Bidhari Pidhatika

Deskripsi Kepakaran

My PhD project was a multi-disciplinary project with ranges of activities in polymer chemistry, surface chemistry, and microbiology. The main aim of my project was the development of non-fouling surfaces, i.e. surfaces that resist the attachment of biomolecules and microbia. The prevention of microbial colonization on surfaces is important to many areas like food industry, textile materials, and for the frequently touched objects in everyday life such as door knobs, telephones, etc.I started my PhD project with polymerization reactions, grafting and conjugation reactions with diverse functional groups, and the (bulk) polymer characterization techniques such as NMR and FTIR spectroscopies, and chromatography (GPC). The next step was polymer immobilization on surfaces to form ultrathin (nano-scale) films, followed by surface characterization using techniques such as secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Finally, the polymer-coated surfaces were exposed to ranges of proteins and bacteria to test the non-fouling properties. Techniques used include phase contrast and fluorescence microscopy. The non-fouling properties were highly dependent on the surface density, configuration, charge, and overall thickness of the polymer film. My expertise is thus surface science and technology, polymer thin films, with specialties in the design, synthesis, and characterization of non-fouling surfaces.