Functionalization of PP: Influence of Various Parameters on Photochemical Surface Modification with Aryl Azides

The modification of polymer surfaces has attracted a lot of interest over the past years. While the bulk properties of commercial polymers fulfil numerous mechanical and thermal requirements, the properties of the polymer surfaces are unsatisfactory in several applications. In recent years, a variety of techniques such as coating, hydrolysis, oxidation by etching with strongly oxidizing solutions, flame treatment or plasma discharge treatment, and radiation- or photochemistry-induced graft copolymerization 1-4] have been developed to alter the chemical and physical properties of polymer surfaces. Photoinduced grafting is known to be a very useful method due to some significant advantages: low cost operation, mild reaction conditions, selectivity to absorb UV light without affecting the bulk polymer, and permanent alteration of the surface. The most commonly applied photografting procedure involves the formation of a surface initiator under UV irradiation in the presence of benzophenone and its derivatives, and initiation of the polymerization of an overlaying monomer coating on the polymer substrate.