Polyethylene is difficult to chemically modify due to its proliferation of carbon-hydrogen bonds. Through activation and breaking of those bonds, the polyethylene surface can be altered to change its hydrophobicity while maintaining the bulk physical properties. This type of chemical modification allows polyethylene and other polyolefins to have improved performance such as biocompatibility, polar functionality, or superhydrophobicity. In search of a cheap, scalable, and mild methodology for broad polyethylene surface functionalization, passivated silicon nanoparticles synthesized with reactive high energy ball milling were chemically grafted to the solid polyethylene surface. Chemical methods are used to introduce functional groups to the polyethylene surface followed by simple reactions to covalently graft silicon nanoparticles. Several silicon nanoparticle functional groups were used to optimize covalent bonding on the surface including chlorine groups for SN2 reactions. The presence of grafted nanoparticles was confirmed by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, and attenuated total reflectance for Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. This broad look at the most efficient route for silicon nanoparticle modification of the polyethylene surface offers insight into chemical methods to tailor the polyethylene surface quickly for a variety of large-scale applications.

Manipulating the polyethylene surface with functionalized silicon nanoparticles

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