We report a rapid aqueous method for synthesizing monodisperse gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), employing 2-propynylamine as both an intrinsic reducing agent and a surface-stabilizing ligand. This self-mediated process—achieved in a single step—yields spherical AuNPs with an average diameter of 4.0 ± 1.0 nm and a well-defined localized surface plasmon resonance band centered at 520 nm. Acting as a bifunctional molecule, 2-propynylamine simultaneously reduces HAuCl4·3H2O to elemental gold and passivates the nanoparticle surface through coordination via the amine group, while preserving a terminal alkyne (–C≡CH) functionality. This reactive moiety remains exposed and chemically accessible, enabling post-synthetic modification through Cu(I)-catalyzed azide–alkyne cycloaddition. Control experiments using alternate milling times and vial composition confirmed the essential role of 2-propynylamine in mediating both reduction and surface functionalization. The resulting alkyne-functionalized AuNPs serve as versatile “click-ready” platforms for bioconjugation, sensing, and advanced material assembly. Overall, this scalable, green approach eliminates the need for external reducing or capping agents and provides a modular route to chemically addressable nanomaterials with tunable surface reactivity.

Cloud compute adoption has been growing since its inception in the early 2000's with estimates that the size of this market in terms of worldwide spend will increase from \$700 billion in 2021 to \$1.3 trillion in 2025. While there is a significant research activity in many areas of cloud computing technologies, we see little attention being paid to advancing software engineering practices needed to support the current and next generation of cloud native applications. By cloud native, we mean software that is designed and built specifically for deployment to a modern cloud platform. This paper frames the landscape of Cloud Native Software Engineering from a practitioners standpoint, and identifies several software engineering research opportunities that should be investigated. We cover specific engineering challenges associated with software architectures commonly used in cloud applications along with incremental challenges that are expected with emerging IoT/Edge computing use cases.

Alkanes such as n ‐hexane have been used as co‐solvents in the production of functionalized semiconductor nanoparticles from alkenes and alkynes using Reactive High Energy Ball Milling (RHEBM) under the assumption that they are non‐reactive under typical milling conditions. In this paper, a comparative study with two hydrocarbon solvents of comparable chain length, 1‐hexyne, and n ‐hexane, and their milling products using three different commercially available silicon precursors, namely single crystal silicon wafers and polycrystalline particles having a nominal size of 4 µm and 1 mm, is reported. It is found that nanoparticle formation and surface functionalization in all the three silicon systems occurs only with 1‐hexyne; n ‐hexane is non‐reactive and does not lead to appreciable functionalized nanoparticle formation under the conditions studied. Nanoparticles (where formed) and microparticle byproducts of appropriate samples are characterized by Transmission electronic microscope (TEM), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), Photoluminiscence spectroscopy (PL), Nuclear magnetic resonance 1 H/ 13 C NMR, and thermogravimetry TGA to separately confirm nanoparticle formation and surface functionalization.

The production of functionalized clinoatacamite (Cu-2(OH)(3)Cl) nanoparticles from Reactive Cavitation Erosion (RCE) of copper in 1 M aqueous guanidine hydrochloride (GHCl) solution was investigated for applications as potential quantum magnet materials. As-synthesized nanomaterial was characterized by Diffuse-Reflectance Infrared Fourier-Transform Spectroscopy (DRIFTS), XRD, and TEM. These analyses were compared to nanoparticles produced from RCE of Cu in KCl and RCE of Cu in GHCl in oxygen-depleted (Ar) and oxygen-rich (compressed air, CA) solutions to identify possible reaction pathways.

A power law model for cavitation erosion is proposed herein that represents volume loss as the creation and subsequent enlargement of hemispherical pits in the surface of the solid. The cumulative volume loss (CVL) of a material is expressed as an Arrhenius term, containing the energy of pit growth, E-pg, multiplied by a power law function with the pit radius growth rate, k, as a prefactor and a time exponent, n. The model is verified through fitting of experimental cavitation erosion data for commercially-available aluminum, copper, and zinc substrates, as well as fitting selected data from the International Cavitation Erosion Test and through comparison with other cumulative volume loss models.

