Search Results (223)

Deep eutectic solvents (DES) have emerged as a versatile and sustainable medium for the green synthesis of nanomaterials, offering a viable alternative to conventional organic solvents and ionic liquids. Nanomaterials can be synthesised in DESs via multiple routes, including chemical reduction, solvothermal, and electrochemical methods. Among the different pathways, this review focuses on the electrochemical synthesis of nanomaterials in DESs, as it offers several advantages: low cost, scalability for large-scale production, and low-temperature processing. The size, shape, and morphology (e.g., nanoparticles, nanoflowers, nanowires) of the resulting nanostructures can be tuned by adjusting the concentration of the electroactive species, the applied potential, the current density, mechanical agitation, and the electrolyte temperature. The use of DES as an electrolytic medium represents an environmentally friendly alternative. From an electrochemical perspective, it exhibits high electrochemical stability, good solubility for a wide range of precursors, and a broad electrochemical window. Furthermore, their low surface tensions promote high nucleation rates, and their high ionic strengths induce structural effects such as templating, capping and stabilisation, that play a crucial role in controlling particle morphology, size distribution and aggregation. Despite significant progress, key challenges persist, including incomplete mechanistic understanding, limited recyclability, and difficulties in scaling up synthesis while maintaining structural precision. This review highlights recent advances in the development of metal, alloy, oxide, and carbon-based composite nanomaterials obtained by electrochemical routes from DESs, along with their applications. Full article

Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) are among the most adaptable nanocarriers in modern pharmaceutics, characterized by a high surface area, tunable pore size, controllable morphology, and excellent biocompatibility. These qualities enable effective encapsulation, protection, and the delivery of drugs in a specific area and, therefore, MSNs are powerful platforms for the targeted and controlled delivery of drugs and theragnostic agents. Over the past ten years and within the 2021–2025 period, the advancement of MSN design has led to the creation of hybrid nanostructures into polymers, lipids, metals, and biomolecules that have yielded multifunctional carriers with enhanced stability, responsiveness, and biological activities. The current review provides a review of the synthesis methods, surface functionalization techniques, and physicochemical characterization techniques that define the next-generation MSN-based delivery systems. The particular focus is put on stimuli-responsive systems, such as redox, pH, enzyme-activated, and light-activated systems, that enable delivering drugs in a controlled and localized manner. We further provide a summary of the biomedical use of MSNs and their hybrids such as in cancer chemotherapy, gene and nucleic acid delivery, antimicrobial and vaccine delivery, and central nervous system targeting, supported by recent in vivo and in vitro studies. Important evaluations of biocompatibility, immunogenicity, degradation, and biodistribution in vivo are also provided with a focus on safety in addition to the regulatory impediments to clinical translation. The review concludes by saying that there are still limitations such as large-scale reproducibility, long-term toxicity, and standardization by the regulators, and that directions are being taken in the future in the fields of smart programmable nanocarriers, green synthesis, and sustainable manufacture. Overall, mesoporous silica and hybrid nanoparticles represent a breakthrough technology in the nanomedicine sector with potentials that are unrivaled in relation to targeted, controlled, and personalized therapeutic interventions. Full article

Diabetes mellitus affects over 530 million adults globally, with current therapies limited by frequent dosing, <20% oral bioavailability, and poor long-term glycemic control. Nanomedicine, particularly self-assembled peptide nanostructures (nanofibrils), offers sustained, glucose-responsive drug release and extended peptide bioactivity for several days per dose. This review critically evaluates recent advances in smart antidiabetic nanomedicine, focusing on quantitative improvements in pharmacokinetics, controlled release, and patient compliance compared with conventional treatments. It also outlines remaining challenges in large-scale synthesis, safety validation, and regulatory translation. Collectively, these insights highlight the potential of reversible peptide nanofibrils as long-acting, cost-effective therapeutics for improved diabetes management. Full article

The integration of smart nanomaterials into pharmaceutics has transformed approaches to disease diagnosis, targeted therapy, and tissue regeneration. These nanoscale materials exhibit unique features such as controlled responsiveness, biocompatibility, and precise site-specific action, offering new possibilities for personalized healthcare. This review provides a comprehensive overview of recent advances in the design and application of functional nanomaterials, including nanoparticle-based drug carriers, responsive hydrogels, and nanostructured scaffolds. Special focus is placed on stimuli-triggered systems that achieve controlled drug release and localized therapeutic effects. In addition, the review explores how these materials enhance diagnostic imaging and support tissue regeneration through adaptive and multifunctional designs. Importantly, this work uniquely integrates stimuli-responsive nanomaterials across therapeutic, imaging, and regenerative domains, providing a unified view of their biomedical potential. The challenges of clinical translation, large-scale synthesis, and regulatory approval are critically analyzed to outline future directions for research and real-world implementation. Overall, this review highlights the pivotal role of smart nanomaterials in advancing modern pharmaceutics toward more effective and patient-centered therapies. Full article

