| Abstract: | A plasma-polymerized material was produced from hexamethyldisiloxane vapor by a glow discharge polymerization technique. Spectroscopic interpretation of the chemical structure of the polymerized hexamethyldisiloxane was studied by spectroscopic means such as IR, XPS, and NMR. The plasma polymer was barely soluble in the usual organic solvents, although it contained a small amount of the monomer and its oligomers. The IR spectrum indicated that the polymer consisted of Si? CH3, Si? O, Si? CH2, and Si? H groups. The surface of the polymer was found to retain structural units similar to the monomer from the XPS measurement. On the other hand, the 13C and 29Si high-resolution, solid-state NMR measurements revealed that the plasma polymer was highly crosslinked with a variety of conformations and a number of O atoms surrounding a Si atom. Results from the XPS and NMR spectra suggested that the bulk of the polymer was more oxidized than the surface layer; Si atom was preferentially oxidized. A hypothetical chemical structure was proposed for the polymerized hexamethyl-disiloxane. |
