Plasma surface modification of biomaterials for biomedical applications

Abstract

Application oriented selection of a material depends on the bulk properties of that material. However, a first encountering feature of any material in an application is its surface and thus material’s surface is one of the foremost parameter that decides the fate of material performance. Modulating the surface properties is considered as a potential approach to meet the application requirement. In past, various techniques (like, chemical, γ-irradiation, mechanical abrasion) have been developed for the surface modification of materials. These methods have certain disadvantages, like chemical treatment involve the disposal of polluted solvents/water in the environment, whereas other techniques may affect bulk properties of the material. Since three decades, plasma surface modification technique has attracted attention of scientists and technologists for creating new surfaces for various end-use applications such as textiles, food packaging, coatings, medical devices etc. Especially, low temperature plasma (low pressure and atmospheric pressure glow discharge) has attracted for its potential application in the new biomedical devices and biomaterials development. Plasma processing has proved itself a very promising and potent technology for modification of surface properties in an effective, environment friendly and economical way for converting low cost materials into a value added materials. The surface properties and biocompatibility can be enhanced selectively and precisely without affecting material’s bulk properties by the use of plasma surface modification technique. This chapter is providing a brief overview of low temperature plasma as a versatile technology for surface modification and its application pertaining to biomedical materials research. Various inferences are also drawn from the types of plasma used in the biomedical applications.