The Role of DC Biased Plasma Treatment of Polystyrene on the Formation of the C≡N Functional Group Controlling Its Hydrophobicity

Abstract

Nitrogen plasma treatment was carried out to modify the surface of polystyrene film deposited on a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) sensor. The modification was intended to enhance the wettability of the film by inducing the formation of CN functional group on its surface. This work investigated the effect of DC bias controlling N∗ in the plasma on the effectiveness of the nitrogen plasma treatment. The polystyrene was deposited by a spin coating method on the surface of a quartz crystal normally used in an electronic resonator. The nitrogen plasma was generated in an aluminium vacuum chamber using a 2 MHz radio frequency (RF) generator. The vacuum pressure and the gas flow rate were kept constant during the experiments. The plasma character in the chamber was controlled by applying a DC bias between the RF electrodes and the sample stage. The DC voltage was varied from 100 to 500 volts at 100 volts' step, while maintaining the RF voltage constant. During the process, the species in the plasma was characterized using an optical emission spectroscopy (OES). The wettability of the treated samples was tested using a contact angle measurement system. FTIR measurement was utilized to study the polar functional groups on the surface of the polystyrene before and after the treatment. The OES identified the existence of N radical (N∗). The reduced intensity of emission line of the N∗ increased with the increase of the DC voltage. However, a small decrease was also evidence at DC voltage higher than 400 volts. The decrease of the line intensity was directly related to the decrease of the contact angle (CA < 40°). The relation of the N∗ and the resulted wettability is related to the polar functional group of the C≡N bond found in the treated polystyrene's surface.