title: Super hydrogen and helium barrier with polyelectolyte nanobrick wall thin film.
abstract: In an effort to impart light gas (i.e., H2 and He) barrier to polymer substrates, thin films of polyethylenimine (PEI), poly(acrylic acid) (PAA), and montmorrilonite (MMT) clay are deposited via layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly. A five "quadlayer" (122 nm) coating deposited on 51 μm polystyrene is shown to lower both hydrogen and helium permeability three orders of magnitude against bare polystyrene, demonstrating better performance than thick-laminated ethylene vinyl-alcohol (EVOH) copolymer film and even metallized polyolefin/polyester film. These excellent barrier properties are attributed to a "nanobrick wall" structure. This highly flexible coating represents the first demonstration of an LbL deposited film with low hydrogen and helium permeability and is an ideal candidate for several packaging and protection applications.
authors.affiliation: Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, Texas A&M University, 3122 TAMU, College Station, TX, 77843-3122, USA.
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Tzeng
authors.forename: Elva L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Lugo
authors.forename: Garret D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Mai
authors.forename: Benjamin A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Wilhite
authors.forename: Jaime C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Grunlan
mesh_terms: D000180:Acrylic Resins / Q000737:chemistry; D001546:Bentonite / Q000737:chemistry; D005740:Gases / Q000737:chemistry; D006371:Helium / Q000737:chemistry*; D006859:Hydrogen / Q000737:chemistry*; D010539:Permeability; D011094:Polyethyleneimine / Q000737:chemistry*; D019064:Product Packaging; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D000180:Acrylic Resins; D005740:Gases; D001546:Bentonite; D006371:Helium; C006903:carbopol 940; D006859:Hydrogen; D011094:Polyethyleneimine
keywords: clay; helium; hydrogen; layer-by-layer assembly; light-gas Barrier