Comb-Like Polymer Thin Films Prepared by Ionization-Assisted Deposition of Acrylate Compounds

ABSTRACTAlkylacrylate compounds were deposited by the ionization-assisted deposition (IAD) method to form thin films of comb-like polymers having long alkyl side chains on the vinyl polymer backbone. From the source material of n-octadecyl acrylate, polymer thin films having average molecular weight of 6000 were obtained at the polymer yield of 45 to 65%. For the preparation of fluorinated polymer thin films, 1H, 1H, 11H-eicosafluoroundecyl acrylate was used as the source material. Although the conventional evaporation method could not accumulate any films with this material, the IAD was able to produce insoluble thin films that have large contact angle against water droplet. In either material, the polymerization reaction was enhanced with increasing electron emission current for IAD. These results indicate that the IAD enables the preparation of thin polymer coatings that have polyethylene or Teflon-like properties without using the solvents.