Study of transitions between wetting states on microcavity arrays by optical transmission microscopy.

In this article, we present a simple and fast optical method based on transmission microscopy to study the stochastic wetting transitions on micro- and nanostructured polymer surfaces immersed in water. We analyze the influence of immersion time and the liquid pressure on the degree of water intrusion in individual microcavities on these surfaces as well as the lifespan of their superhydrophobicity. We show that transitions among the three wetting states (Cassie, Cassie-impregnating, and Wenzel) occur with a certain pressure threshold (300 mbar for a microcavity diameter of 7.5 µm). Below this threshold, the transitions between the Cassie and the Cassie-impregnating states are reversible, whereas above this threshold, irreversible transitions to the Wenzel state start to occur. The transitions between the different wetting states can be explained by taking into account both the Young-Laplace equation for the water menisci in the cavities and the diffusion of dissolved gas molecules in the water. In addition, the wetting transitions had a stochastic nature, which resulted from the short diffusion distance for dissolved gas molecules in the water between neighboring cavities. Furthermore, we compared the contact angle properties of two polymeric materials (COC and PP) with moderate hydrophobicity. We attributed the difference in the water repellency of the two materials to a difference in the wetting of their nanostructures. Our experimental observations thus indicate that both the diffusion of gas molecules in water and the wetting properties of nanostructures are important for understanding the sustainability of superhydrophobicity of surfaces under water and for improving the structural design of superhydrophobic surfaces.

All polymer chip for amperometric studies of transmitter release from large groups of neuronal cells.

We present an all polymer electrochemical chip for simple detection of transmitter release from large groups of cultured PC 12 cells. Conductive polymer PEDOT:tosylate microelectrodes were used together with constant potential amperometry to obtain easy-to-analyze oxidation signals from potassium-induced release of transmitter molecules. The nature of the resulting current peaks is discussed, and the time for restoring transmitter reservoirs is studied. The relationship between released transmitters and potassium concentration was found to fit to a sigmoidal dose-response curve. Finally, we demonstrate how the presented device can be used for simple drug screening purposes, by measuring the increase of transmitter release due to short-term treatment with L-DOPA.

Amperometric noise at thin film band electrodes.

Background current noise is often a significant limitation when using constant-potential amperometry for biosensor application such as amperometric recordings of transmitter release from single cells through exocytosis. In this paper, we fabricated thin-film electrodes of gold and conductive polymers and measured the current noise in physiological buffer solution for a wide range of different electrode areas. The noise measurements could be modeled by an analytical expression, representing the electrochemical cell as a resistor and capacitor in series. The studies revealed three domains; for electrodes with low capacitance, the amplifier noise dominated, for electrodes with large capacitances, the noise from the resistance of the electrochemical cell was dominant, while in the intermediate region, the current noise scaled with electrode capacitance. The experimental results and the model presented here can be used for choosing an electrode material and dimensions and when designing chip-based devices for low-noise current measurements.

Characterization of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):tosylate conductive polymer microelectrodes for transmitter detection.

In this paper we investigate the physical and electrochemical properties of micropatterned poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):tosylate (PEDOT:tosylate) microelectrodes for neurochemical detection. PEDOT:tosylate is a promising conductive polymer electrode material for chip-based bioanalytical applications such as capillary electrophoresis, high-performance liquid chromatography, and constant potential amperometry at living cells. Band electrodes with widths down to 3 µm were fabricated on polymer substrates using UV lithographic methods. The electrodes are electrochemically stable in a range between -200 mV and 700 mV vs. Ag/AgCl and show a relatively low resistance. A wide range of transmitters is shown to oxidize readily on the electrodes. Kinetic rate constants and half wave potentials are reported. The capacitance per area was found to be high (1670 ± 130 µF cm(-2)) compared to other thin film microelectrode materials. Finally, we use constant potential amperometry to measure the release of transmitters from a group of PC 12 cells. The results show how the current response decreases for a series of stimulations with high K(+) buffer.