Département de chimie moléculaire

Aniline and p-phenylenediamine were electrochem. oxidized in aq. solns. by potentiodynamic deposition using cyclic voltammetry (CV) technique. Resulting polymer films electrodeposited on Si substrates were identified by IR spectroscopy as polyaniline and poly(p-phenylenediamine) films. Cyclic voltammograms demonstrated that poly(p-phenylenediamine) films are non conductive contrary to polyaniline films which are conductive and electropolymd. through an autocatalytic mechanism. The morphol. features (thickness, roughness, morphol.) of the electrodeposited polymer films were detd. using profilometry, SEM (SEM) and at. force microscopy (AFM). Adhesion force properties of polymer films were also studied by means of force-distance curves obtained by at. force microscopy. The influence of some exptl. parameters (potential scan rate, no. of potential scans) was also studied. Thus, it was shown that the potential scan rate strongly influenced both morphol. features and force adhesion, when the influence of the no. of potential scans was less important. Under optimal conditions, it was possible to obtain low adhesive polymer films that could be useful to coat the fingers of the gripper and improve the Si objects manipulation tasks. [on SciFinder(R)]