Alkyl-terminated silicon nanoparticles (SiNPs) were prepared through reactive high-energy ball milling with contamination of iron from the steel milling materials. Iron impurities in the form of iron nanoparticles cause a decrease of photoluminescence intensity and an increase of the UV absorption. The iron impurities were removed either by gel permeation chromatography separation or by treatment with an aqueous HCl solution. The photoluminescence properties of the SiNPs were enhanced after the removal of iron. Transmission electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and proton nuclear magnetic resonance were used to determine morphology, elemental composition and surface passivation of SiNPs.

A new sonochemical process for the top-down production of silicon nanoparticles (<1 nm) with surface functional groups is described. The procedure involves a combination of acoustic cavitation erosion of a single-crystalline silicon surface coupled with simultaneous reaction with a reactive organic compound such as 1-hexyne. The sonochemical formation of the photoluminescent silicon nanoparticles by reactive cavitation erosion can be easily up-scaled.

A new synthetic route to mechanochemically produce silicon nanoparticles modified with biocompatible and chromophoric molecular compounds using the Williamson ether synthesis is described. This reaction allows a direct grafting of organic compounds such as phenol, hydroquinone and tetraethylene glycol to the silicon nanoparticle surface in an efficient fashion. Specifically, the formation of (phenoxy) hexyl silicon, (tetraethyleneglycoxy) hexyl silicon and (p-hydroxyphenoxy) hexyl silicon nanoparticles using the Williamson ether synthesis on chloroalkyl-terminated silicon nanoparticle is described. The resulting physical properties of the individual functionalised silicon nanoparticles were characterised by transmission electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy and photoluminescence, ultraviolet–visible, nuclear magnetic resonance and Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopies. The spectroscopic results show a direct bonding of the biocompatible and chromophoric molecules to the nanoparticles. Photoluminescence results show that the modified nanoparticles exhibit fluorescence in the blue spectral regions, consistent with other functionalised silicon nanoparticles formed by mechanochemistry, but that phenol and hydroquinone moieties result in silicon nanoparticles with broad, overlapping luminescence peaks, while the functionalisation with tetraethylene glycol has little effect on the overall optical properties.

This chapter focuses on identifiable, submicron structures with certain characteristic dimension other than a grain size of less than 100nm (nanocrystallinity). These structures can be amorphous, single crystalline, or polycrystalline (or a combination thereof) in terms of the traditional X-ray diffraction. The chapter summarizes some of the more recent developments in the application of reactive high-energy ball milling (RHEBM) to the formation of unique nanostructured materials including nanoparticles, nanorods, NSs, and nanocomposites. The formation of nanostructures by RHEBM is readily classified on the basis of the key formation reaction occurring at the solid–solid, liquid–solid, or gas–solid interface. The reactive component of the process either can be used to forma bulk of the nanostructured material, as is the case in intermetallic and nanocomposite formation, or can be used to modify the surface of the nanostructured material such as in surface mechanical attrition treatment (SMAT) or functionalized semiconductor nanoparticles.

Water-soluble silicon nanoparticles were synthesized by grafting PEG polymers onto functionalized silicon nanoparticles with distal alkyne or azide moieties. The surface-functionalized silicon nanoparticles were produced in one step from the reactive high-energy ball milling (RHEBM) of silicon wafers with a mixture of either 5-chloro-1-pentyne in 1-pentyne or 1,7 octadiyne in 1-hexyne to afford air and water-stable chloroalkyl or alkynyl-terminated nanoparticles, respectively. Nanoparticles with the ω-chloroalkyl substituents were easily converted to ω-azidoalkyl groups through the reaction of the Si nanoparticles with sodium azide in DMF. The azido-terminated nanoparticles were then grafted with mono-alkynyl-PEG polymers using a copper-catalyzed alkyne-azide cycloaddition (CuAAC) reaction to afford core–shell silicon nanoparticles with a covalently attached PEG shell. Covalently linked Si nanoparticle clusters were synthesized via the CuAAC “click” reaction of functional Si NPs with α,ω-functional PEG polymers of various lengths. Dynamic light scattering studies show that the flexible globular nanoparticle aggregates undergo a solvent-dependent change in volume (ethanol > dichloromethane > toluene) similar in behavior to hydrogel nanocomposites.

