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Designing and manufacturing multifunctional nanoparticles (NPs) are of considerable interest for both academic and industrial research. Among NPs used in this field, iron oxide NPs show low toxicity compared to metallic ones and are thus of high interest for biomedical applications. In this work, superparamagnetic Fe3−δO4-based core/shell NPs were successfully prepared and characterized by the combination of different techniques, and their physical properties were investigated. We demonstrate the efficiency of the layer-by-layer process to graft polyelectrolytes on the surface of iron oxide NPs. The influence of the polyelectrolyte chain configuration on the magnetic properties of the Fe3−δO4/polymer core/shell NPs was enlightened. The simple and fast process described in this work is efficient for the grafting of polyelectrolytes from surfaces, and thus, derived Fe3−δO4 NPs display both the physical properties of the core and of the macromolecular shell. Finally, the cytotoxicity toward the human THP-1 monocytic cell line of the core/shell NPs was assessed. The results showed that the polymer-capped Fe3−δO4 NPs exhibited almost no toxicity after 24 h of exposure at concentrations up to 25 μg mL–1. Our results show that these smart superparamagnetic nanocarriers with stealth properties are promising for applications in multimodal cancer therapy, including drug delivery.

International audience; Antimony (Sb) is a naturally occurring element; it is enriched in the environment by anthropogenic activities. Like other metalloid species, Sb partitions to mineral phases such as oxyhydroxides. In reducing environments, Fe(III) may serve as a terminal electron acceptor during dissimilatory iron reduction leading to its transformation. Relatively little is known concerning the effect of Sb(V) on the precipitation of biogenic minerals in relation to microbiologically mediated redox reactions. To further our understanding, Sb-bearing ferrihydrites (0.5 g) with variable Sb/(Fe + Sb) molar ratios of 0.04, 0.06 and 0.1, were incubated in the presence of Shewanella oneindensis MR-1 (1 × 108 cell mL−1) under N2 atmosphere. Additionally, we synthesized abiotic GR1(CO32−) in the presence of Sb(V) to examine the effect of Sb(V) on this mineral formation and stabilization. A combination of wet chemistry and solid analysis techniques (XRD, Mössbauer and Raman spectroscopies) was used to characterize the reactions.The Sb loading affected the rate and the extent of bio-reduction compared with pure ferrihydrite. Only a minor fraction of the total Sb, less than 0.5%, was released into the solution by the end of the incubation period, suggesting that the metalloid partitioned mainly in a newly formed phase. Furthermore, XPS analyses showed the presence of Sb(V) and Sb(III) species on the biogenic minerals. Magnetite was the main biogenic precipitate (91%) in the absence of Sb(V). Increasing of the molar ratios [Sb/(Fe + Sb)] to 0.1 resulted mainly in the precipitation of carbonated green (47%) rust and goethite (37%). Abiotic green rust synthesis carried out in the presence of Sb(V) indicated the latter’s stabilizing effect on the green rust structure, as for phosphate species. Thus, it is likely that Sb(V) preserve biogenic green rust, hindering its transformation to more thermodynamically stable phases.

Nonwoven nanowire network fabrics of the material class La1−xSrxMnO3 (LSMO) with x = 0.2 were fabricated employing a sol-gel-process via electrospinning and a subsequent thermal treatment process based on thermal gravity analysis results. Investigations by means of scanning electron microscopy revealed an average diameter of the resulting nanowires of around 230 nm and a length of more than 100 μm. The chemical phases of the samples have been confirmed via X-Ray diffraction. The nanowires are polycrystalline with an average grain size of about 25 nm obtained from transmission electron microscopy. Analyses of the electronic transportation properties and of the magnetoresistive (MR) effects of the nanowire samples were carried out by a four probe measurement inside a bath cryostat in fields up to 10 T. Measurements of magnetization in the temperature range 2 K

