Fabrication and Characterization of 3D Graded PDMS Scaffolds Using Vacuum-Assisted Resin Transfer Moulding

Graded porous scaffold can be applied to study the interactions between cells and scaffold with different pore sizes. Polydimethylsiloxane（PDMS） scaffold with an axial pore size grade was successfully manufactured via vacuum-assisted resin transfer moulding（VARTM） and particle leaching technologies. The properties of graded PDMS scaffolds, including porosity, water absorption, interconnectivity, compression modulus, as well as compression strength were investigated. The results showed that the smaller the size of the NaCl particles is, the higher the porosity and water absorption of graded PDMS scaffolds would be. The graded PDMS scaffold fabricated had a compressive modulus and a compressive strength of 19.69±1.42 kPa and 4.76±0.22 kPa, respectively. Moreover, the graded chitosan（CS）-coated PDMS scaffolds were prepared by using dip-coating technique under low vacuum and their hydrophilicity was examined. It is found that the water contact angle（WCA） will decrease with an increase in the CS solution concentration and the coating time, which indicates that CS-coated PDMS scaffolds exhibit noticeable hydrophilicity compared with graded PDMS scaffold.

PDMS Rod-SBSE System Coupled with Gas Chromatography for Determination of PAHs in Aqueous Samples

A method for the analysis of trace polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons（PAHs） in aqueous samples has been established by polydimethylsiloxane（PDMS） rod aided stir bar sorptive extraction（SBSE）. The homemade PDMS rod has a size of 30 mm×3 mm o.d. with a volume of ca. 200 μL, stable in thermal desorption process. The enriched PAHs by the PDMS rod were released in a homemade thermal desorption system coupled with gas chromatography. Experimental parameters for extraction of six PAHs were optimized including extraction time, pH, ionic strength and temperature of solution. The procedure has good recoveries of 80.0%―100.3% and very low limits of detection of 4.0―33 ng/L. PAHs in rain and river water were analyzed by this method.

具有三维聚焦功能的微流控芯片

为了使用微流体细胞仪对细胞精确计数,采用紫外光刻工艺制作了能够真正实现三维聚焦功能的微流体检测芯片(微流控芯片)。使用聚二甲基硅氧烷(PDMS)进行二次倒模复制其结构以缩短微流控芯片制作周期、降低制作成本,并进行了芯片的封装与测试。首先,利用沉浸式光刻技术和斜曝光工艺制作了具有三维聚焦功能的SU-8微流沟道;然后,利用PDMS对所制作的SU-8微流沟道进行一次倒模,得到其负模结构;对负模结构进行表面处理后,再进行二次倒模,得到PDMS微流沟道;最后,封装PDMS微流沟道与盖片,制得微流控芯片,并对微流控芯片的沟道聚焦效果进行了测试。实验测试发现随着鞘流与样本流流速比不同,得到样本流的聚焦宽度也不同。当鞘流与样本流流速比为20∶1时,可以得到约10.4μm的聚焦宽度。结果表明,该芯片结构可靠,可以满足进一步的流体聚焦检测要求。采用该方法制作的微流控芯片具有生产周期短、成本低、效率高和结构可靠的特点。

Flexible and transparent triboelectric nanogenerator based on high performance well-ordered porous PDMS dielectric film

A flexible and transparent triboelectric nanogenerator （FT-TENG） has great potential for application in self-powered biosensor systems, electronic skin and wearable electronic devices. However, improving the output performance with little damage to its optical properties is challenging. Herein, we have developed an FT-TENG that has a well-ordered nest-like porous polydimethylsiloxane （NP-PDMS） film and graphene transparent electrodes. The NP-PDMS film with ordered pores is fabricated by hydrochloric acid etching of 500 nm sized ZnO spheres made of aggregated nanoparticles, having a light transmittance of 81.8% and a water contact angle of 118.62°. The FT-TENG based on the NP-PDMS film with a porosity of 12%, gives a maximum output of 271 V and 7.8 μA, which are respectively, 3.7 and 2.1-fold of those of a TENG with a flat PDMS film. The peak output power reaches 0.39 mW with a load resistance of 9.01 MΩ. The dielectric constant and effective thickness of the NP-PDMS film and the capacitance and charge transfer of the FT-TENG are systematically investigated. This work provides a novel and effective method to enhance the performance of FT-TENGs with little damage to their optical properties.

