To investigate the failure of the poly(dimethylsiloxane) polymer (PDMS) at high temperatures and pressures and in the presence of various additives, we have expanded the ReaxFF reactive force field to describe carbon-silicon systems. From molecular dynamics (MD) simulations using ReaxFF we find initial thermal decomposition products of PDMS to be CH(3) radical and the associated polymer radical...

This paper describes an approach to establish access control mechanisms in a peer data management system (PDMS). Based on the research on security in Peer-to-Peer networks, we develop a decentralized access control component for PDMS. For this purpose, information resident in local access control components in the peers is used, and mappings between the peer access control policies are establis...

This Account summarizes techniques for fabrication and applications in biomedicine of microfluidic devices fabricated in poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS). The methods and applications described focus on the exploitation of the physical and chemical properties of PDMS in the fabrication or actuation of the devices. Fabrication of channels in PDMS is simple, and it can be used to incorporate other m...

PDMS microfluidic devices whose whole inner surfaces are covered with PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene) are described. The major problems of PDMS fluidic devices in practical use, are surface degradation with organic solvents and unexpected absorption of chemical materials. In order to overcome these problems, spin/dip-coated perfluoro amorphous polymer is used to form the passivation PTFE layer o...

Hippocampal neurons play a critical role in learning and memory; however, the effects of environmental mechanical forces on neurite extension and associated underlying mechanisms are largely unexplored, possibly due to difficulties in maintaining central nervous system neurons. Neuron adhesion, neurite length, and mechanotransduction are mainly influenced by the extracellular matrix (ECM), whic...

We report on polydimethlysiloxane (PDMS) microlenses and microlens arrays on flat and curved substrates fabricated via a relatively simple process combining liquid-phase photopolymerization and a single molding step. The mold for the formation of the PDMS lenses is fabricated by photopolymerizing a polyacrylamide (PAAm) pre-hydrogel. The shrinkage of PAAm after its polymerization forms concave ...

Recently, we reported that the stiffness of poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) affects the attachment of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and the morphology and antibiotic susceptibility of attached cells. To further understand how P. aeruginosa responses to material stiffness during attachment, the wild-type P. aeruginosa PAO1 and several isogenic mutants were characterized for their attachment on soft and ...

Polimide-block-polydimethylsiloxane (PI-b-PDMS) block copolymers have been synthesized from commercially available amino-terminated polysiloxanes with different molecular weights, for use as polymeric materials resistant to the low earth orbit (LEO) space environment. A structural optimization with respect to maximum environmental protection has been performed by varying the PDMS block length a...

We provide a facile and low-cost method (F-L) to fabricate a two-dimensional positive master using a milling technique for polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-based microchannel molding. This method comprises the following steps: (1) a positive microscale master of the geometry is milled on to an acrylic block; (2) pre-cured PDMS is used to mold the microscale positive master; (3) the PDMS plate is pee...

Ultra-stretchable conductors are fabricated by coating super-aligned carbon nanotube (SACNT) films on pre-strained polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrates and forming buckled SACNT structures on PDMS after release of the pre-strain. The parallel SACNT/PDMS conductors demonstrate excellent stability with normalized resistance changes of only 4.1% under an applied strain as high as 200%. The SACNT...