Facile Fabrication and Characterization of a PDMS-Derived Candle Soot Coated Stable Biocompatible Superhydrophobic and Superhemophobic Surface

Abstract

We report a simple, inexpensive, rapid, and one-step method for the fabrication of a stable and biocompatible superhydrophobic and superhemophobic surface. The proposed surface comprises candle soot particles embedded in a mixture of PDMS+n-hexane serving as the base material. The mechanism responsible for the superhydrophobic behavior of the surface is explained, and the surface is characterized based on its morphology and elemental composition, wetting properties, mechanical and chemical stability, and biocompatibility. The effect of %n-hexane in PDMS, the thickness of the PDMS+n-hexane layer (in terms of spin coating speed) and sooting time on the wetting property of the surface is studied. The proposed surface exhibits nanoscale surface asperities (average roughness of 187 nm), chemical compositions of soot particles, very high water and blood repellency along with excellent mechanical and chemical stability and excellent biocompatibility against blood sample and biological cells. The water contact angle and roll-off angle is measured as 160° ± 1° and 2°, respectively, and the blood contact angle is found to be 154° ± 1°, which indicates that the surface is superhydrophobic and superhemophobic. The proposed superhydrophobic and superhemophobic surface offers significantly improved (>40%) cell viability as compared to glass and PDMS surfaces.

Bioinspired Soot‐Deposited Janus Fabrics for Sustainable Solar Steam Generation with Salt‐Rejection

“…Candle soot is an inexpensive carbon based amorphous hydrophobic nanomaterial with high surface area . When the soot is deposited on the substrates, hierarchical morphology can be obtained . Due to its hydrophobic nature, soot can endow substrates with superhydrophobic property.…”

“…[27] When the soot is deposited on the substrates, hierarchical morphology can be obtained. [28][29][30] Due to its hydrophobic nature, soot can endow substrates with superhydrophobic property. Meanwhile, light will be trapped within these hierarchical structures, thus decreasing the scattering and increasing the efficiency of light utilization.…”

Recent Advances in Robust Superwettable Membranes for Oil–Water Separation

“…Recently, although significant advances in robust interfacial material systems exhibiting superwettability have been made, there are still no standard approaches to quantify the durability. Based on previously published references, there are ≈25 common testing methods for characterizing the durability of nonpermeable surfaces or porous membranes, as summarized in Figure , including sand flow impact/abrasion tests (Figure a), water spay/droplet/jet impact tests (Figure b), ultrasonication tests (Figure c), sandpaper abrasion tests (Figure d), tap peeling tests (Figure e), pencil/blade scratch‐based cross‐cut tests (Figure f), bending tests (Figure g), laundering tests (Figure h), stretch tests (Figure i), UV irradiation tests (Figure j), thermal stability tests (Figure k), corrosive solvents tests (Figure l), antibacterial tests (Figure m), antifouling tests (Figure n), liquid flow‐based pressure tests (Figure o), cross flow tests (Figure p), and multicycle/reusable separation tests (Figure q) . Actually, there are some other methods for testing target superwettable materials, such as stress–strain, circular abrasion, pencil hardness, oscillating steel ball/ring, bare finger contact, rotary slurry, and liquid spay/droplet impact tests .…”

Inexpensive and non-fluorinated superhydrophobic concrete coating for anti-icing and anti-corrosion

“…It will also greatly increase the life span of concrete materials and create more economic benefits for many large projects, such as bridges, offshore engineering, and seaports. According to the main composition of materials, a superhydrophobic coating may include cyanoacrylates, 5 epoxy resin, 6 polyelectrolyte complexes, 7 ammonium polyphosphate, 8 candle soot, 4,[9][10][11] carbon black/polybutadiene elastomeric composite, 12 wax, 13 calcium carbonate nanoparticles, 14 graphene oxide/diatomaceous earth/PDMS composite, 15 TiO 2 , 3,16 SiO 2 , [17][18][19][20][21] PDMS, 22 Ag nanoparticles, 23 et al However,low adhesion force between the coating and substrate, low mechanical strength, high cost, and even extensive use of fluorocarbon materials which is potentially toxic to humans indicate that the state-of-the-art methods are difficult to scale-up in large industrial concrete projects. A simultaneous demonstration of the aforementioned four features is a major challenge.…”