@article{WuttkeLiLietal.2019,
  author    = {Wuttke, Matthias and Li, Yong and Li, Man and Sieber, Karsten B. and Feitosa, Mary F. and Gorski, Mathias and Tin, Adrienne and Wang, Lihua and Chu, Audrey Y. and Hoppmann, Anselm and Kirsten, Holger and Giri, Ayush and Chai, Jin-Fang and Sveinbjornsson, Gardar and Tayo, Bamidele O. and Nutile, Teresa and Fuchsberger, Christian and Marten, Jonathan and Cocca, Massimiliano and Ghasemi, Sahar and Xu, Yizhe and Horn, Katrin and Noce, Damia and Van der Most, Peter J. and Sedaghat, Sanaz and Yu, Zhi and Akiyama, Masato and Afaq, Saima and Ahluwalia, Tarunveer Singh and Almgren, Peter and Amin, Najaf and Arnlov, Johan and Bakker, Stephan J. L. and Bansal, Nisha and Baptista, Daniela and Bergmann, Sven and Biggs, Mary L. and Biino, Ginevra and Boehnke, Michael and Boerwinkle, Eric and Boissel, Mathilde and B{\"o}ttinger, Erwin and Boutin, Thibaud S. and Brenner, Hermann and Brumat, Marco and Burkhardt, Ralph and Butterworth, Adam S. and Campana, Eric and Campbell, Archie and Campbell, Harry and Canouil, Mickael and Carroll, Robert J. and Catamo, Eulalia and Chambers, John C. and Chee, Miao-Ling and Chee, Miao-Li and Chen, Xu and Cheng, Ching-Yu and Cheng, Yurong and Christensen, Kaare and Cifkova, Renata and Ciullo, Marina and Concas, Maria Pina and Cook, James P. and Coresh, Josef and Corre, Tanguy and Sala, Cinzia Felicita and Cusi, Daniele and Danesh, John and Daw, E. Warwick and De Borst, Martin H. and De Grandi, Alessandro and De Mutsert, Renee and De Vries, Aiko P. J. and Degenhardt, Frauke and Delgado, Graciela and Demirkan, Ayse and Di Angelantonio, Emanuele and Dittrich, Katalin and Divers, Jasmin and Dorajoo, Rajkumar and Eckardt, Kai-Uwe and Ehret, Georg and Elliott, Paul and Endlich, Karlhans and Evans, Michele K. and Felix, Janine F. and Foo, Valencia Hui Xian and Franco, Oscar H. and Franke, Andre and Freedman, Barry I. and Freitag-Wolf, Sandra and Friedlander, Yechiel and Froguel, Philippe and Gansevoort, Ron T. and Gao, He and Gasparini, Paolo and Gaziano, J. Michael and Giedraitis, Vilmantas and Gieger, Christian and Girotto, Giorgia and Giulianini, Franco and Gogele, Martin and Gordon, Scott D. and Gudbjartsson, Daniel F. and Gudnason, Vilmundur and Haller, Toomas and Hamet, Pavel and Harris, Tamara B. and Hartman, Catharina A. and Hayward, Caroline and Hellwege, Jacklyn N. and Heng, Chew-Kiat and Hicks, Andrew A. and Hofer, Edith and Huang, Wei and Hutri-Kahonen, Nina and Hwang, Shih-Jen and Ikram, M. Arfan and Indridason, Olafur S. and Ingelsson, Erik and Ising, Marcus and Jaddoe, Vincent W. V. and Jakobsdottir, Johanna and Jonas, Jost B. and Joshi, Peter K. and Josyula, Navya Shilpa and Jung, Bettina and Kahonen, Mika and Kamatani, Yoichiro and Kammerer, Candace M. and Kanai, Masahiro and Kastarinen, Mika and Kerr, Shona M. and Khor, Chiea-Chuen and Kiess, Wieland and Kleber, Marcus E. and Koenig, Wolfgang and Kooner, Jaspal S. and Korner, Antje and Kovacs, Peter and Kraja, Aldi T. and Krajcoviechova, Alena and Kramer, Holly and Kramer, Bernhard K. and Kronenberg, Florian and Kubo, Michiaki and Kuhnel, Brigitte and Kuokkanen, Mikko and Kuusisto, Johanna and La Bianca, Martina and Laakso, Markku and Lange, Leslie A. and Langefeld, Carl D. and Lee, Jeannette Jen-Mai and Lehne, Benjamin and Lehtimaki, Terho and Lieb, Wolfgang and Lim, Su-Chi and Lind, Lars and Lindgren, Cecilia M. and Liu, Jun and Liu, Jianjun and Loeffler, Markus and Loos, Ruth J. F. and Lucae, Susanne and Lukas, Mary Ann and Lyytikainen, Leo-Pekka and Magi, Reedik and Magnusson, Patrik K. E. and Mahajan, Anubha and Martin, Nicholas G. and Martins, Jade and Marz, Winfried and Mascalzoni, Deborah and Matsuda, Koichi and Meisinger, Christa and Meitinger, Thomas and Melander, Olle and Metspalu, Andres and Mikaelsdottir, Evgenia K. and Milaneschi, Yuri and Miliku, Kozeta and Mishra, Pashupati P. and Program, V. A. Million Veteran and Mohlke, Karen L. and Mononen, Nina and Montgomery, Grant W. and Mook-Kanamori, Dennis O. and Mychaleckyj, Josyf C. and Nadkarni, Girish N. and Nalls, Mike A. and Nauck, Matthias and Nikus, Kjell and Ning, Boting and Nolte, Ilja M. and Noordam, Raymond and Olafsson, Isleifur and Oldehinkel, Albertine J. and Orho-Melander, Marju and Ouwehand, Willem H. and Padmanabhan, Sandosh and Palmer, Nicholette D. and Palsson, Runolfur and Penninx, Brenda