Oxidative graft polymerization of aniline on Si(100) surface modified by plasma polymerization of glycidyl methacrylate

Abstract

Modification of argon plasma-pretreated Si(100) surfaces via plasma polymerization of glycidyl methacrylate(GMA), followed by reactive coupling of the epoxide groups of the plasma deposited GMA chains with aniline, and finally by oxidative graft polymerization of aniline was carried out. An alternative approach involved the modification of the argon plasma-pretreated Si(100) surfaces via plasma polymerization of glycidyl methacrylate(GMA), followed by direct oxidative graft polymerization of aniline and thermal curing. The compositions and chemical states of the modified Si surfaces were characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The two methods of surface modification of the Si(100) surfaces produced similar results. The protonation-deprotonation behavior, the interconvertible intrinsic redox states, and the metal reduction behavior (the electroless plating of Pd from the Pd(II) ion solution) of the grafted polyaniline (PANI) chains on the Si(100) surface were grossly similar to those of the PANI homopolymer. The coupling of PANI to the covalently tethered GMA chains on the Si(100) surface was suggested by the cohesive failure inside the epoxy adhesive that was applied to the modified Si surface in an attempt to peel off the PANI layer from the GMA plasma-polymerized Si (GMA-pp-Si) substrate.