Plasma Surface Modification of Biodegradable Polymers: A Review

Besides their use as packaging materials, biodegradable polymers can play a major role in tissue engineering as three-dimensional porous structures (scaffolds). The success of these biodegradable scaffolds is, however, determined by the response it elicits from the surrounding biological environment and this response is governed, to a large extent, by the surface characteristics of the scaffold. Multiple approaches have been developed to obtain the desired surface properties, however, in the past decade, the use of non-thermal plasmas for selective surface modification has been a rapidly growing research field. This paper therefore presents a critical overview on recent advances in plasma-assisted surface modification of biodegradable polymers.