Effects of Dielectric Barrier Discharge Plasma on Physicochemical Characteristics, Mechanical Properties and Biocompatibility of Silk/PVA Nanofibers

This work reports an investigation of the discharge characteristics of atmospheric dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma in terms of I-V curves and Lissajous figures and their effect on the surface functionalities of electrospun silk/PVA nanofibers. The results show that the filamentary discharge is predominant at lower electrode gap (3 mm) and then significantly reduces at higher electrode gaps of 6 mm and 10 mm, respectively and in the applied voltage range of 11-17 kV. The silk/PVA nanofibers which are treated with 6 mm electrode gap shows good wettability, higher surface energy, higher tensile strength, young's modulus values and improved anti-thrombogenic property. All these findings suggest that, although the silk/PVA nanofiber itself can be used in biomedical applications however, nanofibers plasma treated at 6 mm electrode gap shows better results in terms of physical and biological performances.