Shear Behavior of Adsorbed Poly(ethylene Oxide) Layers in Aqueous Media

Recent Progress in Cartilage Lubrication

Healthy articular cartilage, covering the ends of bones in major joints such as hips and knees, presents the most efficiently-lubricated surface known in nature, with friction coefficients as low as 0.001 up to physiologically high pressures. Such low friction is indeed essential for its well-being. It minimizes wear-and-tear and hence the cartilage degradation associated with osteoarthritis, the most common joint disease, and, by reducing shear stress on the mechanotransductive, cartilage-embedded chondrocytes (the only cell type in the cartilage), it regulates their function to maintain homeostasis. Understanding the origins of such low friction of the articular cartilage, therefore, is of major importance in order to alleviate disease symptoms, and slow or even reverse its breakdown. This progress report considers the relation between frictional behavior and the cellular mechanical environment in the cartilage, then reviews the mechanism of lubrication in the joints, in particular focusing on boundary lubrication. Following recent advances based on hydration lubrication, a proposed synergy between different molecular components of the synovial joints, acting together in enabling the low friction, has been proposed. Additionally, recent development of natural and bio-inspired lubricants is reviewed.

Impact of dynamic sub-populations within grafted chains on the protein binding and colloidal stability of PEGylated nanoparticles

Polyethylene glycol grafting has played a central role in preparing the surfaces of nano-probes for biological interaction, to extend blood circulation times and to modulate protein recognition and cellular uptake. However, the role of PEG graft dynamics and conformation in determining surface recognition processes is poorly understood primarily due to the absence of a microscopic picture of the surface presentation of the polymer. Here a detailed NMR analysis reveals three types of dynamic ethylene glycol units on PEG-grafted SiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) of the type commonly evaluated as long-circulating theranostic nano-probes; a narrow fraction with fast dynamics associated with the chain ends; a broadened fraction spectrally overlapped with the former arising from those parts of the chain experiencing some dynamic restriction; and a fraction too broad to be observed in the spectrum arising from units closer to the surface/graft which undergo slow motion on the NMR timescale. We demonstrate that ethylene glycol units transition between fractions as a function of temperature, core size, PEG chain length and surface coverage and demonstrate how this distribution affects colloidal stability and protein uptake. The implications of the findings for biological application of grafted nanoparticles are discussed in the context of accepted models for surface ligand conformation.

Lipid-Bilayer Assemblies on Polymer-Bearing Surfaces: The Nature of the Slip Plane in Asymmetric Boundary Lubrication

Phospholipid-macromolecule complexes have been proposed to form highly efficient, lubricating boundary layers at artificial soft surfaces or at biological surfaces such as articular cartilage, where the friction reduction is attributed to the hydration lubrication mechanism acting at the exposed, hydrated head groups of the lipids. Here we measure, using a surface force balance, the normal and frictional interactions between model mica substrates across several different configurations of phosphatidylcholine (PC) lipid aggregates and adsorbed polymer (PEO) layers, to provide insight into the nature of such lubricating boundary layers in both symmetric and especially asymmetric configurations. Our results reveal that, irrespective of the configuration, the slip plane between the sliding surfaces reverts wherever possible to a bilayer-bilayer interface where hydration lubrication reduces the friction strongly. Where such an interface is not available, the sliding friction remains high. These findings may account for the low friction observed between both biological and synthetic hydrogel surfaces which may be asymmetrically coated with lipid-based boundary layers and fully support the hydration lubrication mechanism attributed to act at such boundary layers.

Superlubrication obtained with mixtures of hydrated ions and polyethylene glycol solutions in the mixed and hydrodynamic lubrication regimes

HYPOTHESIS

Superlubricity is known to dramatically reduce frictional energy consumption and to improve service life of mechanical devices and biological systems. However, reduction of wear during the running-in period of friction pairs, especially under high contact pressures, still remains an unresolved issue affecting all machines.

EXPERIMENTS

Here the lubrication, adsorption, and conformational properties of hydrated ions and polyethylene glycol (PEG) mixtures were evaluated at different mass fractions and concentrations of PEG and salts by ball-on-disc tribometer, ζ-potential, quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (QCM-D), and dynamic light scatting (DLS) analyses.

FINDINGS

These mixtures exhibited superlubricity between Si₃N₄ and sapphire surfaces in a wide range of concentrations and ions valency. Interestingly, a running-in phase shorter than 1 min and low wear rate of 1.85 μm³/(N·m) were observed at contact pressures up to 555 MPa, significantly higher to earlier findings. PEG chains retain random coils filling the bulk of the interfacial film without strongly adsorbing on the interfaces but significantly increasing the viscosity of lubricating film, thereby favoring hydrodynamic lubrication. Hydrated ions are strongly adsorbed on the negatively charged ceramic surfaces, ensuring a sustained hydration effect maintaining superlubricity. The outstanding lubrication characteristics of the PEG/ions mixtures were attributed to the synergistic action of hydration and hydrodynamic lubrication, which appears as a promising avenue for developing new green lubricants and has implications for industrial and biological applications.

