The effect of surface wettability on induction and growth of neurites from the PC-12 cell on a polymer surface

Surface properties of polymeric devices that are used to regenerate nervous damage are a point to be considered for axon regeneration in nerve system. In our previous studies, we prepared a wettability gradient on polyethylene (PE) surfaces using a corona discharge treatment from a knife-type electrode whose power increases gradually along the sample length. The PE surfaces were oxidized gradually with increasing power. The effect of surface wettability on the different types of cells has an important role for cell adhesion and proliferation. The purpose of this study is to investigate neurite formation on polymer surfaces with different wettability. Induction and growth of neurites from the rat pheochromocytoma (PC-12) cells attached on the polymer surfaces with different hydrophilicity were investigated using the wettability gradient PE surfaces prepared by a corona discharge treatment. Neurites were investigated for number and length of neurites in terms of surface wettability. It was observed that neurite formation of PC-12 cells was increased more onto the positions with moderate hydrophilicity of the wettability gradient surface than onto the more hydrophobic or hydrophilic positions. From those results, it could be assumed that initial adhesion of PC-12 cells was caused by more calf serum (CS) protein than nerve growth factor (NGF), whereas the neurite formation of PC-12 cells was caused by more NGF than CS protein. It follows from what has been said thus far that PC-12 cells are a differentiated neuronal phenotype with a long neurite at around the position 2.5 cm (water contact angle of about 55 deg). In conclusion, surface wettability plays an important role for neurite formation on the polymer surfaces for axon regeneration.     

Influence of Vapor Phase Pretreatments of Epoxy Surfaces on the Nucleation of MOCVD Copper Thin Films

Vapor phase pretreatments of epoxy composite material reinforced with carbon fibers were carried out prior to the growth of Cu thin films by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) using Cu (hfa)(COD) as copper precursor. These dry surface oxidation processes include H₂O/UV, O₂/UV and O₂/Plasma treatments. Oxygen plasma method is the most efficient to oxidize the surface and it has the greatest effect to improve the wettability of epoxy samples. As a consequence, the higher hydrophilicity of the plasma-modified epoxy surface induces a higher nucleation density in the Cu film. Furthermore, this treatment reduces drastically the induction period observed for the growth of the metal. Even though the O₂/UV pretreatment incorporates almost the same amount of oxygen in the epoxy surface than the plasma treatment, the functional groups are different, as revealed by XPS analyses, and the surface is less hydrophilic. Correlations between oxidation, wettability and nucleation density of the Cu films are discussed.     

Stable superhydrophobic surface via carbon nanotubes coated with a ZnO thin film

We report the formation of a stable superhydrophobic surface via aligned carbon nanotubes (CNTs) coated with a zinc oxide (ZnO) thin film. The CNT template was synthesized by chemical vapor deposition on an Fe-N catalyst layer. The ZnO film, with a low surface energy, was deposited on the CNT template by the filtered cathodic vacuum arc technique. Contact angle measurement reveals that the surface of the ZnO-coated CNTs is superhydrophobic with water contact angle of 159 degrees . Unlike the uncoated CNTs surface, the ZnO-coated CNTs surface shows no sign of water seepage even after a prolonged period of time. The wettability of the surface can be reversibly changed from superhydrophobicity to hydrophilicity by alternation of ultraviolet (UV) irradiation and dark storage.     

Surface graft polymerization of acrylamide onto poly(ethylene terephthalate) film by UV irradiation

To improve the low water wettability of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET), graft polymerization of acrylamide (AAm) by UV irradiation was performed onto the surface of a PET film with the simultaneous irradiation method without using a photo sensitizer. The PET film immersed in a 10 wt % deaerated aqueous solution of AAm was found to become highly hydrophilic upon UV irradiation. Optical microscopy on cross sections of grafted films showed that localization of the graft polymerization was restricted to a thin surface region of the film. Both the low concentration of polymer radicals formed by UV irradiation and the monomer penetration limited to the film surface would be responsible for localization of the grafted layer to the film surface region. Pretreatment of the PET film with benzyl alcohol was effective for enhancement of the graft polymerization. Retention of high hydrophilicity of the surface even after rigorous extraction of homopolymer and a comparative study of polymerization without UV irradiation strongly suggested that UV irradiation of the PET film under immersion in the deaerated AAm aqueous solution would lead to formation of the true graft copolymer.     

