Inspect s

Cultures of C. albicans grown overnight at 30 °C in YPD medium were harvested and washed twice with PBS. The cells were resuspended in 3 mL of RPMI 1640 medium with PMT12-BF4 at the indicated concentrations (0, 0.5, 1, or 2 μg/mL), adjusted to 10⁵ CFU/mL, and incubated at 37 °C for 3 h. After the incubation, cells were washed twice with PBS and fixed overnight in 2.5% glutaraldehyde in 0.1 M phosphate buffer. The samples were washed three times with 0.1 M phosphate buffer, each for 10 min, and post-fixed in 1% osmium tetroxide (OsO₄) for 1 h. The post-fixed cells were washed 3 times with 0.1 M phosphate buffer to remove OsO₄, and then dehydrated in ethanol in a 30% to 100% gradient (once at 30%, 50%, 70%, 85%, 90%, and 95%, each for 10 min; twice at 100% for 20 min) and 100% acetone for 10 min. The samples were thoroughly dried in a critical point dryer with liquid CO₂ (Hitachi HCP-2, Japan) and coated with gold using an ion coater (Eiko Engineering, Japan). After processing, samples were observed and photographed in a scanning electron microscope (FEI Inspect S, USA).

The chemical structure of the PVDF thin films was determined by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) measurements. Characteristic vibrations of functional groups in the transferred material (MAPLE and MAPLE-TT) were compared to those of the initial material (PVDF beads). A Jasco FT/IR-6300 type spectrometer in the 400–7800 cm⁻¹ range with a resolution of 4 cm⁻¹ was used for the FTIR measurements. The spectra were measured in absorption mode, by the accumulation of 1024 scans, and in ATR (attenuated total reflectance) mode for the bulk of the PVDF (beads) for comparison. The elemental composition was evaluated quantitatively using a scanning electron microscope (FEI, model Inspect S) equipped with an energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (Element Silicon Drift Detector). All data were acquired at an electron beam acceleration voltage of 5 kV and averaged from at least three different measurements.

Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) (XE 100 AFM, Park Systems company, Suwon, Korea) measurements were performed in non-contact mode. Samples were sputter-coated with gold and observed by the FEI Inspect-S scanning electron microscope at an accelerating voltage between 5 and 20 kV in order to analyse the topography of the samples. The elements analysis of the coatings was conducted by the same Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) instrument equipped with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) system.
The contact angle measurements were performed by the sessile drop method using an optical measuring system (CAM101, KSV, Biolin Surface, Finland) with deionised water. Three drops of the liquid (9 μL) were examined on each substratum, and the contact angle was measured 3 s after the positioning of the drop.
Surface free energy (SFE) was determined based on the contact angle measurement of two wetting agents: water and di-iodomethane. This calculation was conducted using the concept of polar and dispersion components using the Owens, Wendt, Rabel, and Kaelble (OWRK) method for calculation [34 (link),35 (link),36 ].

The surface morphology of gels was analyzed using the scanning electron microscope SEM (Inspect S, FEICompany), at different magnifications.

A mini potentiostat, widely recognized as the EmStat Pico, was connected to a laptop running PSTrace software version 5.9 (PalmSens BV, Houten, The Netherlands) for the purpose of acquiring data in order to carry out electrochemical measurements such as CV, DPV, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). A conventional three-electrode system was implemented by using PIX/AuNPsnGr and PIXCoCl/AuNPsnGr as working electrodes, an Ag/AgCl wire (1 mol L⁻¹ KCl) as a reference electrode, and a Pt wire as a counter electrode. A Mettler Toledo pH meter was employed in order to make the necessary pH adjustments.
Every measurement was performed with the instrument at ambient temperature.
A qualitative analysis of the materials that were studied was carried out with the assistance of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) (Inspect S), manufactured by FEI Company Netherlands. All of the samples were analyzed using the ETD detector in high-vacuum mode with a high voltage (HV) of 25 kV and a spot value of 2 at 1600 times the magnification. This was performed so that the picture resolution could be obtained.

SEM analysis revealed morphological features of nanostructured biopolymeric spheres, both after synthesis and after dynamic drug release studies. The samples were investigated by an Inspect S scanning electron microscope (FEI Company, Eindhoven, The Netherlands) at an acceleration voltage of 20 kV. Prior to SEM analysis, all samples were capped with a thin gold layer in order to diminish the accumulation of electric charges on their surface.

For the scanning electron microscope (SEM) imaging, the tissue sections were collected onto the cover slips (32 × 24 mm). The sections were then de-waxed twice in xylene for 10 min, then three times in 100% ethanol for 10 min each followed by two immersions in acetone for 10 min. Each slide was then critical point dried in liquid CO₂ in a critical point dryer (Hitachi, Tokyo, Japan) and ion coated (IB-2, Eiko, Tokyo, Japan) before documentation in the SEM (Inspect S, FEI, Hillsboro, OR, USA).