Slippery quartz surfaces for anti‐fouling optical windows

Abstract

The surface of camera‐based medical devices is easily smeared by blood and fog during the surgical procedure, causing visual field loss and bringing great distress to both doctors and patients. In this article, a slippery liquid‐infused porous surface (SLIPS) on a quartz window surface that can repel various liquids, especially blood droplets is reported. A femtosecond laser pulse train was used to create periodic microhole structures on the silica surface. The subsequent low surface energy treatment and lubricant infusion led to the successful preparation of a slippery surface. Such blood‐repellent windows exhibited high transparency, great antifogging, and antibacterial properties. In addition, the slippery ability of the as‐prepared surface exhibited outstanding stability since the surface could withstand harsh treatments/environments, such as repeated pipette scratches and immersion in different pH solutions. The as‐prepared millimeter‐sized quartz samples with SLIPS were attached to the endoscope lens as a protective coating and could maintain high visibility after repeated immersion in blood. We believe that the coating developed in this study will provide inspiration for the design of next‐generation endoscopes or other camera‐guided devices that will resist fouling, keep clear vision, and reduce operation time, thus offering great potential applications in lesion diagnosis and therapy.

Sustainable Biofilm Inhibition Using Chitosan-Mesoporous Nanoparticle-Based Hybrid Slippery Composites

“…Our findings suggest that a hybrid approach, integrating multiple antibiofilm mechanisms, can synergistically enhance antifouling performance in an eco-friendly and nontoxic manner. The addition or substitution of functional materials, such as hydrophobic or hydrophilic antibacterial materials, is expected to further enhance antibiofilm performance over long-term usage, which will be our future work. , We believe that this sustainable biofilm inhibition strategy holds great promise for potential applications, including biomedical devices such as catheters, food packaging, marine antifouling paints, and agricultural irrigation systems, thereby reducing maintenance, improving operational efficiency, and mitigating environmental costs. ,,, In particular, the hybrid composite can be fabricated in cylindrical form or coated on the surfaces of catheter devices to prevent bacterial cell attachment, thereby reducing the risk of urinary tract infections and other complications associated with catheter use.…”

Miniature fluorescence sensor for quantitative detection of brain tumour

“…In addition to optical transparency, minimal background fluorescence, mechanical robustness, and the requisite biocompatibility/sterilizability, the optical window must exhibit antifouling properties. 40,41 This is to ensure it maintains a consistent optical property. Adherence of healthy/tumour tissue or blood to the surface of the optical window would result in erroneous fluorescence measurement.…”

Ultradurable Omni‐Liquid‐Repellent Smart Window as a High‐Performance Wettability/Transparency Manipulator Enabled via Laser‐Writing Magnetism‐Actuated Microshutters

“…[ 11 ] More recently, Chen's group unfold a slippery antifouling SW that can repel some special biological liquids (e.g., blood drops). [ 12 ] Though ceaseless endeavors have been dedicated to bloom the SLIPS‐based SWs, several blockages arise subsequently. i) Abundant experimental and theoretical implements uncover that the severe viscous dissipation in slippery surface would result in an inferior longevity.…”

“…i) Abundant experimental and theoretical implements uncover that the severe viscous dissipation in slippery surface would result in an inferior longevity. [8][9][10][11][12][13] ii) The thermo stimuli (e.g., hot plate, oven) are always driven by an exaggerative voltage of 220 V, which is energy-consuming. [9] iii) The switching responsivity is ranging from 8 to 180 s, implying the unsatisfactory maneuvering performance (Figure S1, Supporting Information).…”