W. J. H. and Perls, Thomas and Perola, Markus and Pirastu, Mario and Pirastu, Nicola and Pistis, Giorgio and Podgornaia, Anna I. and Polasek, Ozren and Ponte, Belen and Porteous, David J. and Poulain, Tanja and Pramstaller, Peter P. and Preuss, Michael H. and Prins, Bram P. and Province, Michael A. and Rabelink, Ton J. and Raffield, Laura M. and Raitakari, Olli T. and Reilly, Dermot F. and Rettig, Rainer and Rheinberger, Myriam and Rice, Kenneth M. and Ridker, Paul M. and Rivadeneira, Fernando and Rizzi, Federica and Roberts, David J. and Robino, Antonietta and Rossing, Peter and Rudan, Igor and Rueedi, Rico and Ruggiero, Daniela and Ryan, Kathleen A. and Saba, Yasaman and Sabanayagam, Charumathi and Salomaa, Veikko and Salvi, Erika and Saum, Kai-Uwe and Schmidt, Helena and Schmidt, Reinhold and Ben Schottker, and Schulz, Christina-Alexandra and Schupf, Nicole and Shaffer, Christian M. and Shi, Yuan and Smith, Albert V. and Smith, Blair H. and Soranzo, Nicole and Spracklen, Cassandra N. and Strauch, Konstantin and Stringham, Heather M. and Stumvoll, Michael and Svensson, Per O. and Szymczak, Silke and Tai, E-Shyong and Tajuddin, Salman M. and Tan, Nicholas Y. Q. and Taylor, Kent D. and Teren, Andrej and Tham, Yih-Chung and Thiery, Joachim and Thio, Chris H. L. and Thomsen, Hauke and Thorleifsson, Gudmar and Toniolo, Daniela and Tonjes, Anke and Tremblay, Johanne and Tzoulaki, Ioanna and Uitterlinden, Andre G. and Vaccargiu, Simona and Van Dam, Rob M. and Van der Harst, Pim and Van Duijn, Cornelia M. and Edward, Digna R. Velez and Verweij, Niek and Vogelezang, Suzanne and Volker, Uwe and Vollenweider, Peter and Waeber, Gerard and Waldenberger, Melanie and Wallentin, Lars and Wang, Ya Xing and Wang, Chaolong and Waterworth, Dawn M. and Bin Wei, Wen and White, Harvey and Whitfield, John B. and Wild, Sarah H. and Wilson, James F. and Wojczynski, Mary K. and Wong, Charlene and Wong, Tien-Yin and Xu, Liang and Yang, Qiong and Yasuda, Masayuki and Yerges-Armstrong, Laura M. and Zhang, Weihua and Zonderman, Alan B. and Rotter, Jerome I. and Bochud, Murielle and Psaty, Bruce M. and Vitart, Veronique and Wilson, James G. and Dehghan, Abbas and Parsa, Afshin and Chasman, Daniel I. and Ho, Kevin and Morris, Andrew P. and Devuyst, Olivier and Akilesh, Shreeram and Pendergrass, Sarah A. and Sim, Xueling and Boger, Carsten A. and Okada, Yukinori and Edwards, Todd L. and Snieder, Harold and Stefansson, Kari and Hung, Adriana M. and Heid, Iris M. and Scholz, Markus and Teumer, Alexander and Kottgen, Anna and Pattaro, Cristian},
  title     = {A catalog of genetic loci associated with kidney function from analyses of a million individuals},
  series = {Nature genetics},
  volume    = {51},
  journal   = {Nature genetics},
  number    = {6},
  publisher = {Nature Publ. Group},
  address   = {New York},
  organization    = {Lifelines COHort Study},
  issn      = {1061-4036},
  doi       = {10.1038/s41588-019-0407-x},
  pages     = {957 -- +},
  year      = {2019},
  abstract  = {Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is responsible for a public health burden with multi-systemic complications. Through transancestry meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies of estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and independent replication (n = 1,046,070), we identified 264 associated loci (166 new). Of these,147 were likely to be relevant for kidney function on the basis of associations with the alternative kidney function marker blood urea nitrogen (n = 416,178). Pathway and enrichment analyses, including mouse models with renal phenotypes, support the kidney as the main target organ. A genetic risk score for lower eGFR was associated with clinically diagnosed CKD in 452,264 independent individuals. Colocalization analyses of associations with eGFR among 783,978 European-ancestry individuals and gene expression across 46 human tissues, including tubulo-interstitial and glomerular kidney compartments, identified 17 genes differentially expressed in kidney. Fine-mapping highlighted missense driver variants in 11 genes and kidney-specific regulatory variants. These results provide a comprehensive priority list of molecular targets for translational research.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{YangZhengTaoetal.2019,
