Atmospheric pressure plasma deposition of Poly Lactic Acid - like coatings with embedded elastin

Atmospheric pressure plasmas are acquiring more interest in biomedical applications where synthetic biodegradable polymers modified to impart cells adhesion properties play a crucial role. This paper shows a new approach for the bio functionalization of such materials: inclusion of a biomolecule during the plasma deposition. A dielectric barrier discharge system was used for the coatings deposition, coupled with an atomizer for the lactic acid/ elastin aerosol feeding. ATR-FTIR, XPS, and UV–VIS were used to investigate the chemical composition of the coatings. By properly tuning plasma parameters, a good retention of the monomer chemical structure could be obtained in the coatings, as well as the inclusion of elastin in its structure.