Acetylene polymerization in plasma of direct current

Abstract

Plasma polymerization is a technique that allows obtaining polymer of any type of hydrocarbon, including the non-polymerizable by standard methods. This because of in the plasma state the activation energy can be reduced for the realization of reactions difficult to be presented under standard experimental conditions. For plasma polymerization only the implementation of different types of discharges in the radio frequency regime has been reported, leaving aside the application of direct current discharges for this process. The acetylene polymer consists of carbon chains with alternation of single and double covalent bonds. The formation of this polymer has been reported using radio frequency discharges in the abnormal regime. The paper reports the formation of polymer from acetylene using the abnormal glow discharge in the direct current regime, a novel process not yet reported in the literature. The deposition of the polymer is carried out at different times on a polycrystalline copper substrate previously treated in a glow discharge of argon and hydrogen. For the generation of this polymer an atmosphere of 60% Ar+35% H2+5% C2H2 at 2 torr pressure and a temperature of 600 °C is used. The structural and morphological analysis of the deposits is carried out by infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy, respectively.