Polymer Surface Oxidation by Light-Activated Chlorine Dioxide Radical for Metal–Plastics Adhesion

Metal–plastics adhesion has received much attention from researchers due to its potential use in various industrial applications. However, the adhesion of plastics with metals is poor due to the low surface energy of plastics. Accordingly, the adhesion of plastics usually requires surface modification or the use of an adhesive primer. Recently, we developed a polymer surface modification method using the light-activated chlorine dioxide (ClO2•) radical as oxidant. In this study, we investigated the adhesion behavior of PP film modified by this method. Improvements in hydrophilicity and adhesion property of PP were observed after oxidation. The oxidized PP film exhibited good adhesive properties with Al plate without any adhesives, and the adhesion strength could be further enhanced by increasing the oxidation temperature. Moreover, this study successfully developed an approach for the electroless metal plating on polymer surfaces. In addition, we also found that light irradiation only activated ClO2• but had no direct modification on plastics.