending on approximately square root of the concentration. The electrochemical reactions are coupled with the electrophoretic transfer of the negatively charged NPs on toward the anode, with the ohmic-type behavior in the bulk demonstrated by the nearly linear voltametric cathodic curves and frequency-independent impedance above ∼10–100 Hz. Accumulation and clogging of the NPs retards diffusion near anode. Hydrogen and especially oxygen evolution are arrested, and very large oxidation overpotentials result in extraordinary wide, up to 12 V, electrochemical window of water stability. The findings shed light onto basic features of the electrochemistry of high-concentration colloids without added electrolyte and their potential applications in redox flow batteries, electrophoretic deposition and beyond. KW - Nanoplastics KW - SAXS KW - Small-angle X-ray scattering PY - 2026 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-644340 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcis.2025.139247 SN - 0021-9797 VL - 703 SP - 1 EP - 18 PB - Elsevier Inc. AN - OPUS4-64434 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mohabbat, Abdulrahman A1 - Boldog, István A1 - Reistel, Nils A1 - de Sousa Amadeu, Nader A1 - Möllmer, Jens A1 - Lange, Marcus A1 - Limon, Aysenur A1 - Seiffert, Philipp A1 - Michalski, Julia A1 - Janiak, Christoph T1 - P4O10-mediated synthesis of polar polyphosphoric acid-covalent triazine framework composites from aromatic amides for improved water and SO2 sorption N2 - Polycondensation of various aromatic amides in P4O10 at 400 8C yields covalent triazine frameworks intergrown with a polyphosphoric acid framework (POF-CTFs). Compared to ionothermal analogs, they feature a shorter reaction time and strongly increased framework polarity for water and SO2 uptake, and SO2/CO2 selectivity KW - COF PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-644208 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/d5cc03419a SN - 1359-7345 SP - 1 EP - 4 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) AN - OPUS4-64420 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Pavlidis, Sotirios A1 - Teutloff, Christian A1 - de Oliveira Guilherme Buzanich, Ana A1 - Krause, Konstantin B. A1 - Emmerling, Franziska A1 - Bittl, Robert A1 - Abbenseth, Josh T1 - A Crystalline Bismuth(II) Radical Anion: Synthesis, Characterization, and Reactivity N2 - AbstractWe report the synthesis of a planarized tris‐amidobismuthane supported by a rigid, bulky NNN pincer ligand, which enforces a T‐shaped geometry at the bismuth center. The Bi(NNN) complex features a low‐lying LUMO with distinct Bi(6p) orbital character as shown by DFT calculations. Cyclic voltammetry reveals a fully reversible one‐electron reduction at E1/2 = –1.85 V versus Fc0/+ in THF. Chemical reduction with KC8 in the presence of 4,7,13,16,21,24‐hexaoxa‐1,10‐diazabicyclo[8.8.8]hexacosane (222‐crypt) enables the isolation of an unprecedented Bi(II) radical anion in high isolated yields. Multi‐frequency EPR, X‐ray absorption spectroscopy and SQUID magnetometry complemented by theoretical calculations confirm localization of the unpaired electron on the bismuth center. Preliminary reactivity studies display radical reactivity as shown by single‐electron transfer chemistry and radical coupling reactions. KW - Bi(III) PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-644143 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202515545 SN - 1433-7851 VL - 64 IS - 49 SP - 1 EP - 6 PB - Wiley VHC-Verlag AN - OPUS4-64414 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Recknagel, Sebastian A1 - Richter, Silke A1 - Hoppe, Marion A1 - Meckelburg, Angela A1 - Prinz, Carsten A1 - Roik, Janina A1 - Abad Andrade, Carlos Enrique T1 - Powering precision: development of a certified reference material for elemental composition analysis of lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide (Li-NMC) cathode material for lithium-ion batteries N2 - This work presents the development and certification of the world’s first certified reference material (CRM), BAM-S014, for a lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide (LiNi0.33Mn0.33Co0.33O2 or Li-NMC 111) cathode material—an integral component in high-energy-density lithium-ion batteries that power electric vehicles (EVs), portable electronics, and stationary energy storage systems. By providing certified mass fractions for 11 elements, this CRM addresses a critical need for accurate and traceable elemental analysis, supporting quality control and regulatory compliance in the global battery industry. Ensuring