Poly(D,L-lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) microspheres were prepared by an oil/water emulsion solvent evaporation method to use as an injectable microcarrier for cell delivery. Three different kinds of PLGA microspheres having hydrophobic, negatively charged, and positively charged surfaces were prepared. Hydrophobic and negatively charged PLGA microspheres were prepared by using terminally capp...

Two new surfactant molecules are reported that contain thermally labile Diels-Alder adducts connecting the hydrophilic and hydrophobic sections of each molecule. The two surfactants possess identical hydrophobic dodecyl tail segments but have phenol and carboxylic acid hydrophilic headgroups, respectively. Deprotonation with potassium hydroxide affords the formation of water-soluble surfactants...

In this paper, bio-inspired PDMS films with different hierarchical microstructures were designed and tunable adhesive super-hydrophobicity was achieved on these films. The adhesive forces between a water droplet and the PDMS film can be adjusted from extremely low (about 8.3 μN) to very high (about 57 μN), and the tunable effect can be ascribed to different wetting states for the water droplets...

The amphiphilic block copolymers are composed of various combinations of hydrophilic and hydrophobic block unimers. The variation in unimer ratio alters the surface as well as micelle-forming properties of the block copolymers. These nanoscopic micelles have the ability to encapsulate hydrophobic compounds and act as potential drug carrier. MePEG-PCL copolymers with various block lengths were s...

This work reports on recent advances in the deposition of non-wettable coatings with high water contact angles (WCAs). We propose a simple and easily-controlled method for fabricating different types of nanoestructured films of Al2O3 with hydrophobic properties by Physical Vapour Deposition (PVD). The films have been deposited over three types of hydrophilic substrates with very different value...

According to recent research reports, addition of small amounts of a secondary fluid to a suspension could dramatically increase viscosity of suspension. Results of this study indicate another interesting behavior that the secondary fluid could form a thin hydrophobic membrane around particle surface and significantly decrease the viscosity and yield stress of the suspension. To enhance the sur...

Molecular simulation is used to elucidate hydrophobic interaction at atmospheric pressure where liquid water between apolar walls is metastable with respect to capillary evaporation. The steep increase of the estimated activation barrier of evaporation with surface–surface separation explains the apparent stability of the liquid at distances more than an order of magnitude below the thermodynam...

In this study, we characterize the CCN activity of the water-soluble organics in biomass burning aerosol. The aerosol after collection upon filters is dissolved in water using sonication. Hydrophobic and hydrophilic components are fractionated from a portion of the original sample using solid phase extraction, and subsequently desalted. The surface tension and CCN activity of these different sa...

Zn(2-methylimidazole)2 (ZIF-8), as one of the most important metal-organic framework (MOF) molecules, is a promising candidate for drug delivery due to its low-density structure, high surface area, and tunable frameworks. However, ZIF-8 exhibits a high cytotoxicity associated with its external hydrophobic surface, which significantly restricts its application in drug delivery and other biomedic...

A theory is presented which allows us to accurately calculate the critical coagulation concentration of hydrophobic colloidal suspensions. For positively charged particles, the critical coagulation concentrations follow the Hofmeister (lyotropic) series. For negatively charged particles, the series is reversed. We find that strongly polarizable chaotropic anions are driven towards the colloidal...