Effect of Low-Pressure Plasma Treatment on the Surface Wettability of Poly(butylene succinate) Films

Poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) films were processed by a radio frequency (RF; 13.56 MHz) low-pressure plasma of oxygen and argon/oxygen, and an oxygen plasma with an argon post-crosslinking plasma to improve their wettability property. Specimens were treated at different times with fixed power processing of 100 W (0.3 W/cm2) and a fixed pressure of 10 Pa. A significant change in hydrophilicity evaluated by the water contact angle was observed. The contact angle of a water drop decreased from 80° for the untreated sample to values lower than 5° for plasma-treated samples. The effect of ageing on the wettability of PBS substrates was also examined, showing a more pronounced trend in the first 4 h and reaching a plateau in the following days. However, partial surface hydrophilicity was maintained for up to 15 days. A practical application of the surface functionalization produced by plasma was obtained via the deposition of SiOx onto PBS surfaces; the study of films’ oxygen permeability demonstrated that the plasma pre-treatment increased the adhesion between PBS and SiOx, resulting in significantly improved oxygen barrier properties. In order to evaluate the morphology and roughness modification caused by plasma exposure, atomic force microscopy characterization was carried out. Chemical information about treated surfaces, such as an increase in oxygen functional groups during plasma exposure, was measured by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Finally, the effects of plasma on crystallinity were investigated by X-ray diffraction.