ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Wettability of plasma-polymerized vinyltriethoxysilane film

Soňa Lichovníková, Jan Studýnka, and Vladimír Čech

Institute of Materials Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, Brno University of Technology, Purkynova 118, CZ-612 00 Brno, Czech Republic

E-mail: cech@fch.vutbr.cz

Received: 9 October 2008  Revised: 28 November 2008  Accepted: 2 December 2008

Abstract: Plasma-polymerized films of vinyltriethoxysilane were surface characterized using the sessile drop technique. The surface free energy and its components were evaluated using the Owens-Wendt-Kaelble geometric mean method, Wu harmonic mean method, and van Oss, Chaudhury, and Good acid-base theory. Influence of deposition conditions on the surface free energy was demonstrated in the study. Improved wettability of the films was related to the diminished concentration of apolar methyl groups in plasma polymers. An increased concentration of carbonyl and hydroxyl groups resulted in a very small improvement of the polar component.

Keywords: wettability - surface free energy - thin film - plasma polymerization

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.2478/s11696-009-0029-3

Chemical Papers 63 (4) 479–483 (2009)