Nanoengineered plasma polymer films for biomedical applications

¹School of Engineering, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes SA 5095, Australia​

²Future Industries Institute, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes SA 5095, Australia

Adv. Mater. Lett., 2018, 9 (1), pp 42-52

DOI: 10.5185/amlett.2018.1691

Publication Date (Web): May 15, 2018

Copyright © IAAM-VBRI Press

E-mail: krasimir.vasilev@unisa.edu.au

Abstract

This forward looking concise review describes recent advances in the field of nanoengineered plasma polymer films. These types of coatings are relevant in many fields of application and have gained substantial research and technological interest over the last decade. The review starts with an introduction of plasma polymerization as a technique for preparation for nanometer thin polymer-like coatings. This is followed by the examples of the use of nanoengineered plasma polymer coatings in applications relevant to biomedical devices. Applications in antibacterial coatings and drug delivery vehicles are discussed. Significant section of this paper is dedicated to cell guidance surfaces which have an extensive range of applications ranging from coatings for medical devices to research tools that can help unraveling complex biological questions and vehicles for the growing field of cell therapies. The vision of the authors about the future directions of the field have also been presented, including a section on novel oxazoline based coatings that carry great promise for advances in the biomaterial and biomedical fields.

Keywords

Plasma polymers, antibacterial coatings, drug delivery, nanotechnology, medical devices, cell therapies, surface modification, thin films.