概要

Preparation and High-temperature Anti-adhesion Behavior of a Slippery Surface on Stainless Steel

Published: March 29, 2018
doi:

概要

Slippery surfaces provide a new way to solve the adhesion problem. This protocol describes how to fabricate slippery surfaces at high temperatures. The results demonstrate that the slippery surfaces showed anti-wetting for liquids and a remarkable anti-adhesion effect on soft tissues at high temperatures.

Abstract

Anti-adhesion surfaces with high-temperature resistance have a wide application potential in electrosurgical instruments, engines, and pipelines. A typical anti-wetting superhydrophobic surface easily fails when exposed to a high-temperature liquid. Recently, Nepenthes-inspired slippery surfaces demonstrated a new way to solve the adhesion problem. A lubricant layer on the slippery surface can act as a barrier between the repelled materials and the surface structure. However, the slippery surfaces in previous studies rarely showed high-temperature resistance. Here, we describe a protocol for the preparation of slippery surfaces with high-temperature resistance. A photolithography-assisted method was used to fabricate pillar structures on stainless steel. By functionalizing the surface with saline, a slippery surface was prepared by adding silicone oil. The prepared slippery surface maintained the anti-wetting property for water, even when the surface was heated to 300 °C. Also, the slippery surface exhibited great anti-adhesion effects on soft tissues at high temperatures. This type of slippery surface on stainless steel has applications in medical devices, mechanical equipment, etc.

Introduction

Anti-adhesion surfaces at high temperatures for use with liquids and soft tissues have received considerable interest because of their extensive application potential in electrosurgical instruments, engines, pipelines etc.1,2,3,4. Bioinspired surfaces, particularly superhydrophobic surfaces, are considered the ideal choice because of their excellent anti-wetting abilities and self-cleaning properties5. In superhydrophobic surfaces, the anti-wetting ability should be ascribed to the locked air in the surface structure. However, the superhydrophobic state is unstable because it is in the Cassie-Baxter state6,7. Also, at high temperatures, the anti-wetting for liquid droplets can fail because of the wetting state transition from the Cassie-Baxter to the Wenzel state8. This wetting transition is induced by small liquid droplet wetting in the structures, which results in the failure to lock the air in place.

Recently, inspired by the slippery properties of the peritome of the pitcher plant, Nepenthes, Wong et al. reported a concept to construct slippery surfaces by infusing a lubricant into the surface structures9,10,11. Due to capillary force, the structures can firmly hold the lubricant in place, just as in the locked air pocket on superhydrophobic surfaces. Thus, the lubricant and surface structures can form a stable solid/liquid surface. When the lubricant has a preferential affinity for the surface structure, the liquid droplet on the composite surface can slide easily, with only a very low contact angle hysteresis (e.g., ~2°)12. This lubricant layer also enables the surface to have remarkable anti-wetting capabilities13, demonstrating great potential for medical devices14,15. However, previous studies on slippery surfaces mainly focused on the preparation for application at room temperature or low temperatures. There are very few studies on the preparation of slippery surfaces with high-temperature resistance. For example, Zhang et al. showed that the rapid evaporation of lubricant rapidly causes the failure of the slippery property at even slightly high temperatures16.

Slippery surfaces with high-temperature resistance can widen the application potential; for example, they can be used as liquid barriers to decrease soft tissue adhesion to electrosurgical instrument tips. During the surgical operation, severe soft tissue adhesion occurs because of the high temperature of the electrosurgical instrument tips. The soft tissue can be charred, causing it to adhere to the instrument tip, which then tears the soft tissue around the tip17,18,19. The adhered soft tissue on the electrosurgical instrument tip negatively influences the operation and also may induce the failure of hemostasis19,20. These effects significantly harm people's health and economic interest. Therefore, solving the issue of soft tissue adhesion to electrosurgical instruments is very urgent. In fact, slippery surfaces offer an opportunity to solve this problem.

Here, we present a protocol to fabricate slippery surfaces available at high temperatures. Stainless steel was selected as the surface material because of its high-temperature resistance. The stainless steel was roughened by photolithography-assisted chemical etching. Then, the surface was functionalized with a biocompatible material, saline octadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS)21,22,23,24. A slippery surface was prepared by adding silicone oil. These materials enabled the slippery surface to achieve high-temperature resistance. The anti-wetting property at high temperatures and the anti-adhesion effects on soft tissue were investigated. The results show the potential of using slippery surfaces to solve the anti-adhesion problem at high temperatures.

