Precise Control of Polydopamine Film Formation by Electropolymerization

Dopamine offers the possibility to build polymer films on any substrates via an oxidative process. This redox process cannot only be used for self-oxidation in air, but also in an electrochemical deposition process using cyclic voltammetry. Electropolymerization provides the opportunity to customize film thicknesses on surfaces detectable by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The topography and nanomechanical properties of the films have been characterized in liquid via AFM. Electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance (EQCM) allows the determination of the deposited polymer quantities during the polymerization process and the ultra-thin films have been detected by attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR).