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Surface modification and characterization of an H 2 /O 2 plasma‐treated polypropylene membrane
Author(s) -
Huang Chun,
Tsai ChingYuan,
Juang RueyShin
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.34049
Subject(s) - contact angle , x ray photoelectron spectroscopy , microporous material , membrane , polypropylene , surface modification , surface energy , materials science , analytical chemistry (journal) , chemical engineering , glow discharge , polymer chemistry , chemistry , plasma , chromatography , composite material , biochemistry , physics , quantum mechanics , engineering
Low‐pressure plasma treatments in a 13.56 MHz RF glow discharge of Hydrogen (H 2 )/Oxygen (O 2 ) gas mixture were used to introduce polar functional groups onto microporous polypropylene (PP) membrane surfaces to improve the hydrophilicity and surface modification. The change in hydrophilicity and surface free energy was monitored by static contact angle measurement. Significant increased surface energy of polypropylene membranes from the H 2 /O 2 mixture gas plasma treatments was observed. The PP membrane surfaces became highly hydrophilic when exposed for only 5 s to the H 2 /O 2 mixture gas plasma. Optical emission spectroscopy (OES) was used to examine the various chemical species of low pressure plasma processing. The chemical structure and surface morphological changes on the membrane surface were characterized by X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM). XPS analysis showed significantly higher surface concentrations of oxygen functional groups for H 2 /O 2 mixture gas plasma‐modified PP membrane surfaces than the originally unmodified PP membrane surfaces. The experimental results revealed low pressure H 2 /O 2 plasma processing is an effective method to improve the surface hydrophilicity of microporous PP membranes. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012