Atmospheric Aerosol Assisted Pulsed Plasma Polymerization: An Environmentally Friendly Technique for Tunable Catechol-Bearing Thin Films.

Vincent Jalaber,Patrick Choquet,Sébastien Planchon,Julien De Winter,Kahina Mehennaoui,Maryline Moreno-Couranjou,Doriane Del Frari,Christophe Detrembleur

doi:10.3389/fchem.2019.00183

Abstract

In this work, an atmospheric aerosol assisted pulsed plasma process is reported as an environmentally friendly technique for the preparation of tunable catechol-bearing thin films under solvent and catalyst free conditions. The approach relies on the direct injection of dopamine acrylamide dissolved in 2-hydroxyethylmethacrylate as comonomer into the plasma zone. By adjusting the pulsing of the electrical discharge, the reactive plasma process can be alternatively switch ON (tON) and OFF (tOFF) during different periods of time, thus allowing a facile and fine tuning of the catechol density, morphology and deposition rate of the coating. An optimal tON/tOFF ratio is established, that permits maximizing the catechol content in the deposited film. Finally, a diagram, based on the average energy input into the process, is proposed allowing for easy custom synthesis of layers with specific chemical and physical properties, thus highlighting the utility of the developed dry plasma route.

Highlights

Since the discovery of the versatile chemistry of polyphenols, and more of catechols, an ever-growing number of bio-inspired catechol-based polymers have been reported and successfully exploited for the production of advanced materials, such as water-resistant or biomedical adhesives, multifunctional anti-corrosion, or anti-wear coatings and, more recently, of sustainable energy storage devices (Sedó et al, 2013; Wilker, 2014; Patil et al, 2018)
We report the first atmospheric pulsed plasma process that allows the one-step deposition of thin films presenting a tunable catechol content, morphology and thickness from a catechol-bearing vinyl monomer, dopamine acrylamide (DOA), combined to 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) as a comonomer
The OH emission peak was probably caused by fragmentation of H2O molecules, which diffused from ambient air

Summary

Introduction

Since the discovery of the versatile chemistry of polyphenols, and more of catechols, an ever-growing number of bio-inspired catechol-based polymers have been reported and successfully exploited for the production of advanced materials, such as water-resistant or biomedical adhesives, multifunctional anti-corrosion, or anti-wear coatings and, more recently, of sustainable energy storage devices (Sedó et al, 2013; Wilker, 2014; Patil et al, 2018). We report the first atmospheric pulsed plasma process that allows the one-step deposition of thin films presenting a tunable catechol content, morphology and thickness from a catechol-bearing vinyl monomer, dopamine acrylamide (DOA), combined to 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) as a comonomer.

Results

Conclusion