Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Polymerized 2-Ethyl-2-oxazoline Based Thin Films for Biomedical Purposes

Polyoxazoline thin coatings were deposited on glass substrates using atmospheric pressure plasma polymerization from 2-ethyl-2-oxazoline vapours. The plasma polymerization was performed in dielectric barrier discharge burning in nitrogen at atmospheric pressure. The thin films stable in aqueous environments were obtained at the deposition with increased substrate temperature, which was changed from 20 ∘C to 150 ∘C. The thin film deposited samples were highly active against both S. aureus and E. coli strains in general. The chemical composition of polyoxazoline films was studied by FTIR and XPS, the mechanical properties of films were studied by depth sensing indentation technique and by scratch tests. The film surface properties were studied by AFM and by surface energy measurement. After tuning the deposition parameters (i.e., monomer flow rate and substrate temperature), stable films, which resist bacterial biofilm formation and have cell-repellent properties, were achieved. Such antibiofouling polyoxazoline thin films can have many potential biomedical applications.

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Functional Thin Films Synthesized from Liquid Precursors by Combining Mist Chambers and Atmospheric-Pressure Plasma Polymerization

Coatings ◽

10.3390/coatings11111336 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (11) ◽

pp. 1336

Author(s):

Laura Barillas ◽

Ekaterina Makhneva ◽

Sehoon An ◽

Katja Fricke

Keyword(s):

Thin Films ◽

Surface Morphology ◽

Atmospheric Pressure ◽

Plasma Polymerization ◽

Atmospheric Pressure Plasma ◽

Phase Changes ◽

Polymerization Process ◽

Aqueous Environment ◽

Pressure Plasma ◽

Liquid Precursors

For the creation of thin films, the use of precursors in liquid phase offers a viable alternative when these chemicals are sensitive to high temperatures and phase changes. However, it requires appropriate liquid handling and deposition technologies capable of dispensing the fluid homogeneously to produce a uniform thin film. We report different tailor-made mist chamber designs integrated in an atmospheric-pressure plasma polymerization process for the synthesis of functional thin polymer films from liquid precursors. A systematic investigation, evaluated by performance indicators, is presented on the characteristics and suitability of metallic 3D-printed mist chambers depending on inner volume, geometry and surface post-treatment, for the deposition of a thin liquid monomer film. To assess the quality of the subsequently obtained plasma-polymerized (pp) films, their properties were characterized in terms of thickness, chemical composition, surface morphology and stability in aqueous environment. It was found that the specification of the mist chambers along with the plasma process parameters influences the pp film’s thickness, surface morphology and degree of monomer conversion. This study is one of the first demonstrations of a controllable process able to tune the cross-linked polymeric chains of plasma-polymers at atmospheric pressure, highlighting the opportunities of using mist chambers and plasma technology to discover tailored organic thin films to materials sciences and life sciences.

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Effect of Substrate Temperature on Hardness and Transparency of SiOC(–H) Thin Films Synthesized by Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Enhanced CVD Method

MRS Proceedings ◽

10.1557/opl.2011.1191 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 1321 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Mayui Noborisaka ◽

So Nagashima ◽

Hidetaka Hayashi ◽

Naoharu Ueda ◽

Kyoko Kumagai ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Thin Films ◽

Substrate Temperature ◽

Atmospheric Pressure ◽

Structural Changes ◽

Protective Coatings ◽

Atmospheric Pressure Plasma ◽

Polymeric Materials ◽

Optical Transmittance ◽

Plasma Enhanced Cvd ◽

Pressure Plasma

ABSTRACTSilicon-based films have gained much interest as protective coatings for transparent polymeric materials. In this study, SiOC(–H) thin films were deposited on polycarbonate (PC) or Si substrates from trimethylsilane (TrMS) gas diluted with He gas by atmospheric pressure plasma enhanced CVD (AP-PECVD) method with varying substrate temperature, and transparency and hardness of the films were investigated. The films exhibited a good optical transparency with an optical transmittance of about 90% irrespective of the substrate temperature, and the hardness increased from 0.6 to 1.3 GPa as the substrate temperature increased from 60 to 140°C. The results are discussed in terms of chemical structural changes in the films according to the substrate temperature.

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