reliable and harmonized measurements supports the efficient use of resources, including the reuse of recycled materials, and ultimately helps maintain product performance and safety. The values were assigned through an interlaboratory comparison involving 16 participating laboratories and various analytical techniques such as inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES), inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometry, and combustion analysis. In addition to chemical characterization, the certification process includes homogeneity and stability testing of the candidate material. Details are provided on the analytical methods used for chemical characterization and the calculation of the uncertainties of the certified mass fractions. In addition to detailing the development of the CRMs, this work provides an overview of ongoing standardization activities in Li-component analysis, thereby guiding the calibration of analytical methods and contributing to the establishment of globally accepted standards for evaluating energy storage materials and advancing sustainable mobility and clean energy solutions. KW - Certified reference material KW - Lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide KW - LNMC KW - Lithium-ion battery KW - Cathode material PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-643763 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-025-05766-7 SN - 1618-2642 VL - 417 IS - 12 SP - 2643 EP - 2653 PB - Springer Nature AN - OPUS4-64376 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Janssen, Jan A1 - George, Janine A1 - Geiger, Julian A1 - Bercx, Marnik A1 - Wang, Xing A1 - Ertural, Christina A1 - Schaarschmidt, Jörg A1 - Ganose, Alexander Miguel A1 - Pizzi, Giovanni A1 - Hickel, Tilmann A1 - Neugebauer, Jörg T1 - A Python workflow definition for computational materials design N2 - Numerous Workflow Management Systems (WfMS) have been developed in the field of computational materials science with different workflow formats, hindering interoperability and reproducibility of workflows in the field. To address this challenge, we introduce here the Python Workflow Definition (PWD) as a workflow exchange format to share workflows between Python-based WfMS, currently AiiDA, jobflow, and pyiron. This development is motivated by the similarity of these three Python-based WfMS, that represent the different workflow steps and data transferred between them as nodes and edges in a graph. With the PWD, we aim at fostering the interoperability and reproducibility between the different WfMS in the context of Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable (FAIR) workflows. To separate the scientific from the technical complexity, the PWD consists of three components: (1) a conda environment that specifies the software dependencies, (2) a Python module that contains the Python functions represented as nodes in the workflow graph, and (3) a workflow graph stored in the JavaScript Object Notation (JSON). The first version of the PWD supports directed acyclic graph (DAG)-based workflows. Thus, any DAG-based workflow defined in one of the three WfMS can be exported to the PWD and afterwards imported from the PWD to one of the other WfMS. After the import, the input parameters of the workflow can be adjusted and computing resources can be assigned to the workflow, before it is executed with the selected WfMS. This import from and export to the PWD is enabled by the PWD Python library that implements the PWD in AiiDA, jobflow, and pyiron. KW - Worklows KW - FAIR Workflows KW - Automation KW - Materials Acceleration Platforms PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-643325 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/D5DD00231A SN - 2635-098X SP - 1 EP - 14 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) AN - OPUS4-64332 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kricheldorf, Hans. R. A1 - Weidner, Steffen T1 - About the Toxicity of Polymerization Catalysts and Polymer Additives Based on Tin(II) Salts and Tin(IV) Compounds N2 - This article reviews and discusses information on the toxicity of numerous tin-based catalysts used in academic research and industrial production for the synthesis of various polymers, such as polyesters, polyurethanes, and polysiloxanes. Tin(IV) compounds used as additives and as PVC stabilizers are also considered. Emphasis is put on the differentiation between tin(II) salts on the one hand and tin(IV) compounds on the other hand. In the first chapter, historical facts about human contact with stannous ions