Plasma-grafting of polymers with pendant oligo(oxyethylene) chains onto the surface of a polyaniline electrode

This paper reports experiments on forming a layer composed of graft polymer s with pendant oligo(oxyethylene) chains directly onto the surface of a pol yaniline film by plasma-graft polymerization. The graft polymers were coval ently bonded with polyaniline film. Vinyl monomer with pendant oligo(oxyeth ylene) chain was synthesized and used for plasma-graft polymerization. The polyaniline film was irradiated with argon plasma to form active radicals o n its surface, and then immersed in monomer solution to graft polymerize at 293 K. A graft layer composed of linear polymers with pendant oligo(oxyeth ylene) chains was formed on the surface of the film and the average thickne ss of the graft layer increased with polymerization time and concentration of monomer solution. A graft layer of crosslinked polymers was also formed using the vinyl monomer and divinyl monomer having an oligo(oxyethylene) ch ain. The graft layer composed of crosslinked polymers became ion-conductive by inclusion of LIClO4. The interface resistance between the polyaniline f ilm and graft layer decreased, compared with that between the film and free standing polymer solid electrolyte photopolymerized with the same compositi ons of monomers as the graft layer.