Mechanisms of Enhanced Oil Recovery by Surfactant-Induced Wettability Alteration

Different measurements were conducted to study the mechanisms of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) by surfactant-induced wettability alteration. The adhesion work could be reduced by the surfactant-induced wettability alteration from oil-wet conditions to water-wet conditions. Surfactant-induced wettability alteration has a great effect on the relative permeabilities of oil and water. The relative permeability of the oil phase increases with the increase of the water-wetness of the solid surface. Seepage laws of oil and water are greatly affected by surfactant-induced wettability alteration. Water flows forward along the pore wall in the water-wet rocks and moves forward along the center of the pores in the oil-wet rocks during the surfactant flooding. For the intermediate-wet system, water uniformly moves forward and the contact angle between the oil–water interface and the pore surface is close to 90°. The direction of capillary force is consistent with the direction of water flooding for the water-wet surface. While for the oil-wet surface, the capillary force direction is opposite to the water-flooding direction. The highest oil recovery by water flooding is obtained at close to neutral wetting conditions and the minimal oil recovery occurs under oil-wet conditions.     

UV-induced Self-initiated Graft Polymerization of Acrylamide onto Poly(ether ether ketone)

Photo-grafting of hydrophilic monomer was used to enhance the hydrophilicity of poly(ether ether ketone) (PEEK) with the aim of extending its applications to biological fields. PEEK sheets were surface modified by grafting of acrylamide(AAm) with ultraviolet(UV) irradiation in the presence or absence of benzophenone(BP). The effects of BP, irradiation time and monomer concentration on the surface wettability of PEEK were investigated. Characterization of modified PEEK using scanning electron microscopy(SEM), energy-disperse spectrometer(EDS) and water contact angle measurements shows that AAm was successfully grafted on PEEK surface both in presence and absence of BP. With the increase in irradiation time and monomer concentration, contact angles decrease to as low as 30°, demonstrating a significant improvement of surface hydrophilicity. In agreement with the decrease in contact angle, under identical conditions, the nitrogen concentration increases, suggesting the increase in grafting degree of the grafting polymerization. This investigation demonstrates a self-initiation of PEEK due to its BP-like structure in the backbone of the polymer. Though the graft polymerization proceeds more readily in the presence of BP, the self-initiated graft polymerization is clearly observed.     

Controlled swapping of nanocomposite surface wettability by multilayer photopolymerization

Single-layered photopolymerized nanocomposite films of polystyrene and TiO(2) nanorods change their wetting characteristics from hydrophobic to hydrophilic when deposited on substrates with decreasing hydrophilicity. Interestingly, the addition of a second photopolymerized layer causes a swapping in the wettability, so that the final samples result converted from hydrophobic to hydrophilic or vice versa. The wettability characteristics continue to be swapped as the number of photopolymerized layers increases. In fact, odd-layered samples show the same wetting behavior as single-layered ones, while even-layered samples have the same surface characteristics as double-layered ones. Analytical surface studies demonstrate that all samples, independently of the number of layers, have similar low roughness, and that the wettability swap is due to the different concentration of the nanocomposites constituents on the samples surface. Particularly, the different interactions between the hydrophilic TiO(2) nanorods and the underlying layer lead to different amounts of nanorods exposed on the nanocomposites surface. Moreover, due to the unique property of TiO(2) to reversibly increase its wettability upon UV irradiation and subsequent storage, the wetting characteristics of the multilayered nanocomposites can be tuned in a reversible manner. In this way, a combination of substrate, number of photopolymerized layers, and external UV light stimulus can be used in order to precisely control the surface wettability properties of nanocomposite films, opening the way to a vast number of potential applications in microfluidics, protein assays, and cell growth.     

Wettability of acrylate copolymer surfaces after ageing in water

Contact angle measurements (captive bubble and sessile drop techniques) were used to determine the surface energy of several acrylic based polymers at the early stage of immersion (t₀) in pure and salt water or after several days (t_x). The sessile drop technique using various liquid probes allows the calculation of the dispersive, acid and basic components of the surface energy. Significant differences of wettability are observed between the polymers at t₀ which tend to remain after immersion along with a general increase of the surface hydrophilicity. The same trend is observed by the “in-situ” captive bubble technique. The surfaces become more hydrophilic with a final contact angle, θ, ranging from 110 to 150 ± 3° in pure water and 130 to 150 ± 4° in 0,51 M salt water. The modifications of surface energy between t₀ and t_x are not only dependent on water diffusion. One assumption is that the degree of swelling of the immersed surface layer along with the particular dynamics resulting from a surface gel-like structure are significant factors in the measured surface thermodynamics.     

