Plasma deposition of allylamine on polymer powders in a fluidized bed reactor

Thin films of plasma-polymerized allylamine (PPAA) have been deposited onto polyethylene powders (PE) and polystyrene (PS) beads by using a low-pressure 13.56 MHz plasma in a fluidized bed reactor. Chemical derivatization using a set of three different blocking agents has allowed quantitative measurement of the relative percentages of primary, secondary, and tertiary amines. Under optimized conditions, it is possible to incorporate up to 110 nmol of amine groups per gram of powder and with a selectivity of 75% for primary amines. Moreover, our data clearly show that for films deposited at 10 W the selectivity for primary amines is at a maximum, but this is at the expense of resistance to washing. A power of 20 W corresponds to an optimum value since both the amount of primary amines and the degree of resistance of the coating to solvents reach maximum values.