Probing the Hydration of Ultrathin Antifouling Adlayers using Neutron Reflectometry

• Main Author: Pawlowska, Natalia
• Other Authors: Thompson, Michael
• Language: en_ca
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: Neutron Reflectometry; Antifouling; Biosensors; Hydration; Ultrathin film; 0486
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1807/65593

Adverse interaction and subsequent adsorption of biomolecular species (i.e. fouling) pose a great hindrance for medical and clinical applications (e.g. biosensors). Research into the mechanism behind antifouling coatings have shown a strong link between surface hydration and antifouling behaviour due to the existence of a ‘water barrier’ which prevents proteins from adsorbing onto the surface. In a previous study, a short, mono(ethylene-glycol) silane adlayer (MEG-OH) showed significantly different antifouling behaviour in comparison to its homolog – lacking the internal ether oxygen (OTS-OH). In the present work, neutron reflectometry (and modeling) was used to investigate the water density profiles at MEG-OH and OTS-OH silane adlayers on quartz and Si/SiO2 to determine whether the internal ether oxygen affects the adlayers’ interaction with water. Despite the limitations of studying such ultrathin organic films, the two systems showed different hydration profiles supporting the link between surface hydration and antifouling.