Plasma-polymerized polyaniline films: Synthesis and characterization

The radio-frequency plasma polymerization technique was used to polymerize aniline onto polymer substrates including perfluorinated ethylene propylene copolymer. The plasma-polyaniline films were characterized by ultraviolet/visible absorption spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, electron spin resonance, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and contact angle measurements. Preliminary conductivity measurements were also carried out. It was demonstrated that the chemical and physical characteristics of the plasma-polymerized polyaniline films changed significantly with discharge conditions, indicating the possibility for tailoring the structure and properties of the polyaniline films by optimizing the discharge conditions. In particular, the contents of quinoid sequences and aliphatic crosslinking moieties were found to increase with increasing power input and/or discharge duration. By contrast, the number of free radicals trapped in the polyaniline films and their mobility were shown to increase with decreasing the power input and/or discharge duration within the plasma conditions covered in this study. Furthermore, a correlation was found between surface hydrophilicity of the resultant plasma-polyaniline films and the atomic ratio of C to N. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.