Synthesis of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) under atmospheric pressure plasma conditions

This work is focused on obtaining and characterizing thin films of a certain thermosensitive polymer, i.e., poly(N-isopropylacrylamide). To obtain such polymers dielectric barrier discharge plasma working at atmospheric pressure in planplan geometry was used. The plasma parameters were monitored during polymerization reaction by its electrical and optical signals. The obtained films were analyzed by different techniques such as X-photoelectron spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, contact angle, impedance spectroscopy measurements, and light interferometry for thickness measurements. Chemical analyses of obtained films showed that they sort well with the polymers obtained by other methods in literature. It has been proved that plasma polymerized films have a superhydrophilic character at room temperature, the measured contact angle being around 13 degrees, the lower critical solution temperature was also identified at about 3031 degrees C. The films' thickness for a 10-min duration deposition was 400 nm. (C) 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012