Design and fabrication process of electromagnetically actuated valveless micropump with two parallel flexible diaphragms

A parallel dynamic passive valveless micropump was designed, which consists of three layers-valve, diaphragm and electromagnetic coil. The valve was wetly etched in a silicon wafer, the diaphragm was a PDMS （polydimethyl siloxane） film spun on a silicon wafer with embedded permanent magnet posts, and the coil was electroplated on a silicon substrate. Under the actuation of the magnetic field generated by coils, the flexible diaphragm could be displaced upwards and downwards. After analyzing magnetic and mechanical characteristic of the flexible membrane and direction-dependence of the nozzle, a micropump was designed. And the relative length （L/d） of the micropump nozzle was taken 4. A 7 × 7 array of permanent magnetic posts was embedded in the PDMS film. Two diaphragms worked in an anti-step mode, which could relieve the liquid shock and increase the discharge of the micropump. The ANSYS and Matlab were adopted to analyze the actuation effect of the coil and the flow characteristic of the micropump. Results show that when actuated under a 0.3 A, 100 Hz current, the displacement of the diaphragm is more than 30 μm, and the discharge of the micropump is about 6 μL/s.

Effects of Halloysite Nanotube Reinforcement in Expandable Graphite Based Intumescent Fire Retardant Coatings Developed Using Hybrid Epoxy Binder System

In this study, the effects of halloysite nanotubes （HNTs） reinforcement in expandable graphite based intumescent fire retardant coatings （IFRCs） developed using a polydimethylsiloxane （PDMS）/phenol BA epoxy system were investigated. Intumescent coating formulations were developed by incorporating different weight percentages of HNTs and PDMS in basic intumescent ingredients （ammonium polyphosphate/melamine/boric acid/expandable graphite, APP/MEL/BA/EG）. The performance of intumescent formulations was investigated by furnace fire test, Bunsen burner fire test, field emission electron microscopy （FESEM）, thermogravimetric analysis （TGA）, transmission electron microscopy （TEM）, and Fourier transform infrared analysis （FTIR）. The Bunsen burner fire test results indicated that the fire performance of HNTs and PDMS reinforced intumescent formulation has improved due to the development of silicate network over the char residue. Improved expansion in char residue was also noticed in the formulation, SH（3）, due to the minimum decomposition of char carbon. FESEM and TEM results validated the development of silicate network over char layer of coating formulations. A considerable mass loss difference was noticed during thermal gravimetric analysis （TGA） of intumescent coating formulations. Reference formulation, SH（0） with no filler, degraded at 300 ~C and lost 50% of its total mass but SH（3）, due to synergistic effects between PDMS and HNTs, degraded above 400 ~C and showed the maximum thermal stability. XRD analysis showed the development of thermally stable compound mulltie, due to the synergism of HNTs and siloxane during intumescent reactions, which enhanced fire performance. FTIR analysis showed the presence of incorporated siloxane and silicates bonds in char residue, which endorsed the toughness of intumescent char layer produced. Moreover, the synergistic effect ofHNTs, PDMS, and other basic intumescent ingredients enhanced the polymer cross-linking in binder system and improved fire resistive performance of coatings.

Polydimethylsiloxane assisted supercritical CO2 foaming behavior of high melt strength polypropylene grafted with styrene

Foamable high melt strength polypropylene （HMSPP） was prepared by grafting styrene （St） onto polypropylene （PP） and simultaneously introducing poly- dimethylsiloxane （PDMS） through a one-step melt extru- sion process. The effect of PDMS viscosity on the foaming behavior of HMSPP was systematically investigated using supercritical CO2 as the foaming agent. The results show that the addition of PDMS has little effect on the grafting reaction of St and HMSPP exhibits enhanced elastic response and obvious strain hardening effect. Though the CO2 solubility of HMSPP with PDMS （PDMS-HMSPP） is lower than that of HMSPP without PDMS, especially for PDMS with low viscosity, the PDMS-HMSPP foams exhibit narrow cell size distribution and high cell density. The fracture morphology of PDMS-HMSPP shows that PDMS with low viscosity disperses more easily and uniformly in HMSPP matrix, leading to form small domains during the extrusion process. These small domains act as bubble nucleation sites and thus may be responsible for the improved foaming performance of HMSPP.

Soft thermal nanoimprint lithography using a nanocomposite mold

Soft nanoimprint lithography has been limited to ultraviolet （UV） curable resists. Here, we introduce a novel approach for soft thermal nanoimprinting. This unprecedented combination of the terms ＂soft＂ and ＂thermal＂ for nanoimprinting became possible thanks to an innovative nanocomposite mold consisting of a flexible polydimethylsiloxane （PDMS） substrate with chemically attached rigid relief features. We used soft thermal nanoimprinting to produce high-resolution nanopatterns with a sub-100 nm feature size. Furthermore, we demonstrate the applicability of our nanoimprint approach for the nanofabrication of thermally imprinted nanopattems on non-planar surfaces such as lenses. Our new nanofabrication strategy paves the way to numerous applications that require the direct fabrication of functional nanostructures on unconventional substrates.