Plasma deposition and characterization of acrylic acid thin film on ZnO nanoparticles
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Jie Lian and Lumin Wang Department of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Science, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
Wim J. van Ooij Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio 45221-0012 (Received 11 March 2002; accepted 9 July 2002)
Acrylic acid polymer thin films were deposited on the surfaces of nanoparticles of ZnO using a plasma polymerization treatment. The average size of nanoparticles was on the order of 50 nm in irregular shapes. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) experiments showed that an extremely thin film of the acrylic acid layer (15 nm) was uniformly deposited on the surfaces of the nanoparticles. The HRTEM results were confirmed by time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectroscopy. The effect of plasma power on the polyacrylic thin film was studied by Fourier transform infrared experiments. The deposition mechanisms and the effects of plasma treatment parameters are discussed.
I. INTRODUCTION
Plasma treatment is currently used in surface and interface engineering for improving adhesion, hydrophobicity, hydrophilicity, printability, corrosion resistance, selectivity, or for surface etching or cleaning.1–3 The main principle of the plasma technique is that the ionized and excited molecular radicals created by the electrical field bombard and react on the surface of the substrate. These ions and radicals may etch, sputter, or deposit on the substrate surface. As a result, the surface properties of substrates are modified. The plasma technique is a roomtemperature and environmentally benign process. Due to these characteristics, the plasma technique can be used for surface modification and thin film deposition on almost all substrates, including metal and alloy plates, polymer films, paper, glass, porous materials, and particulate matter. In current research of nanomaterials, it has become critical to modify the surfaces of the nanoparticles for both fundamental research and engineering applications.4–10 In our previous work, the modification of nanoparticle surfaces involved deposition of ultrathin films (1–5 nm) on the nanoparticles by plasma treatment.11–14 The deposited film was not only uniform but also tailored to multilayers for developing unique nanostructures. This novel nanotechnology is of particular importance in J. Mater. Res., Vol. 17, No. 10, Oct 2002
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electronics, functional devices, new material synthesis, nanobiomolecular applications, tissue engineering, and drug delivery. One of the possible applications of nanocoating is in ion exchange for removing metal ions from water. If on the surface of these nanoparticles, an extremely thin layer of polyacrylic film can be coated by a plasma treatment, the polyacrylic film will react with metallic ions in water. As a result of the high surface-tovolume ratio of these nanoparticles, the efficiency of ion exchange in the water flux is much higher than that of other types of traditional reactors. After
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