Nanostructuring effect of plasma and solvent treatment on polystyrene

Plasma treatment of polymer surfaces is used to control the generation of topological surface structures: stripes, starlike morphologies, and pinnacles in the range from 100 nm up to several micrometers. These protrusions arise when the plasma-treated polymer surface is exposed to an organic solvent (liquid or vapor phase). The distribution density and the height of the observed structures on the surface are functions of the power density of the plasma reactor and the exposure time to the plasma, the duration of the development process, the type of the polymer, and its manufacturing. We suggest that the structures are generated by selective swelling of less cross-linked areas within the polymer surface and not by rearrangement or dissolution of polymer chain fragments created by plasma, or by amphiphilic moieties due to oxidation as a consequence of plasma treatment.