Plasma Polymerized Organosilicon Thin Films for Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) Detection

Plasma polymerized (PP) thin films deposited in a soft or intermediate plasma discharge from hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDSO) were developed as sensors for the detection of volatile organic compound (VOC) vapors. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and X-ray reflectometry (XRR) were performed to determine the organosilicon films’ elemental composition and density. Spectroscopic ellipsometry measurements were carried out to determine the refractive index of the films. Quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) and ellipsometry coupled to vapor sorption were used to investigate the sorption mechanism of several VOC vapors into the films as a function of the plasma deposition conditions. The density and the refractive index of the PP-HMDSO films increased with the plasma energy due to a different chemical composition and different proportion of free volumes in the material network. The PP-HMDSO films showed different affinities towards the VOC vapors depending on the plasma discharge energy. The films elaborated in the lowest plasma energy revealed a good sensitivity towards the VOCs, especially toluene (one of the BTEX vapors), compared to the other films deposited under higher plasma energy. In addition, the selectivity between toluene and other non-BTEX VOCs such as heptane and ethanol decreased to become zero while increasing the plasma energy.