Surface Functionalization of Polydimethylsiloxane Using Titanium Oxide Atomic Layer Deposition
Session Number
E04
Advisor(s)
Arghya Bishal, University of Illinois at Chicago Christos Takoudis, University of Illinois at Chicago
Location
A-119
Start Date
28-4-2016 11:05 AM
End Date
28-4-2016 11:30 AM
Abstract
Polymers have potential in the medical field to be used for microfluidic devices and composite implant materials for tissue engineering. However, using polymers in the medical field has drawbacks; microbes can grow wherever there is moisture, heat and food, causing bacterial infection or biofilm formation. We hypothesized that the functionality of polymers could be increased by coating polymer with an antibacterial titanium oxide layer through Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD), which deposits thin films layer-by- layer onto a substrate and offers precise control over thickness. The water contact angles of samples of Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) were measured using a contact angle goniometer. The samples were pre- treated with oxygen plasma treatment at 60 seconds, and then coated with TiO2 at 60°C using ALD. Preliminary results suggest that samples pre-treated with oxygen plasma and coated with TiO2 showed significantly lower levels of hydrophobicity. Microorganism adhesion tests were performed using Escherichia coli bacteria in order to determine the antibacterial levels of the samples. We concluded that samples pre-treated with oxygen plasma and coated with TiO2 were able to eliminate a greater amount of E. coli bacteria compared to untreated samples.
Surface Functionalization of Polydimethylsiloxane Using Titanium Oxide Atomic Layer Deposition
A-119
Polymers have potential in the medical field to be used for microfluidic devices and composite implant materials for tissue engineering. However, using polymers in the medical field has drawbacks; microbes can grow wherever there is moisture, heat and food, causing bacterial infection or biofilm formation. We hypothesized that the functionality of polymers could be increased by coating polymer with an antibacterial titanium oxide layer through Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD), which deposits thin films layer-by- layer onto a substrate and offers precise control over thickness. The water contact angles of samples of Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) were measured using a contact angle goniometer. The samples were pre- treated with oxygen plasma treatment at 60 seconds, and then coated with TiO2 at 60°C using ALD. Preliminary results suggest that samples pre-treated with oxygen plasma and coated with TiO2 showed significantly lower levels of hydrophobicity. Microorganism adhesion tests were performed using Escherichia coli bacteria in order to determine the antibacterial levels of the samples. We concluded that samples pre-treated with oxygen plasma and coated with TiO2 were able to eliminate a greater amount of E. coli bacteria compared to untreated samples.