Highly ordered honeycomb-patterned polystyrene (PS)/poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) films were prepared by a water-assisted method using an improved setup, which facilitated the formation of films with higher regularity, better reproducibility, and larger area of honeycomb structures. Surface aggregation of hydrophilic PEG and adsorption of bovine serum albumin (BSA) on the honeycomb-patterned films were investigated. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) were used to observe the surface morphologies of the films before and after being rinsed with water. As confirmed by the FESEM images and the AFM phase images, PEG was enriched in the pores and could be gradually removed by water. The adsorption of fluorescence-labeled BSA on the films was studied in visual form using laser scanning confocal microscopy. Results clearly demonstrated that the protein-resistant PEG was selectively enriched in the pores. This water-assisted method may be a latent tool to prepare honeycomb-patterned biofunctional surfaces.
WAN LingShuKE BeiBeiLI XiaoKaiMENG XiangLinZHANG LuYaoXU ZhiKang
