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Updated: Mar 2, 2026
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Encapsulation and Permeability Characteristics of Plasma Polymerized Hollow Particles
Published on: August 16, 2012
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Functionalized, biocompatible, and impermeable nanoscale coatings for PEEK
Firas Awaja1, Pieter Cools2, Birgit Lohberger3
1Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Medical University Innsbruck, Innrain 36, Innsbruck, Austria.
Summary
Amorphous carbon coatings create a hermetic seal on polyether-ether-ketone (PEEK) for biomedical devices. These durable, non-water-permeable coatings enhance PEEK, showing excellent biocompatibility with human cells.
Area of Science:
- Biomaterials Science
- Surface Engineering
- Polymer Science
Background:
- Replacing metals with polymers in biomedical devices requires hermetic sealing and biological compatibility.
- Polyether-ether-ketone (PEEK) is a promising polymer for implants but needs surface modification for enhanced performance.
- Amorphous carbon/diamond-like carbon (a-C:H) coatings offer potential for hermetic sealing and biological enhancement.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the use of a-C:H coatings to hermetically seal and biologically enhance PEEK for biomedical applications.
- To control the properties of a-C:H coatings (functionality, hardness, thickness) by adjusting plasma parameters.
- To evaluate the water permeability, mechanical properties, and biological performance of the modified PEEK.
Main Methods:
- Plasma deposition of a-C:H coatings on PEEK substrates with varying H2 and N2 concentrations.
- Characterization of coating properties including sp3/sp2 ratio, hardness, and thickness (70-200nm).
- Hydrolysis testing for water permeability and in-vitro cell culture studies with human osteoblast (hFOB) and fibroblast (hGF) cells.
Main Results:
- a-C:H coatings exhibited high indentation modulus (up to 13.5 GPa) and hardness (e.g., 4.76 GPa), suitable for PEEK modification.
- Synthesized coatings were non-water permeable, preventing swelling in wet environments.
- Selected coatings demonstrated strong bioactivity, supporting hFOB and hGF cell viability without toxicity.
- Coating hardness correlated with thickness, but not with the sp3/sp2 ratio. Biological performance also showed no correlation with the sp3/sp2 ratio.
Conclusions:
- a-C:H coatings provide effective hermetic sealing and enhance the biological performance of PEEK for medical implants.
- The developed coatings are non-water permeable and biocompatible, addressing key challenges in polymer-based biomedical devices.
- Control over plasma parameters allows tuning of coating properties for specific biomedical applications.