The anodization of Ti° enables the formation of well-ordered TiO₂ nanotubes, a highly promising nanomaterial with exceptional photochemical properties and potential applications in the energy and environmental sectors. This study addresses the growth of TiO₂ nanotubes on large-scale surfaces applied for photocatalytic processes. The present investigation approaches the scaling up of the reactor for anodizing Ti°-coated flat surfaces and thus connecting the TiO₂-nano-structure with real-world applications. For this, 316 stainless steel sheets were coated with a uniform Ti° layer using the arc cathodic method. The results indicate that the (~3 µm) thick Ti° arc-PVD coatings are well anodized, despite the inherent amount of µm-sized droplets produced during the deposition. The results reported here highlight the effects of the anodization process parameters—voltage, current, and time—on nanotube growth. At 60 V, the nanotubes exhibited a highly uniform cylindrical morphology, homogeneous walls contributing to an ordered, stable, and open nanostructure at large Ti-coated surfaces. The scaling up of the reactor for the controlled anodization process of Ti° coating is addressed. This approach validates Ti°-based PVD coatings at a semi-industrial scale on commercial stainless steel, thus enabling affordable production costs. Lastly, the anodization of Ti° coatings is a viable, scalable manufacturing process for producing photocatalytic nanostructured surfaces. Full article

Polyaniline (PANI), as a classical conducting polymer, has attracted significant attention in the field of energy storage due to its low cost, facile synthesis, environmental stability, and unique dual electronic/ionic conductivity. Particularly, one-dimensional (1D) nanostructures of PANI, such as nanowires and nanorods, exhibit superior electrochemical performance and cycling stability, attributed to their high surface area and efficient charge transport pathways. This review provides a comprehensive summary of recent advances in 1D PANI-based anode materials for lithium-ion, sodium-ion, and other types of rechargeable batteries. The specific capacity, rate performance, and long-term cycling behavior of these materials are discussed in detail. Moreover, strategies for performance enhancement through combination with carbon materials, metal oxides, and silicon, as well as chemical doping and structural modification, are systematically reviewed. Key challenges including electrochemical stability, structural durability, and large-scale fabrication are analyzed. Finally, the future directions in structural design, composite engineering, and commercialization of 1D PANI anode materials are outlined. This review aims to provide insight and guidance for the further development and practical application of PANI-based energy storage systems. Full article

With the recently acquired knowledge of the use of a multiphase mixture of precursors under electron beam irradiation (EBI), new possibilities were opened for this technique. In the present work, we obtained quantum dots, nanocrystals, nanoparticles, and grains of PbSe with a sintered appearance using a biphasic mixture of PbSe and PbSeO₃ under EBI. High-energy milling was used to obtain the biphasic mixture of precursors, which is composed of agglomerates with sizes ranging from ~400 to ~1700 nm, but nanoparticles were also present. The structural details of the biphasic mixture were studied using X-ray diffraction and the Rietveld method. The driving force of the EBI caused instantaneous physical and chemical changes due to the high internal energy of the biphasic mixture of precursors. The abrupt release of high internal energy, due to localized heating effects during EBI, gave way to the formation of multi-scale PbSe structures. Large particles with a sintered appearance formed near the electron beam impact point and in regions between ~800 nm and ~1400 nm, while well-defined faceted nanostructures were predominantly observed beyond ~1400 nm. The latter tended to be surrounded by {200} facets as the main growth direction. Furthermore, coalescence was anticipated to occur during EBI. It occurred simultaneously with the sublimation mechanism when the particle size was below the critical size of 10 nm. Multi-scale PbSe structures, obtained via EBI, are promising for developing thermoelectric devices due to their crystallinity and nanostructured features. Full article

Nanostructures with the two-dimensional (2D) periodicity are attracting increasing attention due to their promising applications in planar optical devices and their potential for scalable industrial production. While Rigorous Coupled-Wave Analysis (RCWA) has proven to be an efficient electromagnetic solver for simulating the diffraction of large-scale periodic nanostructures, it has been largely applied in nanostructures with one-dimensional (1D) periodicity and suffers from potentially low computational stability. In this study, we present a step-by-step formulation of the RCWA algorithm for 2D stratified grating structures. Through dimensionality reduction, we show that the boundary conditions in 2D gratings can be transformed into forms analogous to those of 1D gratings. Additionally, we implement a hybrid matrix algorithm to enhance the computational stability of the RCWA. The stability and accuracy of the hybrid matrix-enhanced RCWA algorithm are compared with other recursive methods. An exemplary application in metalens demonstrates the effectiveness of our algorithms. Full article

