The detection of disease markers is considered an important step for early diagnosis of cancer. We design in this work a novel electrochem. sensing platform for the sensitive and selective detection of folic acid protein (FP). The platform is fabricated by electrophoretic deposition (EPD) of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) onto a gold electrode and post-functionalization of rGO with folic acid. Upon FP binding, a significant current decrease can be measured using differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). Using this scheme, a detection limit of 1 pM is achieved. Importantly, the method also allows the detection of FP in serum being thus an appealing approach for the sensitive detection of biomarkers in clin. samples. [on SciFinder(R)]

Calcium phosphate (CaP) ceramics are used in orthopedics and dentistry due to their excellent osseointegration and biocompatibility. The electrodeposition of CaP on titanium alloy covered with self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) was studied with respect to the influence of chain length, end-group charge, and anchoring group. SAMs with end-groups similar to the functional groups on the side chains of collagen were selected. This study is divided to three parts: (1) studying the effects of SAMs on the titanium substrate, (2) studying the process of nucleation and growth of the CaP on specific SAMs, and (3) characterizing the CaP coatings using various surface anal. techniques. It was concluded that the nucleation and growth behavior of CaP changed in the presence of the SAMs. Different surface energies and crystallog. phases were assocd. with this change. Although the nucleation remained progressive, the growth changed from three-dimensional on bare surfaces to two-dimensional on SAMs-covered surfaces. Moreover, the deposition kinetics was slower on SAMs-covered surfaces, with phases contg. a higher Ca/P ratio. Examn. of the coating revealed that different SAMs lead to different surface morphologies of the coating while maintaining its degree of crystallinity. Yet, the phase content changes from hydroxyapatite and octacalcium phosphate (HAp + OCP) on the bare electrode to OCP only on the SAMs-covered electrode. These changes may have a substantial effect on the in vivo behavior by changing the coating’s soly. and surface morphol., thus affecting cell adhesion, proliferation, and differentiation processes. [on SciFinder(R)]

{The localized electrodeposition of Ag on Au coated with self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) by scanning electrochem. microscopy (SECM) is reported. The SAMs were ω-functionalized alkanethiols X-(CH2)2SH

Ca phosphate (CaP) ceramics were used in orthopedics and dentistry due to their excellent biocompatibility and osseointegration. Here, the electro-assisted deposition of CaP on two different self-assembled monolayers (SAMs), 2-mercaptoacetic acid (MAA) and 2-mercaptoethanol (ME), was studied both at short (up to 3 min) and long (2 h) deposition periods on well-defined evapd. Au surfaces. The end group of the monolayer has a major effect on the growth of the CaP coating. The deposition was slower and less elec. efficient on MAA SAM, but surface cracking was essentially eliminated due to redn. of the crystallog. mismatch. The carboxylic acid may facilitate CaP growth by attracting Ca2+ ions to the surface, which could explain the higher amt. of side reactions occurring at the beginning of the deposition. [on SciFinder(R)]

Calcium phosphates are of great interest for biomedical applications such as bone tissue engineering, bone fillers, drug and gene delivery, and orthopedic and dental implant coating. Here, the first electrochem. driven coating of medical implants using hydroxyapatite (HAp) nanoparticles (NPs) as building blocks is reported. This uncommon combination offers a simple, straightforward, and economic process with well controllable, pure, single-phase HAp. Cryst., pure HAp NPs are formed by pptn. reaction. The HAp NPs are dispersed by either citrate or poly(acrylic acid) to form pH sensitive dispersion. Controllable and homogeneous coating of medical implants is accomplished by altering the pH on the surface upon applying either a const. potential or current. The process involves protonation of the carboxylic acid moieties, which causes the irreversible aggregation of the HAp NPs due to diminishing the repulsive forces between the particles. Deposition is further demonstrated on a com. dental implant. Moreover, the adhesion of the coating satisfies FDA and international std. requirements. A porous interconnected network of bone-like HAp layer is formed during soaking in a simulated body fluid for 30 d and is similar to bone generation, and it therefore holds promise for further in vivo testing. [on SciFinder(R)]

