Surface modification of amorphous substrates by disulfide derivatives: A photo-assisted route to direct functionalization of chalcogenide glasses

A novel route for chalcogenide glass surface modification is disclosed. The formation of an organic monolayer from disulfide derivatives is studied on two different glasses of formula GexAsySez by water contact angle measurement, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy in attenuated total reflection mode (FTIR-ATR). The potential anchoring group is the disulfide functionality. Since thioctic acid derivatives absorb around 335 nm, an irradiation step is included, in order to favor S–S disruption. Three types of disulfide compounds are grafted onto small glass breaks for contact angle and XPS analyses. The results show effective changes of surface state. According to contact angle measurement, the deposited organic layer functionalized by a small polyethylene glycol chain leads to a more hydrophilic surface, long alkyl chain or a perfluorinated carbon chain leads to a more hydrophobic surface. XPS shows the presence at the surface of an organic layer with sulfur and ethylene oxide chains, or augmentation of organic carbons or fluorine and CF bonds. The photo-assisted grafting of the disulfides onto an ATR prism made of chalcogenide glass shows that this surface modification process does not affect infrared transparency, despite UV treatment, and accurate structural analysis can be performed.