Search

This study investigates the potential use of attenuated total internal reflection-Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FT- IR) imaging, a hyperspectral imaging modality, to investigate molecular level trends in the interaction of water with polymeric surfaces of varying hydrophobicity. The hydrophobicity of two categories of polymeric biomaterials is characterised using contact angle (CA) measurements and their relationship with the band area of the OH stretching νs vibration of water over time is presented. This is supported with correlations between CA data and single wavenumber intensity values (univariate analysis). Multivariate analysis of the spectra captured at the OH stretch for all polymers is carried out using principal component analysis to study the spatial variation in the interaction between the polymeric surfaces and water. Finally, a comparison between the univariate and multivariate strategies is presented to understand the interaction between polymeric biomaterials and water. This is a corrected version of the original paper; this corrected version was published on 15 May 2017. Please see Erratum at https://doi.org/10.1255/jsi.2017.a3e.

A 3D coupled fluid–droplet model is developed specifically to characterize the significance of droplet-plasma interaction at atmospheric pressure. The liquid droplet introduces a perturbation in atmospheric pressure plasma (APP) and under many conditions, the behavior of this perturbation is not clear during transport in PlasmaStream system. In this study, we identify the importance of ionization mechanism in two-phase flow. The affect and spatial expansion of vaporization in discharge plasma depend on the flow rate of liquid precursors. Penning ionization is recognized as the leading process along the pulse of evaporating droplets as compared to other ionization processes that explain the relevance of small nitrogen impurities. The influence of different precursors, such as hexamethyldisiloxane, tetraethyl orthosilicate and water is described by contrasting the implication of the evaporation process. Finally, we validate the numerical simulation by comparison with the experimental observations of droplet size distributions using a laser diffraction particle size analysis technique as a part of APP jet deposition system.

Micron thick titanium dioxide (TiO2) coatings exhibiting a nano-structured, anatase, meso-porous structure were successfully deposited across a range of polymer, conductive glass and metallic substrates at low velocities using a microblasting technique. This process was conducted at atmospheric pressure using compressed air as the carrier gas and commercially available agglomerated nano particles of TiO2 as the feedstock. An examination of the effect of impact kinetics on the agglomerated powder before and after deposition was undertaken. A further examination of the coating microstructure along with photocurrent density measurements before and after thermal treatments was explored. Owing to the low temperature and velocity of the powder during deposition no change in phase of the powder or damage to the substrate was observed. The resulting TiO2 coatings exhibited relatively good adhesion on both titanium and FTO coated glass substrates with coating thickness of approximately 1.5 μm. Photo-catalytic performance was measured under solar simulator illumination using a photo-electrochemical cell (PEC) with a 5-fold increase in performance observed after thermal treatment of the TiO2 coated substrates. Microblasting was demonstrated to be a rapid and cost effective method for the deposition of nano-structured, photo-catalytic, anatase TiO2 coatings. Deposited by bulk import 5/11/2013. SB.

This work directly compares vapour and liquid aerosol states for the deposition of perfluorocarbon coatings using an atmospheric pressure, non-thermal equilibrium plasma jet system. The objective of the study is to evaluate how the physical state of the precursor (gas or liquid), influences the fragmentation of the monomer molecules in the plasma and the subsequent coating properties. Specifically the effect of gas or liquid aerosol precursor feed on the ability to achieve a soft plasma polymerization (SPP) is assessed with a view to producing a coating that exhibits minimal fragmentation, while being well cross-linked. The precursor (perfluoro-1decene) was introduced into a helium plasma and coatings deposited at rates of up to

Protein adsorption is one of the key parameters influencing the biocompatibility of medical device materials. This study investigates serum protein adsorption and bacterial attachment on polymer coatings deposited using an atmospheric pressure plasma jet system. The adsorption of bovine serum albumin and bovine fibrinogen (Fg) onto siloxane and fluorinated siloxane elastomeric coatings that exhibit water contact angles (θ) ranging from superhydrophilic (θ < 5°) to superhydrophobic (θ > 150°) were investigated. Protein interactions were evaluated in situ under dynamic flow conditions by spectroscopic ellipsometry. Superhydrophilic coatings showed lower levels of protein adsorption when compared with hydrophobic siloxane coatings, where preferential adsorption was shown to occur. Reduced levels of protein adsorption were also observed on fluorinated siloxane copolymer coatings exhibiting hydrophobic wetting behaviour. The lower levels of protein adsorption observed on these surfaces indicated that the presence of fluorocarbon groups have the effect of reducing surface affinity for protein attachment. Analysis of superhydrophobic siloxane and fluorosiloxane surfaces showed minimal indication of protein adsorption. This was confirmed by bacterial attachment studies using a Staphylococcus aureus strain known to bind specifically to Fg, which showed almost no attachment to the superhydrophobic coating after protein adsorption experiments. These results showed the superhydrophobic surfaces to exhibit antimicrobial properties and significantly reduce protein adsorption. Deposited by bulk import 5/11/2013. SB