| AVS 62nd International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Advanced Surface Engineering | Tuesday Sessions |
| Session SE+PS+SM-TuM |
| Session: | Atmospheric Pressure Plasmas, CVD and Other Deposition Methods |
| Presenter: | Sameer Al-Bataineh, University of South Australia |
| Authors: | S. Al-Bataineh, University of South Australia A. Cavallaro, University of South Australia M. Ramiasa, University of South Australia K. Vasilev, University of South Australia |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Antifouling interfaces are important in a wide range of applications such as food packaging, water purification, marine biofouling and biomedical devices.1,2 In recent years, poly(2-oxazoline)s have attracted much attention due to their numerous biological applications as antifouling polymers.3,4 Poly(2-methyl-2-oxazoline)(PMOXA) has antifouling properties comparable to the gold standard PEG, and has better stability in a range of aqueous solution and biological media.5 Atmospheric pressure plasma (APP) is an emerging technology with a wide range of applications including material processing.6 The advantage of using APP for surface modification is that it eliminates the use of expensive vacuum equipment and enables continuous surface modification processes. This study aims to develop PMOXA-like coatings using atmospheric pressure helium plasma jet.
The plasma jet system used in this study consisted of a glass capillary tube with an internal diameter of 1mm that was surrounded by two external hollow electrodes separated by 4mm. The carrier helium gas was sent through a glass container at a flow rate of 1L.min-1 and carried the oxazoline monomer (2-methyl-2-oxazoline, MOXA) vapour into the glass tube. The plasma jet was operated at an applied voltage of 5.5 kVpk-pk and a frequency of 10 kHz. Deposition of the plasma coatings was carried out under static deposition conditions with 3mm separation distance between the end of the capillary tube and the substrate. To enhance stability of the coatings, substrates were heated during plasma deposition process.
Surface elemental composition and molecular structure of oxazoline plasma polymer coatings were thoroughly characterised using XPS and ToF-SIMS. Stability of the plasma coatings were examined by incubation in PBS buffer solution at room temperature overnight. The antifouling properties of the plasma coatings are now under investigation towards resisting protein adsorption and bacterial cell adhesion. In addition, the surface chemistry and functionality of the coatings produced in this study will be briefly compared to those prepared with an RF low pressure plasma.7
This study offers a convenient alternative single step strategy for preparation of oxazoline-based antifouling coatings.
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5. Konradi R, et al., Langmuir, 2008, 24, 613.
6. Merche D, et al., Thin Solid Films, 2012, 520, 4219.
7. Ramiasa MN, et al., Chem. Commun., 2015, 51, 4279.