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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.

In this paper, it is first demonstrated that Aluminum (Al) contamination is present; H2O2 plasma sterilization is widely used for sterilization of surgical instruments. The contamination amount of Al can reach as high as 7.9 × 1012 atoms/cm2. Aluminum is well known as a harmful element to human health, which may damage bones and the brain. During the use of the surgical instruments after H2O2 plasma sterilization in surgery, the contaminated Al may enter and reside in the human body and threaten the health and even life safety. Therefore, it is necessary to study the Al contamination present in H2O2 plasma sterilization to arouse public attention and take countermeasures. The physical mechanism of the Al contamination presented in H2O2 plasma sterilization is diffusion. In our previous study, we developed two physical models for calculating the diffusion coefficient. In this study, both models are used to calculate the diffusion coefficient of the contaminated Al in sterilized Si samples. From the calculation results, it is inferred that the contamination mechanism of Al presented in H2O2 plasma sterilization is closer to the model, where the diffusion coefficient value is a function of the plasma treatment time.