The Effects of Pulse Inductively Coupled Plasma on the Properties of Gelatin

Abstract

Plasma treatment is a technique that can be used to modify the surface of materials. It has been widely used in applications such as surface cleaning, activation, etching, and coating. In this work, pulse inductively coupled plasma (PICP) device is introduced for treatment of crosslinked gelatin film. The effects of plasma on the properties of gelatin film were investigated. Type A gelatin film crosslinked by dehydrothermal (DHT) was treated by N2 plasma. PICP device produces plasma by discharging large electrical current around a cylindrical quartz tube. The operating pressure of N2 was 5 Pa and the number of pulse applied was varied from 1 to 10 pulses. The surface properties of crosslinked gelatin were characterized by water contact angle and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The preliminary results showed that, the water contact angle of crosslinked gelatin treated by N2 plasma were decreased compared to untreated crosslinked gelatin film. This implied that, N2 plasma could introduce hydrophilic groups onto the surface of crosslinked gelatin. The result from AFM revealed that, enhanced surface roughness of crosslinked gelatin film when much number of pulses applied. In vitro test using L929 mouse fibroblast revealed that, the number of cells adhere and proliferate on plasma-treated samples was higher than that on untreated samples. The results implied that PICP has a high potential to modify the surface of gelatin for greater cell affinity.