title: Fabricating Superhydrophobic Polymeric Materials for Biomedical Applications.
abstract: Superhydrophobic materials, with surfaces possessing permanent or metastable non-wetted states, are of interest for a number of biomedical and industrial applications. Here we describe how electrospinning or electrospraying a polymer mixture containing a biodegradable, biocompatible aliphatic polyester (e.g., polycaprolactone and poly(lactide-co-glycolide)), as the major component, doped with a hydrophobic copolymer composed of the polyester and a stearate-modified poly(glycerol carbonate) affords a superhydrophobic biomaterial. The fabrication techniques of electrospinning or electrospraying provide the enhanced surface roughness and porosity on and within the fibers or the particles, respectively. The use of a low surface energy copolymer dopant that blends with the polyester and can be stably electrospun or electrosprayed affords these superhydrophobic materials. Important parameters such as fiber size, copolymer dopant composition and/or concentration, and their effects on wettability are discussed. This combination of polymer chemistry and process engineering affords a versatile approach to develop application-specific materials using scalable techniques, which are likely generalizable to a wider class of polymers for a variety of applications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University.
authors.forename: Jonah
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kaplan
authors.affiliation: Departments of Biomedical Engineering, Chemistry, and Medicine, Boston University; mgrin@bu.edu.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Grinstaff
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology; D057927:Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D041681:NIH 3T3 Cells; D011108:Polymers / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology; D017155:Wettability
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D011108:Polymers