A Bottom-Up and Templateless Process for the Elaboration of Plasma-Polymer Nanostructures

In this paper, the transition from smooth layer to nanostructured one during plasma deposition of polyaniline is demonstrated. The deposition mechanism at low discharge power allows obtaining a smooth layer with well-defined chemical structure while high discharge power gives a structured layer but does not preserve the monomer structure. A method giving the possibility to overcome these problems by combination of high- and low-power deposition is described. Obtained layers are investigated by FT-IR spectrometry, profilometry, and atomic force microscopy.