In this study, the interaction between the silica filler and polydimethylsiloxanes (PDMS) was investigated from the aspects of the bound rubber and morphological characterization. With special attention to the dynamic properties, the dynamic test was conducted by dynamic shear rheometer. The results show that the modified fillers disperse uniformly within PDMS matrix without aggregation and con...

      Wetability of biocompatible polymers can be improved by plasma surface modification. The purpose of this study was to surface modify an experimental poly (dimethylsiloxane) rubber (PDMS) material in order to improve its wetability and biocompatibility. Surface properties of the PDMS were characterized using contact angles measurement for wetability analysis. Samples of experimental silico...

Poly(dimethyl siloxane) elastomer, (PDMS) is widely used as a biomaterial. However, PDMS is very hydrophobic and easily colonized by several bacteria and yeasts. Consequently, surface modification has been used to improve its wettability and reduce bacterial adhesion. The aim of this work was to modify the PDMS surface in order to improve its hydrophilicity and bacterial cell repulsion to be us...

A major technical hurdle in microfluidics is the difficulty in achieving high fidelity lithographic patterning on polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). Here, we report a simple yet highly precise and repeatable PDMS surface micromachining method using direct photolithography followed by reactive ion etching (RIE). Our method to achieve surface patterning of PDMS applied an O2 plasma treatment to PDMS to...

Poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)/polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) hydrogels were synthesized by cross-linking norbornene end-functionalized polymers with a tetrafunctional thiol using thiol−norbornene chemistry. The swelling capacity and mechanical properties, including the Young’s modulus (E) and fracture toughness (Gc), of the hydrogels were characterized and quantified as a function of the volume frac...

To investigate the effect of fluorination on the surface of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) film, direct fluorination was performed under a mild condition (approx. 2000 micromol/mol F(2) in nitrogen) for 120 min. No structural damage of PDMS films was observed on the scanning electron microscopic images under the condition. Fourier-transform infrared/attenuated total reflectance (FTIR/ATR) and ener...

A major technical hurdle in microfluidics is the difficulty in achieving high fidelity lithographic patterning on polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). Here, we report a simple yet highly precise and repeatable PDMS surface micromachining method using direct photolithography followed by reactive ion etching (RIE). Our method to achieve surface patterning of PDMS applied an O2 plasma treatment to PDMS to...

The thermo-responsivity of PNIPAAm [poly(N-isopropylcarylamide)]-grafted PDMS [poly(dimethylsiloxane)] surface is a property that could be feasibly used for detaching cells adhered on the surface. We used benzophenone-initiated photopolymerization to graft PNIPAAm on PDMS substrates to construct the PNIPAAm-grafted PDMS surface and this PDMS surface was highly thermo-responsive. hMSCs (human me...