Plasma based Ar+ beam assisted poly(dimethylsiloxane) surface modification

Plasma based Ar+ beam performed in RF (13.56 MHz) low-pressure (200 mTorr) glow discharge (at 100 W, 1200 W and 2500 W) with a serial capacitance was employed for surface modification of poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) aimed at improvement of its interactions with living cells. The presence of a serial capacitance ensures arise of an ion-flow inside the plasma volume directed toward the treated sample and the vary of the discharge power ensures varied density of the ion-flow. XPS analysis was performed to study the changes in the surface chemical composition of the modified samples and the corresponding changes in the surface energy were monitored by contact angle measurements. We found that plasma based Ar+ beam transforms the initially hydrophobic PDMS surface into a hydrophilic one mainly due to a raising of the polar component of the surface tension, this effect being most probably due to an enrichment of the modified surface layer with permanent dipoles of a [SiO x]-based network and elimination of the original methyl groups. The initial adhesion of human fibroblast cells was studied on the described above plasma based Ar+ beam modified and acrylic acid (AA) grafted or not fibronectin (FN) pre-coated or bare surfaces. The cell response seems to be related with the peculiar structure and wettability of the modified PDMS surface layer after plasma based Ar+ beam treatment followed or not by AA grafting