are discussed, along with toxicity studies of canned foods and beverages. In the second part, toxicity tests based on cell cultures and medical applications of tin(II)-containing films or implants are described. The third part focuses on alkyl and aryl tin(IV) compounds. KW - Tin KW - Toxicity KW - Environment KW - Polymer catalysts KW - Polymer additives PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-642877 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chas.5c00105 SN - 1871-5532 SP - 1 EP - 13 PB - American Chemical Society (ACS) AN - OPUS4-64287 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Karafiludis, Stephanos A1 - Standl, Jacob A1 - Ryll, Tom W. A1 - Schwab, Alexander A1 - Prinz, Carsten A1 - Wolf, Jakob B. A1 - Kruschwitz, Sabine A1 - Emmerling, Franziska A1 - Völker, Christoph A1 - Stawski, Tomasz M. T1 - High-Entropy Phosphate Synthesis: Advancements through Automation and Sequential Learning Optimization N2 - Transition metal phosphates (TMPs) are extensively explored for electrochemical and catalytical applications due to their structural versatility and chemical stability. Within this material class, novel high-entropy metal phosphates (HEMPs)─containing multiple transition metals combined into a single-phase structure─are particularly promising, as their compositional complexity can significantly enhance functional properties. However, the discovery of suitable HEMP compositions is hindered by the vast compositional design space and complex or very specific synthesis conditions. Here, we present a data-driven strategy combining automated wet-chemical synthesis with a Sequential Learning App for Materials Discovery (SLAMD) framework (Random Forest regression model) to efficiently explore and optimize HEMP compositions. Using a limited set of initial experiments, we identified multimetal compositions in a single-phase crystalline solid. The model successfully predicted a novel Co0.3Ni0.3Fe0.2Cd0.1Mn0.1 phosphate octahydrate phase, validated experimentally, demonstrating the effectiveness of the machine learning approach. This work highlights the potential of integrating automated synthesis platforms with data-driven algorithms to accelerate the discovery of high-entropy materials, offering an efficient design pathway to advanced functional materials. KW - Metal phosphates KW - High entropy KW - Sequential learning KW - Automated synthesis KW - MAP KW - Random forest KW - Machine learning PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-641554 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.cgd.5c00549 SN - 1528-7483 VL - 25 IS - 19 SP - 7989 EP - 8001 PB - American Chemical Society (ACS) CY - Washington, DC AN - OPUS4-64155 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Paul, Sagar A1 - Dolai, Malay A1 - Nanda Goswami, Juli A1 - Bhattacharya, Biswajit A1 - Emmerling, Franziska A1 - Drew, Michael G. B. A1 - Chattopadhyay, Shouvik A1 - Sarkar, Rabi Sankar A1 - Sunil, Appu A1 - Novitchi, Ghenadie A1 - Moreno-Pineda, Eufemio A1 - Wernsdorfer, Wolfgang T1 - From strong to weak interaction: Reconciling SQUID and μSQUID-EPR data in anomalous Co(ii) dimers N2 - Magnetic molecules have been proposed as scaffolds for novel quantum technologies, ranging from quantum sensing and quantum memory to multilevel quantum bits (qudits) and fault-tolerant quantum computation. Integration of magnetic molecules into cutting-edge applications hinges on a deep understanding and tunability of their spin states. To date, the strategic manipulation of the local environment of the ion and careful selection of the magnetic core have enabled the desired tunability and scalability of the spin states. For such goals, however, extracting the anisotropic parameters that dictate the characteristics of the Spin Hamiltonian is challenging, especially for molecules consisting of multiple magnetic cores. We address these challenges by studying two cobalt(II) dinuclear systems, complicated by inherent spin–orbit coupling. We explore the magnetic properties of these systems in two temperature regimes: (i) at sub-Kelvin temperatures employing single crystals at 30 mK using a unique μSQUID-EPR technique that examines the microwave absorption peaks in the magnetisation data and their variation with field angle and frequency; and (ii) in bulk employing convectional SQUID magnetometry above 2 K i.e., χMT(T) and M(H). Unexpectedly, sub-Kelvin temperature investigations reveal a negligible interaction, whereas the SQUID data reveal a much stronger interaction between the Co(II) ions. An understanding of these data is