Diamond-like carbon thin films prepared by pulsed-DC PE-CVD for biomedical applications

Abstract

In the present research, diamond-like carbon (DLC) thin films were applied on steel substrates by means of pulsed-direct current (DC) plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PE-CVD). The effects of bias voltage and deposition pressure on the films’ structure and properties were investigated. The Raman spectra of the films revealed features typical of G and D bands, indicating the formation of a DLC phase. The results demonstrate that the sp3 carbon fraction or the so-called diamond-like character of the DLC films increased with increasing bias voltage. Moreover, an increase in the bias voltage resulted in a decrease in the film thickness from 800 to 200 nm. Also, the DLC films prepared at a higher deposition pressure showed a higher fraction of sp2-bonded carbon – that is, graphitic domains. Furthermore, it was found that the variation in the bias voltage and deposition pressure also affected the internal stress values of the DLC films in a way that they increased from 1 to 11 GPa when the bias voltage was increased from 475 to 675 V. The effectiveness of DLC films formed on the steel substrates can pave the way for developing a new class of advanced materials to enhance the performance of stainless steel for biomedical applications.

Biological Response to Carbon-Family Nanomaterials: Interactions at the Nano-Bio Interface

“…In the recent decades, several studies have shown the potential of using carbon-based nanomaterials, such as CNTs (Harrison and Atala, 2007; Touri et al, 2013; Sajid et al, 2016), graphene (Alasv and Mozafari, 2015; Chauhan et al, 2016; Khiabani et al, 2018), fullerene (Goodarzi et al, 2017), QDs (Lim et al, 2015), DLC (Wachesk et al, 2016; Derakhshandeh and Eshraghi, 2018a,b), MCNs (Kim et al, 2008), and CNFs (Yang et al, 2007) in various biomedical applications. The first reports on the Buckminsterfullerene (shortened to fullerene or buckyball) were the first attempts on innovative nano-carbons, leading an extraordinary explosion in universal research (Goodarzi et al, 2017).…”

Editorial

“…Derakhshandeh et al investigated the effects of bias voltage and deposition pressure in a pulsed-direct current (DC) plasmaenhanced chemical vapor deposition (PE-CVD) system on the structure and properties of the DLC coatings on stainless steel substrates. 7 The results reveal a positive effect of increasing bias voltage and a negative effect of increasing pressure on formation of sp 3 hybridized carbon (diamond-like) atoms over the sp 2 bonded carbons (graphite-like) in coatings. These operational variables also influenced internal stresses in the DLC coatings, which increased an order of magnitude for coatings produced with increasing bias voltage in this study.…”

Electrospun electroactive nanofibers of gelatin‐oligoaniline/Poly (vinyl alcohol) templates for architecting of cardiac tissue with on‐demand drug release

“…Production of biodegradable nanofibers can be effective in generation of high performance scaffolds. On the other hand, doped PVA with various nanoparticle and other conductive materials developed a new class of materials with unique features and high application in many fields such as photocatalytic activity, anticorrosive, and hyperthermia . Therefore, modification of PVA is performed based on its application and properties.…”