A surface dielectric barrier discharge for deposition of allylamine polymer costings

In this article, an atmospheric pressure surface dielectric barrier discharge (SDBD) generated in helium has been studied for its discharge characteristics and its ability to generate amine functionalised polymer coatings for application in cell therapy. The electrical and optical properties of the surface plasma generated SDBD consisting of a mesh electrode are presented. Current-voltage measurements and intensified charge coupled device (ICCD) camera images showed that the plasma device is able to generate glow like discharge structures that are stable over the area of the electrodes at applied voltages ranging from 3.5 kV to 5 kV_pk-pk. Most importantly, the plasma images show evidence of high electric fields around the hexagonal grid of the mesh electrode. Through the helium line ratio method, the density and temperature of electrons in the discharge was estimated between 10¹¹–10¹² cm³ and 0.3–0.8 eV respectively as a function of gas flow. Surface characterisation of the allylamine plasma polymer coating (ppAAm) with X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) showed that the coating is rich in amine functionality. However, atomic force microscopy (AFM) analysis show that the thickness of the coating is spatially nonuniform. From the results, it is predicted that the high amine functionality of the coating could be applied in cell adhesion and growth.