Chemical force titration of plasma polymer-modified PDMS substrates by using plasma polymer-modified AFM tips

Plasma polymerization has gained increasing attention in surface functionalization. We use here chemical force titration to characterize PDMS (polydimethylsiloxane) substrates modified by maleic anhydride-pulsed plasma polymerization. The coating is hydrolyzed to promote the formation of dicarboxylic acid groups. To enhance the variation of the adhesion forces as a function of pH, we use AFM tips modified in the same way as the substrates. The pH-dependent adhesion measurements are performed at different KCl concentrations. The dicarboxylic nature of the maleic acid groups clearly emerges from the force titration curves. The surface pK(a) values (pK(a1) = 3.5 +/- 0.5 and pK(a2) = 9.5 +/- 0.5) of the dicarboxylic acids are evaluated from low electrolyte concentration solutions. The values are shifted toward higher pK(a) values when compared to maleic acid in solution. The first pK(a) appears in the titration force curve for low salt concentration as a peak. This peak changes to a sigmoidal shape at higher salt concentrations. The appearance of a peak is attributed to the formation of strong hydrogen bonds between the tip and the substrate as reported in the literature. The effect of the ionic strength on the force curves is explained by the condensation of counterions on the carboxylate groups. At high pH, the adhesion force almost vanishes. On the approach, at high pH, one first observes repulsion between the tip and the substrate, which varies exponentially with the tip/substrate distance. The decay length of this repulsion force is in good agreement with theoretical predictions of the Debye length, attesting to the electrostatic nature of the interactions. We also find that the replacement of monovalent cation K+ by the divalent cation Ca2+ leads to significant changes in the force titration curve at high pH where the dicarboxylic groups are fully ionized. We observe that the adhesion force no longer vanishes at high pH but even slightly increases with pH, an effect that is explained by Ca2+ ions bridging between two carboxylate groups.