Due to inspiration from the Nepenthes pitcher plant, a frontier of devices has emerged with unmatched capabilities. Liquid-infused surfaces (LISs), particularly known for their liquid-repelling behavior under low tilting angles (<5°), have demonstrated a plethora of applications in medical, marine, energy, industrial, and environmental materials. This review presents recent developments of LIS technology and its prospective to define the future direction of this technology in solving tomorrow’s real-life challenges. First, an introduction to the different models explaining the physical phenomena of these surfaces, their wettability, and viscous-dependent frictional forces is discussed. Then, an outline of different emerging strategies required to fabricate a stable liquid-infused interface is presented, including different substrates, lubricants, surface chemistries, and design parameters which can be tuned depending on the application. Furthermore, applications of LIS coatings in the areas of anticorrosion, antifouling, anti-icing, self-healing, droplet manipulation, and biomedical devices will be presented followed by the limitations and future direction of this technology.
In this study, AB-type carbonated hydroxyapatite (CHAp) nanosheet-assembled hollow microstructures were rapidly synthesized via a hydrothermal process without sintering. Urea was employed as both a pH adjusting agent and a CO 3 2− source during hydrothermal reaction. The influence of hydrothermal time on the final morphologies of the products was systematically investigated. The as-prepared CHAp hollow microstructures with a diameter of about 3-4 μm consist of numerous radially oriented CHAp nanosheets as building units with an average thickness of about 10 nm. The morphology of the product can vary from a hollow microstructure to a solid dandelion-like structure with increasing hydrothermal time. Possible mechanisms for the formation of a nanosheet-assembled CHAp hollow microstructure and a solid dandelion-like microstructure in the presence of both urea and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) are illustrated. Moreover, the as-prepared CHAp hollow microstructures exhibit a high drug loading capacity and sustained drug release properties.
Titanium alloys, in particular, medical-grade Ti-6Al-4V is heavily used in orthopaedic applications due to its high moduli, strength, and biocompatibility. Implant infection can result in biofilm formation and failure of prosthetics. The formation of a biofilm on implants protect bacteria from antibiotics and the immune response, resulting in the propagation of the infection and ultimately result in device failure. Recently, slippery liquid-infused surfaces (LIS) have been investigated for their stable liquid interface, which provide excellent repellent properties to suppress biofilm formation. One of the current limitations of LIS coatings lies in the indistinctive repellency of bone cells in orthopaedic applications, therefore causing poor integration between tissue and implant. Here, we report a chitosan impregnated LIS coating that facilitates cell adhesion and osseointegration while preventing biofilm formation. Our results indicate that chitosan-conjugated LIS increased cell adhesion of osteoblast-like SaOS-2 cells and significantly promoted proliferation compared to conventional titanium liquid-infused surfaces. Furthermore, the chitosan conjugated LIS significantly reduced biofilm formation of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) when compared to untreated and chitosan-coated titanium. Our engineered coating can be easily modified with other biopolymers or capture molecules to be applied to other biomaterials where both tissue integration and biofilm prevention is needed.
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