In-Situ Surface Modification of Terpinen-4-ol Plasma Polymers for Increased Antibacterial Activity

Avishek Kumar; Ahmed Al-Jumaili; Kateryna Bazaka; Peter Mulvey; Jeffrey Warner; Mohan V Jacob

doi:10.3390/ma13030586

In-Situ Surface Modification of Terpinen-4-ol Plasma Polymers for Increased Antibacterial Activity

Materials (Basel). 2020 Jan 27;13(3):586. doi: 10.3390/ma13030586.

Authors

Avishek Kumar¹, Ahmed Al-Jumaili¹, Kateryna Bazaka^{1

2

3}, Peter Mulvey⁴, Jeffrey Warner⁵, Mohan V Jacob¹

Affiliations

¹ Electronics Materials Lab, College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville 4811, Australia.
² Institute for Future Environments, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane 4000, Australia.
³ Research School of Electrical, Energy and Materials Engineering, The Australian National University, Canberra 2601, Australia.
⁴ AITHM, Immunology & Infectious Disease, Australian Institute of Tropical Health & Medicine, James Cook University, Townsville 4811, Australia.
⁵ Discipline of Biomedicine, College of Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville 4811, Australia.

Abstract

Surface modification of thin films is often performed to enhance their properties. In this work, in situ modification of Terpinen-4-ol (T4) plasma polymer is carried out via simultaneous surface functionalization and nanoparticle immobilization. Terpinen-4-ol plasma polymers surface were decorated with a layer of ZnO nanoparticles in an oxygen plasma environment immediately after polymer deposition. A combination of hydrophilic modification and ZnO nanoparticle functionalization of the T4 polymer surface led to an enhancement in antibacterial properties by factor of 3 (from 0.75 to 0.25 CFU.mm^-2). In addition, ZnO nanoparticle-modified coatings demonstrated improved UV absorbing characteristics in the region of 300-400 nm by 60% relative to unmodified coatings. The ZnO modified coatings were transparent in the visible region of 400-700 nm. The finding points towards the potential use of ZnO nanoparticle-modified T4 plasma polymers as optically transparent UV absorbing coatings.

Keywords: ZnO functionalization; antibacterial coatings; in-situ polymer surface modification; plasma polymers.