Chemical Fixation of Polyelectrolyte Multilayers on Polymer Substrates

A simple chemical fixation method for the fabrication of layer-by-layer (LbL) polyelectrolyte multilayer (PEM) has been developed to create a large area, highly uniform film for various applications. PEM of weak polyelectrolytes, i.e., polyallylamine hydrogen chloride (PAH) and poly(acrylic acid)(PAA), was assembled on polymer substrates such as poly(methyl methacrylate)(PMMA) and polycarbonate (PC). In the case of a weak polyelectrolyte, the fabricated thin film thickness of the polyelectrolyte multilayers was strongly dependent on the pH of the processing solution, which enabled the film thickness or optical properties to be controlled. On the other hand, the environmental stability for device application was poor. In this study, we utilized the chemical fixation method using glutaraldehyde (GA)-amine reaction in order to stabilize the polyelectrolyte multilayers. By simple treatment of GA on the PEM film, the inherent morphology was fixed and the adhesion and mechanical strength were improved. Both surface tension and FT-IR measurements supported the chemical cross-linking reaction. The surface property of the polyelectrolyte films was altered and converted from hydrophilic to hydrophobic by chemical modification. The possible application to antireflection coating on PMMA and PC was demonstrated.