Treatment with Plasma Activated (Salt) Water Sterilizes Macromolecular Coatings While Maintaining Their Integrity and Functionality

ABSTRACT Macromolecular coatings can establish a broad range of functionalities on medical devices, and examples include increased wettability, lubricity, and anti‐biofouling properties. However, even though sterilization is an indispensable procedure for medical devices to be used on patients, the process can come with certain issues. In addition to often not being very sustainable, established sterilization procedures such as autoclaving, gamma irradiation, or ethylene oxide fumigation can either damage sensitive coatings or may produce/leave cytotoxic residues on the treated objects. In this study, we demonstrate how decontaminating sensitive macromolecular coatings with plasma activated water (PAW) or plasma activated saline (PAS) can be a valuable alternative to established sterilization processes. We expose mucin‐based macromolecular coatings to a PAW/PAS treatment and show that, when used at a temperature level of 50°C, both activated liquids can successfully sterilize those coatings without compromising their structural integrity and functionality. Furthermore, cytocompatibility tests do not indicate any reason for concern regarding the formation of toxic residues in response to the PAW/PAS treatment. Together, our results suggest that PAW/PAS treatment of sensitive medical devices can be a very promising technique for applications in clinical and private settings.