TY - JOUR
T1 - Unravelling the chemical influence of water on the PMMA/aluminum oxide hybrid interface in situ
AU - Pletincx, Sven
AU - Marcoen, Kristof
AU - Trotochaud, Lena
AU - Fockaert, Laura-Lynn
AU - Mol, Arjan
AU - Head, Asley R.
AU - Karslıoğlu, Osman
AU - Bluhm, Hendrik
AU - Terryn, Herman
AU - Hauffman, T.
PY - 2017
Y1 - 2017
N2 - Understanding the stability of chemical interactions at the polymer/metal oxide interface under humid conditions is vital to understand the long-term durability of hybrid systems. Therefore, the interface of ultrathin PMMA films on native aluminum oxide, deposited by reactive adsorption, was studied. The characterization of the interface of the coated substrates was performed using ambient pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (APXPS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy in the Kretschmann geometry (ATR-FTIR Kretschmann) and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS). The formation of hydrogen bonds and carboxylate ionic bonds at the interface are observed. The formed ionic bond is stable up to 5 Torr water vapour pressure as shown by APXPS. However, when the coated samples are exposed to an excess of aqueous electrolyte, an increase in the amount of carboxylate bonds at the interface, as a result of hydrolysis of the methoxy group, is observed by ATR-FTIR Kretschmann. These observations, supported by ToF-SIMS spectra, lead to the proposal of an adsorption mechanism of PMMA on aluminum oxide, which shows the formation of methanol at the interface and the effect of water molecules on the different interfacial interactions.
AB - Understanding the stability of chemical interactions at the polymer/metal oxide interface under humid conditions is vital to understand the long-term durability of hybrid systems. Therefore, the interface of ultrathin PMMA films on native aluminum oxide, deposited by reactive adsorption, was studied. The characterization of the interface of the coated substrates was performed using ambient pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (APXPS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy in the Kretschmann geometry (ATR-FTIR Kretschmann) and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS). The formation of hydrogen bonds and carboxylate ionic bonds at the interface are observed. The formed ionic bond is stable up to 5 Torr water vapour pressure as shown by APXPS. However, when the coated samples are exposed to an excess of aqueous electrolyte, an increase in the amount of carboxylate bonds at the interface, as a result of hydrolysis of the methoxy group, is observed by ATR-FTIR Kretschmann. These observations, supported by ToF-SIMS spectra, lead to the proposal of an adsorption mechanism of PMMA on aluminum oxide, which shows the formation of methanol at the interface and the effect of water molecules on the different interfacial interactions.
KW - Materials science
KW - Physical chemistry
UR - http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:22bc218b-7552-40ae-aa22-ac4995aa55f4
U2 - 10.1038/s41598-017-13549-z
DO - 10.1038/s41598-017-13549-z
M3 - Article
SN - 2045-2322
VL - 7
JO - Scientific Reports
JF - Scientific Reports
M1 - 13341
ER -