  author    = {Yang, Guang and Zheng, Wei and Tao, Guoqing and Wu, Libin and Zhou, Qi-Feng and Kochovski, Zdravko and Ji, Tan and Chen, Huaijun and Li, Xiaopeng and Lu, Yan and Ding, Hong-ming and Yang, Hai-Bo and Chen, Guosong and Jiang, Ming},
  title     = {Diversiform and Transformable Glyco-Nanostructures Constructed from Amphiphilic Supramolecular Metallocarbohydrates through Hierarchical Self-Assembly: The Balance between Metallacycles and Saccharides},
  series = {ACS nano},
  volume    = {13},
  journal   = {ACS nano},
  number    = {11},
  publisher = {American Chemical Society},
  address   = {Washington},
  issn      = {1936-0851},
  doi       = {10.1021/acsnano.9b07134},
  pages     = {13474 -- 13485},
  year      = {2019},
  abstract  = {During the past decade, self-assembly of saccharide-containing amphiphilic molecules toward bioinspired functional glycomaterials has attracted continuous attention due to their various applications in fundamental and practical areas. However, it still remains a great challenge to prepare hierarchical glycoassemblies with controllable and diversiform structures because of the complexity of saccharide structures and carbohydrate-carbohydrate interactions. Herein, through hierarchical self-assembly of modulated amphiphilic supramolecular metallocarbohydrates, we successfully prepared various well-defined glyco-nanostructures in aqueous solution, including vesicles, solid spheres, and opened vesicles depending on the molecular structures of metallocarbohydrates. More attractively, these glyco-nanostructures can further transform into other morphological structures in aqueous solutions such as worm-like micelles, tubules, and even tupanvirus-like vesicles (TVVs). It is worth mentioning that distinctive anisotropic structures including the opened vesicles (OVs) and TVVs were rarely reported in glycobased nano-objects. This intriguing diversity was mainly controlled by the subtle structural trade-off of the two major components of the amphiphiles, i.e., the saccharides and metallacycles. To further understand this precise structural control, molecular simulations provided deep physical insights on the morphology evolution and balancing of the contributions from saccharides and metallacycles. Moreover, the multivalency of glyco-nanostructures with different shapes and sizes was demonstrated by agglutination with a diversity of sugarbinding protein receptors such as the plant lectins Concanavalin A (ConA). This modular synthesis strategy provides access to systematic tuning of molecular structure and self-assembled architecture, which undoubtedly will broaden our horizons on the controllable fabrication of biomimetic glycomaterials such as biological membranes and supramolecular lectin inhibitors.},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Tan2018,
  author    = {Tan, Li},
  title     = {Synthesis, assembly and thermo-responsivity of polymer-functionalized magnetic cobalt nanoparticles},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-418153},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  pages     = {X, 111},
  year      = {2018},
  abstract  = {This thesis mainly covers the synthesis, surface modification, magnetic-field-induced assembly and thermo-responsive functionalization of superparamagnetic Co NPs initially stabilized by hydrophobic small molecules oleic acid (OA) and trioctylphosphine oxide (TOPO), as well as the synthesis of both superparamagnetic and ferromagnetic Co NPs by using end-functionalized-polystyrene as stabilizer. Co NPs, due to their excellent magnetic and catalytic properties, have great potential application in various fields, such as ferrofluids, catalysis, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Superparamagnetic Co NPs are especially interesting, since they exhibit zero coercivity. They get magnetized in an external magnetic field and reach their saturation magnetization rapidly, but no magnetic moment remains after removal of the applied magnetic field. Therefore, they do not agglomerate in the body when they are used in biomedical applications. Normally, decomposition of metallic precursors at high temperature is one of the most important methods in preparation of monodisperse magnetic NPs, providing tunability in size and shape. Hydrophobic ligands like OA, TOPO and oleylamine are often used to both control the growth of NPs and protect them from