Abstract
Plasma Enhanced–Chemical Vapor Deposition (PE-CVD) of polyethylene oxide-like (PEO)-like coatings represent a successful strategy to address cell-behavior on biomaterials. Indeed, one of the main drawbacks of organic and hydrophilic films, like PEO-like ones, often consists in their poor adhesion to the substrate, especially in biological fluids where the biomaterial is required to operate. In this paper, low pressure (LP) and aerosol-assisted atmospheric pressure (aerosol-assisted AP) PE-CVD of PEO-like coatings is compared. The stability of the two different classes of coatings was investigated, both in water and in the cell culture media, during cell culture experiments. The obtained results show that, when deposited at atmospheric pressure (AP), the adhesion of the PEO-like coatings to the substrate has to be granted by an intermediate gradient layer. This interlayer can match the properties of the substrate with that of the topmost coatings, and, in turn, can dramatically improve the coating’s stability in complex biological fluids, like the cell culture medium. An accurate modulation of the experimental conditions, both at LP and AP, allowed control of the film chemical structure and surface properties, to permanently promote or discourage the cellular adhesion on the surfaces of biomaterials.
Highlights
Plasma processes are well known as a powerful tool to deposit polymer-like thin coatings on materials surfaces, whose properties tightly depend on plasma experimental conditions
By comparing the results of the chemical and biological tests of the coatings presented in this paper, it is possible to assess that the attitude of plasma deposited polyethylene oxide (PEO)-like coatings, to discourage cell adhesion, tightly depends on their PEO-character, both in the case of low pressure (LP) and atmospheric pressure (AP) Plasma Enhanced–Chemical Vapor Deposition (PE-CVD) films
Aerosol assisted AP PE-CVD of non-fouling PEO-like coatings is one order of magnitude faster than the process run at LP
Summary
Plasma processes are well known as a powerful tool to deposit polymer-like thin coatings on materials surfaces, whose properties tightly depend on plasma experimental conditions. The process is known as PE-CVD, and is one of the most common plasma polymerization techniques, at LP as well as at AP [1]. One intrinsic advantage of PE-CVD is that the surface chemistry of the deposited film, in principle, only depends on plasma conditions regardless of the type of the substrates [2,3]. After the initial deposition of the first atomic or molecular layer of material, the film growth is substrate-independent [2]. PE-CVD techniques are, nowadays, exploited in a wide range of applications in Materials Science and Technology, including many in the biomedical field [4].
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