Double electrostatic charge dissipate mechanism significant improvement in antistatic performance of polyetherimide film: Synthesis of PEI/ZnO by in situ vapor phase infiltration

Abstract

Maintaining the matching mode between the dopant molecules and the polymer matrix is the key to achieving efficient and stable antistatic modification of polymers. Practically, the antistatic properties of polymers gradually decrease with the settling and desorption of dopant molecules, thus, the maintenance of a stable bond between the dopant molecules and the polymer matrix is a significant challenge. In this study, for overcoming abovementioned problem, the polyetherimide (PEI) film is in situ modified to obtain the PEI/ZnO hybrid film with great antistatic property via the in situ top-down vapor phase infiltration (VPI) process of diethylzinc (DEZ) and H₂O molecules. And the reaction between precursor DEZ molecules and functional groups among the polymer backbone can form a distinctive chemical bond between the dopant molecules and the polymer matrix. Based on the unique reaction mechanism involved in VPI process, the properties of the modified polymer were adjusted by regulating the number of infiltration cycle, which thus realized the product suitability and stability. The results show that the conductivity of the PEI/ZnO hybrid material could reach 2.44 × 10⁻⁶ S cm⁻¹, indicating that the modified polymer acquired excellent antistatic properties. The VPI process constructs dual conductive pathways inside and on the surface of modified polymers, endowing them with both surface conducting and intrinsic conducting electrostatic charge dissipation modes. Moreover, and the dual discharge mechanism significantly improves the rate of electrostatic charge dissipation in the polymer, thus exhibiting great potential under various environmental conditions.