Non-thermal plasma polymerization of HFC-134A in a dielectric barrier discharge reactor; Polymer characterization and a proposed mechanism for polymer formation

Non-thermal plasma polymerization of HFC-134a in argon bath gas has been studied in a dielectric barrier discharge reactor at atmospheric pressure and in the absence of oxygen and nitrogen. The reaction resulted in the formation of a polymeric solid fraction and the non-crosslinked properties of this material assisted in its characterization by solution state ¹³C and ¹⁹F NMR spectroscopy. Gel permeation chromatography (GPC) revealed that the polymers include low (number average molecular weight, M_n values between 900 g mol^-1 and 3000 g mol^-1) and high (M_n approximately 60 000 g mol^-1) molecular weight fractions. A detailed polymerization mechanism is proposed, based on published literature and the findings of the current investigation.