Effect of reactive oxygen species generated with ultraviolet lamp and plasma on polyimide surface modification

Understanding the effect of reactive oxygen species (ROS), such as singlet oxygen molecule and atomic oxygen, on polyimide (PI) film properties, such as wettability, morphology, and chemical bonding state, is essential for further development of PI‐based surfaces. We investigated the effect of different ROS generated during ultraviolet (UV) and plasma treatment in oxygen gas on surface modification of Kapton PI. Different surface modification techniques, UV and plasma treatment, are known to generate different ROS. In this work, we demonstrate the effect of different ROS on PI surface modification. From the diagnostics of ROS by means of electron spin resonance and optical emission spectroscopy, we confirmed that during UV treatment, excited singlet oxygen molecules are the main ROS, while plasma treatment mainly generated atomic oxygen. The wettability of PI surface treated by UV and plasma resulted in hydrophilic PI surfaces. XPS results show that the wettability of PI samples is mainly determined by their surface O/C ratio. However, chemical bonding states were different: while UV treatment tended to generate C=O bonds, while plasma treatment tended to generate both C―O and C=O bonds. Singlet oxygen molecules are concluded to be the main oxidant during UV treatment, and their main reaction with PI was concluded to be of the addition type, leading to an increase of C=O groups on the surface of PI film. Meanwhile, atomic oxygen species were the main oxidant during plasma treatment, reacting with the PI surface through both etching and addition reaction, resulting in a wider variety of bonds, including both C―O and C=O groups.     

光催化抗雾膜材料的制备及其亲水性研究

采用改进的Ｓｏｌ－Ｇｅｌ技术制备负载型复合光催化抗雾膜材料,ＡＥＳ和接触角测定等手段研究了膜厚度、热处理条件及光照条件等因素对材料亲水性的影响,光催化抗雾膜的亲水性受控于ＴｉＯ２的晶型和膜比表面,大比表面和高锐钛矿含量可降低膜对水的接触角,膜的厚度通过改变催化剂量和光利用率影响材料的亲水性。膜材料亲水性保持或恢复效果相当。     

Fast directed motion of "fakir" droplets

In this Letter, we report on the motion of water droplets on surfaces decorated with molecular gradients comprising semifluorinated (SF) organosilanes. SF molecular gradients deposited on flat silica substrates facilitate faster motion of water droplets relative to the specimens covered with an analogous hydrocarbon gradient. Further increase in the drop speed is achieved by advancing it along porous substrates coated with the SF wettability gradients. The results of our experiments are in quantitative agreement with a simple scaling theory that describes the faster liquid motion in terms of reduced friction at the liquid/substrate interface.     

pH-Sensitive Wettability Induced by Topologicaland Chemical Transition on the Self AssembledSurface of Block Copolymer简

pH-sensitive wettability of polystyrene-b-poly（4-vinylpyridine） （PS-b-P4VP） self assembled films, exhibiting superoleophobicity under water and hydrophilicity at low pH value, and oleophobicity under water and hydrophobicity at neutral condition, has been realized. The wettability properties resulted from the surface topological and chemical transition, which were confirmed by in situ AFM measurements under water at different pH. At low pH, P4VP chains, which were confined in the hexagonal-packed nanodomains, got protonated into a swollen state, while at high pH, P4VP chains were deprotonated into a collapsed state. The reversible protonation/deprotonation procedure on the molecular scale leads to surface topological and chemical transition, thereby pH-sensitive wettability.     

Fast and reversibly switchable wettability induced by a photothermal effect

We report a novel approach for the fabrication of a photo-responsive surface with fast and reversibly switchable wettability between hydrophobicity and hydrophilicity induced by a photothermal effect.     

A General Strategy for the Separation of Immiscible Organic Liquids by Manipulating the Surface Tensions of Nanofibrous Membranes

Oil/water separation membranes with different wettability towards water are attractive for their economic efficiency and convenience. The key factor for the separation process is the roughness‐enhanced wettability of membranes based on the intrinsic wetting threshold (IWT) of water, that is, the limitation of the wettability caused by hydrophobicity and hydrophilicity. However, the separation of organic liquids (OLs) remains a challenge. Herein, we manipulate the surface tensions of nanofibrous membranes to lie between the IWTs of the two OLs to be separated so that the nanofibrous membranes can be endowed with superlyophobicity and superlyophilicity for the two liquids, and thus lead to successful separation. Our investigations provide a general strategy to separate any immiscible liquids efficiently, and may lead to the development of membranes with a large capacity, high flux, and high selectivity for organic reactions or liquid extraction in chemical engineering.     

