Abstract
Mechanical durability and hemocompatibility are two crucial parameters for superhydrophobic pyrolytic carbon (PyC) heart valve materials. In this study, we employed a combination of laser ablation and ion implantation with CF4 gas to modify the PyC surface. To mimic the surface pattern of natural heart valves, a cobblestone pattern was created on the PyC surface and then implanted with fluoride ions. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) results confirmed the presence of C-F bonds on the fluoride-ion-implanted PyC surface, while scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed that the PyC surface morphology remained unchanged during the ion implantation process. At a dose of 2 × 1017 ions cm−2, the fluoride-ion-implanted PyC surface exhibited a large water contact angle of 152.3°, which was 7.5 times higher than the counterpart without fluoride implantation (19.5°). Friction and flowing water impact testing results demonstrated that the superhydrophobic PyC surface was mechanically robust due to fluoride ion implantation, which generated an integrated superhydrophobic structure. Hemocompatibility measurements suggested decreased platelet-material interactions and increased thrombin time for the fluoride-ion-implanted PyC compared with the non-implanted samples. This study suggests that fluorine ion implantation into the cobblestone-patterned PyC may be a promising approach to obtaining long-term antithrombotic PyC heart valves.
Published Version
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