agglomeration. The as-prepared magnetic NPs can be used in biological applications as long as they are transferred into water. Moreover, their supercrystal assemblies have the potential for high density data storage and electronic devices. In addition to small molecules, polymers can also be used as surfactants for the synthesis of ferromagnetic and superparamagnetic NPs by changing the reaction conditions. Therefore, chapter 2 gives an overview on the basic concept of synthesis, surface modification and self-assembly of magnetic nanoparticles. Various examples were used to illustrate the recent work. The hydrophobic Co NPs synthesized with small molecules as surfactants limit their biological applications, which require a hydrophilic or aqueous environment. Surface modification (e.g., ligand exchange) is a general idea for either phase transition or surface-functionalization. Therefore, in chapter 3, a ligand exchange process was conducted to functionalize the surface of Co NPs. PNIPAM is one of the most popular smart polymers and its lower critical solution temperature (LCST) is around 32 °C, with a reversible change in the conformation structure between hydrophobic and hydrophilic. The novel nanocomposites of superparamagnetic Co NPs and thermo-responsive PNIPAM are of great interest. Thus, well-defined superparamagnetic Co NPs were firstly synthesized through the thermolysis of cobalt carbonyl by using OA and TOPO as surfactants. A functional ATRP initiator, containing an amine (as anchoring group) and a 2-bromopropionate group (SI-ATRP initiator), was used to replace the original ligands. This process is rapid and facial for efficient surface functionalization and afterwards the Co NPs can be dispersed into polar solvent DMF without aggregation. FT-IR spectroscopy showed that the TOPO was completely replaced, but a small amount of OA remained on the surface. A TGA measurement allowed the calculation of the grafting density of the initiator as around 3.2 initiator/nm2. Then, the surface-initiated ATRP was conducted for the polymerization of NIPAM on the surface of Co NPs and rendered the nanocomposites water-dispersible. A temperature-dependent dynamic light scattering study showed the aggregation behavior of PNIPAM-coated Co NPs upon heating and this process was proven to be reversible. The combination of superparamagnetic and thermo-responsive properties in these hybrid nanoparticles is promising for future applications e.g. in biomedicine. In chapter 4, the magnetic-field-induced assembly of superparamagnetic cobalt nanoparticles both on solid substrates and at liquid-air interface was investigated. OA- and TOPO-coated Co NPs were synthesized via the thermolysis of cobalt carbonyl and dispersed into either hexane or toluene. The Co NP dispersion was dropped onto substrates (e.g., TEM grid, silicon wafer) and at liquid-air (water-air or ethylene glycol-air) interface. Due to the attractive dipolar interaction, 1-D chains formed in the presence of an external magnetic field. It is known that the concentration and the strength of the magnetic field can affect the assembly behavior of superparamagnetic Co NPs. Therefore, the influence of these two parameters on the morphology of the assemblies was studied. The formed 1-D chains were shorter and flexible at either lower concentration of the Co NP dispersion or lower strength of the external magnetic field due to thermal fluctuation. However, by increasing either the concentration of the NP dispersion or the strength of the applied magnetic field, these chains became longer, thicker and straighter. The reason could be that a high concentration led to a high fraction of short dipolar chains, and their interaction resulted in longer and thicker chains under applied magnetic field. On the other hand, when the magnetic field increased, the induced moments of the magnetic nanoparticles became larger, which dominated over the thermal fluctuation. Thus, the formed short chains connected to each other and grew in length. Thicker chains were also observed through chain-chain interaction. Furthermore, the induced moments of the NPs tended to direct into one direction with increased magnetic field, thus the chains were straighter. In comparison between the assembly on substrates, at water-air interface and at ethylene glycol-air interface, the assembly of