an rf excited plasma is preferred any other method of generating a gas plasma may be used for example a glow discharge or a corona discharge for example microwave frequencies may be employed instead of or in addition to rf excitation gases typically used with plasma treatment and introduced into the plasma chamber include ar he ne he he h 2 o 2 n 2 nh 3 and cf 4 in one embodiment of the invention the charged surface 14 may be negatively charged a negatively charged surface is specifically designated with reference numeral 14 a in fig1 preferably oxygen gas is used in the plasma treatment process to produce the negatively charged surface 14 a alternatively in another embodiment the charged surface 14 may be positively charged a positively charged surface is specifically designated with reference numeral 14 b in fig1 preferably ammonia gas is used in the plasma treatment process to produce the positively charged surface 14 b specifically subjecting the polymeric surface 12 to ammonia gas plasma treatment creates a number of nitrogen containing positively charged functional groups on the surface providing the positively charged surface 14 b in a next step 32 of the method 10 the charged surface.