Protocol

1. Photolithography on Stainless Steel Design the photomask using a mechanical drawing software and fabricate the design by submitting it to a photomask printer4. Wash the stainless steel (316 SS; lengthx width: 4 cm x 4 cm, thickness: 1 mm) by rinsing it in alkaline solutions (50 g/L NaOH and 40 g/L Na2CO3) at room temperature for 15 min to remove oil contaminants. Thoroughly clean the stainless steel by performing ultrasonic cleaning in an ul…

Representative Results

The slippery surface was prepared by adding silicone oil to OTS-coated, chemically etched stainless steel. Due to their similar chemical properties, the surface was completely wetted by silicone oil. The wetting process is shown in Figure 1a. The red dotted line marks the wetting line. After the wetting, a visible oil layer could be distinguished from the dry surface. The slippery property of the prepared slippery surface was investigated by depositing a wate…

Discussion

This manuscript details protocols for fabricating a slippery surface with high-temperature resistance. The slippery property of our prepared surface was demonstrated by observing the easy-sliding behavior of a water droplet. Then, the anti-wetting of the prepared slippery surface at different high temperatures was investigated by depositing a water droplet on the hot surface. The results show that the prepared slippery surface maintained its slippery property even when it was heated to above 300 °C. We also determin…

開示

The authors have nothing to disclose.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51290292) and was also supported by the Academic Excellence Foundation of BUAA for PhD students.

Materials

Stainless steel Hongtu Corporation 316 Use as received
Octadecyltrichlorosilane Huaxia Reagent 112-04-9 Use as received
Photoresist Kempur Microelectronic Corporation 317S Use as received
Silicone oil Beijing Chemical Works 350 cst Use as received
Anhydrous toluene Beijing Chemical Works 108-88-3 Use as received
Phosphoric acid (H3PO4) Tianjin Chemical Corporation 7664-38-2 Use as received
Hydrochloric acid (HCl) Tianjin Chemical Corporation 7647-01-0 Use as received
Ferric chloride (FeCl3) Tianjin Chemical Corporation 7705-08-0 Use as received
Optical upright microscope Olympus BX51
Optical stereo microscope Olympus SZX16
High speed camera Olympus i-SPEED LT
Ultrasonic cleaner KUNSHAN ULTRASONIC INSTRUMENTS CO. LTD KQ-500E
Dynamometer Yueqing Handapi Instruments Co. Ltd HP-5
Manipulator Yueqing Handapi Instruments Co. Ltd HLD
Hot plate Shenzhen Jingyihuang Corporation DRB-1

