Plasma polymerized calixarene thin films and their sensing properties to chloroform vapors

Abstract

The production of calixarene thin films via double discharge plasma technique and their sensitivity towards chloroform vapor are presented here in. The calixarene thin film is fabricated for the first time by plasma polymerized technique. Each experiment carried out at room temperature, at 0.6 mbar operating pressure, 2.0 kV DC and 19 kV pulsed voltages. From the UV-vis spectra it is observed that the polyconjugated structure is established and the thin films highly possess the characteristic bands of the oligomer. The SPR results revealed that the films thickness is at the order of several nm and the refractive index range from 2.2 to 2.8. The QCM results show that the thin films are highly sensitive with a fast and reversible adsorption to chloroform. The typical response time was of a few seconds.