Significance of Hydrogen–Deuterium Exchange at Polyolefin Surfaces on Exposure to Ammonia Low-Pressure Plasma

Abstract

Since more than 40 years ammonia plasma exposure of polyolefins is used for introduction of primary amino groups. The selectivity of this reaction and the yield in primary amino groups was found to be low. Here, a prominent side-reactions of this process was investigated, the hydrogenation by NH3 plasma. For identification of hydrogenation ammonia (NH3) and deuterated ammonia (ND3) were exposed to polyethylene (h-PE) and fully deuterated polyethylene (d-PE) as well as hexatriacontane (h-HTC) and fully deuterated hexatriacontane (d-HTC) as low-molecular weight model for PE. H–D exchange was assumed and detected by Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (ToF–SIMS), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), Attenuated Total Reflectance (ATR-FTIR) and 1H and 2H Nuclear magnetic Resonance. Results show a significant H–D exchange within the sampling depth of ATR (2.5 μm). However, N- and NH2 introduction was limited to the topmost surface as shown by SIMS and XPS (a few nanometers).