Surface characterization of plasma deposited nano-structured fluorocarbon coatings for promoting in vitro cell growth

Nano-structured “teflon-like” coatings characterized by highly-fluorinated, random, ribbon-shaped, micrometers-long structures were deposited on polyethylenetherephtalate (PET) substrates by plasma enhanced-chemical vapour deposition (PE-CVD) using modulated radiofrequency (RF, 13.56 MHz) glow discharges fed with C₂F₄ in modulated discharge (MD) and continuous wave (CW) regimes. Surfaces obtained in this way featured identical chemical composition and different roughness in the nanometric scale. Water contact angle (WCA) measurements, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) were utilized to characterize the surfaces. A positive relationship was shown to exist between the WCA value and the mean nano-structure height and the area root-mean-square (RMS) roughness of coatings. The possibility of obtaining coatings of varying nano-structure height, i.e., roughness, in a nanometric scale represents a promising result for further use of these surfaces as substrates for experiments on cell adhesion, proliferation and growth.