Abstract

Surgical electrodes are frequently associated with disadvantages such as high surface adhesion and severe thermal damage to adjacent normal tissues, which threaten operation quality and patient safety. In this study, by mimicking the micromorphology and bio-anti-adhesion of shark skin, we proposed a strategy that utilized nanoscale aluminium oxide (Al2O3) films deposited on bioinspired shark skin (BSS) microstructures to design a composite surface (Al2O3@BSS) and integrated it into both flat sides of the surgical electrodes. Micro/nano-manufacturing of the Al2O3@BSS surface was sequentially accomplished using nanosecond laser texturing, atomic layer deposition, and low-temperature annealing, endowing it with excellent blood-repellent properties. Visualisation experiments revealed that the tensile stress gradient of the blood coagulum with increasing thickness under a thermal field prompted it to separate from the Al2O3@BSS surface, resulting in anti-adhesion. Furthermore, it was observed for the first time that Al2O3 films could transiently excite discharge along a dielectric surface (DADS) to ablate tissues while suppressing Joule heat, thereby minimising thermal damage. A combination of ex vivo tissue and living mouse experiments demonstrated that the Al2O3@BSS electrodes exhibited optimal comprehensive performance in terms of anti-adhesion, damage minimisation, and drag reduction. In addition, the Al2O3@BSS electrodes possessed remarkable antibacterial efficacy against E. coli and S. aureus. The proposed strategy can meet the extreme application requirements of surgical electrodes to improve operation quality and offer valuable insights for future studies.

Details

Title
Micro/nano-manufacturing of bioinspired blood-repellent surfaces for extreme application in surgical electrodes
Author
Li, Kaikai 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Xie, Yingxi 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Shen, Pengyu 1 ; Yu, Min 2 ; Gao, Jiao 3 ; Bi, Junming 4 ; Wang, Long 1 ; Lu, Longsheng 1 

 School of Mechanical & Automotive Engineering, South China University of Technology , Guangzhou 510641, People’s Republic of China 
 Department of General Surgery, Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences , Guangzhou 510080, People’s Republic of China 
 Shien-Ming Wu School of Intelligent Engineering , South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 511442, People’s Republic of China 
 Department of Urology, Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital (Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences) , Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China 
First page
045503
Publication year
2025
Publication date
Aug 2025
Publisher
IOP Publishing
e-ISSN
26317990
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
3182461485
Copyright
© 2025 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd on behalf of the IMMT. This work is published under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.