Combinatorial MAPLE gradient thin film assemblies signalling to human osteoblasts.

There is increased interest in smart bioactive materials to control tissue regeneration for the engineering of cell instructive scaffolds. We introduced combinatorial matrix-assisted pulsed laser evaporation (C-MAPLE) as a new method for the fabrication of organic thin films with a compositional gradient. Synchronized C-MAPLE of levan and oxidized levan was employed to assemble a two-compound biopolymer film structure.

Magnesium and strontium doped octacalcium phosphate thin films by matrix assisted pulsed laser evaporation.

Octacalcium phosphate (OCP) is a promising alternative to hydroxyapatite as biomaterial for hard tissue repair. In this study we successfully applied Matrix Assisted Pulsed Laser Evaporation (MAPLE) to deposit Mg and Sr doped OCP (MgOCP and SrOCP), as well as OCP, thin films on titanium substrates. OCP, Mg-substituted and Sr-substituted OCP were synthesized in aqueous medium, then were suspended in deionised water, frozen at liquid nitrogen temperature and used as targets for MAPLE experiments.

Levan nanostructured thin films by MAPLE assembling.

Synthesis of nanostructured thin films of pure and oxidized levan exopolysaccharide by matrix-assisted pulsed laser evaporation is reported. Solutions of pure exopolysaccharides in dimethyl sulfoxide were frozen in liquid nitrogen to obtain solid cryogenic pellets that have been used as targets in pulsed laser evaporation experiments with a KrF* excimer source. The expulsed material was collected and assembled onto glass slides and Si wafers.