A simple non-equilibrium atmospheric plasma post-treatment strategy was developed for the surface coating of three-dimensional (3D) structures produced by digital light processing 3D printing. The influence of non-equilibrium atmospheric plasma on the chemical and physical properties of vanillin-derived Schiff-base thermosets and the dip-coating process was investigated and compared to the influence of traditional post-treatment with UV-light. As a comparison, thermosets without post-treatment were also subjected to the coating procedure. The results document that UV post-treatment can induce the completion of the curing of the printed thermosets if complete curing is not reached during printing. Conversely, the plasma post-treatment does not contribute to the curing of the thermoset but causes some opening of the imine bonds and the regeneration of aldehyde functions. As a consequence, no great differences are observed between the not post-treated and plasma post-treated samples in terms of mechanical, thermal, and solvent-resistant properties. In contrast to the UV post-treatment, the plasma post-treatment of the thermosets induces a noticeable increase of the thermoset hydrophilicity ascribed to the reformation of amines on the thermoset surface. The successful coating process and the greatest uniformity of the lignosulfonate coating on the surface of plasma post-treated samples are considered to be due to the presence of these amines and aldehydes. The investigation of the UV shielding properties and antioxidant activities documents the increase of both properties with the increasing amount and uniformity of the formed coating. Interestingly, evident antioxidant properties are also shown by the noncoated thermosets, which are deduced to their chemical structures.
© 2023 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.