TY - JOUR A1 - Sun, C. A1 - Schäferling, Michael A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute A1 - Gradzielski, M. T1 - Solvothermal Synthesis of Lanthanide-doped NaYF4 Upconversion JF - ChemNanoMat N2 - Lanthanide-doped NaYF4 upconversion nano- and microcrystals were synthesized via a facile solvothermal approach. Thereby, the influence of volume ratios of ethylene glycol (EG)/H2O, molar ratios of NH4F/RE3+ (RE3+ represents the total amount of Y3+ and rare-earth dopant ions), Gd3+ ion contents, types of activator dopant ions, and different organic co-solvents on the crystal phase, size, and morphology of the resulting particles were studied systematically. A possible formation mechanism for the growth of crystals of different morphology is discussed. Our results show that the transition from the α- to the β-phase mainly depends on the volume ratio of EG/H2O and the molar ratio of NH4F/RE3+, while the morphology and size could be controlled by the type of organic co-solvent and Gd3+ dopant ions. Furthermore, the reaction time has to be long enough to convert α-NaYF4 into β-NaYF4 during the growth process to optimize the upconversion luminescence. The formation of larger β-NaYF4 crystals, which possess a higher upconversion luminescence than smaller particles, proceeds via intermediates of smaller crystals of cubic structure. In summary, our synthetic approach presents a facile route to tailor the size, Crystal phase, morphology, and luminescence features of upconversion materials. KW - Nano KW - Nanomaterial KW - Upconversion nanoparticle KW - Photoluminescence KW - Lanthanide KW - Quantum yield KW - Photophysics KW - Lifetime KW - Surface chemistry KW - Single particle KW - Brightness KW - NIR KW - Synthesis PY - 2021 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-520307 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/cnma.202000564 VL - 7 IS - 2 SP - 174 EP - 183 PB - Wiley AN - OPUS4-52030 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Prause, A. A1 - Hormann, A. A1 - Cristiglio, V. A1 - Smales, Glen Jacob A1 - Thünemann, Andreas A1 - Gradzielski, M. A1 - Findenegg, G. H. T1 - Incorporation and structural arrangement of microemulsion droplets in cylindrical pores of mesoporous silica JF - Molecular Physics N2 - The behaviour of microemulsion (ME) droplets in mesoporous systems is highly important for understanding the immobilisation of drugs or chemical formulations, cleaning processes or enhanced oil recovery. The loading of pores as well as the structural organisation of MEs within the pores is a relevant parameter, especially for immobilisation applications. For this reason, the uptake of microemulsions in cylindrical pores of SBA-15 was investigated via adsorption and small-angle neutron scattering (SANS). Adsorption isotherms revealed an adsorption of the microemulsion droplets based on the adsorption of surfactant as a driving force. The adapted scattering model is based on the analysis of bare SBA-15 in full contrast conditions and employs microemulsions inside of SBA-15 measured at the silica contrast matching point. Accordingly, the structural arrangement of microemulsion droplets in the pores of SBA-15 was determined in good detail. Microemulsion droplets smaller than the pore size access the pores while retaining their spherical shape and become increasingly ordered for higher loading, where the droplets arrange in a dense packing of spherical droplets in a cylindrical pore. Interestingly, microemulsion droplets larger than the pore size can easily be incorporated, but become deformed upon entering and are present as elongated rod-like structures. KW - Mesoporous Silica KW - SAXS KW - Microemulsion PY - 2021 DO - https://doi.org/10.1080/00268976.2021.1913255 VL - 119 IS - 15-16 SP - 13255 PB - Taylor & Francis AN - OPUS4-52959 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Chowdhary, S. A1 - Schmidt, R. F. A1 - Sahoo, A. K. A1 - tom Dieck, T. A1 - Hohmann, T. A1 - Schade, B. A1 - Brademann-Jock, Kerstin A1 - Thünemann, Andreas A1 - Netz, R. R. A1 - Gradzielski, M. A1 - Koksch, B. T1 - Rational design of amphiphilic fluorinated peptides: evaluation of self-assembly properties and hydrogel formation JF - Nanoscale N2 - Advanced peptide-based nanomaterials composed of self-assembling peptides (SAPs) are of emerging interest in pharmaceutical and biomedical applications. The introduction of fluorine into peptides, in fact, offers unique opportunities to tune their biophysical properties and intermolecular interactions. In particular, the degree of fluorination plays a crucial role in peptide engineering as it can be used to control the characteristics of fluorine-specific interactions and, thus, peptide conformation and self-assembly. Here, we designed and explored a series of amphipathic peptides by incorporating the fluorinated amino acids (2S)-4-monofluoroethylglycine (MfeGly), (2S)-4,4-difluoroethylglycine (DfeGly) and (2S)-4,4,4-trifluoroethylglycine (TfeGly) as hydrophobic components. This approach enabled studying the impact of fluorination on secondary structure formation and peptide self-assembly on a systematic basis. We show that the interplay between polarity and hydrophobicity, both induced differentially by varying degrees of side chain fluorination, does affect peptide folding significantly. A greater degree of fluorination promotes peptide fibrillation and subsequent formation of physical hydrogels in physiological conditions. Molecular simulations revealed the key role played by electrostatically driven intra-chain and inter-chain contact pairs that are modulated by side chain fluorination and give insights into the different self-organization behaviour of selected peptides. Our study provides a systematic report about the distinct features of fluorinated oligomeric peptides with potential applications as peptide-based biomaterials. KW - Small-angle X-ray scattering KW - SAXS KW - Amyloid PY - 2022 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-553504 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/D2NR01648F SN - 2040-3364 VL - 14 IS - 28 SP - 10176 EP - 10189 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry AN - OPUS4-55350 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -