Unraveling Exclusive In-Plasma Initiated Oxidation Processes Occurring at Polymeric Surfaces upon O(2) Admixtures to Medium Pressure Ar and N(2) DBD Treatments

Polymeric surfaces have been increasingly plasma-activated to adopt adequate chemistries, enabling their use in different applications. An unavoidable surface oxygen insertion upon exposure to non-oxygen-containing plasmas was always observed and mainly attributed to in-plasma oxidation stemming from O(2) impurities in plasma reactors. Therefore, this work investigates exclusive in-plasma oxidation processes occurring on polyethylene surfaces by purposely admixing different O(2) concentrations to medium-pressure Ar and N(2) dielectric barrier discharges (base pressure: 10(−7) kPa). Hence, distinctive optical emission spectroscopy and in-situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) data were carefully correlated. Pure N(2) discharge triggered an unprecedented surface incorporation of large nitrogen (29%) and low oxygen (3%) amounts. A steep rise in the O-content (10%) at the expense of nitrogen (15%) was detected upon the addition of 6.2 × 10(−3)% of O(2) to the feed gas. When the added O(2) exceeded 1%, the N content was completely quenched. Around 8% of surface oxygen was detected in Ar plasma due to high-energy Ar metastables creating more surface radicals that reacted with O(2) impurities. When adding only 6.2 × 10(−3)% of O(2) to Ar, the surface O content considerably increased to 12%. Overall, in-plasma oxidation caused by O(2) impurities can strikingly change the surface chemistry of N(2) and Ar plasma-treated polymers.