Visualization of a plasma‐generated chemical micro‐pattern on polystyrene by XPS

Abstract

Chemical microstructures on polymer surfaces are of increasing interest for biological applications. Here, the potential of high-resolution XPS (spatially as well as energetically) was investigated for characterization of these patterns. Chemical modifications obtained on non-patterned samples were compared to chemical contrasts inside the 30-200 µm wide patterns on polystyrene (PS).Chemical contrasts in micro-patterns down to 30 µm could be verified by small-spot XPS and imaging XPS. While features with typical dimensions of some hundred micrometres were reproduced with high contrasts and a chemical composition comparable to non-patterned samples, blurred information was found for spectroscopy as well as imaging of micro-patterns with typical dimensions less than 100 µm.

On the Application of Gas Discharge Plasmas for the Immobilization of Bioactive Molecules for Biomedical and Bioengineering Applications

“…Quantitative chemical analyses of such micro pattern can be performed with Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). XPS is advantageous according to the absolute values without calibration (Schröder et al, 2004). So, three surface zones with different physicochemical properties on optical clear substrates had to be produced: a cellophobic border (zone 1), cellophilic marrow area (zone 2) and a spotting zone (zone 3) for the siRNA.…”

Modeling of complex surface interactions in low and high pressure plasmas

“…Gas mixtures, such as air or O2 containing gases, as well as Ar, He, N2, and NH3 plasmas have been used for polymer surface functionalization [72][73][74][75][76][77][78]. Functionalization of polymer surfaces has been investigated in these plasmas for different polymer materials [79][80][81][82][83][84][85][86][87].…”