Plasma treatment of polyether-ether-ketone: A means of obtaining desirable biomedical characteristics

Polyether-ether-ketone (PEEK), a semi-crystalline high-performance polymer, being a potential replacement of metallic biomaterials has attained all the attentions of biomedical sector. Indeed, PEEK exhibits excellent mechanical, tribological, chemical, and structural characteristics; however, it is generally used for a biomedical application without processing through a prior surface modification treatment. Thus, in order to bring the developed PEEK based biomedical devices at par with the essential human body requirements, including osteoinductive, antimicrobial capabilities, mechanical strength, cyto-compatibility, wear resistivity, and wettability, different functionalization strategies have been proposed. The literatures have witnessed that plasma treatment of PEEK is one of the most promising, easy to apply, and cost effective methods which offer promising biomedical and clinical outcomes. Therefore, in this paper, the practical implications of plasma treatment for PEEK has critically been reviewed, especially in-terms of biological, surface (adhesion and wettability), mechanical, and tribological characteristics. Furthermore, the possible pathways have been highlighted to enhance the scientific interests and future developments concerning PEEK.