Electric Field Effect of the Plasma-Initiated Polymerization of Methyl Methacrylate: A Negatively Charged Long-Lived Radical

Plasma-initiated polymerization (PIP) is generally attributed to a radical process due to its inhibiting property. However, its unique polymerization behaviors like long-lived radical and solvent effect do not comply well with the traditional radical mechanism. Herein, the PIP of methyl methacrylate (MMA) was conducted in a high-voltage DC electric field to investigate the charged nature of its radicals. Consequently, the polymerization presented a preferential distribution of polymers at the anode but not the cathode, revealing the negatively charged nature of the growing radicals. An acceleration phenomenon, accompanied by the growth in molecular weights and the reduction in molecular weight distributions (Ð), was observed at the voltages above 16 kV, suggesting the dissociation of ion pairs of growing radicals. The PIP yielded PMMA with analogous chemical and steric structures to those of PMMA from traditional radical initiation, whether in the presence or absence of the external electric field. This work offers new insights into the PIP of vinyl monomers, wherein a one-electron transfer reaction is inferred to be involved in the monomer activation.