An in situ shearing x-ray measurement system for exploring structures and dynamics at the solid-liquid interface

Revealing interfacial structure and dynamics has been one of the essential thematic topics in material science and condensed matter physics. Synchrotron-based x-ray scattering techniques can deliver unique and insightful probing of interfacial structures and dynamics, in particular, in reflection geometries with higher surface and interfacial sensitivity than transmission geometries. We demonstrate the design and implementation of an in situ shearing x-ray measurement system, equipped with both inline parallel-plate and cone-and-plate shearing setups and operated at the advanced photon source at Argonne National Laboratory, to investigate the structures and dynamics of end-tethered polymers at the solid-liquid interface. With a precise lifting motor, a micrometer-scale gap can be produced by aligning two surfaces of a rotating upper shaft and a lower sample substrate. A torsional shear flow forms in the gap and applies tangential shear forces on the sample surface. The technical combination with nanoscale rheology and the utilization of in situ x-ray scattering allow us to gain fundamental insights into the complex dynamics in soft interfaces under shearing. In this work, we demonstrate the technical scope and experimental capability of the in situ shearing x-ray system through the measurements of charged polymers at both flat and curved interfaces upon shearing. Through the in situ shearing x-ray scattering experiments integrated with theoretical simulations, we aim to develop a detailed understanding of the short-range molecular structure and mesoscale ionic aggregate morphology, as well as ion transport and dynamics in soft interfaces, thereby providing fundamental insight into a long-standing challenge in ionic polymer brushes with a significant technological impact.

Surface Interactions between Boundary Layers of Poly(ethylene oxide)-Liposome Complexes: Lubrication, Bridging, and Selective Ligation †

Poly(ethylene oxide), PEO, is widely exploited in biomedical applications, while phosphatidylcholine (PC) lipids (in the form of bilayers or liposomes) have been identified as very efficient boundary lubricants in aqueous media. Here we examine, using a surface force balance (SFB), the interactions between surface-adsorbed layers of PEO complexed with small unilamellar vesicles (SUVs, i.e. liposomes) or with bilayers of PC lipids, both well below and a little above their main gel-to-liquid phase-transition temperatures T_M. The morphology of PEO layers (adsorbed onto mica), to which liposomes were added, was examined using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and cryo-scanning electron microscopy (cryo-SEM). Our results reveal that the PC lipids could attach to the PEO either as vesicles or as bilayers, depending on whether they were above or below T_M. Under water (no added salt), excellent lubrication, with friction coefficients down to 10^-3-10^-4, up to contact stresses of 6.5 MPa (comparable to those in the major joints) was observed between two surfaces bearing such PEO-PC complexes. At 0.1 M KNO₃ salt concentration (comparable to physiological salt levels), the friction between such surfaces was considerably higher, attributed to bridging by the polymer chains. Remarkably, such bridging could be suppressed and the friction could be restored to its previous low value if the KNO₃ was replaced with NaNO₃, as a result of the different PEO-mica ligation properties of Na⁺ compared to those of K⁺. Our results provide insight into the properties of PEO-PC complexes in potential applications, and large interfacial effects that can result from the seemingly innocuous replacement of K⁺ by Na⁺ ions.

Poly-phosphocholinated Liposomes Form Stable Superlubrication Vectors

We have prepared phosphatidylcholine (PC) vesicles (liposomes) incorporating a novel lipid/poly-phosphocholine conjugate. This both stabilizes the liposomes against aggregation (for example, during storage or when being delivered) and allows them to act as very efficient lubricating elements readily attaining superlubric performance (defined as coefficient of friction μ < 10^-2) via hydration lubrication at physiological salt concentrations and pressures. In contrast, vesicles sterically protected by poly(ethylene glycol) chains (PEGylation), which is the general method of choice, while being equally stable to aggregation are much poorer lubricants under these conditions, which is attributed to the relatively poor hydration of the PEG. Our approach enables the use of PC liposomes as stable superlubrication vectors in potential biomedical applications.

Viscous boundary lubrication of hydrophobic surfaces by mucin

The lubricating behavior of the weakly charged short-side-chain glycoprotein mucin "Orthana" (Mw=0.55 MDa) has been investigated between hydrophobic and hydrophilic PDMS substrates using soft-contact tribometry. It was found that mucin facilitates lubrication between hydrophobic PDMS surfaces, leading to a 10-fold reduction in boundary friction coefficient for rough surfaces. The presence of mucin also results in a shift of the mixed lubrication regime to lower entrainment speeds. The observed boundary lubrication behavior of mucin was found to depend on the bulk concentration, and we linked this to the structure and dynamics of the adsorbed mucin films, which are assessed using optical waveguide light spectroscopy. We observe a composite structure of the adsorbed mucin layer, with its internal structure governed by entanglement. The film thickness of this adsorbed layer increases with concentration, while the boundary friction coefficient for rough surfaces was found to be inversely proportional to the thickness of the adsorbed film. This link between lubrication and structure of the film is consistent with a viscous boundary lubrication mechanism, i.e., a thicker adsorbed film, at a given sliding speed, results in a lower local shear rate and, hence, in a lower local shear stress. The estimated local viscosities of the adsorbed layer, derived from the friction measurements and the polymer layer density, are in agreement with each other.