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Surface bromination of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) was carried out by brief exposure to gaseous bromine followed by UV irradiation. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy suggests two different types of C−Br groups. Atomic force microscopy and wetting studies reveal that excessive bromination is accompanied by severe surface roughening. A nucleophilic substitution reaction was used to introduce surface 4-aminobenzenethiolate functionalities. UV spectral analysis indicates a grafting density of 2.9 bromine atoms per 100 Å2 for the first bromination cycle.

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PVDF (Kynar ® 761) nanofibers were made by electrospinning with an external voltage of 6-10 kV, a traveling distance of 7-15 cm and a flow rate of 0.4-1 mL/h. Although the mean diameter of the fibers has not changed significantly, the conditions affected the change in diameter distribution. This was attributed to interactions, both attraction and repulsion, between the positive charges on the polymer solutions and the electrically grounded collector. Higher voltages and traveling distance increased the level of attraction between the positive charge on the polymer solution and the electrically grounded collector, resulting in a narrow diameter distribution. In addition, a high flow rate allowed a high population of uniformly charged solutions to travel to the grounded collector, which resulted in a narrow diameter distribution. The optimum conditions for electrospinning of PVDF in DMAc/acetone (3/7 by wt) were a collector voltage of 6 kV, a syringe tip to collector of 7 cm, a flux rate of 0.4 mL/h and 10 kV, 10 cm, 1 mL/h. Since PVDF is widely used as a filtration membrane, it was electrospun on a PET support with a rotating drum as a grounded collector. Surprisingly, some straight nanofibers were separated from the randomly deposited nanofibers. The straight nanofiber area was transparent, while the randomly deposited nanofiber area was opaque. Both straight nanofibers and aligned nanofibers could be obtained by manipulating the PET drum collector. These phenomena were not observed when the support was changed to an Al sheet. This suggests that a pseudo dual collector was generated on the PET sheet. No negative charge was created because the PET sheet was not a conductive material. However, less charge was created when the sheet was not perfectly attached to the metal drum. Hence, the nanofibers jumped from one grounded site to the nearest one, yielding a straight nanofiber.

Polythiophene (PT) was grafted on PE film using three reaction steps. First, PE films were brominated in the gas phase, yielding PE–Br; second, a substitution reaction of PE–Br with 2‐thiophene thiolate anion gave the thiophene‐functionalized PE; finally PT was grafted on the PE surface using chemical oxidative polymerization to give PE–PT. The polymerization was carried out in a suspension solution of anhydrous FeCl3 in CHCl3, yielding a reddish PE–PT film after dedoping with ethanol. ATR‐FTIR shows that the PT was grafted on PE in the 2,5‐position. SEM imaging revealed islands of PT on the PE film. AFM analysis found the thickness of islands to be in the range of 120–145 nm. The conductivity of these thin films was in the range of 10−6 S cm−1, a significant increase from the value of ∼10−14 S cm−1 measured for PE film.© 2003 Society of Chemical Industry