Micro- and Mesostructures in Plasma Polymers of Trichloroethylene

This paper presents a plasma polymerization of trichloroethylene with the objective to study the formation of micro- and mesostructures in the polymers. Under plasma conditions, these polymers have a great potential of building complex self-assembled structures with electrical characteristics ranging from chlorined polyethylenes to polyacetylenes. The polymerization of trichloroethylene was studied with combinations of resistive, capacitive, and inductive electric configurations. Low-power syntheses used dc- and radio-frequency (RF)-resistive mechanisms and resulted in partially soluble polymers with conductivity in the 10^-12-10^-5-S/cm interval. On the other hand, polymers synthesized at high power with a combined RF inductive-capacitive configuration were almost insoluble with conductivity in the 10^-12-10^-11-S/cm interval. The morphology of polychloroethylene varied from smooth surfaces to agglomerates composed with micro- and mesostructures with mushroomlike profiles, which were very sensitive to the conditions of synthesis.