Selective surface modification of polymers by means of hydrogen and oxygen plasmas

Abstract

Abstract An ESCA investigation has been made of the changes in surface functionalization for a series of polymers effected by means of low‐powered inductively coupled rf plasmas excited in hydrogen and oxygen. Reactions in each case are confined to the outermost surfaces of the polymer films and the use of oxygen plasmas leads to extensive oxidative functionalization. Bisphenol‐A polycarbonate and polyethylene terephthalate exhibit similar overall reactivities to both oxygen and hydrogen plasmas, while polystyrene is shown to be substantially more reactive than high‐density polyethylene to the plasma treatments of interest in this work. Comparison has been made of the effects of straight hydrogen and oxygen plasmas and of sequential hydrogen/oxygen and oxygen/hydrogen plasma treatments.