Flux pinning force scaling $f=F_{p}/F_{p,\max \limits }$ f = F p / F p , max vs. h = Ha/Hirr was performed on a variety of pure MgB2 samples, including a spark plasma sintered (SPS) one and a series of samples sintered at various reaction temperatures ranging between 775 and 950 ∘C. The SPS sample exhibits a well-developed scaling at all temperatures, and also the sintered samples prepared at 950 ∘C; however, the obtained peak positions of the pinning force scalings are distinctly different: The SPS sample reveals dominating pinning at grain boundaries, whereas the dominating pinning for the other one is point-pinning. All other samples studied reveal an apparent non-scaling of the pinning forces. The obtained pinning parameters are discussed in the framework of the Dew–Hughes’ pinning force scaling approach.

Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ (Bi-2212) nanowires were fabricated employing electrospinning. A subsequent thermal treatment based on thermal gravity analysis is required to obtain the final crystal structure and superconductivity; however, if this preparation temperature is too high, the nanowire structure may completely collapse during the treatment, which is even more pronounced when aligning the nanowires. Therefore, Li acetate was added in various amounts to the starting composition, which enabled to produce the desired Bi-2212 phase already at about 750 °C instead of 840 °C. An X-ray and a TEM analysis proved that the resulting nanowires were single-phase Bi-2212. After the electro-spinning process, the resulting samples form fabric-like networks, and in the heat treatment, the nanowire structure was found to survive. The nanowires exhibited a polycrystalline structure with grain sizes of 20–50 nm, an average wire diameter of ∼100 nm, and a length of up to several micrometers. The resulting nanowire network samples were characterized by magnetic measurements and electric transport measurements in fields up to 9 and 4 T, respecitively.

International audience; This study reports on the development of thermoresponsive core/shell magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) based on an iron oxide core and a thermoresponsive copolymer shell composed of 2-(2-methoxy)ethyl methacrylate (MEO2MA) and oligo(ethylene glycol)methacrylate (OEGMA) moieties. These smart nano-objects combine the magnetic properties of the core and the drug carrier properties of the polymeric shell. Loading the anticancer drug doxorubicin (DOX) in the thermoresponsive MNPs via supramolecular interactions provides advanced features to the delivery of DOX with spatial and temporal controls. The so coated iron oxide MNPs exhibit superparamagnetic behavior with a saturation magnetization of around 30 emu g–1. Drug release experiments confirmed that only a small amount of DOX was released at room temperature, while almost 100% drug release was achieved after 52 h at 42 °C with Fe3−δO4@P(MEO2MA60OEGMA40), which grafted polymer chains displaying a low critical solution temperature of 41 °C. Moreover, the MNPs exhibit magnetic hyperthermia properties as shown by specific absorption rate measurements. Finally, the cytotoxicity of the core/shell MNPs toward human ovary cancer SKOV-3 cells was tested. The results showed that the polymer-capped MNPs exhibited almost no toxicity at concentrations up to 12 μg mL–1, whereas when loaded with DOX, an increase in cytotoxicity and a decrease of SKOV-3 cell viability were observed. From these results, we conclude that these smart superparamagnetic nanocarriers with stealth properties are able to deliver drugs to tumor and are promising for applications in multimodal cancer therapy.

International audience; The present work reports on the low-pressure, radio-frequency, plasma-driven synthesis of ε-Fe 3 N-type nano-particles homogeneously deposited on a high-surface-area porous carbon support, with tunable magnetic properties, directly depending on the plasma treatment conditions. Iron nanoparticles are formed from the degradation of a solid organometallic precursor mixed with a carbon xerogel in a nitrogen-containing (argon/ammonia) plasma discharge. Variation of the working pressure during the plasma treatment directly affects the residence time of the reactive species, which determines the crystalline state of the nanoparticles, from amorphous at low-pressure treatment to well crystallized at high-pressure treatment. This results in a direct influence of the magnetic properties of the iron nitride nanoparticles. The working pressure results in two competing effects because it enhances the crystallinity (at higher pressure) and also slightly affects the surface chemistry of the nanoparticles by increasing the oxygen content, while the last is believed to deteriorate the magnetic properties; however, the crystallinity enhancement dominates. The synthesized Fe x N/C XG magnetic composites have been applied as filler materials in alginate membranes for ethanol dehydration in a pervaporation experiment. Results indicate a considerably enhanced performance of the alginate membrane as determined by its selectivity, the separation index, and the flux even when using a small Fe x N/C XG loading (3% w/w).

