TY - JOUR A1 - Abad Andrade, Carlos Enrique A1 - Florek, S. A1 - Becker-Ross, H. A1 - Huang, M.-D. A1 - de Oliveira Guilherme Buzanich, Ana A1 - Radtke, Martin A1 - Lippitz, Andreas A1 - Hodoroaba, Vasile-Dan A1 - Schmid, Thomas A1 - Heinrich, Hans-Joachim A1 - Recknagel, Sebastian A1 - Jakubowski, Norbert A1 - Panne, Ulrich T1 - Zirconium permanent modifiers for graphite furnaces used in absorption spectrometry: understanding their structure and mechanism of action JF - Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry N2 - The mechanism of action of zirconium permanent modifiers on graphite surfaces was investigated in order to understand its influence on the analytical signal in atomic and molecular absorption spectrometry (AAS/MAS). For this, the molecule formation of CaF was studied, which is used for the indirect analytical determination of fluorine in high-resolution continuum source graphite furnace molecular absorption spectrometry (HR-CS-GFMAS). The kinetics of this reaction was established by monitoring its molecular spectrum at different atomisation temperatures. An Arrhenius plot showed a pseudo-first order reaction with respect to fluorine (n = 1). An intermediate state was isolated, and its structure was elucidated by spectroscopic methods: scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEMEDX), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XANES and EXAFS), and Raman microspectroscopy. We propose here a mechanism, where ZrO2 acts as a heterogeneous catalyst: after a pyrolytic step, an intermediate state of ZrO(OCaF) is activated, and at higher temperatures, CaF(g) is released from the zirconium-coated graphite surface. No evidence of the formation of zirconium carbide was found. Consequently, as the CaF formation is catalysed by a heterogeneous catalyst, surface modifications with ZrO2 nanoparticles and ZrO xerogels were investigated in order to increase the surface area. Their influence was evaluated in the molecule formation of CaF, CaCl, CaBr, and CaI. Graphite furnace modification with zirconium oxide nanoparticles proves to be the best choice for fluorine analysis with a signal enhancement of more than eleven times with respect a non-coated graphite furnace. However, the influence of zirconium modifications in the analytical signals of Cl, and I is lower than the F signals or even negative in case of the Br. Understanding zirconium modifiers as heterogeneous catalysts offers a new perspective to AAS and MAS, and reveals the potential of surface analytical methods for development of improved permanent modifiers and graphite furnace coatings. KW - Zirconium KW - HR-CS-MAS KW - Graphite furnace KW - Nanoparticles KW - Xerogel KW - Calcium monofluoride KW - Absorption spectrometry PY - 2018 UR - https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2018/ja/c8ja00190a DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/C8JA00190A SN - 0267-9477 VL - 33 IS - 12 SP - 2034 EP - 2042 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry AN - OPUS4-46775 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Modena, Mario M. A1 - Rühle, Bastian A1 - Burg, Thomas P. A1 - Wuttke, Steffan T1 - Nanoparticle characterization: What to measure? JF - Advanced Materials N2 - What to measure? is a key question in nanoscience, and it is not straightforward to address as different physicochemical properties define a nanoparticle sample. Most prominent among these properties are size, shape, surface charge, and porosity. Today researchers have an unprecedented variety of measurement techniques at their disposal to assign precise numerical values to those parameters. However, methods based on different physical principles probe different aspects, not only of the particles themselves, but also of their preparation history and their environment at the time of measurement. Understanding these connections can be of great value for interpreting characterization results and ultimately controlling the nanoparticle structure–function relationship. Here, the current techniques that enable the precise measurement of these fundamental nanoparticle properties are presented and their practical advantages and disadvantages are discussed. Some recommendations of how the physicochemical parameters of nanoparticles should be investigated and how to fully characterize these properties in different environments according to the intended nanoparticle use are proposed. The intention is to improve comparability of nanoparticle properties and performance to ensure the successful transfer of scientific knowledge to