AVS 50th International Symposium
    Biomaterial Interfaces Friday Sessions
       Session BI+PS-FrM

Paper BI+PS-FrM9
Chemical Modification of a Three-dimensional Tissue Engineering Polymeric Scaffold by Low-temperature Radio-frequency Plasma Treatment

Friday, November 7, 2003, 11:00 am, Room 318/319

Session: Plasma Methods for Bio-interfaces
Presenter: S. Kumar, University of South Australia
Authors: S. Kumar, University of South Australia
R.St.C. Smart, University of South Australia
D.J. Simpson, University of South Australia and Seoul National University, Korea
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The technique of low-temperature radio-frequency plasma has been employed for the chemical modification of Osteofoam, a three-dimensional polymeric (PLGA) tissue engineering scaffold material. The chemical modification in question was aimed at coating Osteofoam with a thin layer of silica, both on its surface as well as in its bulk. For this, Osteofoam cubes of dimensions 12 mm x 12 mm x 12 mm were treated with the plasma generated using tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) as the main precursor. The chemical modification thus achieved was investigated and quantified using the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy technique, revealing the presence of silica both on the surface as well as in the bulk of Osteofoam samples. The XPS data also suggest that the plasma process developed and employed by us is relativley more efficient at modifying the sample surface than its bulk.