How thermal curing of an organic paper coating changes topography, chemistry, and wettability

Celluloses are preferred renewable substrates, but hydrophilicity and porosity disfavor their water resistance. We present here an ecofriendly application of imidized nanoparticles and a method to flexibly tune the surface wettability of papers. The soft nanostructured coating is sensitive to thermal curing, which affects both the surface chemistry and morphology. The thermal stability of the coating is first investigated with conventional and modulated differential scanning calorimetry, revealing influences of the imide content and an endotherm reaction below the glass transition temperature at 120-150 °C. The latter is studied in detail for an appropriate selection of the copolymer precursors. According to diffuse reflection infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and UV/vis spectroscopy, the endotherm corresponds to an imidization reaction. The morphology of the coatings is followed at various scale levels by contactless roughness measurements and atomic force microscopy. Finally, the experimental values are fitted to the parameters of the Wenzel wetting model, and so-called calibration curves for the relation between contact angles, surface roughness, and surface chemistry are presented. They allow the prediction of the water contact angle of coated papers from the hydrophilic to the hydrophobic range, with a maximum in hydrophobicity after increasing the imide content at 120-150 °C curing.     

聚醚醚酮表面的亲水改性和胶原蛋白固定化

采用紫外光接枝法对聚醚醚酮(PEEK)表面进行化学修饰和生物分子固定化.首先向PEEK表面引入亲水性的丙烯酰胺,并以此为反应位点通过戊二醛将胶原和胶原蛋白固定在PEEK表面.用接触角测定仪、扫描电镜、荧光标记和X射线光电子能谱等对改性薄膜进行了表征.结果表明,PEEK上丙烯酰胺的接枝密度高达50.9μg/cm~2;改性薄膜表面浸润性显著提高,水接触角最低降至(22±3)°.荧光标记胶原固定的PEEK薄膜荧光发射光谱强度最高,并在X射线光电子能谱中检测到N元素,表明胶原已固定化,固定胶原蛋白的浓度为10.2μg/cm~2.     

Photocontrolled variations in the wetting capability of photochromic polymers enhanced by surface nanostructuring

The wetting characteristics of surfaces of polymers doped with photochromic spiropyran molecules can be tuned when irradiated with laser beams of properly chosen photon energy. The hydrophilicity is enhanced upon UV laser irradiation since the embedded nonpolar spiropyran molecules convert to their polar merocyanine isomers. The process is reversed upon green laser irradiation. Structuring of the photochromic polymeric surfaces with soft lithography enhances significantly the hydrophobicity of the system, indicating that the water droplets on the patterned features interact with air that is trapped in the microcavities, thus creating superhydrophobic air-water contact areas. Furthermore, the light-induced wettability variations of the structured surfaces are enhanced by a factor of 3 compared to those on the flat surfaces. This significant enhancement is attributed to the photoinduced reversible volume changes to the imprinted gratings, which additionally contribute to the wettability changes due to the light-induced photochromic interconversions.     

Plasma surface modification of poly (l-lactic acid) and poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) films for improvement of nerve cells adhesion

Radio frequency (RF) plasma treatment in O₂ was applied to modify the surface of poly (l-lactic acid) (PLLA) and poly (d,l-lactic acid-coglycolic acid) (PLGA) as biodegradable polymers. The surface structure, morphology, wettability and surface chemistry of treated films were characterized by water drop contact angle measurement, scanning electron microscope (SEM), optical invert microscope, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and ATIR–FTIR spectroscopy. The cell affinity of the oxygen plasma treated film was evaluated by nervous tissue B65 cell culture in stationary conditions. The results showed that the hydrophilicity increased greatly after O₂ plasma treatment. The results showed that improved cell adhesion was attributed to the combination of surface chemistry and surface wettability during plasma treatment. Cell culture results showed that B65 nervous cell attachment and growth on the plasma treated PLLA was much higher than an unmodified sample and PLGA. Surface hydrophilicity and chemical functional groups with high polar component play an important role in enhancing cell attachment and growth.     

Photo-induced Janus effect of graphene oxide films

The effect of UV irradiation on the wettability of GO films, as well as the possibility of making a film with different properties of its surface, the Janus film, has been studied. The O/C ratio changes from 0.32 to 0.26 after 6 ​h of UV irradiation. The contact angle of water droplet wetting on an unirradiated surface is θ ​≈ ​35°. The contact angle reaches more than 95° on the irradiated surface, which means that a hydrophobic surface on a film can be obtained. The origin of amphiphilic properties of the GO film are associated with the photochemical reduction of GO.     

Plasma Hydrophilization of Superhydrophobic Surface and Its Aging Behavior: The Effect of Micro/nanostructured Surface

Plasma treatment is a versatile tool for surface modifications, and plasma‐induced hydrophilicity has a well‐known aging behavior. In this paper, plasma hydrophilization and the subsequent aging behavior of superhydrophobic and hydrophobic surfaces are comparatively investigated. Static water contact angle measurement and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy show that, compared with the hydrophobic surface, the superhydrophobic surface requires more plasma dose to completely change its wettability even after considering the difference in their initial wettability, and the corresponding aging speed is also obviously retarded. A tentative model based on the surface micro/nanostructures is presented to explain the results. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.