Photoinitiator‐Free Plasma‐Induced Polymerization and Microstructuring of Acrylate‐Based Coatings on 3D Substrates

Abstract

The process of plasma curing of functional acrylates has been studied. For these purposes, a nitrogen plasma generated by a flat and a cylindrical electrode configuration, respectively, was used to provide both planar and 3D curing conditions. In selected cases, a double bond conversion >95% was observed by ATR‐IR spectroscopy for a 15 µm (wet thickness) acrylate coating even without the addition of any photoinitiator. Compared to UV curing, the surface energy of the cured substrates was significantly higher when plasma curing was applied (>70 mN · m−1); however, the hydrophilic surfaces experienced hydrophobic recovery. Finally, the generation of microstructures on uniaxially oriented substrates during the plasma process was studied and conditions for their tailor‐made creation are suggested.magnified image

VUV‐Induced Photopolymerization of Acrylates

“…[ 24 ] Similar results were also found for the plasma-induced polymerization of PETIA. [ 41 ] In general, it is well known from kinetic investigations on acrylates containing photoinitiator that the initial polymerization rate strongly increases with increasing functionality whereas the achievable conversion decreases. [ 37 , 42 ] This behavior is due to the more rapid crosslinking afforded by the higher initial concentration of acrylate groups and the mostly higher viscosity of the monomer as the functionality increases.…”

Preparation, properties, self crosslinking mechanism, and characterization of UV initiated polyacrylic acid superabsorbent resins

“…There are few reports on the study of photoinitiated polymer superabsorbent materials without initiators and cross-linkers. Although there are several studies on photoinitiator-free reaction systems of acrylates, [24][25][26][27] little is known about self crosslinking polyacrylates obtained without any initiators and crosslinkers.…”

Wrinkles with a well-ordered checkerboard pattern, created using dip-coating of poly(methyl methacrylate) on a UV–ozone-treated poly(dimethylsiloxane) substrate

“…18 In addition, a review article regarding the method for measuring thin film properties was also published. 19 Although the underlying soft substrate is often a poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) elastomer, the stiff thin top layer is made from various materials, including metals (e.g., gold, 1 platinum, 20 and aluminium 21 ) deposited using evaporation or sputtering, polystyrene spin-coated from its toluene solution, 22 polyacrylate derived from plasma polymerization, 23 and zinc oxide prepared using spin-coating of a precursor followed by sol-gel reaction. 24 The stiff thin layer can also be obtained by oxidizing the surface of PDMS in order to form a silicate layer using oxygen plasma, 5 UV-ozone (UVO) treatment, 17,25 and ion beams.…”