Surface modification of electrospun PVA/chitosan nanofibers by dielectric barrier discharge plasma at atmospheric pressure and studies of their mechanical properties and biocompatibility.

In this paper, surface of electrospun PVA/Cs nanofibers is modified using dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma and the relationship between the observed mechanical properties and biocompatibility of the nanofibers and plasma-induced surface properties is discussed. Plasma treatment of electrospun PVA/Cs nanofibers is carried out with both inert (argon, Ar) and reactive (oxygen, O2) gases at atmospheric pressure. Incorporation of oxygen-containing polar functional groups on the surface of Ar-plasma treated (PVA/Cs/Ar) and O2-plasma treated (PVA/Cs/O2) nanofibers and increase in surface roughness contribute to the improvement of surface wettability and the decrease of contact angle with water of the nanofibers. Both PVA/Cs/Ar and PVA/Cs/O2 nanofibers show high tensile strength (11.6-15.6%) and Young's modulus (33.8-37.3%) as compared to the untreated one. Experimental results show that in terms of haemolytic activity the PVA/Cs/Ar and PVA/Cs/O2 nanofibers do not cause structural changes of blood cells and meet the biocompatibility requirements for blood-contacting polymeric materials. MTT cell viability results further reveals improvement in biocompatibility of PVA/Cs nanofibers after Ar and O2 plasma treatment. The results suggest that DBD plasma treated electrospun PVA/Cs nanofibers have the potential to be used as wound dressing and scaffolds for tissue engineering.