This diploma thesis is focused on preparation and characterization of parylene C barrier properties. The layers were prepared by chemical vapour deposition (CVD). The interest in characterization of those layers is huge mainly because of their possible use in museology for the protection of the museum archives against the corrosion. Chlorinated dimer of para-xylylene was used as a precursor. Polypropylene foils, metal sheets and silica wafers were used as tested substrates for thin film preparation. Polypropylene foils were used for oxygen transmission rate measurements, metal sheets were used for corrosion tests and silica wafers were used for Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and stylus profilometry.

Every year, many archeological findings are discovered. It is necessary to document and conserve these items dug up from the ground. However, archeologists and conservators cannot handle such a big amount of newly found items. This work offers an alternative approach to standard conservation techniques, increasing the processing capacity and lowering the cost on items’ conservation. Studied alternative, mainly for protection of metallic artefacts, includes thin films based on parylene and organosilicons. Thin films were prepared on two experimental apparatuses. Parylene films were deposited by chemical vapour deposition (CVD). Final product was a thin film of parylene C. Organosilicon thin films were deposited via plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD). PECVD apparatus operates with capacitively coupled radiofrequently initiated plasma. Using hexamethyldisiloxane, thin films very similar to silicon dioxide were produced, thus called SiOx. Thin films were characterized by several methods and compared to standard treatment used by conservators – tannate layer, acrylic furnish Paraloid B72 and microcrystalline wax Revax 30. Parylene films showed excellent conformity and resistance to corrosion on iron substrate. First signs of corrosion were observed on layer of 5 µm thickness after 24 hours in salt fog. On samples coated by SiOx films, corrosion was spreading wide even during 1st hour of the corrosion test. Most probable cause was that SiOx film has thermal expansion coefficient different from iron substrate and due to this fact cracking occurs during cooling down of the treated substrate. On samples coated by standard treatment, corrosion occurred after 1-3 hours of the test. Oxygen transmission rate (OTR) measurements (performed on polypropylene substrate) confirmed good barrier properties of parylene C. Best parylene thin films had OTR approximately 170 cm3•m-2•atm-1•day-1. SiOx films reached good results with OTR 300 cm3•m-2•atm-1•day-1, compared to clean polypropylene substrate with OTR 1700 cm3•m-2•atm-1•day-1. Standard conservation layers could not be applied on polypropylene substrate, thus their OTR was not measured. We did not succeed in finding a substrate which is compatible for all types of treatments. Next, the study focused on combinations of thin films forming sandwich structures. All types let the corrosion attack the substrate during the 1st hour of the test. The cause was insufficient film thickness as well as crack ing of SiOx films due to different thermal expansion properties from the iron substrate. Although SiOx thin films were not deposited on substrate directly, they have excellent adhesion to parylenu and thus they could tear parylenu films due to thermal expansion. However, OTR measurements showed improvement in barrier properties. Multilayer parylene C–SiOx–parylene C–SiOx had OTR 5 cm3•m-2•atm-1•day-1. Final result is that parylene C thin films have better barrier properties than standard coatings and are suitable for conservation of metallic archaeological artefacts. SiOx films and multilayers showed poor anticorrosion protection of metallic substrates but they have good barrier and chemical properties in combination with other types of substrates. Mainly deposited on polymers, there is great potential for their application in many fields. Further research would be focused on new substrates for SiOx thin films and on the improvement of UV stability of parylene films.

The theme of this work is the preparation and characterization of multilayer barrier coatings to polymer and metal substrates based on SiOx and organic molecules. It deals with the determination of their properties in terms of oxygen permeability and corrosion protection. The starting materials for the preparation of these layers are hexamethyldisiloxane, octafluorocyclobutane and 4,12-dichloro[2.2]paracyclophane. These layers have been prepared with regard to their use as barrier coatings for use in archeology, with the focus on corrosion protection of coated items and other specific requirements museums. For these samples was realized characteristic of both in terms of their physical properties – the ability to resist permeation of oxygen and in terms of their chemical composition. The fourier transformation infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning elektron microscopy (SEM), oxygen transmission rate (OTR), contac angle measurement and corrosion testing were used for the above-mentioned characterisations.

