Plasma treatment of polymethyl methacrylate to improve surface hydrophilicity and antifouling performance

Abstract Surface modification of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) by O 2 /CF 4 plasma is investigated to improve hydrophilicity and antifouling performance of PMMA. The PMMA surface before and after treatment is characterized by atomic force microscopy, contact angle measurement, and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Antifouling properties are evaluated by protein adsorption and bacterial adhesion experiments using Staphylococcus aureus in vitro. Higher O 2 content in the mixture gas promotes hydrophilicity of the plasma‐treated PMMA, while a hydrophobic surface forms at higher CF 4 content. Modifying PMMA improves antifouling performance regardless of the O 2 /CF 4 volume ratio, and this improvement increases with rising CF 4 content in O 2 /CF 4 plasma working gas. Functional groups CO and CF are detected in O 2 /CF 4 plasma‐treated PMMA surface and the ratio of CO to CF can be controlled by the O 2 /CF 4 volume ratio in the plasma working gas.