Nanotextured Surfaces Research Articles

Effects of surface nanotexturing on the wickability of microtextured metal surfaces

Hypothesis: Achieving spontaneous, rapid, and long-distance liquid transport is crucial for many practical applications such as phase change heat transfer and reactions at solid–liquid interfaces. Surface nanotexturing has been widely reported to improve the wickability of microtextured metal surfaces. Although surface nanotextures show high capillary pressure, the high fluid flow resistance through nanotextures prevents fluid transport. The underlying mechanisms responsible for the enhanced wickability of nanotextured surfaces are still unclear.Experiments: Herein, we prepared a variety of microtextures and nanotextures on copper surfaces by femtosecond laser micromachining and chemical oxidation, respectively. The wickability of these textured surfaces was quantitively compared by measuring wicking coefficient and capillary rise speed. We designed experiments to eliminate any possible effects of surface oxidation and metal composition on wickability. A theoretical model describing the vertical and horizontal capillary flow in V-shaped microgrooves was proposed and utilized to analyze the experimental results. The effects of time-dependent wettability on wickability were also examined.Findings: Surface nanotexturing can enhance surface wettability while altering the micrometer-scale structural characteristics. The greatly enhanced wickability of nanotextured surfaces can only be observed when the surface microtextures have a very small aspect ratio. Otherwise, for metal surfaces with fine microgrooves, the latter effect is more pronounced, and thus the surface wickability may deteriorate after preparing surface nanotextures; for surfaces with wide microgrooves, both effects are minimal, and the surface wickability enhances only marginally after surface nanotexturing. Furthermore, the wickability of microtextured surfaces will decay rapidly due to the adsorption of airborne organics, whereas adding surface nanotextures can significantly inhibit this degradation. The anti-contamination capability of surface nanotextures is considered likely to be a potential mechanism responsible for the greatly enhanced wickability of nanotextured surfaces noted in some studies.

Drop impact phenomena and spray cooling on hot nanotextured surfaces of various architectures and dynamic wettability

Spray cooling has been used to quench metal slabs during casting, cool nuclear reactors, suppress accidental fires, and remove heat from high-power density electronics. In particular, the miniaturization of electronic devices inevitably results in an increased power density or heat flux on the microelectronics surfaces and poses a threat of a thermal shutdown of such devices when cooling is insufficient. Surface nanotexturing effectively augments additional liquid-to-substrate surface area, thereby increasing cooling capability, as well as an effective heat transfer coefficient. In spray cooling, surface dynamic wettability also affects drop impact dynamics and subsequent coolant evaporation on a hot surface. Herein, we introduced various nanotextured surfaces and affected dynamic wettability using the so-called thorny-devil nanofibers, nickel nanocones, Teflon and titania nanoparticles, and zinc nanowires. The effect of these different nanoscale architectures on drop impact phenomena and subsequent evaporative cooling was investigated. These nanotextured surfaces were fabricated using various deposition methods, including electrospinning, electroplating, supersonic spraying, aerosol deposition, and chemical bath deposition. We found that the surface with greater dynamic wettability related to the hydrodynamic focusing considerably improved the heat removal capability by furthering the Leidenfrost limit and facilitating drop spreading. In particular, the thorny-devil nanofiber surface yielded the highest heat flux at all ranges of the Reynolds and Weber numbers. Spray cooling on a model electronic kit also confirmed that the thorny-devil nanofibers were most effective in cooling the surface of the model kit during multiple cycles of water spraying.

Photocatalytic Degradation of Methyl Orange and Methylene Blue Dyes by Engineering the Surface Nano-Textures of TiO2 Thin Films Deposited at Different Temperatures via MOCVD.

TiO2 thin films were deposited on quartz substrates by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) at temperatures of 250, 350, and 450 °C. X-ray diffraction (XRD) data revealed the production of a pure anatase phase, a decrease in crystallite size, and a textural change as deposition temperature increased. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) was used to study the morphological properties and confirm XRD results. UV-Vis.-NIR spectroscopy was used to investigate the optical properties of the samples. The effect of deposition temperature on wettability was investigated using contact angle measurements. Sunlight photocatalytic properties increased with the increase in deposition temperature for methyl orange and methylene blue. Films were post-annealed at 500 °C for 2 h. The effect of annealing on all the above-mentioned properties was explored. The kinetic analysis demonstrated superb agreement with the kinetic pseudo-first-order model. The rate of photocatalytic degradation of MB was ~8, 13, and 12 times that of MO using 250, 350, and 450 °C deposited films, respectively. Photodegradation was found to depend on the specific surface area, type of pollutant, and annealing temperature.

