Fei teneo

To evaluate the surface morphology of the fabricated material, scanning electron microscopy (SEM, FEI Teneo, FEI Co.) was employed at an accelerating voltage of 5 kV. Materials were coated in 10 nm of gold palladium using a Leica sputter coater before imaging. Optimized GSNO–PVC and unmodified PVC samples were imaged to investigate any potential changes due to the swelling process and presence of GSNO.

In this study, pure alginate, G10, and G20 beads were imaged to determine differences in surface roughness and overall appearance. Hydrogel beads used for imaging were fabricated using the above technique, followed by 4 h of lyophilization. Prior to imaging, lyophilized beads were sputter-coated with 10 nm of gold–palladium using a Leica sputter coater (Leica Microsystems) and mounted on SEM stubs with double-sided SEM stickers. Images were acquired through a scanning electron microscopy (SEM, FEI Teneo, FEI Co.) setup employed at an accelerating voltage of 5.00 kV. Magnifications ranging from 400x to 600x were used for image acquisition. The porosity of samples was calculated using cross-sectional SEM images. Using ImageJ analysis, the pixel area of pores was compared to that of the entire image, and a percent porosity was calculated. Analysis was carried out on n = 4 images of different areas of the cross-section for each sample type.
The SEM setup was also equipped with an energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy system (EDS, Oxford Instruments) used for elemental surface mapping and analysis. Oxygen and carbon were used to confirm the alginate surface and sulfur was utilized to map the distribution of GSNO in the hydrogel beads. An accelerating voltage of 20.00 kV was used for EDS measurements.