<i>In Situ</i> Growth of Hydrophobic ZIF-8 on Poly(Aryl Ether Nitrile) as Low Dielectric Film

Abstract

Flexible polymers with excellent low dielectric constant stability are promising for application in the field of high-speed communications. In this work, a series of surface-modified ZIF-8 on polyarylene ether nitrile (PEN) as low dielectric films are prepared by phase inversion method. The experimental results show that by changing the content of Zn2+, the surface roughness, hydrophobicity, pore size, dielectric properties and mechanical properties of porous PEN films can be effectively adjusted. The surface roughness of porous PEN films effectively increases from 47.9 nm to 72.5 nm as the content of ZIF-8 grown in situ on porous PEN films surface increases. The static water contact angle of porous PEN films surface increases from 115° to 152°. The porosity of porous PEN films increases from 73.7% to 75.8% as the pore size of the fracture surface increases, and the dielectric constant decreases from 1.85 to 1.68 accordingly. Furthermore, the porous PEN films exhibit outstanding mechan ical flexibility, and the elongation at break of porous PEN films is as high as 89.6%. In-situ growth of ZIF-8 on PEN as low dielectric film expands the application of PEN in the field of high-speed communication.