developed based on a strong coupling model and the coupling of two moieties with a spin-effective ground state. KW - cOBALT(II)-complex KW - In situ complex formation KW - Magnetic property KW - Crystal structure PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-641421 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/D5QI01387A SN - 2052-1553 SP - 1 EP - 13 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) CY - Cambridge AN - OPUS4-64142 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rodríguez-Sánchez, Noelia A1 - Prinz, Carsten A1 - Bienert, Ralf A1 - Ballesteros, Menta A1 - Ruiz Salvador, A. Rabdel A1 - Bhattacharya, Biswajit A1 - Emmerling, Franziska T1 - Mechanochemical ZIF-9 formation: in situ analysis and photocatalytic enhancement evaluation N2 - Efficient treatment of persistent pollutants in wastewater is crucial for sustainable water management and environmental protection. This study addresses this challenge by investigating the mechanochemical synthesis and photocatalytic performance of ZIF-9, a cobalt-based zeolitic imidazolate framework. Using synchrotron-based powder X-ray diffraction, we provide real-time insights into the formation dynamics of ZIF-9 during mechanosynthesis. Our results show that mechanochemically synthesised ZIF-9 exhibits superior photocatalytic activity compared to its solvothermally prepared counterpart, achieving a 2-fold increase in methylene blue degradation rate. This research not only advances our understanding of the synthesis and properties of ZIF-9, but also demonstrates the potential of mechanochemical approaches in the development of high-performance, sustainably produced materials for water treatment and other environmental applications. KW - MOFs KW - ZIF KW - Time-resolved in situ investigation KW - Photocatalysis synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-641416 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/D4MR00114A SN - 2976-8683 VL - 2 IS - 1 SP - 116 EP - 126 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) CY - Cambridge AN - OPUS4-64141 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Feiler, Torvid A1 - Emmerling, Franziska A1 - Bhattacharya, Biswajit T1 - Sustainable mechanochemical approach for the selective synthesis of multicomponent organic solids: real-time in situ insights N2 - Crystalline multicomponent organic solids (MOSs) such as cocrystals and ionic cocrystals hold immense potential in diverse functional applications, ranging from pharmaceuticals to optoelectronics. However, conventional solution-based crystallization methods often result in polymorphic mixtures and lack precise control over product composition. Herein, we report a comparative investigation of solution crystallization versus mechanochemical synthesis for constructing MOSs from 9-anthracenecarboxylic acid (ACA) and 4,4 '-bipyridine (BPY). Solution-based approaches consistently yielded concomitant formation of neutral cocrystal (CC) and ionic cocrystal (ICC) forms, regardless of the solvent used. The resulting multicomponent solids were comprehensively characterized using a combination of single crystal X-ray diffraction, powder X-ray diffraction, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, differential thermal analysis, and thermogravimetric analysis. In contrast, mechanochemical methods, including neat grinding (without solvent) and liquid-assisted grinding (with minimum solvent), enabled selective formation of either a phase pure CC or ICC form. Less polar and nonpolar organic solvents favor the kinetic CC, while polar water promotes formation of the thermodynamically stable ICC. Time-resolved in situ powder X-ray diffraction (TRIS-PXRD) captures the dynamic evolution of solid-state phases and reveals the complete transformation of the CC into ICC under neat grinding or water-assisted conditions. This study highlights the powerful role of mechanochemistry and in situ monitoring in steering solid-state reactivity and offers a sustainable pathway for the targeted and scalable synthesis of pure multicomponent organic materials. KW - Cocrystal KW - Synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction KW - Time-resolved in situ investigation PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-641409 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/D5CE00663E SN - 1466-8033 SP - 1 EP - 9 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) CY - Cambridge AN - OPUS4-64140 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Voss, Heike A1 - Zahedi-Azad, Setareh A1 - Ernst, Owen C. A1 - Lucaßen, Jan A1 - Mann, Guido