参考文献

  1. Liu, Y., Chen, X., Xin, J. H. Can superhydrophobic surfaces repel hot water?. J Mater Chem. 19 (31), 5602-5611 (2009).
  2. Urata, C., Masheder, B., Cheng, D. F., Hozumi, A. A thermally stable, durable and temperature-dependent oleophobic surface of a polymethylsilsesquioxane film. Chem Commun. 49, 3318-3320 (2013).
  3. Daniel, D., Mankin, M. N., Belisle, R. A., Wong, T. -. S., Aizenberg, J. Lubricant-infused micro/nano-structured surfaces with tunable dynamic omniphobicity at high temperatures. Appl Phys. Lett. 102 (23), 231603 (2013).
  4. Zhang, P., Chen, H., Zhang, L., Zhang, D. Anti-adhesion effects of liquid-infused textured surfaces on high-temperature stainless steel for soft tissue. Appl Surf Sci. 385, 249-256 (2016).
  5. Barthlott, W., Neinhuis, C. Purity of the sacred lotus,or escape from contamination in biological surfaces. Planata. 202 (1), 1-8 (1997).
  6. Feng, L., et al. Super-hydrophobic surfaces: from natural to artificial. Adv Mater. 14 (24), 1857-1860 (2002).
  7. Li, X. M., Reinhoudt, D., Crego-Calama, M. What do we need for a superhydrophobic surface? A review on the recent progress in the preparation of superhydrophobic surfaces. Chem Soc Rev. 36 (8), 1350-1368 (2007).
  8. Roach, P., Shirtcliffe, N. J., Newton, M. I. Progess in superhydrophobic surface development. Soft Matter. 4, 224-240 (2008).
  9. Park, K. C., et al. Condensation on slippery asymmetric bumps. Nature. 531 (7592), 78-82 (2016).
  10. Wong, T. S., et al. Bioinspired self-repairing slippery surfaces with pressure-stable omniphobicity. Nature. 477 (7365), 443-447 (2011).
  11. Chen, H., et al. Continuous directional water transport on the peristome surface of Nepenthes alata. Nature. 532 (7597), 85-89 (2016).
  12. Zhang, P., Chen, H., Zhang, L., Ran, T., Zhang, D. Transparent self-cleaning lubricant-infused surfaces made with large-area breath figure patterns. Appl Surf Sci. 355, 1083-1090 (2015).
  13. Lafuma, A., Quéré, D. Slippery pre-suffused surfaces. EPL. 96, 56001 (2011).
  14. Epstein, A. K., et al. Liquid-infused structured surfaces with exceptional anti-biofouling performance. P Natl Acad Sci USA. 109 (33), 13182-13187 (2012).
  15. MacCallum, N., et al. Liquid-infused silicone as a biofouling-free medical material. ACS Biomater Sci Eng. 1, 43-51 (2015).
  16. Zhang, J., Wu, L., Li, B., Li, L., Seeger, S., Wang, A. Evaporation-induced transition from Nepenthes pitcher-inspired slippery surfaces to lotus leaf-inspired superoleophobic surfaces. Langmuir. 30 (47), 14292-14299 (2014).
  17. Sutton, P. A., Awad, S., Perkins, A. C., Lobo, D. N. Comparison of lateral thermal spread using monopolar and bipolar diathermy the Harmonic Scalpel™ and the Ligasure™. Brit J Surg. 97 (3), 428-433 (2010).
  18. Koch, C., Friedrich, T., Metternich, F., Tannapfel, A., Reimann, H. P., Eichfeld, U. Determination of temperature elevation in tissue during the application of the harmonic scalpel. Ultrasound Med Biol. 29 (2), 301-309 (2003).
  19. Sinha, U. K., Gallagher, L. A. Effects of steel scalpel, ultrasonic scalpel, CO2 laser, and monopolar and bipolar electrosurgery on wound healing in guinea pig oral mucosa. Laryngoscope. 113 (2), 228-236 (2003).
  20. Lee, J. H., Go, A. K., Oh, S. H., Lee, K. E., Yuk, S. H. Tissue anti-adhesion potential of ibuprofen-loaded PLLA-PEG diblock copolymer films. Biomaterials. 26 (6), 671-678 (2005).
  21. Ding, J. N., Wong, P. L., Yang, J. C. Friction and fracture properties of polysilicon coated with self-assembled monolayers. Wear. 260 (1-2), 209-214 (2006).
  22. Kulkarni, S. A., Mirji, S. A., Mandale, A. B., Vijayamohanan, K. P. In vitro stability study of organosilane self-assemble monolayers and multilayers. Thin Solid Films. 496, 420-425 (2006).
  23. Meth, S., Savchenko, N., Viva, F. A., Starosvetsky, D., Groysman, A., Sukenik, C. N. Siloxane-based thin films for corrosion protection of stainless steel in chloride media. J Appl Electrochem. 41 (8), 885-890 (2011).
  24. Zhang, P., Chen, H., Zhang, L., Zhang, Y., Zhang, D., Jiang, L. Stable slippery liquid-infused anti-wetting surface at high temperatures. J Mater Chem A. 4 (31), 12212-12220 (2016).
  25. Smith, J. D., et al. Droplet mobility on lubricant-impregnated surfaces. Soft Matter. 9 (6), 1772-1780 (2013).
  26. Tran, T., Staat, H. J. J., Prosperetti, A., Sun, C., Lohse, D. Drop impact on superheated surfaces. Phys Rev Lett. 108 (3), 036101 (2012).
  27. Donzelli, J., Leonetti, J. P., Wurster, R. D., Lee, J. M., Young, M. R. I. Neuroprotection due to irrigation during bipolar cautery. Arch Otolaryngol. 126 (2), 149-153 (2000).

Play Video

記事を引用
Zhang, P., Huawei, C., Liu, G., Zhang, L., Zhang, D. Preparation and High-temperature Anti-adhesion Behavior of a Slippery Surface on Stainless Steel. J. Vis. Exp. (133), e55888, doi:10.3791/55888 (2018).

View Video