Functional designing of textile surfaces for biomedical devices

Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is a biocompatible, and nontoxic, FDA-approved thermoplastic polyester, which has been extensively used in biomedical applications. However, its inertness and hydrophobic feature has stimulated the surface functionalization of PET, without compromising its bulk properties via chemical and plasma processing. Plasma processing has emerged as an interesting sustainable approach for the generation of desired chemical functionalities on the PET surface by the proper selection of the gas. This process of functionalization is chemical-free that takes less time for the surface modification without any hazardous effluent generation. Thus, it has become the approach of choice for the fabrication of functional biomaterials via modulating the surface chemistry and properties. Additionally, such plasma assisted surface functionalization facilitates the covalent immobilization of biopolymers and biologically active substrates rendering the reactive surfaces for various bio-interfacial applications, such as wound dressings, sutures, infection-resistant skin-contacting devices, and scaffolds for tissue engineering. This chapter focuses on the functionalization of PET surface so that immobilization of biologically active molecules converts the inert nature of PET to a biologically active PET surface finding distinct applications in healthcare sector. This chapter offers an interesting dimension of plasma processing for bioimmobilization to engineer infection resistant surfaces and tissue engineering applications.