Membrane Modified by Cold Plasma

When a cold plasma in N2, NH3 or H2/N2 gas is put in contact with a membrane, the chemical modification by reactions of the plasma active species with the membrane surface results in alterations of transport properties associated with changes in the permeant sorption into that surface. Under the conditions where the modification occurs on 

Distance between the bottom of the excitation source and the sample 2 cm 

AFM in contact (a) and in friction (b) modes. The contact mode image gives the surface topology 

However, the grafted layer is apparently extremely thin, since no changes were detected in DSC thermograms. The CO2 permeation test indicated that the plasma-modified membrane exhibited a greatly enhanced permeability (144Barrer at 25 °C). 

We speculated that, in fine with the mechanism proposed for facilitated transport of CO2 with amine molecules, the CO2 sorption was enhanced due to the following reversible complexation reaction [46,47], in addition to the normal gas sorption according to Hemy s law into a rubbery/molten polymer phase  

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