An approach to producing films of nanometer-sized copper oxide particulates, based on polyelectrolyte-mediated assembly of the precursor, copper(II)phthalocyanine tetrasulfonate (CPTS), is described. Multilayered CPTS and polydiallyldimethylammonium chloride (PDADMAC) were alternately assembled on different planar substrates via the layer-by-layer (LbL) procedure. The growth of CPTS multilayers...

Multilayers with low charge density polyelectrolytes assembled on thin films of cellulose were studied by piezoelectric microgravimetry. The substrates were produced from colloidal suspensions of cotton fibers before and after modification with cationic and anionic groups via epoxy intermediates of quaternary ammonium and carboxymethylation, respectively. Two different levels of ionicity were u...

Proliferation and fusion of myoblasts are needed for the generation and repair of multinucleated skeletal muscle fibers in vivo. We developed a novel cell culture technique that results in formation of myotubes, organized in parallel much like the arrangement in muscle tissue. Alignment and fusion of myoblasts into parallel arrays of multinucleated myotubes are critical in skeletal muscle tissu...

Multilayers of poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) and poly(sodium 4-styrenesulfonate) precoated onto melamine formaldehyde (MF) particles via the layer-by-layer (LbL) self-assembly procedure were used as templates for the subsequent deposition of polyaniline (PANI). Transmission electron microscopic (TEM) and scanning electron microscopic (SEM) images reveal that the as-prepared PANIcontain...

A three-wavelength angular-scanning surface plasmon resonance based analysis has been utilized for characterizing optical properties of organic nanometer-thick layers with a wide range of thicknesses. The thickness and refractive index were determined for sample layers with thicknesses ranging from subnanometer to hundreds of nanometers. The analysis approach allows for simultaneous determinati...

Microneedle patches contain micrometer-scale needles coated with bioactive agents for minimally invasive drug delivery to the skin. In this study, we introduce layer-by-layer approaches to the fabrication of ultrathin DNA- and protein-containing polyelectrolyte films (or "polyelectrolyte multilayers", PEMs) on the surfaces of stainless steel microneedles. DNA-containing PEMs were fabricated on ...