Large‐scale and tunable synthesis of FeCo/graphitic carbon (FeCo/GC) core–shell nanoparticles as a promising material for multipurpose biomedical applications is reported. The high‐quality graphitic structure of the carbon shells is demonstrated through high‐resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), X‐ray diffraction (XRD), and Raman spectroscopy. A saturation magnetization of 80.2 emu g−1 is reached for the pure FeCo/GC core–shell nanoparticles. A decrease in the saturation magnetization of the samples is observed with an increase in their carbon content with different carbon morphologies evolved in the process. It is also shown how hybrid nanostructures, including mixtures of the FeCo/GC nanoparticles and multi‐walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) or carbon nanorods (CNRs), can be obtained only by manipulation of the carbon‐bearing gas flow rate.

We describe a novel two-step method, starting from bulk silicon wafers, to construct DNA conjugated silicon nanoparticles (SiNPs). This method first utilizes reactive high-energy ball milling (RHEBM) to obtain alkene grafted SiNPs. The alkene moieties are subsequently reacted with commercially available thiol-functionalized DNA via thiol-ene click chemistry to produce SiNP DNA conjugates wherein the DNA is attached through a covalent thioether bond. Further, to show the utility of this synthetic strategy, we illustrate how these SiNP ODN conjugates can detect cancer-associated miR-21 via a fluorescence ON strategy. Given that an array of biological molecules can be prepared with thiol termini and that SiNPs are biocompatible and biodegradable, we envision that this synthetic protocol will find utility in salient SiNP systems for potential therapeutic and diagnostic applications.

Although it is frequently hypothesized that surface (like surface charge) and physical characteristics (like particle size) play important roles in cellular interactions of nanoparticles (NPs), a systematic study probing this issue is missing. Hence, a comparative cytotoxicity study, quantifying nine different cellular endpoints, was performed with a broad series of monodisperse, well characterized silicon (Si) and germanium (Ge) NPs with various surface functionalizations. Human colonic adenocarcinoma Caco-2 and rat alveolar macrophage NR8383 cells were used to clarify the toxicity of this series of NPs. The surface coatings on the NPs appeared to dominate the cytotoxicity: the cationic NPs exhibited cytotoxicity, whereas the carboxylic acid-terminated and hydrophilic PEG- or dextran-terminated NPs did not. Within the cationic Si NPs, smaller Si NPs were more toxic than bigger ones. Manganese-doped (1% Mn) Si NPs did not show any added toxicity, which favors their further development for bioimaging. Iron-doped (1% Fe) Si NPs showed some added toxicity, which may be due to the leaching of Fe(3+) ions from the core. A silica coating seemed to impart toxicity, in line with the reported toxicity of silica. Intracellular mitochondria seem to be the target for the toxic NPs since a dose-, surface charge- and size-dependent imbalance of the mitochondrial membrane potential was observed. Such an imbalance led to a series of other cellular events for cationic NPs, like decreased mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm) and ATP production, induction of ROS generation, increased cytoplasmic Ca(2+) content, production of TNF-α and enhanced caspase-3 activity. Taken together, the results explain the toxicity of Si NPs/Ge NPs largely by their surface characteristics, provide insight into the mode of action underlying the observed cytotoxicity, and give directions on synthesizing biocompatible Si and Ge NPs, as this is crucial for bioimaging and other applications in for example the field of medicine.