Micro- and nanopatterning is crucial for advanced photonic, electronic, and sensing devices. Yet achieving large-area periodic nanostructures with a 75 nm half-pitch on low-cost laboratory systems remains difficult, because conventional near-ultraviolet laser interference lithography (LIL) suffers from Gaussian-beam non-uniformity and a narrow exposure latitude. Here, we report a cost-effective deep-ultraviolet (DUV) dual-beam LIL system based on a 266 nm laser and diffractive flat-top beam shaping, enabling large-area patterning of periodical nanostructures. At this wavelength, a moderate half-angle can be chosen to preserve a large beam-overlap region while still delivering 150 nm period (75 nm half-pitch) structures. By independently tuning the incident angle and beam uniformity, we pattern one-dimensional (1D) gratings and two-dimensional (2D) arrays over a Ø 1.0 cm field with critical-dimension variation < 5 nm (1σ), smooth edges, and near-vertical sidewalls. As a proof of concept, we transfer a 2D pattern into Si to create non-metal-coated nanodot arrays that serve as surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) substrates. The arrays deliver an average enhancement factor of ~1.12 × 10⁴ with 11% intensity relative standard deviation (RSD) over 65 sampling points, a performance near the upper limit of all-dielectric SERS substrates. The proposed method overcomes the uneven hotspot distribution and complex fabrication procedures in conventional SERS substrates, enabling reliable and large-area chemical sensing. Compared to electron-beam lithography, the flat-top DUV-LIL approach offers orders-of-magnitude higher throughput at a fraction of the cost, while its centimeter-scale uniformity can be scaled to full wafers with larger beam-shaping optics. These attributes position the method as a versatile and economical route to large-area photonic metasurfaces and sensing devices. Full article

Low-dimensional carbon nanostructures such as nanotubes, nanocones, and nanofibers can be grown in chemical vapor deposition (CVD) synthesis using catalyst nanoparticles. It is commonly observed that the morphology of solid catalyst nanoparticles continuously fluctuates during multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) growth. Interestingly, when the diameter of the inner tube of the growing MWCNT reduces below a threshold value, the catalyst nanoparticle snaps out of the MWCNT and recovers its spherical shape. If the MWCNT is tapered, the catalyst nanoparticle may also break. In this study, large-scale molecular dynamics simulations and nanomechanical modeling are employed to elucidate the complete process of MWCNT growth coupled with morphological change in the catalytic nanoparticles. It is shown that the tendency to decrease the surface energy of the catalyst nanoparticle is the major underlying driving force for the variation in morphology under the mechanical constraint of the growing MWCNT. Importantly, the predicted critical inner CNT radius at the onset of the shape recovery is in excellent agreement with experimental observations. The combination of molecular dynamics simulations and theoretical modeling offer an alternative perspective on co-evolution of catalyst nanoparticles and the growth of low-dimensional carbon nanostructures. Full article

Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMSs), exemplified by molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂), exhibit significant potential as alternatives to noble metals (e.g., Pt) for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). However, conventional synthesis methods of MoS_x often suffer from active site loss, harsh reaction conditions, or undesirable oxidation, limiting their practical applicability. The development of MoS_x with high-density active sites remains a formidable challenge. Herein, we propose a novel strategy employing [Mo₃S₁₃]²⁻ clusters as precursors to construct three-dimensional amorphous MoS_x nanosheets through optimized hydrothermal and solvent evaporation-induced self-assembly approaches. Comprehensive characterization confirms the material’s unique amorphous lamellar structure, featuring preserved [Mo₃S₁₃]²⁻ units and engineered interlayer dislocations that facilitate enhanced electron transfer and active site exposure. This work not only establishes [Mo₃S₁₃]²⁻ clusters as effective building blocks for high-performance MoS_x catalysts, but also provides a scalable and environmentally benign synthesis route for the large-scale production of such nanostructured a-MoS_x. Our findings facilitate the rational design of non-noble HER catalysts via structural engineering, with broad implications for energy conversion technologies. Full article

