Pulsed plasma polymerisation of Carvone: chemical characterization and enhanced antibacterial properties
AsadMasood,NaeemAhmed,MFMohdRazipWee,MuhammadASMHaniff,EbrahimMahmoudi,AnuttamPatra,KimSSiow
Abstract
The production of suitable coating with excellent antibacterial performance has now become a viable technique for enhancing the functional qualities of various biomedical materials. Here, pulsed plasma polymerisation was used to produce an antibacterial coating from carvone oil of spearmint plant. The coating films have adjustable chemical and physical properties based on the deposition parameter, i.e., duty cycles (DC). The static water contact angle (WCA) values of PW ppCar increase with the increase of DC. FTIR and XPS showed that the molecular structure of the carvone is less fragmented, retaining moieties associated with C-O and C=O when the DC is reduced. These C-O and C=O moieties likely reduced the measured static water contact angle. This surface chemical composition with predominantly C-O and C=O also showed a stronger bactericidal effect, based on the biofilm assay with bacteria (E. coli and S. aureus), compared to those coating with C-C and C-H produced at higher DC. According to the AFM images, the lower DC resulted in smoother and more homogeneous coating than those produced with the higher DC, while FE-SEM images show that when E. coli and S. aureus membranes were attached to the PW ppCar, they ruptured and distorted with a pore created, and that these distortions and ruptures increased as the DC was reduced.