industrial real‐world applications. KW - Nanoparticle characterization KW - Nanoparticles KW - Porosity KW - Shape KW - Size PY - 2019 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.201901556 SN - 0935-9648 SN - 1521-4095 VL - 31 IS - 32 SP - 1901556, 1 EP - 26 PB - Wiley AN - OPUS4-49129 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rühle, Bastian A1 - Hodoroaba, Vasile-Dan T1 - Towards Automated Electron Microscopy Image Segmentation for Nanoparticles of Complex Shape by Convolutional Neural Networks JF - Microscopy and Microanalysis N2 - In this contribution different ways are explored with the aim to generate suitable training data for ‘non-ideal’ samples using various approaches, e.g., computer-generated images or unsupervised learning algorithms such as generative adversarial networks (GANs). We used these data to train simple CNNs to produce segmentation masks of SEM images and tested the trained networks on real SEM images of complex nanoparticle samples. The novel use of CNN for the automated analysis of the size of nanoparticles of complex shape and with a high degree of agglomeration has proved to be a promising tool for the evaluation of particle size distribution on a large number of constituent particles. Further development and validation of the preliminary model, respectively larger training and validation data sets are necessary. KW - Nanoparticles KW - Convolutional neural networks KW - Image segmentation KW - Electron microscopy KW - Automatisation PY - 2020 DO - https://doi.org/10.1017/S1431927620017262 VL - 26 IS - S2 SP - 1188 EP - 1189 PB - Cambridge University Press CY - Cambridge, UK AN - OPUS4-51773 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Würth, Christian A1 - Manley, P. A1 - Voigt, R. A1 - Ahiboz, D. A1 - Becker, C. A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute T1 - Metasurface Enhanced Sensitized Photon Upconversion: Toward Highly Efficient Low Power Upconversion Applications and Nanoscale E-Field Sensors JF - Nano Letters N2 - Large-scale nanoimprinted metasurfaces based on silicon photonic crystal slabs were produced and coated with a NaYF4:Yb3+/Er3+ upconversion nanoparticle (UCNP) layer. UCNPs on these metasurfaces yield a more than 500-fold enhanced upconversion emission compared to UCNPs on planar surfaces. It is also demonstrated how the optical response of the UCNPs can be used to estimate the local field energy in the coating layer. Optical simulations using the finite element method validate the experimental results and the calculated spatial three-dimensional field Energy distribution helps us to understand the emission enhancement mechanism of the UCNPs closely attached to the metasurface. In addition, we analyzed the spectral shifts of the resonances for uncoated and coated metasurfaces and metasurfaces submerged in water to enable a prediction of the optimum layer thicknesses for different excitation wavelengths, paving the way to applications such as electromagnetic field sensors or bioassays. KW - Nanoparticles KW - Upconversion KW - Metasurface KW - Field sensor KW - Emission enhancement KW - Photonic crystal PY - 2020 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.0c02548 VL - 20 IS - 9 SP - 6682 EP - 6689 PB - ACS Publications AN - OPUS4-51427 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Radnik, Jörg A1 - Knigge, Xenia A1 - Andresen, Elina A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute A1 - Cant, D.J.H. A1 - Shard, A.G. A1 - Clifford, C.A. T1 - Composition, thickness, and homogeneity of the coating of core–shell nanoparticles—possibilities, limits, and challenges of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy JF - Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry N2 - Core–shell nanoparticles have attracted much attention in recent years due to their unique properties and their increasing importance in many technological and consumer products. However, the chemistry of nanoparticles is still rarely investigated in comparison to their size and morphology. In this review, the possibilities, limits, and challenges of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) for obtaining more insights into the composition, thickness, and homogeneity of nanoparticle coatings are discussed with four examples: CdSe/CdS quantum dots with a thick coating and a small core; NaYF4-based upconverting nanoparticles with a large Yb-doped core and a thin Er-doped coating; and two types of polymer nanoparticles with a poly(tetrafluoroethylene) core with either a poly(methyl methacrylate) or polystyrene