Plasma assisted deposition of free-standing nanofilms for biomedical applications

Polymeric free-standing nanofilms are emerging as appealing materials for many applications, including biomedical ones. This communication describes a new and versatile method to obtain self-supported plasma-deposited coatings. Coupling a soluble sacrificial layer with low or atmospheric pressure plasma processes, free-standing films have been prepared. Vancomycin-embedded bio-composite coatings have been deposited at atmospheric pressure with an aerosol-assisted plasma process, while PolyEthylene Oxide-like (antifouling and cross-linked) coatings and silver-containing (antibacterial) nanocomposite coatings have been plasma-deposited at low pressure. The described approach can certainly be extended to many possible free-standing nanofilms of different nature that can be synthesized by means of customized plasma processes, and it is a valid alternative to conventional wet methods to nanofilm synthesis.