Nanocomposite gold/poly(ethylene oxide)-like plasma polymers prepared by plasma-assisted vacuum evaporation and magnetron sputtering
Abstract
A new method of deposition of nanocomposite gold/poly(ethylene oxide)-like thin films was investigated where gold was sputtered from an r. f. magnetron and poly(ethylene oxide)-like plasma polymer was simultaneously deposited via vacuum evaporation of conventional poly(ethylene oxide). Such method allows formation of the plasma polymer matrix with composition very close to that of precursor, a feature difficult to obtain in plasma polymerization processes.
The films with different content of gold were prepared by varying the evaporation rate of poly(ethylene oxide) at constant power of the magnetron discharge. Chemical composition and cross-linking density of polymeric phase as well as the size distribution of gold nanoparticles were shown to be strongly dependent on the discharge power conditions.
Stability of resultant nanocomposites in water was also studied. Such films are perspective for use in biomedical applications.