Microplasma stamps for area-selective modification of polymer surfaces

Microplasma stamps based upon the principle of dielectric barrier discharges are applied to a new type of area-selective surface modification process at atmospheric pressure. This process integrates the surface treatment and lateral microstructuring within one process step. For this purpose, the plasma is ignited in cavities which are formed temporarily by compressing the microplasma stamp and the substrate to be treated. In this work, we investigate the influence of the cavity design and the ignition conditions on the surface treatment. Furthermore, peptide synthesis on area-selectively treated poly(propylene) surfaces is presented as an application.