A Comparative Study of Surface Modification of PS Films Using DC Glow Discharge Plasma in N2 and Ar

Abstract

In this paper, the polystyrene (PS) film surface was treated using DC glow discharge nitrogen (N 2) and argon (Ar) plasma to improve the wettability and antibacterial properties. The untreated and plasma treated surfaces were characterized by contact angle, FTIR, XRD and SEM analysis. The antibacterial activity of untreated and plasma treated PS films was evaluated using optical density (OD) technique against Staphylococcus aureus bacteria. The results of the PS film surface treated in both N 2 and Ar showed a noticeable increase in the wettability due to the increase in the roughness and the introduction of oxygen-containing polar groups as corroborated with SEM, weight loss calculations and FTIR spectra. The results of antibacterial activity showed that the treated samples inhibit the bacterial growth. The Ar treatment created more oxygen-containing polar groups and increase roughness on the PS film surface and extensively modified the polymer surface than the N 2 treatment.