Surface treatment of biocompatible materials

This bachelor thesis deals with the study of the influence of plasma discharge on changes in the surface properties of the biomaterial. Surface treatements were performed using three types of plasma discharge: gliding arc, dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) and microwave surface wave discharge. Various gaseous mixtures in plasma discharges and their effect on the surface treatment of the biomaterial were investigated. The selected biomaterial was aliphatic biopolymer polycaprolactone (PCL). It is a suitable surface treatment material, thanks to its biodegradability and easy processability. The PCL supplied by Sigma-Aldrich was in the form of pellets, witch had been converted to foil. The film samples were subsequentely exposed to plasma discharges. To characterize the surface properties of the polymer, surface energy was measured using a sissle drop method, a See System from Advex Instrumnets was used to measure. Based on experimental results, we can confirm that the surface has been modified. However, the plasma discharge modifications have led to hydrophilic and not hydrophobic properties of the biomaterial, with the best results in terms of hydrophilicity being achieved by microwave discharge with surface wave. Due to the negative results of the experiment, bactericidal effects were not investigated