coating. Different approaches for calculating the thickness of the coating are presented, like a simple numerical modelling or a more complex simulation of the photoelectron peaks. Additionally, modelling of the XPS background for the investigation of coating is discussed. Furthermore, the new possibilities to measure with varying excitation energies or with hard-energy X-ray sources (hard-energy X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy) are described. A discussion about the sources of uncertainty for the determination of the thickness of the coating completes this review. KW - X-ray spectroscopy KW - Nanoparticles KW - Spectroscopy / Instrumentation KW - Spectroscopy / Theory PY - 2022 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-548305 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-022-04057-9 VL - 414 IS - 15 SP - 4331 EP - 4345 PB - SpringerNature AN - OPUS4-54830 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hülagü, Deniz A1 - Tobias, Charlie A1 - Climent Terol, Estela A1 - Gojani, Ardian A1 - Rurack, Knut A1 - Hodoroaba, Vasile-Dan T1 - Generalized Analysis Approach of the Profile Roughness by Electron Microscopy with the Example of Hierarchically Grown Polystyrene–Iron Oxide–Silica Core–Shell–Shell Particles JF - Advanced Engineering Materials N2 - The roughness as a property of core–shell (CS) microparticles plays a key role in their functionality. Quantitative evaluation of the roughness of CS microparticles is, however, a challenging task with approaches using electron microscopy images being scarce and showing pronounced differences in terms of methodology and results. This work presents a generalized method for the reliable roughness determination of nonplanar specimens such as CS particles from electron microscopic images, the method being robust and reproducible with a high accuracy. It involves a self-written software package (Python) that analyzes the recorded images, extracts corresponding data, and calculates the roughness based on the deviation of the identified contour. Images of single particles are taken by a dual mode scanning electron microscopy (SEM) setup which permits imaging of the same field-of-view of the sample with high resolution and surface sensitive in SE InLens mode as well as in transmission mode (TSEM). Herein, a new type of polystyrene core–iron oxide shell–silica shell particles is developed to serve as a set of lower micrometer-sized study objects with different surface roughness; the analysis of their images by the semiautomatic workflow is demonstrating that the particles’ profile roughness can be quantitatively obtained. KW - Core–shell particles KW - Image analysis KW - Nanoparticles KW - Roughness KW - SEM KW - transmission mode PY - 2022 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-542576 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/adem.202101344 SP - 1 EP - 9 PB - Wiley-VCH AN - OPUS4-54257 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Meng, M. A1 - Zhang, R. A1 - Zhenlong, F. A1 - Yang, J. A1 - Ansari, A. A1 - Ou, Jun A1 - Würth, Christian A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute T1 - Retracted article: Effect of Ca2+ doping on the upconversion luminescence properties of NaYF4:Yb3+/Tm3+ nanoparticles and study of its temperature measurement performance JF - CrystEngComm N2 - A solvothermal method was used to prepare a series of Yb3+/Tm3+/Ca2+ co-doped NaYF4 nanoparticles with different Ca2+ contents. Strong upconversion blue fluorescence could be observed under 980 nm laser excitation of the samples. The effect of different Ca2+ contents on the luminescence intensity was investigated, and it was found that the UV-vis upconversion luminescence increased and then decreased with an increasing Ca2+ concentration during the increase of the Ca2+ content from 0 mol% to 25 mol%, reaching the strongest fluorescence at 15 mol%, which was up to about 28 times stronger than that without Ca2+ doping. Furthermore, the mechanism was investigated, and it was found that the doping of Ca2+ disrupted the symmetry of the crystal field, resulting in a significant enhancement of the overall fluorescence. Applied to fluorescence intensity ratio thermometry, the absolute and relative sensitivities are as high as 0.0418 K−1 and 2.31% K−1, respectively, with a minimum temperature resolution of 0.0129 K. KW - Sensor KW - Temperature KW - Lanthanide KW - Luminescence KW - Nanoparticles KW - Upconversion KW - Advanced materials PY - 2022 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/D2CE00562J SN - 1466-8033 VL - 