Femtosecond laser modified metal surfaces alter biofilm architecture and reduce bacterial biofilm formation.

Biofilm formation, or microfouling, is a basic strategy of bacteria to colonise a surface and may happen on surfaces of any nature whenever bacteria are present. Biofilms are hard to eradicate due to the matrix in which the bacteria reside, consisting of strong, adhesive and adaptive self-produced polymers such as eDNA and functional amyloids. Targeting a biofilm matrix may be a promising strategy to prevent biofilm formation. Here, femtosecond laser irradiation was used to modify the stainless steel surface in order to introduce either conical spike or conical groove textures. The resulting topography consists of hierarchical nano-microstructures which substantially increase roughness. The biofilms of two model bacterial strains, P. aeruginosa PA01 and S. aureus ATCC29423, formed on such nanotextured metal surfaces, were considerably modified due to a substantial reduction in amyloid production and due to changes in eDNA surface adhesion, leading to significant reduction in biofilm biomass. Altering the topography of the metal surface, therefore, radically diminishes biofilm development solely by altering biofilm architecture. At the same time, growth and colonisation of the surface by eukaryotic adipose tissue-derived stem cells were apparently enhanced, leading to possible further advantages in controlling eukaryotic growth while suppressing prokaryotic contamination. The obtained results are important for developing anti-bacterial surfaces for numerous applications.

Progress in Studies of Surface Nanotextures and Coatings with Nanomaterials on Glass for Anti-Dust Functionality.

Dust pollution presents a wide range of adverse effects to product functionalities and the quality of human life. For instance, when dust particles deposit on solar photovoltaic panels, sunlight absorption is significantly reduced, and solar-to-electrical energy conversion yield may be lowered by 51%- Conventional (manual) dust removal methods are costly, consume significant material resources, and cause irreparable damage to the solar glass surface. Therefore, it is critical to develop glass surfaces that can clean themselves or are easily cleaned by natural forces. Many approaches have been attempted to reduce dust deposition, such as developing superhydrophobic surfaces and preparing anti-static surfaces. This paper reviews the recent progress in studies of anti-dust and cleaning mechanisms or methodologies, which include investigation into micro- and nano-sized dust properties, dust deposition processes and adhesion mechanisms to surfaces, and the state-of-the-art approaches to anti-dust and easy-cleaning functions that tailor surface micro-/nanotextures, lowering surface energy via nanocoatings, and enhancing anti-static properties with nanomaterials. We compare the advantages and disadvantages of various approaches and discuss the research prospects. We envision that future research will be focused on developing transparent surfaces with multiple dust-proof functions to cope with dust-burdening operating environments.

Scanning Electron Microscopy Dopant Contrast Imaging of Phosphorus‐Diffused Silicon

AbstractPhosphorous dopant diffusion profiles feature in many silicon semiconductor devices, including the vast majority of silicon solar cells. Accurate spatially resolved dopant profiling is crucial for understanding the performance of these diffused regions, however, it is very challenging to obtain such profiles in non‐planar samples. Scanning electron microscopy for dopant contrast imaging (SEMDCI), where the secondary electron (SE) image contrast is used to determine the dopant level of a semiconductor sample, is an ideal candidate for Si dopant profiling, especially for silicon samples with surface nanotexturing or black silicon (BSi) technology. However, in previous SEMDCI studies, the dopant concentration of heavily doped n‐type layers in silicon samples have shown a poor correlation with the SE signal contrast. In this work, 1) good contrast for n‐type diffused silicon without contrast‐enhancing techniques; 2) a new contrast definition to account for imaging non‐uniformities; 3) clear correlations between SE contrast and sample work function for phosphorus‐diffused planar silicon specimens across a wide range of emitter profiles; 4) implementation of an empirical baseline correction to normalize scanning electron microscopy image condition variations, are presented. This SEMDCI method is subsequently used for the first time to obtain 2D electron concentration maps for both planar and BSi samples.

