Combining polymers with diamond-like carbon (DLC) for highly functionalized materials

Diamond-like carbon (DLC) can be effectively coated on polymer surfaces in order to modify polymers for highly functionalized materials. DLC films have been widely used for many industrial applications due to their outstanding physical properties such as high hardness, wear resistance and biological compatibility. Polymers, on the other hand, can create soft, flexible, highly absorbent and cost-effective materials by selecting or controlling their molecular structures. The DLC films coated on such polymer substrates have been investigated and extensively used because recently, quite a few applications of the polymer–DLC composites to e.g. gas barrier films and biocompatible medical devices have been proposed. In this article, we discussed the barrier properties, especially the gas barrier properties and the biocompatibility of DLC-coated polymers, after summarizing the fundamentals of DLC and polymers, followed by the explanation as to the adhesion and fracture behavior of DLC and polymers, which is crucial for the creation of a new polymer–DLC composite.