Surface stress of polyelectrolyte adsorption measured by micromechanical cantilever sensors

Micromechanical properties of hydrogels measured with MEMS resonant sensors.

Hydrogels have gained wide usage in a range of biomedical applications because of their biocompatibility and the ability to finely tune their properties, including viscoelasticity. The use of hydrogels on the microscale is increasingly important for the development of drug delivery techniques and cellular microenvironments, though the ability to accurately characterize their micromechanical pro...

Integrated micromechanical cantilever magnetometry of Ga12xMnxAs

We have developed a technique for fabricating submicron GaAs micromechanical cantilevers into which lithographically patterned samples grown by molecular beam epitaxy or evaporative deposition are integrated. The torque sensitivity of the 100-nm-thick cantilevers makes them ideal for torsional magnetometry of nanometer-scale, anisotropic samples. We present measurements on samples of the ferrom...

Polyelectrolyte adsorption

The problem of charged polymer chains (polyelectrolytes) as they adsorb on a planar surface is addressed theoretically. We review the basic mechanisms and theory underlying polyelectrolyte adsorption on a single surface in two situations: adsorption of a single charged chain, and adsorption from a bulk solution in θ solvent conditions. The behavior of flexible and semi-rigid chains is discussed...

Polyelectrolyte adsorption

2014 The adsorption of uncharged polymers is, due to numerous efforts over past decades, fairly well understood. Some insight exists into the structure of the adsorbed layer, and the effect of the important parameters molecular weight, solvency and polymer/surface interaction has been investigated. Theory and experiment are beginning to converge. The polyelectrolyte adsorption process, however,...

Advanced biosensing using micromechanical cantilever arrays.