Me. Dominguez et al., POTENTIAL USE OF PLASMA-DEPOSITION TECHNIQUES IN THE PREPARATION OF RECOGNITION COATINGS FOR MASS SENSORS, Analytical letters, 28(6), 1995, pp. 945-958
The potential use of plasma-deposition techniques for the preparation
of recognition coatings for mass sensors was investigated. Ethylenedia
mine and 4-vinylpyridine plasma-produced coatings and solution-deposit
ed coatings from commercially available polyethyleneimine and poly(4-v
inylpyridine) on quartz crystal microbalances (QCMs) were examined for
the detection of acetic acid and other vapors. Freshly prepared QCM p
lasma-deposited recognition coatings from both ethylenediamine and 4-v
inylpyridine were found to be very sensitive to acetic acid vapors. Ho
wever the sensitivity decreased rapidly with time. Aging effects with
solution deposited polymers films were noted as well. It was concluded
that plasma-deposition of recognition coatings has great potential in
the preparation of recognition coatings. In addition to well known ad
vantages of the use of plasmas for surface film preparation or modific
ation, the technique offers a one-step process of synthesizing and dep
ositing high molecular weight films from volatile compounds not polyme
rizable by conventional means. A major disadvantage is that the chemic
al nature of the resulting coating is not easily predictable. However,
careful choice of carrier gas and recognition film precursor can do m
uch to simplify the design of effective recognition coatings.