24 IS - 27 SP - 4887 EP - 4898 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - London AN - OPUS4-56952 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Meng, M. A1 - Zhang, T. A1 - Wang, J. A1 - Cheng, Z. A1 - Liu, Y. A1 - Qiao, X. A1 - Wen, J. A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute A1 - Long, W. A1 - Ou, J. T1 - NaYF4:Yb3+/Tm3+@NaYF4:Yb3+ Upconversion Nanoparticles for Optical Temperature Monitoring and Self-Heating in Photothermal Therapy JF - Applied nano materials N2 - The core−shell NaYF4:Yb3+/Tm3+@NaYF4:Yb3+ upconversion nanoparticles were successfully prepared by a solvothermal method, and a layer of mesoporous silica (mSiO2) was successfully coated on the periphery of the core−shell nanoparticles to transform their surface from lipophilic to hydrophilic, further expanding their applications in biological tissues. The physical phase, morphology, structure, and fluorescence properties were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), ζ potential analysis, and fluorescence spectroscopy. It was found that the material has a hexagonal structure with good hydrophilicity and emits intense fluorescence under 980 nm pump laser excitation. The non-contact temperature sensing performance of nanoparticles was evaluated by analyzing the upconversion fluorescence of Tm3+ (1G4 → 3F4 and 3F3 → 3H6) in the temperature range of 284−344 K. The absolute and relative sensitivities were found to be 0.0067 K−1 and 1.08 % K−1, respectively, with high-temperature measurement reliability and good temperature cycling performance. More importantly, its temperature measurement in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) solution is accurate. In addition, the temperature of the cells can be increased by adjusting the laser power density and laser irradiation time. Therefore, an optical temperature sensing platform was built to realize the application of real-time monitoring of cancer cell temperature and the dual function of photothermal therapy. KW - Sensor KW - Temperature KW - Lanthanide KW - Tag KW - Fluorescence KW - Nanoparticles KW - Synthesis KW - Environment KW - Monitoring KW - Sensing KW - Nano KW - Life sciences KW - Upconversion PY - 2023 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/acsanm.2c05110 VL - 6 IS - 1 SP - 759 EP - 771 PB - ACS Publications AN - OPUS4-57081 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Tscheuschner, Georg A1 - Ponader, Marco A1 - Raab, Christopher A1 - Weider, Prisca S. A1 - Hartfiel, Reni A1 - Kaufmann, Jan Ole A1 - Völzke, Jule L. A1 - Bosc-Bierne, Gaby A1 - Prinz, Carsten A1 - Schwaar, T. A1 - Andrle, Paul A1 - Bäßler, Henriette A1 - Nguyen, Khoa A1 - Zhu, Y. A1 - Mey, A. S. J. S. A1 - Mostafa, A. A1 - Bald, I. A1 - Weller, Michael G. T1 - Efficient Purification of Cowpea Chlorotic Mottle Virus by a Novel Peptide Aptamer JF - Viruses N2 - The cowpea chlorotic mottle virus (CCMV) is a plant virus explored as a nanotechnological platform. The robust self-assembly mechanism of its capsid protein allows for drug encapsulation and targeted delivery. Additionally, the capsid nanoparticle can be used as a programmable platform to display different molecular moieties. In view of future applications, efficient production and purification of plant viruses are key steps. In established protocols, the need for ultracentrifugation is a significant limitation due to cost, difficult scalability, and safety issues. In addition, the purity of the final virus isolate often remains unclear. Here, an advanced protocol for the purification of the CCMV from infected plant tissue was developed, focusing on efficiency, economy, and final purity. The protocol involves precipitation with PEG 8000, followed by affinity extraction using a novel peptide aptamer. The efficiency of the protocol was validated using size exclusion chromatography, MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry, reversed-phase HPLC, and sandwich immunoassay. