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Room above the Bottom: Materials between the Nano and Micro...
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Room above the Bottom: Materials between the Nano and Micro Scale

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Materials Science and Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 February 2022) | Viewed by 9814

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Michele Mauri, PhD

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Materials Science, University of Milano-Bicocca, Via R. Cozzi 55, 20125 Milano, Italy
Interests: nanotechnology; polymers; NMR

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Giant nanoparticles, multilevel fibers, and layered functional films are a few examples of materials organized just outside the strictly defined nanoscale. They express a peculiar combination of structure and function, especially when constituted by a hierarchical arrangement of nanostructures: many unique properties displayed by naturally evolved systems emerge from such multiscale arrangements. Artificial counterparts are comparatively primitive: their size makes them small for top-down preparation, large for bottom-up synthesis, and very challenging for characterization techniques such as NMR or XRD. Microscopy needs to be specifically enhanced to explore their interior, and computational approaches need to be performed with relevant machine power or with coarse-grained approaches.
Still, the development of such structures—also called “nanoarchitectonics”—is producing brilliant practical results (e.g., metamaterials), as well as deep insight into transport and guided synthesis phenomena.

This Special Issue is focused on artificial and synthetic materials in the 20–500 nm scale, including:

  • Synthesis of novel structures, from scratch or by the modification of natural systems;
  • Specific properties due to their size or architecture;
  • Application of a characterization technique to investigate them;
  • Approaches to modelling or simulation at this scale;
  • Insight on basic phenomena garnered from the study of such systems.

Dr. Michele Mauri, PhD
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Applied Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • nanofabrication
  • biomimetics
  • metamaterials

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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20 pages, 2744 KiB  
Article
Role of Surface-Treated Silica Nanoparticles on the Thermo-Mechanical Behavior of Poly(Lactide)
by Luca Fambri, Andrea Dorigato and Alessandro Pegoretti
Appl. Sci. 2020, 10(19), 6731; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app10196731 - 25 Sep 2020
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 2402
Abstract
Surface-treated fumed silica nanoparticles were added at various concentrations (from 1 to 24 vol%) to a commercial poly(lactide) or poly(lactic acid) (PLA) matrix specifically designed for packaging applications. Thermo-mechanical behavior of the resulting nanocomposites was investigated. Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) micrographs [...] Read more.
Surface-treated fumed silica nanoparticles were added at various concentrations (from 1 to 24 vol%) to a commercial poly(lactide) or poly(lactic acid) (PLA) matrix specifically designed for packaging applications. Thermo-mechanical behavior of the resulting nanocomposites was investigated. Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) micrographs revealed how a homogeneous nanofiller dispersion was obtained even at elevated filler amounts, with a positive influence of the thermal degradation stability of the materials. Modelization of Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) curves through the Avrami–Ozawa model demonstrated that fumed silica nanoparticles did not substantially affect the crystallization behavior of the material. On the other hand, nanosilica addition was responsible for significant improvements of the storage modulus (E′) above the glass transition temperature and of the Vicat grade. Multifrequency DMTA tests showed that the stabilizing effect due to nanosilica introduction could be effective over the whole range of testing frequencies. Sumita model was used to evaluate the level of filler dispersion. The obtained results demonstrated the potential of functionalized silica nanoparticles in improving the thermo-mechanical stability of biodegradable matrices for packaging applications, especially at elevated service temperatures. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Room above the Bottom: Materials between the Nano and Micro Scale)
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Review

Jump to: Research

34 pages, 4640 KiB  
Review
129Xe: A Wide-Ranging NMR Probe for Multiscale Structures
by Matteo Boventi, Michele Mauri and Roberto Simonutti
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(6), 3152; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app12063152 - 19 Mar 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2294
Abstract
Porous materials are ubiquitous systems with a large variety of applications from catalysis to polymer science, from soil to life science, from separation to building materials. Many relevant systems of biological or synthetic origin exhibit a hierarchy, defined as spatial organization over several [...] Read more.
Porous materials are ubiquitous systems with a large variety of applications from catalysis to polymer science, from soil to life science, from separation to building materials. Many relevant systems of biological or synthetic origin exhibit a hierarchy, defined as spatial organization over several length scales. Their characterization is often elusive, since many techniques can only be employed to probe a single length scale, like the nanometric or the micrometric levels. Moreover, some multiscale systems lack tridimensional order, further reducing the possibilities of investigation. 129Xe nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) provides a unique and comprehensive description of multiscale porous materials by exploiting the adsorption and diffusion of xenon atoms. NMR parameters like chemical shift, relaxation times, and diffusion coefficient allow the probing of structures from a few angstroms to microns at the same time. Xenon can evaluate the size and shape of a variety of accessible volumes such as pores, layers, and tunnels, and the chemical nature of their surface. The dynamic nature of the probe provides a simultaneous exploration of different scales, informing on complex features such as the relative accessibility of different populations of pores. In this review, the basic principles of this technique will be presented along with some selected applications, focusing on its ability to characterize multiscale materials. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Room above the Bottom: Materials between the Nano and Micro Scale)
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22 pages, 2672 KiB  
Review
Strategies for Dielectric Contrast Enhancement in 1D Planar Polymeric Photonic Crystals
by Paola Lova, Heba Megahd, Paola Stagnaro, Marina Alloisio, Maddalena Patrini and Davide Comoretto
Appl. Sci. 2020, 10(12), 4122; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app10124122 - 15 Jun 2020
Cited by 23 | Viewed by 4525
Abstract
Historically, photonic crystals have been made of inorganic high refractive index materials coupled to air voids to maximize the dielectric contrast and in turn the light confinement. However, these systems are complex, costly, and time-demanding, and the fabrication processes are difficult to scale. [...] Read more.
Historically, photonic crystals have been made of inorganic high refractive index materials coupled to air voids to maximize the dielectric contrast and in turn the light confinement. However, these systems are complex, costly, and time-demanding, and the fabrication processes are difficult to scale. Polymer structures promise to tackle this issue thanks to their easy solution and melt processing. Unfortunately, their low dielectric contrast limits their performance. In this work, we propose a concise but exhaustive review of the common polymers employed in the fabrication of planar 1D photonic crystals and new approaches to the enhancement of their dielectric contrast. Transfer matrix method modeling will be employed to quantify the effect of this parameter in standardized structures and to propose a new polymer structure for applications dealing with light management. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Room above the Bottom: Materials between the Nano and Micro Scale)
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