Traumatic injuries to the brain and spinal cord remain among the most challenging conditions in clinical neuroscience due to the complexity of repair mechanisms and the limited regenerative capacity of neural tissues. Nanotechnology has emerged as a transformative field, offering precise diagnostic tools, targeted therapeutic delivery systems, and advanced scaffolding platforms that are capable of overcoming the biological barriers to regeneration. This review summarizes the recent advances in nanoscale diagnostic markers, functionalized nanoparticles for drug delivery, and nanostructured scaffolds designed to modulate the injured microenvironment and support axonal regrowth and remyelination. Emerging evidence indicates that nanotechnology enables real-time, minimally invasive detection of inflammation, oxidative stress, and cellular damage, while improving therapeutic efficacy and reducing systemic side effects through targeted delivery. Electroconductive scaffolds and hybrid strategies that integrate electrical stimulation, gene therapy, and artificial intelligence further expand opportunities for personalized neuroregeneration. Despite these advances, significant challenges remain, including long-term safety, immune compatibility, the scalability of large-scale production, and translational barriers, such as small sample sizes, heterogeneous preclinical models, and limited follow-up in existing studies. Addressing these issues will be critical to realize the full potential of nanotechnology in traumatic brain and spinal cord injury and to accelerate the transition from promising preclinical findings to effective clinical therapies. Full article

The prosperity of enzyme-mimicking catalysis has promoted the development of nanozymes with diversified activities, mainly including catalase-like, oxidase-like, peroxidase-like, and superoxide dismutase-like characteristics. Thus far, the reported nanozymes can be roughly divided into five categories, comprising noble metals, metal oxides, carbon-based nanostructures, metal–organic frameworks, and covalent organic frameworks. This review systematically summarizes the research progress of nanozymes for improving catalytic activity toward sensing applications in food safety monitoring. Specifically, we highlight the unique advantages of nanozymes in enhancing the performance of colorimetric, fluorescence, and electrochemical sensors, which are crucial for detecting various food contaminants. Moreover, this review addresses the challenges faced in food safety detection, such as the need for high sensitivity, selectivity, and stability under complex food matrices. Nanozymes offer promising solutions by providing robust catalytic activity, adjustable enzyme-like properties, and excellent stability, even in harsh environments. However, practical implementation challenges remain, including the need for a deeper understanding of nanozyme catalytic mechanisms, improving substrate selectivity, and ensuring long-term stability and large-scale production. By focusing on these aspects, this review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the current state of nanozyme-based sensors for food safety detection and to inspire future research directions. Full article

Green hydrogen production from water electrolysis (WE) is one of the most promising technologies to realize a decarbonized future and efficiently utilize intermittent renewable energy. Among the various WE technologies, the emerging anion exchange membrane (AEMWE) technology shows the greatest potential for producing green hydrogen at a competitive price. To achieve this goal, simple methods for the large-scale synthesis of efficient and low-cost electrocatalysts are needed. This paper proposes a very simple and scalable process for the synthesis of nanostructured NiCo- and NiFe-based electrode materials for a zero-gap AEMWE full cell. For the preparation of the cell anode, oxides with different Ni molar fractions (0.50 or 0.85) are synthesized by the sol–gel method, followed by calcination in air at different temperatures (400 or 800 °C). To fabricate the cell cathode, the oxides are reduced in a H₂/Ar atmosphere. Electrochemical testing reveals that phase purity and average crystal size significantly influence cell performance. Highly pure and finely grained electrocatalysts yield higher current densities at lower overpotentials. The best performing membrane electrode assembly exhibits a current density of 1 A cm⁻² at 2.15 V during a steady-state 150 h long stability test with 1 M KOH recirculating through the cell, the lowest series resistance at any cell potential (1.8 or 2.0 V), and the highest current density at the cut-off voltage (2.2 V) both at the beginning (1 A cm⁻²) and end of tests (1.78 A cm⁻²). The presented results pave the way to obtain, via simple and scalable techniques, cost-effective catalysts for the production of green hydrogen aimed at a wider market penetration by AEMWE. Full article

The oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is pivotal in hydrogen production via water electrolysis, yet its sluggish kinetics, stemming from the four-electron transfer process, remain a major obstacle, with overpotential reduction being critical for enhancing efficiency. This work addresses this challenge by developing a novel approach to stabilize and activate non-precious metal catalysts for OER. Specifically, we synthesized a three-dimensional flake NiFe-LDH/ZIF-L composite catalyst on a flexible nickel foam (NF) substrate through a room temperature soaking and hydrothermal method, leveraging the mesoporous structure of ZIF-L to increase the specific surface area and optimizing electron transfer pathways via interfacial regulation. Continuous linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) scanning induced structural self-reconstruction, forming highly active NiOOH species enriched with oxygen vacancies, which significantly boosted catalytic performance. Experimental results demonstrate an overpotential of only 221 mV at 10 mA cm⁻² and a Tafel slope of 56.3 mV dec⁻¹, alongside remarkable stability, attributed to the catalyst’s hierarchical nanostructure that accelerates mass diffusion and charge transfer. The innovation lies in the synergistic effect of the mesoporous ZIF-L structure and interfacial regulation, which collectively enhance the catalyst’s activity and durability, offering a promising strategy for advancing large-scale water electrolysis hydrogen production technology. Full article