Investigating the role of surface micro/nano structure in cell adhesion behavior of superhydrophobic polypropylene/nanosilica surfaces

The main aim of the current study was to investigate the effects of different topographical features on the biological performance of polypropylene (PP)/silica coatings. To this end, a novel method including combined use of nanoparticles and non-solvent was used for preparation of superhydrophobic PP coatings. The proposed method led to a much more homogeneous appearance with a better adhesion to the glass substrate. Moreover, a notable reduction was observed in the required contents of nanoparticles (100-20 wt% with respect to the polymer) and non-solvent (35.5-9 vol%) for achieving superhydrophobicity. Surface composition and morphology of the coatings were also investigated via X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Based on both qualitative and quantitative evaluations, it was found that the superhydrophobic coatings with only nano-scale roughness strongly prevented adhesion and proliferation of 4T1 mouse mammary tumor cells as compared to the superhydrophobic surfaces with micro-scale structure. Such results demonstrate that the cell behavior could be controlled onto the polymer and nanocomposite-based surfaces via tuning the surface micro/nano structure. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.