Combinations of different acrylic resins and microcrystalline waxes are most often used for the conservation and preservation of metallic archaeological artefacts these days. However, their properties are not sufficient and satisfactory in many ways. Therefore, the aim of this doctoral thesis is to develop a conservation system which will draw on the new knowledge gained in the field of advanced materials and technologies during last years. A conservation coating based on a thin barrier film appears the most promising. The conservation coating must fulfil particularly following rather contradictory requirements: good barrier function against oxygen, humidity and other corrosive agents; transparency because of colour appearance preservation; long term stability and easy removability; possibility to apply to more objects at the same time and reasonable financial requirements of a deposition process. Parylene C polymer was chosen as suitable material for this purpose. It was prepared via modified chemical vapour deposition. Parylene removability was ensured through the soluble interlayer made of Laksil silicone-acrylic lacquer which was applied between the protected metallic object and the parylene thin film. Initially, the deposition process of Laksil/parylene bilayer was optimized, then its physical and chemical characteristics were determined and eventually, they were compared with the conventional conservation coating composed of Paraloid B72 acrylic resin and Revax microcrystalline wax. Regarding to the demands of the conservation coating, we were interested especially in barrier properties, optical properties, surface morphology and removability of Laksil/parylene bilayer. The most useful method for description of coating barrier properties was corrosion testing in which coated metallic samples were exposed to highly corrosive environment of salt spray (made of 50 g•l–1 brine), 100% humidity and temperature of 35 °C (ISO 9227). The Laksil/parylene bilayer showed excellent barrier properties; samples treated this way sustained unchanged in the corrosion chamber for almost three months. The surface roughness measured by profilometry and surface morphology scanned by SEM illustrated the synergy between Laksil and parylene layer which leads to the exceptional barrier and anticorrosion function of bilayer. The Laksil layer is able to flatten out rough surface of a substrate. Furthermore, it can toughen the item surface which is, in case of a number of archaeological findings, created by corrosion product layers with variable mechanical strength. Thereon deposited parylene film becomes smooth and defect free and can act as a good diffusion barrier. The colouristic measurements confirmed that the Laksil/parylene bilayer does not almost change the appearance of protected item, in terms of colour. The caused colour difference (ISO 11664-4) ranged around 1 which value is defined as “perceivable only for experienced observers”. The Laksil/parylene bilayer is removable thanks to the Laksil solubility in xylene. It is necessary to carefully scratch the outer parylene film to enable access of xylene solvent to the lacquer. The successful removal of Laksil/parylene bilayer was first confirmed by the EDX on metallic iron samples. Afterwards, the possibility of bilayer complete removal even from a corroded surface of the original artefact was proved by TGA. Thus the conservation treatment can be considered fully reversible.

Pokrok ve vývoji nanotechnologií nám poskytuje dobrou příležitost k vývoji nových špičkových zařízení. Tato práce si klade za cíl vyrobit, popsat a změřit grafenové pH senzory na dvou různých substrátech - polymeru parylenu C a SiO2. Tento pH senzor je prvním krokem ve vývoji nositelné náplasti monitorující stav kůže a možné infekce. Grafen je 2D materiál na bázi uhlíku se zajímavými vlastnosti a nadějnými aplikacemi. Úspěšně jsme provedli dva různé experimenty sloužící k charakterizaci grafenových senzorů a jejich odezvu na různé hodnoty pH. V prvním experimentu jsme použili horní elektrolytické hradlo k určení bodu neutrality (Diracův bod). Druhý experiment popsal změnu rezistence grafenu jako funkce pH. Dále jsme také funkcionalizovali grafen polyanilinem, abychom zlepšili jeho vlastnosti. Prokázali jsme citlivost grafenových senzorů na pH pro oba substráty a objevili jsme několik výzev jako potřebu kontroly iontové síly, experimentů samotných a destrukce grafenu.

