Surface organic modification of inorganic substrates by plasma deposition of tin oxide organic-like thin films and grafting polymerization

The plasma deposition and surface grafting polymerization have been used to modify the surface structure and properties of inorganic substrates such as organic nature, structural constitution, hydrophilicity, functional groups, and conductivity. In this study, tin oxide (SnOx) organic-like thin films were deposited by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) of tetramethyltin (TMT) and O2 gas mixtures at low temperature. Higher proportion of TMT in the TMT/O2 mixtures tends to increase organic nature of the deposited films and makes the surface hydrophobic. The organic-like thin films containing peroxides or free radicals can be subsequently grafted hydrophilic polymer acrylamide (AAm) by UV-induced grafting polymerization.