Designing of nanotextured inorganic-organic hybrid PVDF membrane for efficient separation of the oil-in-water emulsions

The separation of the emulsified oil/water is one of the critical environmental challenges. The PVDF membranes have been found helpful for separation, but rapid fouling makes them less attractive in treating oil-in-water emulsions. The design of antifouling membranes has become an area of deep interest. Herein, developing a novel modified PVDF ultrafiltration membrane was reported by doping the pyrrole and solidifying it in a ferric-containing coagulation bath, resulting in a unique nanotextured PVDF membrane (CCB–Fe/PPnp-PVDF) to separate the oil/water emulsions. The resultant CCB-Fe/PPnp-PVDF membrane was thoroughly characterized using the FTIR, FE-SEM, EDX, mapping, AFM, and contact analyzer. The hydrophilicity of the CCB-Fe/PPnp-PVDF was substantially improved, and the water contact angle was reduced from 81֯ ± 0.9֯ to 44֯ ± 1.7֯. The CCB-Fe/PPnp-PVDF membrane flux increased by 121% compared to the pristine PVDF membrane, with high separation efficiency of 99%. The hydrophilic nanotextured surface of the CCB-Fe/PPnp-PVDF membrane showed good antifouling behavior, with a flux recovery ratio (FRR) of more than 96%. Irreversible flux was just less than 4%. The high flux recovery ratio indicated that the nanotextured surface produced by the Fe/PPnp had prevented the blockage of the membrane pores and compact cake layer formation, which makes it an excellent membrane for oil/water emulsion separation. This strategy can be adopted for designing advanced membranes for separation applications.

Mechanobactericidal, Gold Nanostar Hydrogel-Based Bandage for Bacteria-Infected Skin Wound Healing.

The emergence of multidrug resistant (MDR) microorganisms has led to the development of alternative approaches for providing relief from microbial attacks. The mechano-bactericidal action as a substitute for antimicrobials has become the focus of intensive research. In this work, nanostructure-conjugated hydrogel are explored as a flexible dressing against Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus)-infected skin wounds. Herein gold nanostars (AuNst) with spike lengths reaching 120 nm are probed for antibacterial action. The bacterial killing of >95% is observed for Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) and Escherichia coli (E. coli), while up to 60% for Gram-positive S. aureus. AuNst conjugated hydrogel (AuNst120@H) reduced >80% colonies of P. aeruginosa and E. coli. In comparison, around 35.4% reduction of colonies are obtained for S. aureus. The viability assay confirmed the presence of about 85% of living NIH-3T3 cells when grown with hydrogels. An animal wound model is also developed to assess the efficiency of AuNst120@H. A significant reduction in wound size is observed on the 10th day in AuNst120@H treated animals with fully formed epidermal layers, hair follicles, new blood vessels, and arrector muscles. These findings suggest that novel dressing materials can be developed with antimicrobial nanotextured surfaces.

Dual-functionalized titanium by ultrafast laser texturing to enhance human gingival fibroblasts adhesion and minimize Porphyromonas gingivalis colonization

Dental implant failure is primarily due to peri-implantitis, a consequence of bacterial penetration causing implant loosening. Beyond supporting the implant, the adhesion of gingival tissues to the surface is essential for its role as a physical barrier to bacteria. Surface nanotextures are widely known to affect wettability, protein adsorption, and cellular and/or bacterial adhesion. In this report, a femtosecond laser (fs-L) was used to design Laser-Induced Periodic Surface Structures (LIPSS) with Infra-Red (IR) or Green lasers on Ti6Al4V. Surface morphology, topography and wettability were characterized. Gingival fibroblasts adhesion was evaluated with sclerometer scratch tests and confirmed by ultrasonic bath cell detachment method. The fs-L texturing increases human gingival cells adhesion compared to polished surface. The adhesion of peri-implantitis associated bacteria was quantified. After 48 h of contact, IR LIPSS show antiadhesive properties for Porphyromonas gingivalis, whereas Green LIPSS, thanks to its smaller spatial period, have limited both Streptococcus mutans and Porphyromonas gingivalis adhesion. Thus, LIPSS generated on Ti6Al4V surfaces, especially Green LIPSS, are identified as having double biological functionality: repellent for bacteria and adhesive for gingival tissues. This study proves that fs-L processing is an innovative tool with potential to enhance implant success paving the way towards dual functionality.

Wafer-scale high aspect-ratio sapphire periodic nanostructures fabricated by self-modulated femtosecond laser hybrid technology.

