Novel Thin Film Biomaterials for Tissue Engineering

自20世纪60年代以来，通过使用“冷”(热力学非平衡)低压(LP)等离子体沉积薄膜和蚀刻技术在信息技术中取得了突出的地位。这两种工艺和第三种聚合物表面改性现在也被用于许多其他行业。最近，在实现大气压(AP)冷等离子体方面取得了很大进展，主要是介质阻挡放电(DBD)，用于这三种工艺类别。除了直接使用LP和AP等离子体外，还可以通过真空-紫外线(VUV，波长=200 nm)光化学来实现这类过程，因为商用(基于等离子体的)VUV源可以有效地将电能转换为短波长光子。与(LP-和AP-)等离子体相比，(单能)光化学的一个潜在优势是前者可能导致更有针对性的反应，所需产品的产率更高。多年来，在申请人的实验室进行的上述所有类型(LP、AP、VUV)的研究已经产生了400多篇被引用的出版物，24项专利，并向行业转移了大量技术。他提出了创新研究，重点是新型AP等离子体技术和在合适的衬底上沉积用于生物技术(例如组织工程)应用的有机薄膜。这种涂层必须富含某些类型的化学官能团，例如伯胺(-NH

Deposition of thin films and etching via the use of “cold” (thermodynamically non-equilibrium) low-pressure (LP) plasmas achieved prominence in information technology since the 1960s. Those two processes and a third, surface modification of polymers, are now also being used in many other industries. Recently, there has been much progress in implementing atmospheric-pressure (AP) cold plasmas, mostly the dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) variety, for those three process categories. Beside direct use of LP and AP plasmas, it is also possible to carry out such processes by vacuum-ultraviolet (VUV, lambda = 200 nm) photo-chemistry, since commercial (plasma-based) VUV sources can efficiently convert electrical energy into short-wavelength photons. A potential advantage of (mono-energetic) photo- chemistry over (LP- and AP-) plasma is that the former may result in more targeted reactions, with higher yields of the desired products. Research in the applicant’s laboratory of all types (LP, AP, VUV) above has over the years resulted in well over 400 refereed publications, in two dozen patents, and in much technology transfer to industry. He proposes innovative research focused on novel AP plasma techniques and on thin organic films deposited on suitable substrates for use in bio-technological (e.g. tissue engineering) applications. Such coatings must be rich in certain types of chemical functionalities, for example in primary amines (-NH