13.

0 NANOMATERIALS
(APPLICATIONS)
INSPIRED BY NATURE
THE GECKO (LIZARD)
• The gecko's ability to adhere to vertical surfaces--even walk upside
down on ceilings---is due to the special hierarchical structure of its
toes.

• There is no glue involved; instead, the traction results from a

physical property known as the van der Waals forces, a transient
attraction that can occur from atom to atom at the scale of
molecules.

• When a gecko places its foot on the wall and curls its toes, the tiny
spatulae get so close to the nooks and crannies on the wall's surface
that their atoms interact with the atoms of the wall, bringing the van
der Waals forces into play. Van der Waals forces are relatively weak
forces when compared to normal bonding forces.

• But for such weak forces to work, there must be an enormous

intimate contact area between foot and surface, so that enough
individual weak forces can add up to a very strong force.
LOTUS LEAF EFFECT

 Lotus leaves (Nelumbo nucifera) promote self-cleaning with a

superhydrophobic and low adhesion surface, due to a waxy
hierarchical surface structure.
 The epidermis of the lotus plant possesses papillae with 10 to 20 µm
in height and 10 to 15 µm in width on which the so-called epicuticular
waxes are imposed. These superimposed waxes are hydrophobic and
form the second layer of the double structure.
 Dirt particles picked up by water droplets and are thus easily cleaned
off the surface called self-cleaning effect.
 Self-cleaning effect is of a great importance for plants as a protection
against pathogens like fungi or algae growth, and also for animals
like butterflies, dragonflies and other insects not able to cleanse all
their body parts.
THE NAMIB BEETLE DESSERT

The Namib Desert

beetle (Stenocara
gracilipes) is a species of
beetle that is native to
the Namib Desert of
southern Africa. This is
one of the most arid areas
of the world, receiving
only 1.4 centimetres
(0.55 in) of rain per year.
The beetle is able to
survive by collecting
water on its bumpy back
surface from early
morning fogs.
 Fog collector
•The synthethic surface is composed of two
polymer layers: the top is hydrophilic, while
the bottom is hydrophobic, which makes
water droplets detach as soon as they get
large enough.
•It could be used for local water
harvesting—every house could have part of
its roof coated with the surface to channel
condensation into a rainwater tank.
•this invention could be a boon for a
country that has suffered severe droughts
and is considered the driest inhabited
continent on earth.
Self-filling water bottle
An earlier incarnation of the material
was first constructed in 2006 by an MIT
team -- they dipped glass or plastic
substrates into solutions of charged
polymer chains over and over again to
manipulate the surface make-up. Silica
nanoparticles were then added to create
a rougher, water-trapping texture, and a
Teflon-like substance sealed it. Charged
polymers and nanoparticles were then
layered in patterns to create a contrast
between rough and porous surfaces.
They estimated to collect 0.5 -3 L per
hour
THE SPIDER SILK

 Under an electron microscope, Lei Jiang and Yong Zhao from the
Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing and colleagues observed
that spider silk fibers change structure when they come into contact
with water.
 The fibers form hydrophilic spindle knots while the joints in between
the knots remain smooth, so condensing water droplets slide along
the smooth surfaces and coalesce into bigger drops at the knots.
 The scientists dipped nylon into a polymer solution; when it was
stretched out, small polymer droplets formed, which became spindle
knots once they dried.
 The scientists hope to use this research to develop synthetic
materials that can direct and control water droplets more efficiently,
which could potentially be used to make fog collectors even more
effective.
Fe3O4 NANOMATERIALS
Liu X, Zhong Z, Tang Y, Liang B, 2013, Journal of Nanomaterials, pg 1-7

 Fe3O4 have unique electric and magnetic properties

 Synthesised in various shapes such as nanorods, nanotubes
and hierarchical structures
 Fe3O4 has a cubic inverse spinel structures
Fe3O4 NANOMATERIALS
0D Fe3O4

1D and 2D Fe3O4
Fe3O4 NANOMATERIALS

 Applications
i) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) agent
contrast
ii) catalyst
iii) drug delivery
iv) waste water treatment
v) lithium-ion batteries
GRAPHENE APPLICATIONS
 Various approaches have been developed for the
synthesis of graphene and its derivatives:-
i)mechanical exfoliation
ii) epitaxial growth
iii) unzipping carbon nanotubes
iv) exfoliation of graphene oxides
v)liquid phase exfoliation of graphite
 However, exfoliation of grahene oxides and liquid phase
exfoliation of graphite exhibit great potentials in
biological applications due to easy accessibility for large-
scale solution-based process.
GRAPHENE APPLICATIONS

