Search

Like all biofluid-contacting medical devices, intranasal splints are highly prone to bacterial adhesion and clot formation. Despite their widespread use and the numerous complications associated with infected splints, limited success has been achieved in advancing their safety and surface biocompatibility, and, to date, no surface-coating strategy has been proposed to simultaneously enhance the antithrombogenicity and bacterial repellency of intranasal splints. Herein, we report an efficient, highly stable lubricant-infused coating for intranasal splints to render their surfaces antithrombogenic and repellent toward bacterial cells. Lubricant-infused intranasal splints were prepared by creating superhydrophobic polysiloxane nanofilament (PSnF) coatings using surface-initiated polymerization of n-propyltrichlorosilane (n-PTCS) and further infiltrating them with a silicone oil lubricant. Compared with commercially available intranasal splints, lubricant-infused, PSnF-coated splints significantly attenuated plasma and blood clot formation and prevented bacterial adhesion and biofilm formation for up to 7 days, the typical duration for which intranasal splints are kept. We further demonstrated that the performance of our engineered biointerface is independent of the underlying substrate and could be used to enhance the hemocompatibility and repellency properties of other medical implants such as medical-grade catheters.

A superamphiphobic surface having both water and oil repellence was prepared by applying a solvent-free surface coating method using liquid-CO2 in the scope of "green chemistry". Poly(perfluoroalkyl ethyl acrylate) homo- polymer was synthesized by a free radical polymerization in supercritical CO2 medium. This polymer was dissolved in liquid-CO2 containing hydrophilic nanosilica particles in a stirred stainless steel reactor at room temperature under a low CO2 pressure. The polymer/nanosilica dispersion was used to coat glass slides located horizontally in a stainless steel tube by using the "free meniscus coating" method. A series of superamphiphobic coatings were formed under different coating conditions with the variation of polymer/nanosilica concentrations, the types of nanosilica powders, system pressures, and degassing flow rates. The highest apparent water contact angle was 173 degrees and the hexadecane contact angle was 169 degrees on these superamphiphobic hybrid coatings with roll-off angles that were