| Abstract
| - Plasma treatment of polymer surfaces is used to control the generation of topological surface structures: stripes, starlike morphologies, and pinnacles in the range from 100 nm up to several micrometers. Theseprotrusions arise when the plasma-treated polymer surface is exposed to an organic solvent (liquid or vaporphase). The distribution density and the height of the observed structures on the surface are functionsof the power density of the plasma reactor and the exposure time to the plasma, the duration of thedevelopment process, the type of the polymer, and its manufacturing. We suggest that the structures aregenerated by selective swelling of less cross-linked areas within the polymer surface and not byrearrangement or dissolution of polymer chain fragments created by plasma, or by amphiphilic moietiesdue to oxidation as a consequence of plasma treatment.
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