Sapphire nanostructures with a high aspect-ratio have broad applications in photoelectronic devices, which are difficult to be fabricated due to the properties of high transparency and hardness, remarkable thermal and chemical stability. Although the phenomenon of laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS) provides an extraordinary idea for surface nanotexturing, it suffers from the limitation of the small depth of the nanostructures. Here, a high-efficiency self-modulated femtosecond laser hybrid technology was proposed to fabricate nanostructures with high aspect-ratios on the sapphire surface, which was combined backside laser modification and subsequent wet etching. Due to the refractive index mismatch, the focal length of the laser could be elongated when focused inside sapphire. Thus, periodic nanostructures with high-quality aspect ratios of more than 55 were prepared on the sapphire surface by using this hybrid fabrication method. As a proof-of-concept, wafer-scale (∼2 inches) periodic nanostripes with a high aspect-ratio were realized on a sapphire surface, which possesses unique diffractive properties compared to typical shallow gratings. The results indicate that the self-modulated femtosecond laser hybrid technology is an efficient and versatile technique for producing high aspect-ratio nanostructures on hard and transparent materials, which would propel the potential applications in optics and surface engineering, sensing, etc.

Superhydrophilic Nanotextured Surfaces for Dental Implants: Influence of Early Saliva Contamination and Wet Storage.

Hydrophilic and nanotextured surfaces for dental implants have been reported as relevant properties for early osseointegration. However, these surface characteristics are quite sensitive to oral interactions. Therefore, this pilot study aimed to investigate the superficial alterations caused on hydrophilic nanotubular surfaces after early human saliva interaction. Titanium disks were treated using an anodization protocol followed by reactive plasma application in order to achieve nanotopography and hydrophilicity, additionally; surfaces were stored in normal atmospheric oxygen or wet conditioning. Following, samples were interacted with saliva for 10 min and analyzed regarding physical–chemical properties and cellular viability. Saliva interaction did not show any significant influence on morphological characteristics, roughness measurements and chemical composition; however, hydrophilicity was statistically altered compromising this feature when the samples were stored in common air. Cellular viability tested with pre-osteoblasts cell line (MC3T3-E1) reduced significantly at 48 h on the samples without wet storage after saliva contamination. The applied wet-storage methodology appears to be effective in maintaining properties such as hydrophilicity during saliva interaction. In conclusion, saliva contamination might impair important properties of hydrophilic nanotubular surfaces when not stored in wet conditions, suggesting the need of saliva-controlled sites for oral application of hydrophilic surfaces and/or the use of modified-package methods associated with their wet storage.

Molecular dynamic study of local interfacial thermal resistance of solid-liquid and solid-solid interfaces: Water and nanotextured surface

Degradation in the performance of air conditioners and refrigerators is caused by frost formation and adhesion on the surface. In the present study, by means of the classical molecular dynamics simulation, we investigated how and how much the nanotextured surface geometry influenced the interfacial thermal resistance (ITR) between the hydrophilic solid wall and the water/ice. The ITR of the interfacial region was comparable in both the water and the ice states. As the nanostructure gaps became narrower, the ITR of the interfacial region decreased. In addition, local ITRs of the nanotextured surfaces were characterized. Especially when the H2O molecules were in the crystal form, the local ITR significantly increased. A greater amount of the thermal energy was transferred through the material interface by means of the intermolecular interaction when more H2O molecules were located in the proximity area, which was closer to the Pt solid wall than the first adsorption layer density peak. When the H2O molecules were in the crystal form on the solid wall, the proximity molecules decreased, and then the local ITR significantly increased.

Charge Transport Mechanisms of Black Diamond at Cryogenic Temperatures.

Black diamond is an emerging material for solar applications. The femtosecond laser surface treatment of pristine transparent diamond allows the solar absorptance to be increased to values greater than 90% from semi-transparency conditions. In addition, the defects introduced by fs-laser treatment strongly increase the diamond surface electrical conductivity and a very-low activation energy is observed at room temperature. In this work, the investigation of electronic transport mechanisms of a fs-laser nanotextured diamond surface is reported. The charge transport was studied down to cryogenic temperatures, in the 30–300 K range. The samples show an activation energy of a few tens of meV in the highest temperature interval and for T < 50 K, the activation energy diminishes to a few meV. Moreover, thanks to fast cycles of measurement, we noticed that the black-diamond samples also seem to show a behavior close to ferromagnetic materials, suggesting electron spin influence over the transport properties. The mentioned properties open a new perspective in designing novel diamond-based biosensors and a deep knowledge of the charge-carrier transport in black diamond becomes fundamental.

