The Five Ws (and one H) of Super-Hydrophobic Surfaces in Medicine

Micromachines

Francesco Gentile²  Maria Laura Coluccio³  Tania Limongi¹  Gerardo Perozziello³  Patrizio Candeloro³ 

[1] Department of Physical Sciences and Engineering, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal 23955-6900, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; E-Mails:;Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, 16163 Genova, Italy;Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, University Magna Graecia of Catanzaro, 88100 Catanzaro, Italy; E-Mails:

关键词: super-hydrophobic surfaces;    single molecule detection;    biosensors;    nano-optics;    nanosensors;    nanoporous silicon;    electroless deposition;   

DOI  :  10.3390/mi5020239

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Super-hydrophobic surfaces (SHSs) are bio-inspired, artificial microfabricated interfaces, in which a pattern of cylindrical micropillars is modified to incorporate details at the nanoscale. For those systems, the integration of different scales translates into superior properties, including the ability of manipulating biological solutions. The five Ws, five Ws and one H or the six Ws (6W), are questions, whose answers are considered basic in information-gathering. They constitute a formula for getting the complete story on a subject. According to the principle of the six Ws, a report can only be considered complete if it answers these questions starting with an interrogative word: who, why, what, where, when, how. Each question should have a factual answer. In what follows, SHSs and some of the most promising applications thereof are reviewed following the scheme of the 6W. We will show how these surfaces can be integrated into bio-photonic devices for the identification and detection of a single molecule. We will describe how SHSs and nanoporous silicon matrices can be combined to yield devices with the capability of harvesting small molecules, where the cut-off size can be adequately controlled. We will describe how this concept is utilized for obtaining a direct TEM image of a DNA molecule.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2014 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.