Abstract

In the present investigation, we have studied the influence of oxygen (O2) flow rate in the atmospheric pressure argon (Ar) plasma zone for improvement of the surface and cell compatible properties of LDPE film. Various characterization techniques such as contact angle (CA), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and atomic force microscopy (AFM), etc were used to investigate the hydrophilicity, surface chemistry and morphology of LDPE films respectively. Fowke's approximation method was used to evaluate the polar and dispersion components of the total surface energy of LDPE films using contact angle values of three testing liquids. Moreover T-peel and lap shear tests were used to analyze the adhesive strength of the surface modified LDPE films. Finally cyto-compatibility of the surface modified LDPE film was analyzed by in vitro cell compatibility analysis which includes the cell viability and adhesion using NIH-3T3 fibroblast cells. The results obtained from various characterization techniques evidently revealed that cold atmospheric pressure (CAP) plasma treatment enhanced the surface properties (hydrophilicity, surface morphology and surface chemistry) of LDPE film. Owing to tailored physico-chemical changes induced by the CAP plasma treatment facilitates improvement in adhesive strength as well as adhesion and proliferation of cells on the surface of LDPE films.

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