Flux pinning forces were determined on different network samples of superconducting Bi 2 Sr 2 CaCu 2 O 8 (Bi-2212) nanowires prepared by the electrospinning technique. We employed magnetization data determined by SQUID magnetometry in a wide temperature range 10 K T 35 K, where a strong superconducting signal prevails. The scaling analysis of the pinning forces was applied to interprete the data obtained. Both pure and Li-doped Bi2212 nanowire networks exhibit a peak position of h 0 ∼ 0.11, which is smaller than the expected value of h 0 = 0.2 indicating flux pinning at grain boundaries or extended defects. For the flowing currents through such a network, the crystallographic anisotropy and the percolation play an important role, resulting in reduced peak positions as compared to bulk samples.

The development of catalysts as an alternative to platinum group metals (PGMs) has great importance to improve the efficiency of hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Herein, the novel amorphous ternary refractory metal selenides (MWSex; M = Co and Ni), which were synthesized by hot-injection approach, were firstly investigated on the electrocatalytic HER in alkaline media. Optical, electrochemical and magnetic properties of the electrocatalysts were explored, as well as the chemical structures and morphologies. These results clearly show that the obtained materials are having the amorphous crystal structure and are shaped as spherical and rod-like structures. Moreover, the addition of Ni and Co metals into the WSex structure were raised the catalytic activity of HER comparing to that of only WSex. This work paves the way for the exploration of copper-based amorphous selenides as electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution in order to replace noble metal Pt. © 2019 Elsevier B.V., 32-M-16 Türkiye Bilimler Akademisi 215M309, The authors would like to thank TUBITAK (The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey ) (Grant number: 215M309 ), Karamanoglu Mehmetbey University , Scientific Research Foundation (Grand Number: 32-M-16 ) and Turkish Academy of Sciences via a TUBA-GEBIP fellowship for supporting this work. Appendix A

Networks of superconducting ${\mathrm{Bi}}_{2}{\mathrm{Sr}}_{2}{\mathrm{CaCu}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}_{8}$ (Bi-2212) nanowires were fabricated by the electrospinning technique. The nanowires have a diameter of the order of 150--200 nm and lengths up to the micrometer range and form a nonwoven, fabric-like network with numerous interconnections enabling a current flow between the nanowires. The porosity of this nanowire network is 0.9928. Therefore, this material represents a novel class of ultraporous high-temperature superconductors. The magnetizations of the nanowire networks $[M(T)$ and $M(H)]$ were recorded by SQUID magnetometry. The magnetic properties were analyzed using the extended critical state model (ECSM). It is supposed that the averaged diameter of the nanowires rules the magnetic field dependence of the critical current density of the nanowire network. Single nanowires have remarkably high values of the critical current density of $1.04\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{7}\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}\mathrm{A}/{\mathrm{cm}}^{2}$ at 5 K. The macroscopic critical current density less than $\ensuremath{\sim}0.05\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}\mathrm{A}/{\mathrm{cm}}^{2}$ at 5 K is fine for this lightweight material. Using ECSM, several important magnetic parameters could be determined including the penetration field ${H}_{p}$, the irreversibility fields ${H}_{\mathrm{irr}}$, the upper critical field ${H}_{c2}$, and the flux pinning forces. Applications for this material class may be found in the direction of sensors, thin shielding layers, or nanoporous bulks.