Emerson Jose De Souza

Cardiac myocytes originating from different parts of the heart exhibit varying morphology and ultrastructure. However, the difference in their dynamic behavior is unclear. We examined the contraction of cardiac myocytes originating from the apex, ventricle, and atrium, and found that their dynamic behavior, such as amplitude and frequency of contra...

We studied the effects of pillar dimensions and stiffness of biocompatible and biodegradable micropatterned surfaces on adhesion on different compliant substrates. The micropatterned adhesives were based on biocompatible polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and biodegradable poly(lactic-co-glycolic) acid (PLGA) polymer systems. Micropatterned and non-patter...

Nanoindentation testing was used to investigate the mechanical properties of PDMS focusing on two aspects: Firstly, the results give a comprehensive overview of the mechanical behavior of PDMS Sylgard 184 which guides the property tailoring for many different application fields, where the mechanical behavior needs to be considered, but is not readi...

The structure of two model room temperature ionic liquids, [BMIM](+)[PF(6)](-) and [BMIM](+)[BF(4)](-), near the solid/liquid interface with charged Al(2)O(3)(0001) (sapphire) was determined with subnanometer resolution by high energy (72.5 keV) x-ray reflectivity. [BMIM](+)[PF(6)](-) exhibits alternately charged, exponentially decaying, near-surfa...

Micropatterned adhesive surfaces may have potential in reconstructive surgery. The adhesion performance of mice ear skin to micropatterned poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) was investigated, under in vitro conditions, and compared to flat substrates. No significant difference in separation force F was observed between flat substrates and micropatterned...

We report a combined atomic force microscopy/x-ray diffraction study of the growth and dewetting of the organic molecule di-indenoperylene (DIP) on SiO ₂ surfaces that have been functionalized with an amino-terminated self-assembled monolayer of 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane [APS, ( CH ₃ CH ₂ O )₃ Si ( CH...

Motivated by experimental results, we present numerical and analytical calculations of the capillary force exerted by a capillary bridge spanning the gap between two parallel flat plates of asymmetric wettability. Depending on whether the sum of the two contact angles is smaller or larger than 180 degrees, the capillary force is either attractive o...

Capillary forces can significantly contribute to the adhesion of biological and artificial micro- and nanoscale objects. In this paper, we study numerically the effect of meniscus size on the force between two homogeneous flat plates for different contact angles. The force distance curves show excellent quantitative agreement with previous investig...

Water striders (Insecta, Heteroptera, Gerridae) have a complex three-dimensional waterproof hairy cover which renders them super-hydrophobic. This paper experimentally demonstrates for the first time the mechanism of the super-hydrophobicity of the cuticle of water striders. The complex two-level microstructure of the surface, including the smalles...

We conduct experimental investigations of macroscopic capillary forces between two flat rigid substrates characterized by their advancing and receding contact angles with water. Our results exhibit excellent agreement with theoretical predictions obtained by the numerical solution of the capillary equation. On the basis of this comparison, we use t...

The presence of a liquid meniscus can cause far greater adhesion between a particle and a surface than occurs under dry conditions. Recent studies on biological attachment systems have highlighted the unique and important effect of liquid capillarity at the micro- and nanometer scale. The results demonstrate that macroscopic considerations of the c...