Tuning the surface energy of fluorinated diamond-like carbon coatings via plasma immersion ion implantation plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition with 1,1,1,2-tetrafluoroethane

TL;DR

This paper presents a scalable, eco-friendly method to produce fluorine-doped diamond-like carbon coatings with tunable surface energy, suitable for biomedical and antibiofouling applications, by using plasma immersion ion implantation and PECVD with tetrafluoroethane.

Contribution

It introduces a novel plasma-based technique to effectively incorporate fluorine into DLC coatings, enhancing their surface properties for specific applications.

Findings

Fluorine content in F-DLC coatings can reach up to 40%.

Adding fluorine decreases surface energy and wettability.

Method is environmentally friendly and scalable.

Abstract

We demonstrate an environmentally friendly and scalable method to create fluorine-doped diamond-like carbon (F-DLC) coatings using plasma immersion ion implantation plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PIII-PECVD) with 1,1,1,2-tetrafluoroethane. F-DLC films tend to have low wettability and good mechanical flexibility, which make them suitable for applications in biomedical devices and antibiofouling surfaces. We report on the effects of fluorine incorporation on the surface chemistry, surface energy, and morphology of these coatings, showing that our method is effective in increasing the fluorine content in the F-DLC up to 40%. We show that the addition of fluorine leads to a decrease in surface energy, which is consistent with a reduction in surface wettability.