Particle Adsorption on Hydrogel Surfaces in Aqueous Media due to van der Waals Attraction.

ABSTRACT: Particle adhesion onto hydrogels has recently attracted considerable attention because of the potential biomedical applications of the resultant materials. A variety of interactions have been taken advantage of for adsorption, including electrostatic forces, hydrophobic interactions and hydrogen bonding. In this study, we report significant adsorption of submicron-sized silica particles onto hydrogel surfaces in water, purely by van der Waals (vdW) attraction. The vdW forces enabled strong adhesions between dielectric materials in air. However, because the Hamaker constant decreases in water typically by a factor of approximately 1/100, it is not clear whether vdW attraction is the major driving force in aqueous settings. We investigated the adsorption of silica particles (diameter = 25-60

SUBMITTER: Sato N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5522479 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature