Comparison of Plasma-Polymerized Thin Films Deposited from 2-Methyl-2-oxazoline and 2-Ethyl-2-oxazoline: I Film Properties.

Poly(2-oxazoline) is a promising new class of polymeric materials due to their antibiofouling properties and good biocompatibility. Poly(2-oxazoline) coatings can be deposited on different substrates via plasma polymerization, which can be more advantageous than other coating methods. The aim of this study is to deposit poly(2-oxazoline) coatings using a surface dielectric barrier discharge burning in nitrogen at atmospheric pressure using 2-methyl-2-oxazoline and 2-ethyl-2-oxazoline vapours as monomers and compare the film properties. For the comparison, the antibacterial and cytocompatibility tests were peformed according to ISO norms. The antibacterial tests showed that all the deposited films were highly active against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli bacteria. The chemical composition of the films was studied using FTIR and XPS, and the film surface's properties were studied using AFM and surface energy measurement. The cytocompatibility tests showed good cytocompatibility of all the deposited films. However, the films deposited from 2-methyl-2-oxazoline exhibit better cytocompatibility. This difference can be explained by the different chemical compositions and surface morphologies of the films deposited from different monomers.

Fast Surface Hydrophilization via Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Polymerization for Biological and Technical Applications.

Polymeric surfaces can benefit from functional modifications prior to using them for biological and/or technical applications. Surfaces considered for biocompatibility studies can be modified to gain beneficiary hydrophilic properties. For such modifications, the preparation of highly hydrophilic surfaces by means of plasma polymerization can be a good alternative to classical wet chemistry or plasma activation in simple atomic or molecular gasses. Atmospheric pressure plasma polymerization makes possible rapid, simple, and time-stable hydrophilic surface preparation, regardless of the type and properties of the material whose surface is to be modified. In this work, the surface of polypropylene was coated with a thin nanolayer of plasma-polymer which was prepared from a low-concentration mixture of propane-butane in nitrogen using atmospheric pressure plasma. A deposition time of only 1 second was necessary to achieve satisfactory hydrophilic properties. Highly hydrophilic, stable surfaces were obtained when the deposition time was 10 seconds. The thin layers of the prepared plasma-polymer exhibit highly stable wetting properties, they are smooth, homogeneous, flexible, and have good adhesion to the surface of polypropylene substrates. Moreover, they are constituted from essential elements only (C, H, N, O). This makes the presented modified plasma-polymer surfaces interesting for further studies in biological and/or technical applications.