Institute for Data Analysis and Visualization

The polymerization of ethylene on surfaces sequentially dosed with TiCl4 and trimethylaluminum was studied by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The polymer film was observed in situ as a function of time and under the influence of 254-nm cw radiation. The rate of polyethylene are strongly dependent on the order of dosing and the partial pressure of the reactants that demonstrated to occur through two seperate photochemical channels; gas-phase photolysis of the reactants and solid-phase chemical transformation of a noncatalytic thin film.