Super gas barrier of all polymer multilayer films Conference Paper uri icon

abstract

  • Thin film assemblies of branched polyethylenimine (PEI) and poly(acrylic acid) (PAA), deposited using the layer-by-layer technique, were studied in an effort to produce all-polymer thin films with low oxygen permeability. Altering the pH of PEI and PAA results in large thickness variations (from 90 nm to 4.74 m for 30-bilayer films). Cross-linking these films with glutaraldehyde (GA) create an inhibition of polymer interdiffusion, causing exponential film growth to be reset. AFM images show the surface morphology of PEI/PAA assemblies can be controlled by the pH and the final polymer layer deposited, with surface roughness ranging from 2.1 to 49.1 nm. Most pH combinations failed to produce a film with high oxygen barrier, but 8 bilayers of PEI at pH 10 and PAA at pH 4 produce a 305 nm thick film with an oxygen transmission rate below 0.005 cm 3/(m2 day). This unique thin film barrier (PO2 < 3.2 10-21 cm3 (STP) cm/(cm2 s Pa)) is a promising alternative to current polymeric membranes, flexible electronics, and food packaging materials. 2011 American Chemical Society.

published proceedings

  • ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY

altmetric score

  • 3

author list (cited authors)

  • Hagen, D., Grunlan, J. C., & Yang, Y.

citation count

  • 175

complete list of authors

  • Hagen, David||Grunlan, Jaime C||Yang, You-Hao

publication date

  • March 2012