Superhydrophobic (SH) surfaces have been explored for various applications in microfluidics, immunoassays, cell and tissue manipulations, and biosensors due to their excellent liquid repellency, easy droplet manipulation, self-cleaning and low adhesion properties. Naturally occurring SH surfaces (e.g. lotus leaves, cicada wings, and water strider legs) inspired scientists to prepare biomimetic super repellent surfaces using various synthetic materials. Due to the reduced solid-liquid contact area, SH surfaces have the potential to reduce the amount of protein adsorbed over an area. Thus they could improve the signal to noise ratio and accuracy of most immunoassays, which are otherwise limited by non-specific protein adsorption.<br/><br/>Here, we present a simple method to fabricate hybrid SH surfaces through introduction of overhangs/re-entrant structures from a combination of hydrophobic and hydrophilic materials using 3D-printing. The effect of surface roughness and chemistry on protein adsorption was studied using confocal fluorescence microscopy (CFM) and roll-off angle measurements. The location and movement of the solid-liquid-vapor triple contact line into the plastron was observed in-situ using a fluorescently labelled BSA protein solution. These surfaces maintain stable superhydrophobic properties even when challenged with protein solutions for over 2 h. This stability of superhydrophobic properties promises to be useful for manipulation of aqueous protein micro-droplets and solutions for biomedical applications.<br/>

Reducing protein adsorption on biomimetic superhydrophobic surfaces: Hybrid hydrophilic-hydrophobic arrays prepared by 3D printing

2019 Spring National Meeting

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.