Nanotextured surfaces with enhanced ice-traction and wear-resistance

Elastomers are the main material component for footwear and tires contact applications. However, they exhibit low traction on wet ice, resulting in slips and falls for individuals and vehicles during wintertime. Textured elastomeric short fiber composites can be manufactured in a scalable manner with conventional processing techniques such as injection molding, and have promising wet ice slip resistance behavior. However, the state-of-the-art textured composite approaches employs one-dimensional (1D) micron-scale fibers that are prone to mechanical abrasion on hard surfaces, resulting in their ice traction decay over time. Here, we demonstrate a novel microstructural design strategy for developing durable slip-resistant composites using nanomaterials. To this aim, a series of micron- and nanoscale 1D and 2D fibers as additives in the textured elastomers are evaluated for surface morphology, ice-traction, and wear-resistance. We show that unlike 1D and other 2D counterparts, hexagonal graphene nanoplatelets (GNP) exhibit superior wear-resistance and an anomalous wear-induced increase in ice-traction functionality. Specifically, the partially agglomerated morphology of the GNP surfaces results in a hierarchical surface texturing, which imparts the surface with a 64% ice traction improvement (0.46 ± 0.11; p < 0.0001) at a low surface weight loss (2.44 mg cm−2). This study provides new microstructural design pathways for designing durable non-slip composites and can shed light on new applications for the diverse class of 2D nanomaterials.

Molecular dynamics simulations of friction behaviours on nano-textured silicon surfaces

ABSTRACT Molecular dynamics simulations have been applied to study the friction behaviours of nano-textured silicon surfaces. The effects of texture shape, texture pitch and indenter size on forces, temperature, stress and plastic deformation are investigated. It is found that the presence of the texture facilitates the reduction of friction due to the decrease the contact area. The texture shape significantly influences the tribological properties of the textured surface. The hemispherical texture has the optimum friction reduction effect, followed by cylindrical texture and lastly by cubic texture. The number of atoms that undergo phase transformation in the scratching is the maximal for the cubic texture while the smallest for the hemispherical texture. However, the texture pitch has little effect on the tribological properties of the textured surface. In addition, it is interesting to observe the indenter size effect that a larger indenter causes a smaller force and wear volume at the initial stage of scratching. The indenter size effect on tribological properties results from the variation of contact area in the scratching. The insights gained can shed light on the friction mechanism of nanoscale textured silicon surface and are beneficial to the design of micro/nanoscale devices such as micro/nanoelectromechanical systems with surface textures.

Enhanced photoluminescence and shortened lifetime of DCJTB by photoinduced metal deposition on a ferroelectric lithography substrate

The photodeposition of metallic nanostructures onto ferroelectric surfaces could enable new applications based on the assembly of molecules and patterning local surface reactivity by enhancing surface field intensity. DCJTB (4-(dicyanomethylene)-2-t-butyl-6-(1,1,7,7-tetramethyljulolidyl-9-enyl)-4H-pyran) is an excellent fluorescent dye and dopant material with a high quantum efficiency used for OLED displays on the market. However, how to raise the photoluminescence (PL) and reduce the lifetime of DCJTB in a substrate remain extraordinary challenges for its application. Here, we demonstrate a tunable ferroelectric lithography plasmon-enhanced substrate to generate photo-reduced silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and achieve enhanced PL with a shortened lifetime depending on the substrate’s annealing time. The enhanced PL with shortened lifetimes can attribute to the localized electromagnetic (EM) wave produced by the nanotextured AgNPs layers' surface and gap plasmon resonances. The simulation is based on the three-dimensional finite element method to explain the mechanism of experimental results. Since the absorption increases, the remarkable enhanced PL of DCJTB can attain in the fabricated periodically proton exchanged (PPE) lithium niobate (LiNbO3) substrate. Furthermore, the proposed fabrication method demonstrates to help tune the surface EM wave distribution in the substrate, which can simultaneously achieve the significantly shortened lifetime and high PL intensity of DCJTB in the substrate. Compared with the un-annealed substrate, the PL intensity of DCJTB in the assembly metallic nanostructures is enhanced 13.70 times, and the PL’s lifetime is reduced by 12.50%, respectively. Thus, the fabricated substrate can be a promising candidate, verifying chemically patterned ferroelectrics' satisfaction as a PL-active substrate.