Co NPs in hexane dispersion at ethylene glycol-air interface showed the most regular and homogeneous chain structures due to the better spreading of the dispersion on ethylene glycol subphase than on water subphase and substrates. The magnetic-field-induced assembly of superparamagnetic nanoparticles could provide a powerful approach for applications in data storage and electronic devices. Chapter 5 presented the synthesis of superparamagnetic and ferromagnetic cobalt nanoparticles through a dual-stage thermolysis of cobalt carbonyl (Co2(CO)8) by using polystyrene as surfactant. The amine end-functionalized polystyrene surfactants with different molecular weight were prepared via atom transfer radical polymerization technique. The molecular weight determination of polystyrene was conducted by gel permeation chromatography (GPC) and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-ToF) mass spectrometry techniques. The results showed that, when the molecular weight distribution is low (Mw/Mn < 1.2), the measurement by GPC and MALDI-ToF MS provided nearly similar results. For example, the molecular weight of 10600 Da was obtained by MALDI-ToF MS, while GPC gave 10500 g/mol (Mw/Mn = 1.17). However, if the polymer is poly distributed, MALDI-ToF MS cannot provide an accurate value. This was exemplified for a polymer with a molecular weight of 3130 Da measured by MALDI-TOF MS, while GPC showed 2300 g/mol (Mw/Mn = 1.38). The size, size distribution and magnetic properties of the hybrid particles were different by changing either the molecular weight or concentration of the polymer surfactants. The analysis from TEM characterization showed that the size of cobalt nanoparticles stabilized with polystyrene of lower molecular weight (Mn = 2300 g/mol) varied from 12-22 nm, while the size with middle (Mn = 4500 g/mol) and higher molecular weight (Mn = 10500 g/mol) of polystyrene-coated cobalt nanoparticles showed little change. Magnetic measurements exhibited that the small cobalt particles (12 nm) were superparamagnetic, while larger particles (21 nm) were ferromagnetic and assembled into 1-D chains. The grafting density calculated from thermogravimetric analysis showed that a higher grafting density of polystyrene was obtained with lower molecular weight (Mn = 2300 g/mol) than those with higher molecular weight (Mn = 10500 g/mol). Due to the larger steric hindrance, polystyrene with higher molecular weight cannot form a dense shell on the surface of the nanoparticles, which resulted in a lower grafting density. Wide angle X-ray scattering measurements revealed the epsilon cobalt crystalline phases of both superparamagnetic Co NPs coated with polystyrene (Mn = 2300 g/mol) and ferromagnetic Co NPs coated with polystyrene (Mn = 10500 g/mol). Furthermore, a stability study showed that PS-Co NPs prepared with higher polymer concentration and polymer molecular weight exhibited a better stability.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{TanLiuSiemensmeyeretal.2018,
  author    = {Tan, Li and Liu, Bing and Siemensmeyer, Konrad and Glebe, Ulrich and B{\"o}ker, Alexander},
  title     = {Synthesis of thermo-responsive nanocomposites of superparamagnetic cobalt nanoparticlesipoly(N-isopropylacrylamide)},
  series = {Journal of colloid and interface science},
  volume    = {526},
  journal   = {Journal of colloid and interface science},
  publisher = {Elsevier},
  address   = {San Diego},
  issn      = {0021-9797},
  doi       = {10.1016/j.jcis.2018.04.074},
  pages     = {124 -- 134},
  year      = {2018},
  abstract  = {Novel nanocomposites of superparamagnetic cobalt nanoparticles (Co NPs) and poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) were fabricated through surface-initiated atom-transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP). We firstly synthesized a functional ATRP initiator, containing an amine (as anchoring group) and a 2-bromopropionate group (SI-ATRP initiator). Oleic acid- and trioctylphosphine oxide-coated Co NPs were then modified with the initiator via ligand exchange. The process is facile and rapid for efficient surface functionalization and afterwards the Co NPs can be dispersed into polar solvent DMF without aggregation. Transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and dynamic light scattering measurements confirmed the success of ligand exchange. The following polymerization of NIPAM was conducted on the surface of Co NPs. Temperature-dependent dynamic light scattering study showed the responsive behavior of PNIPAM-coated Co NPs. The combination of superparamagnetic and thermo-responsive properties in these hybrid nanoparticles is promising for future applications e.g. in biomedicine. (C) 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{TanLiuSiemensmeyeretal.2018,
