Simple Fabrication of Transparent, Colorless, and Self-Disinfecting Polyethylene Terephthalate Film via Cold Plasma Treatment

Abstract

Cross-infection following cross-contamination is a serious social issue worldwide. Pathogens are normally spread by contact with germ-contaminated surfaces. Accordingly, antibacterial surface technologies are urgently needed and have consequently been actively developed in recent years. Among these technologies, biomimetic nanopatterned surfaces that physically kill adhering bacteria have attracted attraction as an effective technological solution to replace toxic chemical disinfectants (biocides). Herein, we introduce a transparent, colorless, and self-disinfecting polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film that mimics the surface structure of the Progomphus obscurus (sanddragon) wing physically killing the attached bacteria. The PET film was partially etched via a 4-min carbon tetrafluoride (CF4) plasma treatment. Compared to a flat bare PET film, the plasma-treated film surface exhibited a uniform array structure composed of nanopillars with a 30 nm diameter, 237 nm height, and 75 nm pitch. The plasma-treated PET film showed improvements in optical properties (transmittance and B*) and antibacterial effectiveness over the bare film; the transparency and colorlessness slightly increased, and the antibacterial activity increased from 53.8 to 100% for Staphylococcus aureus, and from 0 to 100% for Escherichia coli. These results demonstrated the feasibility of the CF4 plasma-treated PET film as a potential antibacterial overcoating with good optical properties.

Effect of HDI-Modified GO on the Thermoelectric Performance of Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):Poly(Styrenesulfonate) Nanocomposite Films

“…The plasma treatment also resulted in samples with higher transmittance, which may be related with thinner films or less coverage of the substrates. Similar results on film transmittance have been previously reported for CF4 plasma-treated HDI-GO-free polyethylene terephthalate (PET) thin films [ 65 ], which were related to a lower amount of defects in the film structure. However, light scattering effects caused by the presence of heterogeneities at the surface can also be at the origin of the observed small differences in the transmittance of the films.…”

Highly Transparent, Colorless Optical Film with Outstanding Mechanical Strength and Folding Reliability Using Mismatched Charge‐Transfer Complex Intensification

“…While PC and PET are less expensive than CLPI and their molecular compositions differ from that of CLPI, PC, and PET were chosen for comparison because they are frequently used engineering plastics for optical and electronic applications owing to their good optical and mechanical properties. [ 54,75–78 ]…”

Effects of Nanopillar Size and Spacing on Mechanical Perturbation and Bactericidal Killing Efficiency

“…Amongst some of the 'softest' bactericidal nanopatterns are those composed of insect cuticle [3], polymethyl methacrylate [20], and polyethylene terephthalate [22], to name a few. These materials all have an elastic modulus on the order of 1-10 GPa [34][35][36], which likely represents the minimum requirement for sufficient structural rigidity.…”

“…Amon 'softest' bactericidal nanopatterns are those composed of insect cuticle methacrylate [20], and polyethylene terephthalate [22], to name a few. Th have an elastic modulus on the order of 1-10 GPa [34][35][36], which likely minimum requirement for sufficient structural rigidity. Modelling bacteria-nanopattern interaction by isolating a critical section.…”