Adsorption of aluminum via surface modification: An effective way to reduce the aluminum contamination presented in H₂O₂ plasma sterilization

In our recent work, it was first demonstrated that aluminum (Al) ions generated in the process of H2O2 plasma sterilization can penetrate the sterilization package and contaminate the surgical instrument inside. In this paper, it is first reported that Al ions can be adsorbed in plasma by sterilization package with surface modification, significantly reducing the contamination, up to 92%. The surface modification is carried out by introducing a functional layer on the surface of the sterilization package. The special chemical groups in the functional layer can combine with Al ions in two ways, ion exchange and chelation, preventing them from contaminating the surgical instrument in the sterilization package. Through the research on the diffusion coefficient of Al in Si sterilized using the modified sterilization packages, it is found that surface modification of sterilization packages has a great influence on the physical mechanism of Al contamination.