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Virginia Tech

Electrostatic Self-Assembly of Biocompatible Thin Films

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

The design of biocompatible synthetic surfaces is an important issue for medical applications. Surface modification techniques provide good approaches to control the interactions between living systems and implanted materials by modifying the surface characteristics. This thesis work demonstrates the feasibility and effectiveness of the novel and low-cost electrostatic self-assembly (ESA) technique for the manufacturing of biocompatible thin film coatings. The ESA process is based on the alternating adsorption of molecular layers of oppositely charged polymers/nanoparticles, and can be applied in the fabrication of well-organized multilayer thin films possessing various biocompatible properties. ESA multilayer assemblies incorporating various biomaterials including metal oxides and polymers were fabricated, the uniformity, thickness, layer-by-layer linearity, and surface morphology of the films were characterized by UV/vis spectroscopy, ellipsometry, and AFM imaging. Preliminary biocompatibility testing was conducted, concentrating on contact angle surface characterization and the in vitro measurements of protein adsorption. The use of Fourier Transform Infrared Reflection-Absorption Spectroscopy (FT-IRAS) for the investigation of the protein adsorption behavior upon the ESA multilayer films is presented.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master of Science
Level thesis:degree_level
masters
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Materials Science and Engineering
Department dc:contributor.department
Materials Science and Engineering
Grantor dc:publisher
Virginia Tech
Year dc:date.issued
1999

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Du, Weiwei
Chair dc:contributor.committeechair
  • Claus, Richard O.
Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember
  • Hendricks, Robert W.
  • Lu, Guo-Quan

Subjects

dc:subject × 4

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • In Copyright

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Dc Identifier Other
etd-06112000-02510045
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/10106

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Virginia Tech
Base URL
vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Du, Weiwei. Electrostatic Self-Assembly of Biocompatible Thin Films. masters thesis, Virginia Tech, 1999. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/10106