Pool boiling enhancement via nanotexturing and self-propelled swing motion for bubble shedding

Vapor bubbles were shed from the heater surface by self-propelled swinging resulting from rising bubbles for improved heat dissipation. The heating wire was electroplated, and thus nanocones were formed on its surface. This nanotextured wire was attached to polyamide tape and underwent Joule heating. The vapor bubbles on the wire induced the self-propelled motion of the heater plates assembled in a “Λ” shape suspended at the tip. The growing bubbles experienced competing forces in the form of buoyancy and surface tension. Eventually, buoyancy dominated and, as a result, the heater plate was propelled in the direction of the rising bubbles. The nanotextured surface increased the number of bubble nucleation sites, and thus, the displacement of the swing motion was magnified accordingly, owing to enhanced bubble detachment. The sustainable swing motion was motorized to enable the temperature of the wire heater to be accurately measured. In these motorized experiments, the critical heat flux (CHF) and effective convective heat transfer coefficient (heff) increased when the amount of nanotexturing on the heating wire increased, which confirmed the benefits of nanotexturing on pool boiling in which self-propelled swing motion was utilized to shed the nucleated bubbles.

A versatile technology for colloidal crystal transfer using parylene coatings and hydrosoluble polymers

We propose a novel versatile colloidal crystal transfer technique compatible with a wide range of water-insoluble substrates regardless of their size, material, and wettability. There are no inherent limitations on colloidal particles material and size. The method possibilities are demonstrated via the colloidal transfer on quartz, glass substrates with a flat and curved surface, and via the fabrication of 3D colloidal structure with 5 overlaid colloidal monolayers. The process occurs at a room temperature in water and is independent from the illumination conditions, which makes it ideal for experimental manipulations with sensitive functional substrates. We performed the nanosphere photolithography process on a photosensitive substrate with a transferred colloidal monolayer. The metallized hexagonal arrays of nanopores demonstrated a clear resonant plasmonic behavior. We believe that due to its high integration possibilities the proposed transfer technique will find applications in a large-area surface nanotexturing, plasmonics, and will speed up a device fabrication process.

Efficiency Enhancement of GaAs Single-Junction Solar Cell by Nanotextured Window Layer

In order to improve efficiency of flexible III-V semiconductor multi-junction solar cells, it is important to enhance the current density for efficiency improvement and to attain an even efficiency of solar cells on a curved surface. In this study, the nanotextured InAlP window layer of a GaAs single-junction solar cell was employed to suppress reflectance in broad range. The nanotextured surface affects the reflectance suppression with the broad spectrum of wavelength, which causes it to increase the current density and efficiency of the GaAs single-junction solar cell and alleviate the efficiency drop at the high incident angle of the light source. Those results show the potential of the effectively suppressed reflectance of multi-junction solar cells and even performance of solar cells attached on a curved surface.

Effect of Breast Silicone Implant Topography on Bacterial Attachment and Growth: An In Vitro Study.

The mechanisms underlying capsular contracture remain unclear. Emerging evidence supports the inflammation hypothesis, according to which bacteria from an adherent biofilm cause chronic inflammation and collagen deposition on the implant and trigger capsular contracture. Our goal was to evaluate the effect of different types of breast implants on the growth of Staphylococcus aureus, S. epidermidis, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which are commonly found in biofilms in infection. Bacteria were grown in tryptic soy broth at 37°C for 2, 6, and 24 h and subsequently incubated for 24 h on 12 shell sections of smooth, nano-, and macrotextured breast implants. After incubation, the solutions were ultrasonicated and bacterial numbers were determined by serial dilution. S. aureus were fixed, washed with phosphate-buffered saline, dehydrated in ethanol, and coated with a platinum film to visualize the presence of biofilms by scanning electron microscopy. The numbers of S. aureus and S. epidermidis attached to the smooth and nanotextured surface implants were significantly lower than those on the macrotextured surface for all incubation times, whereas the number of P. aeruginosa was non-significantly lowest on the nanotextured surface after 24h incubation. Biofilms on smooth and nanotextured implant surfaces showed patchy patterns on scanning electron microscopy in contrast to the continuous pattern detected on macrotextured implants. Nanotextured breast implants may limit bacterial growth and thus prevent capsular contracture.