A1 - Bonse, Jörn A1 - Boeck, Torsten A1 - Martin, Jens A1 - Schmid, Martina A1 - Krüger, Jörg T1 - Chemical vapor deposition of indium precursors for solar microabsorbers using continuous laser radiation BT - A, Materials science & processing N2 - Localized deposition of indium on an amorphous glass surface covered with a thin molybdenum layer is demonstrated utilizing laser-assisted chemical vapor deposition. A continuous-wave laser causes a temperature rise on the molybdenum layer resulting in the selective aggregation of liquid and ultimately crystalline structures of indium. The formation sites of the indium are determined by the decomposition of gaseous trimethylindium. The deposited indium islands can serve as precursors and could be further processed into compound semiconductors like CuInSe2 for micro-concentrator solar cells. The experimental investigations were supported by theoretical simulations of the laser heating process to calculate the local temperature distribution on the surface of the molybdenum-covered glass substrate. KW - Laser-assisted Chemical Vapor Deposition KW - CW Laser KW - Indium Islands KW - Micro-concentrator Solar Cell PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-641069 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-025-08895-z SN - 0947-8396 VL - 131 SP - 1 EP - 10 PB - Springer CY - Berlin ; Heidelberg [u.a.] AN - OPUS4-64106 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Zimmermann, Yoel A1 - Bazgir, Adib A1 - Al-Feghali, Alexander A1 - Ansari, Mehrad A1 - Bocarsly, Joshua A1 - Brinson, L Catherine A1 - Chiang, Yuan A1 - Circi, Defne A1 - Chiu, Min-Hsueh A1 - Daelman, Nathan A1 - Evans, Matthew A1 - Gangan, Abhijeet S A1 - George, Janine A1 - Harb, Hassan A1 - Khalighinejad, Ghazal A1 - Takrim Khan, Sartaaj A1 - Klawohn, Sascha A1 - Lederbauer, Magdalena A1 - Mahjoubi, Soroush A1 - Mohr, Bernadette A1 - Mohamad Moosavi, Seyed A1 - Naik, Aakash Ashok A1 - Ozhan, Aleyna Beste A1 - Plessers, Dieter A1 - Roy, Aritra A1 - Schoeppach, Fabian A1 - Schwaller, Philippe A1 - Terboven, Carla A1 - Ueltzen, Katharina A1 - Wu, Yue A1 - Zhu, Shang A1 - Janssen, Jan A1 - Li, Calvin A1 - Foster, Ian A1 - Blaiszik, Ben T1 - 32 examples of LLM applications in materials science and chemistry: towards automation, assistants, agents, and accelerated scientific discovery N2 - Large Language Models (LLMs) are reshaping many aspects of materials science and chemistry research, enabling advances in molecular property prediction, materials design, scientific automation, knowledge extraction, and more. Recent developments demonstrate that the latest class of models are able to integrate structured and unstructured data, assist in hypothesis generation, and streamline research workflows. To explore the frontier of LLM capabilities across the research lifecycle, we review applications of LLMs through 34 total projects developed during the second annual Large Language Model Hackathon for Applications in Materials Science and Chemistry, a global hybrid event. These projects spanned seven key research areas: (1) molecular and material property prediction, (2) molecular and material design, (3) automation and novel interfaces, (4) scientific communication and education, (5) research data management and automation, (6) hypothesis generation and evaluation, and (7) knowledge extraction and reasoning from the scientific literature. Collectively, these applications illustrate how LLMs serve as versatile predictive models, platforms for rapid prototyping of domain-specific tools, and much more. In particular, improvements in both open source and proprietary LLM performance through the addition of reasoning, additional training data, and new techniques have expanded effectiveness, particularly in low-data environments and interdisciplinary research. As LLMs continue to improve, their integration into scientific workflows presents both new opportunities and new challenges, requiring ongoing exploration, continued refinement, and further research to address reliability, interpretability, and reproducibility. KW - Large Language Models KW - Machine Learning KW - Materials Design KW - Bonding Analysis KW - Phonons KW - Thermal properties PY - 2025 DO - https://doi.org/10.1088/2632-2153/ae011a SN - 2632-2153 VL - 6 IS - 3 SP - 1 EP - 34 PB - IOP Publishing AN - OPUS4-64019 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Liu, Yuanbin A1 - Morrow, Joe D. A1 - Ertural, Christina A1 - Fragapane, Natascia L. A1 - Gardner, John L. A. A1 - Naik, Aakash A. A1 - Zhou, Yuxing A1 - George, Janine A1 - Deringer, Volker