Polymers with DLC nanocoating by CYD method for biomedical devices and food packaging

Diamond-like carbon (DLC) has been investigated as coating materials for industrial applications due to its outstanding characteristics such as high hardness, wear resistance, chemical inertness, and biological compatibility. The demand for polymeric materials has also been increasing and highly functionalized polymers are much desired for wider applications to the production materials ranging from biomaterials to eco-friendly materials. In order to modify the polymers for highly-functionalized and highly-biocompatible materials, DLC can be effectively nanocoated on polymeric materials, especially on polymeric surfaces through CVD methods. By nanocoating such DLC, a new type of polymer/DLC nanocomposite could be established for the use in biomedical devices and food packaging. Considering the biomedical applications, biomedical implants such as vascular grafts, artificial heart valves or interventional devices (stents, guidewires and catheters) have been proven to be effective for the treatments of diseases and organ insufficiencies. Surface coating would be one of the most effective methods to achieve better biocompatibility and haemocompatibility of polymeric biomaterials. DLC has emerged as a potential material for biomedical applications due to its distinguished properties. In this section, the general consideration for the biocompatibility of DLC was reviewed, and the applications of DLC coatings and DLC-coated polymers (DLC/polymers) were also discussed. Considering the food packaging, the consumption of plastic containers has dramatically increased because of the outstanding characters of plastic containers: they are light in weight, unbreakable, convenient, cost-effective, resealable, recyclable, and highly transparent. The high-gas-barrier properties of the DLC films have been introduced and are now actively applied to films and containers in food and beverage markets. In this section, the development process of DLC for food packaging was reviewed. Additionally, the gas permeation properties of DLC-coated polymers (DLC/polymers) were discussed.