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- Hybrid silver(I)-doped soybean oil and potato starch biopolymer films to combat bacterial biofilmsPublication . Fernandes, Tiago; Costa, Inês F. M.; Jorge, Paulo; Sousa, Ana Catarina; Andre, Vania; Cabral, Rafaela G.; Cerca, N.; Kirillov, Alexander M.This study describes the preparation, characterization, and antimicrobial properties of novel hybrid biopolymer materials doped with bioactive silver(I) coordination polymers (bioCPs). Two new bioCPs, [Ag2(μ6-hfa)]n (1) and [Ag2(μ4-nda)(H2O)2]n (2), were assembled from Ag2O and homophthalic (H2hfa) or 2,6-naphthalenedicarboxylic (H2nda) acids as unexplored building blocks. Their structures feature 2D metal–organic and supramolecular networks with 3,6L64 or sql topology. Both compounds act as active antimicrobial agents for producing bioCP-doped biopolymer films based on epoxidized soybean oil acrylate (SBO) or potato starch (PS) as model biopolymer materials with a different rate of degradability and silver release. BioCPs and their hybrid biopolymer films (1@[SBO]n, 2@[SBO]n, 1@[PS]n, and 2@[PS]n) with a very low loading of coordination polymer (0.05–0.5 wt %) show remarkable antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis (Gram-positive) and Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Gram-negative) bacteria. Biopolymer films also effectively impair the formation of bacterial biofilms, allowing total biofilm inhibition in several cases. By reporting on new bioCPs and biopolymer films obtained from renewable biofeedstocks (soybean oil and PS), this study blends highly important research directions and widens a limited antimicrobial application of bioCPs and derived functional materials. This research thus opens up the perspectives for designing hybrid biopolymer films with outstanding bioactivity against bacterial biofilms.
- Etchability dependence of InOx and ITO thin films by plasma enhanced reactive termal evaporation on structural properties and deposition conditionsPublication . Amaral, Ana; Lavareda, Guilherme; Carvalho, Carlos Nunes de; Andre, Vania; Vygranenko, Yuri; Fernandes, Miguel; Brogueira, PedroIndium oxide (InOx) and indium tin oxide (ITO) thin films were deposited on glass substrates by plasma enhanced reactive thermal evaporation (PERTE) at different substrate temperatures. The films were then submitted to two etching solutions with different chemical reactivity: i) HNO3 (6%), at room temperature; ii) HCl (35%): (40 °Be) FeCl3 (1:1), at 40 °C. The dependence of the etchability of the films on the structural and deposition conditions is discussed. Previously to etching, structural characterization was made. X-ray diffraction showed the appearance of a peak around 2θ=31° as the deposition temperature increases from room temperature to 190 °C, both for ITO and InOx. AFM surface topography and SEM micrographs of the deposited films are consistent with the structural properties suggested by X-ray spectra: as the deposition temperature increases, the surface changes from a finely grained structure to a material with a larger-sized grain or/and agglomerate structure of the order of 250-300 nm. The roughness Rq varies from 0.74 nm for the amorphous tissue to a maximum of 10.83 nm for the sample with the biggest crystalline grains. Raman spectra are also presented.