L. T1 - An automated framework for exploring and learning potential-energy surfaces N2 - Machine learning has become ubiquitous in materials modelling and now routinely enables large-scale atomistic simulations with quantum-mechanical accuracy. However, developing machine-learned interatomic potentials requires high-quality training data, and the manual generation and curation of such data can be a major bottleneck. Here, we introduce an automated framework for the exploration and fitting of potential-energy surfaces, implemented in an openly available software package that we call (‘automatic potential-landscape explorer’). We discuss design choices, particularly the interoperability with existing software architectures, and the ability for the end user to easily use the computational workflows provided. We show wide-ranging capability demonstrations: for the titanium–oxygen system, SiO2, crystalline and liquid water, as well as phase-change memory materials. More generally, our study illustrates how automation can speed up atomistic machine learning in computational materials science. KW - Automation KW - Machine Learning KW - Machine learning potentials KW - Amorphous materials KW - High-throughput KW - Ab initio KW - Materials property prediction PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-639882 DO - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-62510-6 SN - 2041-1723 VL - 16 IS - 1 SP - 1 EP - 12 PB - Springer Science and Business Media LLC AN - OPUS4-63988 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Das, Prasenjit A1 - Chakraborty, Gouri A1 - Yang, Jin A1 - Roeser, Jérôme A1 - Küçükkeçeci, Hüseyin A1 - Nguyen, Anh Dung A1 - Schwarze, Michael A1 - Gabriel, Jose A1 - Penschke, Christopher A1 - Du, Shengjun A1 - Weigelt, Vincent A1 - Khalil, Islam E. A1 - Schmidt, Johannes A1 - Saalfrank, Peter A1 - Oschatz, Martin A1 - Rabeah, Jabor A1 - Schomäcker, Reinhard A1 - Emmerling, Franziska A1 - Thomas, Arne T1 - The Effect of Pore Functionality in Multicomponent Covalent Organic Frameworks on Stable Long‐Term Photocatalytic H2 Production N2 - AbstractIn nature, organic molecules play a vital role in light harvesting and photosynthesis. However, regarding artificial water splitting, the research focus is primarily on inorganic semiconductors. Although organic photocatalysts have high structural variability, they tend to exhibit lower quantum efficiencies for water splitting than their inorganic counterparts. Multicomponent reactions (MCRs) offer an attractive route to introduce different functional units into covalent organic frameworks (COFs) and enable semiconducting properties and high chemical stability, creating promising materials for long‐term photocatalytic applications, such as H2 production. Herein, five highly crystalline donor‐acceptor based, 4‐substituted quinoline‐linked MCR‐COFs are presented that are prepared via the three‐component Povarov reaction. The pore functionality is varied by applying different vinyl derivatives (e.g., styrene, 2‐vinyl pyridine, 4‐vinylpyridine, 4‐vinyl imidazole, 2,3,4,5,6‐pentafluorostyrene), which has a strong influence on the obtained photocatalytic activity. Especially an imidazole‐functionalized COF displays promising photocatalytic performance due to its high surface area, crystallinity, and wettability. These properties enable it to maintain its photocatalytic activity even in a membrane support. Furthermore, such MCR‐COFs display dramatically enhanced (photo)chemical stability even after long‐term solar light irradiation and exhibit a high and steady H2 evolution for at least 15 days. KW - Sstability KW - Covalent organic frameworks KW - Pore functionality KW - Long-term H2 production KW - Multicomponent reactions PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-639787 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.202501193 SN - 1614-6832 SP - 1 EP - 10 PB - Wiley VHC-Verlag AN - OPUS4-63978 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rodríguez-Sánchez, Noelia A1 - Domínguez-Santos, J. Enrique A1 - Bhattacharya, Biswajit A1 - Prinz, Carsten A1 - Canosa, Inés A1 - Flores, Amando A1 - Jiménez-Rodríguez, Antonia A1 - Ruiz-Salvador, A. Rabdel A1 - Emmerling, Franziska A1 - Ballesteros, Menta T1 - Mechanochemical synthesis of multivariate UPO-3 (Cu-ZIF-9-ica) MOF for inactivation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and irrigation-quality water production via heterogeneous photo-Fenton catalysis N2 - Water scarcity and pollution are critical global challenges, particularly in agriculture, the largest consumer of