Durable superamphiphobic silica aerogel surfaces for the culture of 3D cellular spheroids |
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| Authors: | Lianyi Xu Shuangshuang Chen Xuemin Lu Qinghua Lu |
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| Institution: | 1. School of Materials Science, Institute of Energy Equipment Materials, Shanghai Dianji University, Shanghai 201306, China;2. School of Chemical Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China;3. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Metal Matrix Composite, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China |
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| Abstract: | The 3D multicellular spheroids with intact cell–cell junctions have major roles in biological research by virtue of their unique advantage of mimicking the cellular physiological environments. In this work, a durable superamphiphobic silica aerogel surface (SSAS) has been fabricated for the upward culture of 3D multicellular spheroids. Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) was first electrodeposited on a conductive steel mesh as a first template for porous silica coating. Soot particles were then applied as a second template to construct a cauliflower-like silica aerogel nanostructure. After fluorination, a hierarchical structure with re-entrant curvature was finally fabricated as a durable superamphiphobic surface. This superamphiphobic surface also presented excellent antifouling towards biomacromolecules and cells, which has been demonstrated by the successful upward culture of cell spheroids. The upward culture makes the observation of cellular behavior in situ possible, holding great potential for 3D cellular evaluation in vitro. |
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| Keywords: | cell spheroids superamphiphobicity durability electrochemistry silica aerogel |
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