Algae adhesion onto silicone is sensitive to environment-induced surface restructuring
Date
2021
Authors
Wan, Zhijing
Azam, Md. Shafiul
Wyatt, Shea
Ramsay, Kaitlyn
Korner, Jaime L.
Elvira, Katherine S.
Padmawar, Rajkumar
Varela, Diana
Hore, Dennis K.
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Langmuir
Abstract
Resistance to algae contamination is an important characteristic of insulators used in overhead power distribution in coastal environments. It is therefore important to understand the parameters governing algae adhesion onto polymer insulator materials such as silicone. Flow cell-based shear experiments were conducted in order to characterize the adhesion strength of algae onto polydimethylsiloxane surfaces, comparing fresh polymer substrates with those that have been soaked in water and saline solutions for 1 month. Both freshwater algae and seawater species could withstand considerably less drag force and were therefore more easily removed when the polymer was soaked in salt water. The polymer surface was found to be unaltered in terms of its roughness, contact angle, and lack of water uptake; no macroscopic surface characterization was therefore able to account for the differences in cell adhesion strength resulting from the soaking treatment. Surface-specific nonlinear vibrational spectroscopy, however, revealed subtle differences in the orientation of surface methyl groups that resulted from the water and saline exposure.
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Citation
Wan, Z., Azam, M. S., Wyatt, S., Ramsay, K., Korner, J. L., Elvira, K. S., Padmawar, R., Varela, D., & Hore, D. K. (2021). Algae adhesion onto silicone is sensitive to environment-induced surface restructuring. Langmuir, 37(31), 9597– 9604. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.langmuir.1c01493