water. The development of sustainable, effective, and environmentally friendly disinfection methods is essential to address the risks posed by antibiotic-resistant bacteria and to ensure safe reuse of water for irrigation. In this study, we report the synthesis of the metal-organic framework (MOF) Universidad Pablo de Olavide-3 (UPO-3) via a mechanochemical approach, a scalable and sustainable method compared to traditional solvothermal synthesis. The resulting UPO-3/H2O2 system exhibits robust photocatalytic properties under visible light, achieving effective and broad-spectrum antibacterial activity. The disinfection efficiency of the catalyst was evaluated against Escherichia coli as a model of microbial pathogen in two saline matrices, considering the key parameters of the heterogeneous photo-Fenton process, including catalyst dosage, initial H2O2 concentration, and light irradiation. Notably, it inactivated two important virulent and antibiotic-resistant bacterial pathogens (Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa). Furthermore, UPO-3 shows exceptional performance under real-world conditions, such as river water disinfection, achieving >5-log reduction of E. coli, fulfilling a critical criterion for Class A water reuse under Regulation (EU) 2020/741. These results highlight UPO-3 as a versatile and sustainable solution for water reuse, addressing water scarcity and advancing efforts to achieve United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 6. KW - Water reuse KW - Antibiotic-resistant bacteria KW - Water disinfection KW - Mechanochemical synthesis KW - Metal organic framework PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-639766 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2025.144610 SN - 0045-6535 VL - 386 SP - 1 EP - 11 PB - Elsevier Ltd. AN - OPUS4-63976 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kricheldorf, Hans R. A1 - Weidner, Steffen T1 - Polymerization of L‐Lactide Catalyzed by Metal Acetylacetonate Complexes N2 - ABSTRACTRing‐opening polymerizations (ROPs) of l‐lactide (LA) were performed at 120°C, 140°C, 150°C, and 180°C in bulk catalyzed by acetylacetonate (acac) complexes of manganese(II), nickel(II), copper(II), zirconium(IV), dibutyltin(IV), and vanadyl(V). These experiments revealed that only the acac complexes of Zr and Bu2Sn were reactive enough to enable quantitative polymerization within a few hours. Further ROPs with Bu2Sn(acac)2 and Zr(acac)4 showed that Bu2Sn(acac)2 had a slightly lower reactivity than the Zr complex. The ROPs catalyzed with Zr(acac)4 yielded number average molecular weights (Mn) up to 70,000 g mol−1. The matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionization time‐of‐flight (MALDI‐TOF) mass spectra indicated an exclusive formation of cycles in the mass range of up to m/z 13,000 for Zr(acac)4 and up to m/z 18,000 for Bu2Sn(acac)2. Unusually high melting temperatures (187°C–192°C) were also achieved along with high crystallinities. Furthermore, four lactide/glycolide copolymerizations catalyzed by Zr(acac)4 were performed, and the topology and the extent of transesterification were characterized by MALDI‐TOF mass spectrometry and 13C NMR spectroscopy. KW - MALDI-TOF MS KW - Polycondensation KW - Acetylacetonate PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-639754 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/pol.20250788 SN - 2642-4150 SP - 1 EP - 9 PB - Wiley Periodicals LLC. AN - OPUS4-63975 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kricheldorf, Hans R. A1 - Weidner, Steffen T1 - Zwitterionic polymerization of glycolide catalyzed by pyridine N2 - The usefulness of various N- and P-based catalysts for syntheses of cyclic polyglycolide via zwitterionic polymerization of glycolide was examined. Most catalysts produced discolored, largely insoluble polyglycolides consisting of cycles and unidentified byproducts. Soluble, cyclic polyglycolides were obtained using neat pyridine as catalyst at 120 °C, 100 °C, 80 °C, and even at 60 °C. The number-average molecular weights were extremely low and depended slightly on the glycolide-to-pyridine ratio. Three different mass distributions of the cycles were detected by mass spectrometry, depending on the reaction conditions. The cyclic polyglycolides were also characterized by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) measurements. The SAXS data in combination with the mass spectra indicate that the majority of the cycles form extended-ring crystallites KW - MALDI-TOF MS KW - Polylactide KW - Polymerization KW - Zitterions PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-639748 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/d5py00762c SN - 1759-9954 SP - 1 EP - 9 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) AN - OPUS4-63974 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kolmangadi, Mohamed A. A1 - Raab, A. R. A1 - Szymoniak, Paulina A1 - Li, Z. A1 - Huber, P. A1 - Laschat, S. A1 - Schönhals, Andreas T1 - Molecular mobility and electrical conductivity of amino acid-based (DOPA) ionic liquid crystals in the bulk state and nanoconfinement N2 - This study explores the molecular mobility, phase behavior, and electrical conductivity of dihydroxyphenylalanine-based ionic liquid crystals (DOPAn, with alkyl side chains n = 12, 14, 16) featuring cyclic guanidiniumchloride headgroups, in both bulk and nanoconfined states. Using broadband dielectric spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, and fast scanning calorimetry, the research uncovers a complex interplay between molecular structure, self-assembly, and molecular mobility. In bulk, DOPAn shows a phase sequence from plastic crystalline to hexagonal columnar and isotropic phases, driven by superdisc formation and columnar organization. Multiple relaxation processes are identified: localized side-chain dynamics (γ-relaxation), ionic headgroup or core motions (α1-relaxation), and cooperative alkyl domain fluctuations (α2-relaxation). Conductivity decreases with increasing side chain length. Under nanoconfinement in anodic aluminum oxide membranes, phase behavior changes: the Colh–Iso transition is suppressed, and a new α3-relaxation appears, linked to dynamics in an adsorbed interfacial layer. DC conductivity drops by up to four orders of magnitude due to confinement effects, altered molecular orientation, and phase transitions—especially the emergence of a nematic-like state in DOPA16. These findings highlight the importance of molecular design, pore geometry, and surface chemistry in tuning ionic liquid crystal properties for advanced applications in nanofluidics, ion transport, and responsive materials. KW - Ionic Liquid Crystals PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-639657 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/d5cp02406d SN - 1463-9084 SP - 1 EP - 17 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) AN - OPUS4-63965 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Altmann, Korinna A1 - Wimmer, Lukas A1 - Alcolea-Rodriguez, Victor A1 - Waniek, Tassilo A1 - Wachtendorf, Volker A1 - Matzdorf, Kay A1 - Ciornii, Dmitri A1 - Fengler, Petra A1 - Milczewski, Frank A1 - Otazo-Aseguinolaza, Itziar A1 - Ferrer, Manuel A1 - Bañares, Miguel A. A1 - Portela, Raquel A1 - Dailey, Lea Ann T1 - Quality-by-design and current good practices for the production of test and reference materials for micro- and nano-plastic research N2 - Understanding the environmental and human health impacts of micro- and nanoplastic pollutants is currently a high priority, stimulating intensive methodological research work in the areas of sampling, sample preparation and detection as well as intensive monitoring and testing. It is challenging to identify and quantify microplastics in complex organic matrices and concepts for nanoplastic detection are still in their infancy. All analytical techniques employed in studying micro- and nanoplastics require suitable reference materials for validation measurements, with requirements as diverse as the analytical tools used, ranging from different polymer types, size distributions and shapes of the material to the concentrations employed in different experimental set ups (ng to g amounts). The aim of this manuscript is to outline current good practices for small-scale laboratory production and characterization of suitable test and reference materials. The focus is placed on top-downfragmentation methods as well as bottom-up precipitation methods. Examples using polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene and polyethylene terephthalate with size distribution classes of mainly 10–1000, 1–10 and <1 μm particles will be provided. Experiences and suggestions on how to produce well-characterized micro- and nano-plastics for internal research needs will ensure that studies using the materials have robust and informative outcomes. KW - Mmicroplastics KW - Nanoplastics KW - Reference materials KW - Standard validation method PY - 2025 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2025.139595 SN - 0304-3894 VL - 497 SP - 1 EP - 20 PB - Elsevier B.V. AN - OPUS4-63958 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -