A new simple tubular flow cell for use with variable angle spectroscopic ellipsometry: A high throughput in situ protein adsorption study

A simple and novel flow cell design is presented here for use with variable angle spectroscopic ellipsometry (VASE) to study the adsorption of liquid-borne species on reflective surfaces. The flow cell allows a sample as large as 6 mm × 75 mm to be probed point by point and at any common ellipsometric angle of incidence, unlike other designs. Using our flow cell system with VASE, combinatorial films of Al1−xNbx, Al1−xTax, and Al1−xTix (0 ⩽ x ⩽ 1) were tested in situ for fibrinogen affinity along their 75 mm long compositional gradients. Fibrinogen adsorption on the films was found to be closely correlated to the various surface oxide fractions, with high alumina content at the surface leading to low amounts of adsorbed fibrinogen for each binary library. Adsorbed amounts measured in situ were in agreement with previously obtained values found using ex situ techniques.