Abstract
Superhydrophobic surfaces, as indicated in the name, are highly hydrophobic and readily repel water. With contact angles greater than 150° and sliding angles less than 10°, water droplets flow easily and hardly wet these surfaces. Superhydrophobic materials and coatings have been drawing increasing attention in medical fields, especially on account of their promising applications in blood-contacting devices. Superhydrophobicity controls the interactions of cells with the surfaces and facilitates the flowing of blood or plasma without damaging blood cells. The antibiofouling effect of superhydrophobic surfaces resists adhesion of organic substances, including blood components and microorganisms. These attributes are critical to medical applications such as filter membranes, prosthetic heart valves, extracorporeal circuit tubing, and indwelling catheters. Researchers have developed various methods to fabricate blood-compatible or biocompatible superhydrophobic surfaces using different materials. In addition to being hydrophobic, these surfaces can also be antihemolytic, antithrombotic, antibacterial, and antibiofouling, making them ideal for clinical applications. In this review, the authors summarize recent developments of blood-compatible superhydrophobic surfaces, with a focus on methods and materials. The expectation of this review is that it will support the biomedical research field by providing current trends as well as future directions.
Highlights
Thrombus formation, resulting from interaction between circulating blood and medical device surfaces, is a persistent concern in prosthetic heart valves, extracorporeal circuits, ventricular assist devices, indwelling catheters, and vascular grafts
Surface energy is a critical factor in achieving superhydrophobicity; it can be lowered by chemically manipulating the composition of materials or coating them with thin films
This review focuses on the developments of superhydrophobic materials and surfaces in recent years for blood-contacting devices
Summary
Thrombus formation, resulting from interaction between circulating blood and medical device surfaces, is a persistent concern in prosthetic heart valves, extracorporeal circuits, ventricular assist devices, indwelling catheters, and vascular grafts. Device-induced thrombus formation continues to be a vexing limitation to medical device innovation. Synthetic surfaces could be developed to prevent clotting and other unwanted events with blood-contacting devices. Researchers have studied the pathophysiology underlying thrombosis induced by blood interaction with synthetic materials and have been developing techniques and rational designs to address these issues and enhance blood compatibility [1–10]. Key factors to inhibit unwanted interactions between the blood and surfaces include surface free energy, topography, and wettability [1,7–10]. When these factors are taken into consideration, suitable superhydrophobic materials and surfaces can be designed to serve as suitable blood-contacting devices
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