An aq. suspension of WO3/poly(4-(2,3-dihydrothieno[3,4-b]-[1,4]dioxin-2-yl-methoxy)-1-butanesulfonic acid) (PEDTS) hybrid nanoparticles (NPs) is prepd. by air-assisted oxidative polymn. and simultaneous attachment of PEDTS on WO3-NPs, and used for electrochromic (EC) film fabrication via air-brush spraying. The hybrid EC device exhibits enhanced EC properties compared to the ones based on WO3-NP or PEDTS alone. [on SciFinder(R)]

A major component of solar thermal systems is the solar absorber, which converts light into heat. We report on achieving high absorptance, excellent adhesion, and high thermal stability of carbon nanotube-based black coatings by applying a layer of Boehmite (AlOOH) on top of the carbon nanotube (CNT) film by soln.-processed spray deposition. The CNT layer made-up by spraying, functions as an absorbing layer and the AlOOH serves as an anti-reflecting and protecting film. The anti-reflecting property of AlOOH layer effectively increases the absorptance of CNT coating by decreasing the reflectance. The effect of the thickness of AlOOH layer on the absorptance, adhesion, and thermal stability of the resulting CNT/AlOOH coating was investigated. The CNT/AlOOH coating with optimized thickness of AlOOH layer shows very high absorptance (α) of 0.975. The adhesion of the coating is in the range of 95-100% with significant increase of thermal stability. This new approach is expected to open new possibilities for fabricating low-cost, highly efficient and thermally stable solar-thermal devices which are based on simple coating processes. [on SciFinder(R)]

Bone implants must be biocompatible and are usually built to promote osseointegration, e.g. by application of plasma spray calcium phosphate (CaP) coating. The risk of infection and biofilm formation on implant surfaces is a well-known problem. The combination of electrochem. deposited CaP coating with antibiotics may offer significant benefits. Here, we demonstrate an innovative in situ electrodeposition of gentamicin encapsulated in chitosan nanoparticles along with CaP. The deposition of the coating was obsd. and studied at several temps. A high drug loading into the coating and a controlled release of the drug over two days were demonstrated. [on SciFinder(R)]

An appealing alternative approach to the conventional electrochem. deposition is presented, which can be universally utilized to form nanomaterial coatings from their aq. dispersions without involving their oxidn.-redn. It is based on altering the ionic strength by elec. potential in the vicinity of the electrode surface, which causes the nanomaterials to deposit. The concept has been demonstrated for four different systems. [on SciFinder(R)]

Sensitive and selective detection of cancer biomarkers is vital for the successful diagnosis of early stage cancer and follow-up treatment. Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) in combination with different amplification strategies is one of the anal. approaches allowing the screening of protein biomarkers in serum. Here we describe the development of a point-of-care sensor for the detection of folic acid protein (FAP) using graphene-based SPR chips. The exceptional properties of CVD graphene were exploited to construct a highly sensitive and selective SPR chip for folate biomarker sensing in serum. The specific recognition of FAP is based on the interaction between folic acid receptors integrated through π-stacking on the graphene coated SPR chip and the FAP analyte in serum. A simple post-adsorption of human serum:bovine serum albumin (HS:BSA) mixts. onto the folic acid modified sensor resulted in a highly anti-fouling interface, while keeping the sensing capabilities for folate biomarkers. This sensor allowed femtomolar (fM) detection of FAP, a detection limit well adapted and promising for quant. clin. anal. [on SciFinder(R)]

Molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) particles offer many advantages as recognition objects. Therefore, we examd. thoroughly the effect of various exptl. parameters including cross-linker concn., nature of solvent, type of template and its concn., reaction vol. and temp. on the formation of particulate MIPs using pptn. polymn. The particles were characterized by various methods, such as XHR-SEM, HR-TEM and BET. Statistical calcns. were carried out using ImageJ software over population of at least 200 particles in each expt. The reproducibility of MIP synthesis was examd. and the SD was better than 10%. MIP particles were imprinted with different Sudan dye derivs. (Sudan II, III, IV and Sudan orange G). Raman and FTIR spectroscopies were used to prove the successful imprinting. Reuptake measurements were carefully compared between non-imprinted molecularly polymer (NIP) and MIP particles employing the same quantity and similar diam. and polydispersity of NIP and MIP, as never reported before. The results showed that MIP particles imprinted by Sudan IV showed higher selectivity toward this specific dye as compared with MIPs imprinted by other Sudan dyes and NIPs. [on SciFinder(R)]