Plasma technique for the fabrication of a durable functional surface on organic polymers

We report a novel method to fabricate a durable hydrophilic surface on hydrophobic polymer materials modified by plasma treatment. The method involves immobilization of maleic anhydride-containing polymer onto polyethylene (PE) by a plasma-induced cross-link reaction of PE, followed by hydrolysis of the maleic anhydride moiety to generate hydrophilic carboxyl groups on the PE surface. In fact, the PE sheet surface thus treated has shown effective durability of wettability for a long period of time based on the water contact angle measurement.