 Major advantage is their high specific surface area

along with a high capacity for biofunctionalization
or drug loading
 Both sides of a graphene plane can be used as a
substrate for addition or adsorption of molecules
and functional groups in a controlled manner
 Covalent and noncovalent surface modifications
have been performed to improve biocompatibility
and colloidal stability.
 GRAPHENE APPLICATIONS
 Graphenes for drug
delivery
- Functionalization of GO with PEG allows an
increase of the aqueous solubility and the
stability in biological media. GO-PEG was
obtained by grafting PEG onto the
carboxylic acid functional groups available
on the GO planes. No toxic effect was
identified and the biocompatibility of this
material is good.
- GO-PEG can rapidly form complexes with
aromatic molecules such as SN-38,30 a
camptothecin (CPT) analogue. This new
nanomaterial was highly effective in killing
human colon cancer cells.
GRAPHENE APPLICATIONS
 Graphenes for biosensing
- It can use to detect the glucose, Cyt-c,
nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH),
hemoglobin (Hb), cholesterol, ascorbic acid (AA),
uric acid (UA), dopamine (DA), and H2O2.
- GO and its reduced form have been also used for
the fabrication of heavy metal ion sensors, gas
sensors, and DNA sensors.
- There are three kinds of biosensors:graphene-
based enzymatic, nonenzymatic, and
nanoelectronic devices.
GRAPHENE APPLICATIONS

Health risk of graphene

NANOMATERIALS FOR ANTITUMOR

Figure 2 . Nanomaterials for tumor diagnosis in the tumor microenvironment. Various nanomaterials have
been designed for tumor diagnostics, mainly for tumor imaging. Some nanomaterials, such as quantum
dots (QDs), magnetic nanoparticles, and noble metal nanoparticles, modified with targeting ligands have
been successfully applied for tumor imaging with various imaging modalities (such as PET and MRI) due to
their intrinsic physiochemical properties. Other materials, such as polymers and nanocage proteins, can be
tailor-designed by integration of fluorescent or magnetic properties. For developing “activable” or
“activated” nanoscale imaging agents, nanomaterials can also be designed to respond to specific
environmental stimuli, such as pH or enzymes in the tumor microenvironment.

Tianjiao Ji , Ying Zhao , Yanping Ding , and Guangjun Nie, 2013, Advanced Materials, pg 1-18
 Nanomaterials potentially to regulate the tumor
microenvironment by:
i) amplifying the signals of tumor site by making full use of
characteristics of the tumor microenvironment;
ii) regulating the cellular and non-cellular components of tumor
stroma to inhibit tumor growth;
iii) act on multiple targets for tumor therapy.
Figure 5 . Communications of nanoparticles for amplifying the signals of the tumor microenvironment for tumor targeting and therapy.
A,B) Schematic representation of communicating nanoparticles (NPs). The signaling components are A) targeted tissue factors (tTF) or
B) tumour-targeted plasmonic gold nanorods (NRs), and the receiving components are A) iron oxide nanoworms (NWs) or B) drug-
loaded liposomes (LPs). Communication is exploited to recruit receiving components through A) activity of the coagulation
transglutaminase factor XIII (FXIII) or B) through targeting of polymerized fibrin. C) Intraoperative imaging of mice received NW
receivers showed amplifi ed tumor targeting. Nu/nu mice bearing a single MDA-MB-435 tumour were intravenously injected with
communicating (tTF-RGD + FXIII-NWs) or control (tTF-RGD + FXIIIControl-NWs) systems. At 24 h postinjection, tumours were surgically
exposed for fl uorescent imaging of NW homing. D,E) Amplifi ed tumor therapy with communication D) NPs Images and E) tumor
volumes of mice treated with communicating NPs compared with untreated controls (20 d post-treatment). The communicating NPs
greatly improve the targeting efficiency.

G. von Maltzahn , J. H. Park , K. Y. Lin , N. Singh , C. Schwöppe , R. Mesters , W. E. Berdel , E. Ruoslahti , M. J. Sailor , S. N.
Bhatia , Nat. Mater. 2011 , 10 , 545 .
NANOMATERIALS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL
APPLICATIONS
 Nanostructured materials can use as pesticides detection and also
promisisng tools for pesticides removal or degradation.

 For pesticides detection it depends on the optical properties of the

nanomaterials (size and electronic structures) – often used
colourimetric techniques or fluorescence

 In nature, some microorganism use certain pesticides as a food

source and can metabolize them in soil. However, the remains
pesticides will staying in the environment for a long time, ultimately
entering the food chains. Therefore, the pesticides need to remove
from the environments.

 Nanomaterials used are metal nanoparticles (Au), carbon nanotubes,

graphene, magnetic nanoparticles (Fe3O4) and/or quantum dots.
 (A.1) Detection of acetylcholinesterase activity by growth of Au nanoparticles; (A.2) absorbance spectra
corresponding to the inhibition of AuNP growth on glass support, recorded in the presence of AChE, 0.13
units/mL, HAuCl4, 1.1 × 10−3 M, 1.4 × 10−4 M, and different concentrations of inhibitor: (a) 0; (b) 5.9 ×
10−7; (c) 1.2 × 10−6; (d) 2.4 × 10−6; and (e) 5.9 × 10−6 M. Inset: Images of glass slides formed in the
presence of the respective concentrations of the inhibitor (left, no inhibitor; right, 2.410−6 M inhibitor).
Reprinted with permission from ref 47. Copyright 2005 American Chemical Society