Ability of a Kaufman source to functionalize the surface of polystyrene bylow-energy (80-225 eV) nitrogen ion bombardment

Some applications of polymers in terms of biocompatibility require only a s ingle chemical group, namely primary amines, to be grafted on a polymer sur face. As an alternative to the efficient but unselective plasma method, the efficiency of the Kaufman ion source for incorporation of nitrogen in a po lystyrene surface is demonstrated in this study. The influence of different treatment parameters on nitrogen incorporation is examined: the nitrogen i on energy (80-225 eV), the ion dose (1 x 10(15)-5 x 10(16) ions cm(-2)) and the incident angle (55 and 90 degrees), It is also shown that the induced chemical modifications are stable, because no changes are noted when sample s are analysed 20 weeks after the treatment, Copyright (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.