Enhancement of polymer hydrophobicity by SF₆ plasma treatment and argon plasma immersion ion implantation

Abstract

In this study sulphur hexafluoride (SF 6 ) plasmas and argon plasma immersion ion implantation (ArPIII) techniques have been applied to improve the hydrophobicity of poly(tetrafluoroethylene) (PTFE), polyurethane and silicone surfaces. As evaluated by water contact angle measurements, all the treatments resulted in a significant enhancement in the hydrophobicity of the polymers. However, exposure of the treated samples to air induced a strong variation in their hydrophobicity as a consequence of post-plasma reactions between atmospheric species and remnant surface free radicals. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results strongly suggest that for polyurethane and silicone the surface fluorination by SF 6 plasmas and the creation of new carbon bonds and radicals are the main agents for hydrophobicity enhancement. The PTFE exposed to ArPIII revealed increases in the contact angles after exposure to air. A significant incorporation of oxygen and the formation of new carbon bonds were revealed by XPS measurements.

Evaluation of blood compatibility of plasma deposited heparin-like films and SF6 plasma treated surfaces

“…In the first case, the increase in θ results from the incorporation of fluorine into the surface, as already observed in similar situations 11 . On the other hand, the hydrophobicity of heparin/ HMDSO films may have its origin in low surface polarity 12 .…”

Green Synthesis: Nanoparticles and Nanofibres Based on Tree Gums for Environmental Applications

“…Through the processes of plasma modification, it is possible to influence the change of the wettability and water contact angle either to strongly hydrophilic or more hydrophobic, depending upon the nature of the plasma used for the modification and the plasma treatment time [162][163][164][165]. As it is stated in the literature, the treatment of membranes using various gas plasma treatment methods such as oxygen, argon, nitrogen has been developed to modify the hydrophilic surface properties of polymers [165,166]. However, methane or sulphur hexafluoride plasma treatment on various polymeric membranes is used to enhance the hydrophobicity of the polymer surfaces, resulting in higher contact angles [167,168].…”

Surface Modification of Silicone Rubber by CF4 Radio Frequency Plasma Immersion

“…Garra et al [10] reported the etching effects of O 2 and CF 4 mixture plasma on PDMS. Rangel et al [11] applied sulfur hexafluoride (SF 6 ) plasmas and argon plasma immersion ion implantation (ArPIII) techniques to improve the hydrophobicity of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), polyurethane and silicone surfaces. However, there are no reports about the SIR surface modification because researchers in the field of insulators still pay attention to the composition modification of bulk materials by adding fillers to SIR and to the study of surface hydrophobicity transfer [12,13].…”