Quantifying the adhesion strength of microalgae on polydimethylsiloxane surfaces

• Main Author: Wan, Zhijing
• Other Authors: Hore, Dennis Kumar
• Format: Others
• Language: English; en
• Published: 2020
• Subjects: Surface chemistry; Microalgae; Fluid mechanics
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1828/12480

Silicone rubber is a promising candidate for the next generation of electrical insulators on account of the prolonged hydrophobicity of the polymers. However, microalgae biofouling is always a concern for high voltage insulators installed in coastal regions. To understand how microalgae species interact with polymer surfaces that are used in electrical insulator applications, a study has been conducted to determine the interactions of a benthic and a pelagic algal species with polydimethylsiloxane surfaces. The adhesion strength of algal species were quantified with two different types of flow cells employed for our studies. These two types of flow cells are microfluidic chips and a laser-cut flow cell chamber, which provide a high and low wall shear stress, respectively. A video analysis software was designed to automate all aspects of the flow rate profile, data acquisition, and image analysis. Pristine poly(dimethyl siloxane) (PDMS), deionized water-exposed PDMS, and salt solution-exposed PDMS samples were used as substrates in adhesion experiments. The results indicate that surface hydrophobicity played a critical role in adhesion strength. At low shear stress, both B. braunii and T. rotula cells demonstrate a strongest adhesion strength onto the pristine PDMS surface, while show the weakest adhesion strength onto the salt solution exposed PDMS surface. At high shear stress, all PDMS surfaces provide an equal adhesion environment to the both species. === Graduate === 2021-12-11