Superhydrophobic graphene/ceramic templates for the preparation of particulate drugs

This paper proposes the use of superhydrophobic graphene/ceramic templates fabricated through laser texturing and patterning for the preparation of particulate drugs. A nanosecond pulse fiber laser was used to texture a graphene film coated on ceramic substrates for obtaining a superhydrophobic surface. Then, laser patterning was conducted on the laser-textured surface to define the diameter of the prepared particulate drugs. Laser-textured graphene/ceramic substrates with a laser areal fluence of 17.51 J/cm² and a hatch distance of 0.01 mm exhibited a maximum water contact angle of 151.5°. This result was obtained because the laser-textured graphene films contained coral reef structures with nanoscale pores. Raman analyses indicated that the intensities of the G and 2D bands gradually decreased after the laser texturing and patterning processes. Moreover, the sheet resistance of the laser-textured and laser-patterned graphene films was larger than that of untextured ones because the thickness of the graphene films was reduced through laser thinning. The maximum heating temperature of the graphene-based heater was 140 °C for an input direct current voltage of 36 V. In addition, graphene-based self-heating devices were developed and successfully used to dry liquid roflumilast.