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, freestanding 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 freestanding 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.