Synthesis and characterization of plasma-polymerized tert-butylacrylate films

Plasma polymerized tert-butylacrylate (pp-t-BA) film was prepared using tert-butylacrylate monomer under 100 Pa of vapor pressure with varying RF power of 10–250 W and continuous wave RF power of 13.56 MHz. The deposition rates of pp-t-BA films were determined using quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) method. The chemical structure of pp-t-BA films was characterized using FT-IR, contact angle and XPS techniques. The gas sorption properties of pp-t-BA were measured using a QCM sensor array. Results showed that deposition rates of pp-t-BA film were proportional to the polymerization time at 100 Pa of monomer pressure under the same RF power. The deposition amount of pp-t-BA films increased gradually with increasing RF power of 30–150 W. Increasing the RF power on plasma polymerization decreased the amount of ester group in pp-t-BA films. Sensitivity of gas sorption on pp-t-BA films is related to the RF power of polymerization.