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that the final eluate of the affinity column is of exceptional purity (98.4%) determined by HPLC and detection at 220 nm. The scale-up of our proposed method seems to be straightforward, which opens the way to the large-scale production of such nanomaterials. This highly improved protocol may facilitate the use and implementation of plant viruses as nanotechnological platforms for in vitro and in vivo applications. N2 - Das Cowpea Chlorotic Mottle Virus (CCMV) ist ein Pflanzenvirus, das als nanotechnologische Plattform erforscht wird. Der robuste Selbstorganisationsmechanismus seines Kapsidproteins ermöglicht die Verkapselung und gezielte Abgabe von Medikamenten. Darüber hinaus kann das Kapsid-Nanopartikel als programmierbare Plattform für die Präsentation verschiedener molekularer Komponenten verwendet werden. Im Hinblick auf künftige Anwendungen ist eine effiziente Produktion und Reinigung von Pflanzenviren von entscheidender Bedeutung. In etablierten Protokollen stellt die notwendige Ultrazentrifugation aufgrund von Kosten, schwieriger Skalierbarkeit und Sicherheitsaspekten eine erhebliche Einschränkung dar. Darüber hinaus bleibt die Reinheit des endgültigen Virusisolats oft unklar. Hier wurde ein fortschrittliches Protokoll für die Reinigung von CCMV aus infiziertem Pflanzengewebe entwickelt, wobei der Schwerpunkt auf Effizienz, Wirtschaftlichkeit und Reinheit lag. Das Protokoll beinhaltet eine Fällung mit Polyethylenglycol (PEG 8000), gefolgt von einer Affinitätsextraktion mit einem neuartigen Peptid-Aptamer. Die Effizienz des Protokolls wurde mithilfe von Größenausschluss-Chromatographie (SEC), MALDI-TOF-Massenspektrometrie, Umkehrphasen-HPLC und Sandwich-Immunoassay validiert. Darüber hinaus wurde nachgewiesen, dass das endgültige Eluat der Affinitätssäule eine außergewöhnliche Reinheit (98,4 %) aufweist, die durch HPLC und Detektion bei 220 nm bestimmt wurde. Die Skalierung der von uns vorgeschlagenen Methode scheint einfach zu sein, was den Weg für eine größer angelegte Produktion solcher Nanomaterialien ebnet. Dieses stark verbesserte Protokoll könnte die Verwendung und Umsetzung von Pflanzenviren als nanotechnologische Plattformen für In-vitro- und In-vivo-Anwendungen erleichtern. KW - Affinity chromatography KW - Nanoparticles KW - Nanoscience KW - Carrier protein KW - Encapsulation KW - Combinatorial peptide library KW - Peptide binder KW - Vigna unguiculata KW - Augenbohne KW - Schlangenbohne KW - Pflanzenvirus KW - Plant virus KW - Upscaling KW - Commercialization KW - Reference material KW - Nanocarrier PY - 2023 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-572645 DO - https://doi.org/10.3390/v15030697 VL - 15 IS - 3 SP - 1 EP - 24 PB - MDPI CY - Basel, Schweiz AN - OPUS4-57264 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Muguruza, A.R. A1 - Odyniec, M.L. A1 - Manhota, M. A1 - Habib, Z. A1 - Rurack, Knut A1 - Blair, J.M.A. A1 - Kuehne, S.A. A1 - Walmsley, A.D. A1 - Pikramenou, Z. T1 - Antibiotic entrapment in antibacterial micelles as a novel strategy for the delivery of challenging antibiotics from silica nanoparticles JF - Microporous and Mesoporous Materials N2 - Silica materials are popular in biomedical applications as composites and drug delivery platforms due to their low toxicity and biocompatibility. Mesoporous silica nanoparticles are attractive drug delivery systems based on their porous silica framework with high surface area. In the preparation of mesoporous silica frameworks, most commonly, MCM-41, the efficient removal of the template responsible for introducing porous networks, cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB), is a critical step due to the template’s high toxicity in the environment and human health. In this work, we present a new one-pot approach of introducing challenging antibiotics within a silica framework without the need of toxic templates, but instead using micelle formation by an antibacterial agent. We demonstrate that micelles formed by cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC), a known antibacterial agent, entrap antibiotics such as rifampicin and ciprofloxacin. Extensive NMR studies elucidate the precise localisation of the antibiotic within the CPC micelle. Ciprofloxacin is placed between the outer and palisade region while rifampicin is located further into the hydrophobic CPC micelle core. In both cases, the formation of the silica framework can be built around the CPC-antibiotic loaded micelles. The resulting silica nanoparticles show loading of both CPC and antibiotic agents, porosity and dual antibacterial release upon disruption of the micelle within the silica framework. The design not only provides a strategy of a therapeutic design to form porous frameworks but also highlights the potential of precise antibiotic dose and release in nanoparticle systems. KW - Silica KW - Nanoparticles KW - Antibiotics KW - Drug delivery KW - Surfactants PY - 2024 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.micromeso.2023.112841 SN - 1387-1811 VL - 363 SP - 1 EP - 11 PB - Elsevier Inc. CY - Amsterdam AN - OPUS4-58534 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -