Chemical functionalization of polyethylene surfaces by plasma-assisted carbene insertion

ABSTRACT

Controlled surface modification of PE is achieved by an efficient and facile approach via plasma-assisted carbene insertion generated using diazo chemistry. The combination of plasma and carbene insertion shows a synergistic effect, which leads to an obvious enhancement of surface grafting, as shown qualitatively by a combination of IR and UV reflectance spectroscopy, and XPS analysis. The chemical modification may be observed spectroscopically, and the approach provides an opportunity for the convenient modification of low surface energy materials.

KEYWORDS:

• polyethylene
• surface
• functionalisation
• post-polymerisation
• carbene

Acknowledgments

We thank the National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 51673053), Key Technologies R & D Program of Heilongjiang Province (no. GA14A101), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (no. HIT. IBRSEM. 2013016). The authors also thank Ashley Shepherd and Nicholas H. Rees for assistance with the XPS and solid state NMR analysis.