Plasma treatment, surface chemical materials

Protein adsorption onto intrinsically repellent materials is enhanced by a brief plasma treatment that chemically and physically alters the surface properties. Stencil-assisted plasma oxidation of inherently hydrophobic polymers (e.g., PDMS... 

Surface modification refers to the modification that occurs only on the surface of a polymer material without further internal modification. Surface modifications of polymeric materials include surface chemical oxidation, corona surface treatment, surface flame treatment, surface heat treatment, surface plasma treatment, surface metallization processing, ion implantation, and surface grafting polymerization. Because surface modification occurs only on the surface of materials, the performance does not change uniformly. 

Surface modification of a contact lens can be grouped into physical and chemical types of treatment. Physical treatments include plasma treatments with water vapor (siUcone lens) and oxygen (176) and plasma polymerization for which the material surface is exposed to the plasma in the presence of a reactive monomer (177). Surfaces are also altered with exposure to uv radiation (178) or bombardment with oxides of nitrogen (179). Ion implantation (qv) of RGP plastics (180) can greatiy increase the surface hardness and hence the scratch resistance without seriously affecting the transmission of light. 

A wide variety of parameters can directly affect the chemical and physical characteristics of a plasma, which in turn affect the surface chemistry obtained by the plasma modification. Some of the more important parameters include electrode geometry, gas type, radio frequency (0-10 ° Hz), pressure, gas flow rate, power, substrate temperature, and treatment time. The materials and plasmas used for specific biomedical applications are beyond the scope of this text, but the applications include surface modification for cardiovascular, ophthalmological, orthopedic, pharmaceutical, tissue culturing, biosensor, bioseparation, and dental applications. 

Plasma treatment is useful to activate the surface of a certain material. The treatment enhances the adhesion property. Basically, surface activation effects the introduction of chemical functionalities on the polymer surface in order to increase its surface energy. 

PVF films often require a surface treatment to improve bonding to other materials. Among these are flame treatment,69 electric discharge,70 chemical etching, and plasma treatment.71... 

Polymer surface modifications are omnipresent in applications where the surface properties of materials with favorable bulk properties are insufficient. By altering the surface characteristics using physical or chemical modification the desired surface properties may be achieved. Such treatments are required e.g. to enhance printability of films, the adhesion of paints, metal or other coatings, biocompatibility, protein resistances/reduced biofouling, etc. The diverse approaches met in practice include, among others, wet chemical and gas phase chemistry, plasma or corona, UV/ozone and flame treatments. In most cases surface chemical modification reactions take place that alter the surface energy in a desired way. For example,... 

Polyamide-6 (Nylon-6, Perlon) and polyamide-6.6 (Nylon-6.6) are the most well known polyamides. Polyamide-based filaments find wide spread applications as yarns for textile or industrial and carpet materials [70], However, nylon-based textiles are uncomfortable to wear and difficult to finish due to their hydrophobic character. This characteristic also leads to fouling of PA-based ultrafiltration membranes by proteins and other biomolecules which increases the energy demand for filtration and requires cleaning with aggressive chemicals or replacement [71-73], Consequently the enhancement of the hydrophilicity of nylon is a key requirement for many applications and can be achieved by using plasma treatment [74-76], As a promising alternative, enzymatic hydrophilization of PA requires less energy and is not restricted to planar surfaces. 

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