Equipment - Biomaterials and Bioanalogous Systems

• Contact angle and surface tension measurements
• Rheology of materials (Bohlin Gemini Rheometer)
• Spin coating
• HPLC/SEC chromatography systems
• Stereo microscope
• Ultrasound micro-spraying apparatus
• Surface profiler
• Atomic force microscopy (AFM)
• Ellipsometry
• RFGD Plasma cleaner/sterilizer
• Glow box
• Freeze drier (Leybold – Heraeus LYOVAC GT 2, Germany)
• Membrane filtration system (AMICON)
• Biohazard laminar flow box (Holten LaminAir)
• UV-VIS-NIR spectrophotometer (PU8620, Philips, England)
• Langmuir-Blodgett trough (MGW Lauda, IEEE – Computer Control)

 

Major pieces of equipment are described in more details below.

Contact angle and surface tension measurements
Dynamic Wilhemy plate method (tensiometer Kruss K12, Germany)

The instrument is used for the measurement of dynamic contact angle, adsorption and critical micelle concentration as well as for the determination of sorption behavior, swelling behavior and solid surface energy. The method is applicable to flat surfaces covered with the tested material from both sides (but with no high limitation of the surface roughness), fibers or powders. The instrument is controlled by LabDesk™ software.

Static and dynamic contact angle (Video-Based Contact Angle Meter OCA 20, Dataphysics, Germany)
OCA 20 is a computer-controlled measuring device for analysis of the static and dynamic contact angle (sessile and captive drop method, pendant drop method), the surface free energy of solids and their components and the surface and interfacial tension based on the analysis of the drop shape.

Rheometer Bohlin Gemini
Type 150 HR (high resolution) Nano (Malvern Instruments Limited) with PRV component is available. The rheometer is specifically suited for studies of soft hydrophilic gels in amount of few milliliters, which is appreciable in case of expensive peptide-materials. Properties of swollen hydrogels are possible to follow in liquid in environmental chamber.

 

Spin coating - (Spinner PWM 32-PS-R790, Headway Research, Inc.U.S.A.)
The instrument serves for the preparation of thin polymer films on solid supports with controlled thickness by a simple setting-up of coating parameters (i.e. speed, ramp, time). The instrument is placed in the flow box in order to protect against the inhalation of solvents and to avoid contamination of samples by dust impurities.

Chromatographic Systems

1. Analytical, gradient HPLC system (Knauer), equipped with PDA UV and evaporative light-scattering detectors. Combination of the reverse phase C18 and GPC columns allows analysis of the short synthetic peptides and monitoring their immobilization on the polymers.
2. Multiple HPLC/SEC Waters modular systems with Light-scattering dual-angle MW detector, Waters RI and UV/VIS detectors, and Watrex Data Monitor DataStations, PL-laboratories SEC columns, for aqueous and organic mobile phases in ambient and elevated temperatures ( up to 60 °C).
3. Preparative HPLC system (C18).

 

Stereo microscope SZ61-TR (Olympus)

• Top zoom performance with image recording
• Imaging and documentation capability with a trinocular head for camera output
• Extended 6.7:1 zoom ratio with a zoom magnification range of 0.67x to 4.5x

Other features:

• Unique LED integrated reflected/transmitted illumination stand
• Integrated trinocular tube with 45 degrees inclination
• Wide variety of lighting system, stands and accessories
• Zoom stopper
• ESD safety design due to special material and surface coatings
• Working distance 110mm

 

Micro-spraying apparatus for spray coating (Accu-MistTM, SONO-TEK, U.S.A.)

The Accu-Mist™ system combines Sono-Tek’s unique Microspray ultrasonic atomizing nozzle with low-pressure air to produce a soft, highly focused beam of small spray drops. Compressed air or gas, typically at 1 psi, is introduced into the diffusion chamber of the air shroud, which produces a uniformly distributed flow of air around the nozzle tip.
The ultrasonically produced spray at the tip of the stem is immediately entrained in the air stream. An adjustable focusing mechanism on the air shroud allows complete control of the spray width. The spray focus region is bow-shaped. The focus of the bow is controlled by moving the focus-adjust mechanism in and out.

 

Surface profiler - surface roughness characterization
(KLA-Tencor P-10 Profiler, KLA-Tencor Corp., CA)

The profiler is a computerized, highly sensitive surface profiler that measures roughness, waviness, step height and other surface characteristics in a variety of applications. It features the ability to measure micro-roughness with up to 0.5Å resolution over short distance as well as waviness over a full, 205-mm scan. The instrument provides 2D and 3D topographic measurements.

 

Multimode Atomic Force Microscope, (Nanoscope IIIa, Digital Instruments) performs techniques to measure surface characteristics like topography, elasticity, friction, adhesion. It is possible to measure in contact and non-contact mode and under ambient condition or in fluids.

 

Ellipsometer (Nanofilm GmbH, Germany)

Auto-nulling imaging spectroscopic ellipsometer EP3.
Accessories: 20x,10x and 5x objectives, liquid cell, beam cutter.
Measurement of thickness and refractive index of thin films and coatings, real time monitoring of in situ growth of layers such as adsorption of proteins.

 

Plasma cleaner/sterilizer (HARRICK)
The plasma cleaner/sterilizer is inductively coupled plasma device for surface cleaning, surface preparation and surface modification. Plasma cleaning will remove non-visible oil films, microscopic rust or other contaminants that typically form on surfaces as a result of handling, exposure or previous manufacturing or cleaning processes; additionally, plasma cleaning does not leave a surface residue. Plasma cleaning and surface treatment may be applied to a wide variety of materials, including glass, metals, plastics, polymers, biomaterials, PDMS, ceramics and composites.

 

Glow box (M-Braun)
- for manipulation with oxygen and moisture-sensitive samples