Neural implants have been developed to aid with different neurological disorders. Although there are neural implants that are used to treat patients today, there is still room for improvement in the field. The material used in neuroprosthetics is of particular importance and could lead to problems, if the material stiffness does not match the one of the tissue. Hence, soft and flexible implants are important to decrease the discrepancy between the tissue and the implants. Different materials have been used as substrates to make the implants soft, some materials are even biodegradable. Further, the design of the implants is also of importance to make the devices flexible. In this thesis, optimisation of the substrate layer for a photovoltaic cortical implant was performed. The degradation of PLGA as a potential material used as a substrate layer, was investigated. Moreover, for improvement of the design Parylene C was used. Mechanical and electrical tests were done to investigate how the manipulation of the devices affects their performance. The results showed that the degradation of PLGA started after 600 h. Further, the best shape and the width of the bridges, that was the Parylene C strips connecting the photovoltaic cells were chosen, as well as the thickness of Parylene C. The mechanical and electrical results indicated that the number of cycles does not affect the material performance as much, where the highest number. of cycles was 10000 cycles. As compared to the effect of the manual handling of the devices. / Neurala implantat har utvecklats för att hjälpa till vid olika neurologiska sjukdomar. Även om neurala implantat används för att behandla patienter i dag finns det fortfarande utrymme för förbättringar på detta område. Materialet som används i neuroproteser är särskilt viktigt och kan leda till problem om materialets styvhet inte motsvarar vävnadens styvhet. Därför är mjuka och flexibla implantat viktiga för att minska klyftan mellan vävnaden och implantaten. Olika material har använts som substrat för att göra mjuka implantat, vissa material är till och med biologiskt nedbrytbara. Dessutom, är implantatens design också viktig för att göra enheterna flexibla. I den här rapporten optimerades substratskiktet för ett solcells kortikalimplantat. Nedbrytningen av PLGA som ett potentiellt material som kan användas som substratskikt undersöktes. Dessutom användes Parylen C för optimering av konstruktionen. Mekaniska och elektriska tester utfördes för att undersöka hur manipuleringen av enheterna påverkar deras prestanda. Resultaten visade att nedbrytningen av PLGA började efter 600 h. Vidare valdes den bästa formen och bredden på broarna, dvs. de Parylen C-remsor som förbinder solcellerna, samt tjockleken på Parylen C. De mekaniska och elektriska resultaten visade att antalet cykler inte påverkar materialets prestanda särskilt mycket, med det högsta antalet cykler på 10 000 cykler. Jämfört med effekten av den manuella hanteringen av enheterna.

Poly-p-xylylene is a basic polymer of parylene family. It was discovered in 50s of the 20th century. In practical applications, there are used several derivates. Most of them are discussed in this thesis. Poly-p-xylylene has many utility properties, like barrier, thermal and mechanical properties. It can be used for conservation and protection of electronic equipments, medical tools and devices or museum exhibits. The most important property of parylene is its low dielectric constant which enables parylene to have good insulating properties in form of very thin layer. The most common precursor used for parylene coatings by Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) is [2,2]paracyclophane. Special device invented for this process was described in this thesis, including every part and assembly. The main aim of this thesis was to test properties of thin parylene layers on metal samples. High degree of polymer crystallinity was confirmed by confocal laser microscopy and optical microscopy in the polarized light measurements. Problems in the conventional method of production of parylene layers were found during the measurement of thickness of layers. Purity of deposited films was determined using Infrared spectroscopy (IR). Parylene barrier properties were quantified by the measurement of Oxygen Transmission Rate through a layer deposited on the surface of PP foil. Because the research has been mainly focused on protection of museum exhibits, the corrosion resistance test is the most important. Metal samples with thin parylene film were compared to samples with conventional restoration coating. The samples with parylene protection were slowly corroded by point corrosion. In contrast to them, the samples conserved by conventional restoration method were almost destroyed by corrosion.

This thesis describes optimization and modification of standard thick-film electrochemical sensor to be able to be used for detection in microvolumes. In the theoretical part, the thick film technology is described. The work is then focused on the wettability of surfaces followed by introduction to electrochemistry and electro-analytical methods. In the experimental part, screen-printing of various types of thick film pastes on ceramic substrates for determination of their wettability and the following modification of the sensors with thick-film paste and with Parylene vaporization can be found, as well as the basic electrochemical measurements in microvolume using the modified sensor. Finally the results are summarized in conclusion.

Adhezní schopnosti gekona byly předmětem mnoha studií a inspirací pro vytvoření mnoha napodobenin. Tato práce navrhuje vlastní verzi umělých gekoních struktur ve tvaru mikroskopických pilířů, které by vykazovaly adhezní vlastnosti srovnatelné s tlapkou gekona. Vyrobeny byli struktury z polymeru Parylen C pomocí fotolitografie a technik na leptání křemíku. Dalším cílem bylo různými metodami pro modifikaci povrchu a charakterizaci vytvořených struktur, které určí adhezní síly těchto povrchů, před a po modifikacích.