A simple method for fabrication of filler-free stretchable polydimethylsiloxane surfaces

We propose a simple method to elaborate a filler-free stretchable PDMS surface strong enough to resist to successive elongation/retraction cycles even at high degree of stretching. It consists in creating free radicals on a filler-containing PDMS surface by argon plasma exposure and reacting them with a filler-free PDMS resin during the crosslinking step. Changes of physical and chemical properties upon plasma modification are monitored by FTIR and XPS spectroscopies, contact angle measurements and atomic force microscopy. Electron spin resonance (ESR) is used to identify the nature of radicals involved in interfacial bonding. Although a brittle silica-like layer is created on the filler-containing PDMS surface after plasma treatment, an increase in the PDMS/PDMS interfacial strength is observed and a high interfacial resistance has been found under elongation/retraction (stretching/relaxation) cycles.