  author    = {Tan, Li and Liu, Bing and Siemensmeyer, Konrad and Glebe, Ulrich and B{\"o}ker, Alexander},
  title     = {Synthesis of Polystyrene-Coated Superparamagnetic and Ferromagnetic Cobalt Nanoparticles},
  series = {Polymers},
  volume    = {10},
  journal   = {Polymers},
  number    = {10},
  publisher = {MDPI},
  address   = {Basel},
  issn      = {2073-4360},
  doi       = {10.3390/polym10101053},
  pages     = {18},
  year      = {2018},
  abstract  = {Polystyrene-coated cobalt nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized through a dual-stage thermolysis of cobalt carbonyl (Co-2(CO)(8)). The amine end-functionalized polystyrene surfactants with varying molecular weight were prepared via atom-transfer radical polymerization technique. By changing the concentration of these polymeric surfactants, Co NPs with different size, size distribution, and magnetic properties were obtained. Transmission electron microscopy characterization showed that the size of Co NPs stabilized with lower molecular weight polystyrene surfactants (M-n = 2300 g/mol) varied from 12-22 nm, while the size of Co NPs coated with polystyrene of middle (M-n = 4500 g/mol) and higher molecular weight (M-n = 10,500 g/mol) showed little change around 20 nm. Magnetic measurements revealed that the small cobalt particles were superparamagnetic, while larger particles were ferromagnetic and self-assembled into 1-D chain structures. Thermogravimetric analysis revealed that the grafting density of polystyrene with lower molecular weight is high. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to obtain both superparamagnetic and ferromagnetic Co NPs by changing the molecular weight and concentration of polystyrene through the dual-stage decomposition method.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{TanLiuGlebeetal.2018,
  author    = {Tan, Li and Liu, Bing and Glebe, Ulrich and B{\"o}ker, Alexander},
  title     = {Magnetic Field-Induced Assembly of Superparamagnetic Cobalt Nanoparticles on Substrates and at Liquid-Air Interface},
  series = {Langmuir},
  volume    = {34},
  journal   = {Langmuir},
  number    = {46},
  publisher = {American Chemical Society},
  address   = {Washington},
  issn      = {0743-7463},
  doi       = {10.1021/acs.langmuir.8b02673},
  pages     = {13993 -- 14002},
  year      = {2018},
  abstract  = {Superparamagnetic cobalt nanoparticles (Co NPs) are an interesting material for self-assembly processes because of their magnetic properties. We investigated the magnetic field-induced assembly of superparamagnetic cobalt nanoparticles and compared three different approaches, namely, the assembly on solid substrates, at water-air, and ethylene glycol-air interfaces. Oleic acid- and trioctylphosphine oxide-coated Co NPs were synthesized via a thermolysis of cobalt carbonyl and dispersed into either hexane or toluene. The Co NP dispersion was dropped onto different substrates (e.g., transmission electron microscopy (TEM) grid, silicon wafer) and onto liquid surfaces. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning force microscopy, optical microscopy, as well as scanning electron microscopy showed that superparamagnetic Co NPs assembled into one-dimensional chains in an external magnetic field. By varying the concentration of the Co NP dispersion (1-5 mg/mL) and the strength of the magnetic field (4-54 mT), the morphology of the chains changed. Short, thin, and flexible chain structures were obtained at low NP concentration and low strength of magnetic field, whereas they became long, thick and straight when the NP concentration and the magnetic field strength increased. In comparison, the assembly of Co NPs from hexane dispersion at ethylene glycol-air interface showed the most regular and homogeneous alignment, since a more efficient spreading could be achieved on ethylene glycol than on water and solid substrates.},
  language  = {en}
}