28006 2013 eng 388 395 4 10 article Wiley-VCH Verl. Weinheim 1 -- -- -- Nitrogen rich plasma polymer films (L-PPE:N) were prepared by low-pressure RF plasma using a 1:1 mixture of ethylene and ammonia and aged for 345 d in four different ambient conditions: (i) at room temperature (RT) in air; (ii) at RT in nitrogen; (iii) at -20?°C in air and; (iv) at –20 °C in nitrogen. The films were analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and by time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) at various intervals over the duration of the experiment. The ageing of primary amines, NH2, was followed by chemical derivatization with 4-trifluoromethyl benzaldehyde. Storage at –20 °C, mostly independently of ambient atmosphere, slowed down ageing to almost undetectable levels as evaluated by the analytical methods used for this study. Plasma processes and polymers 30849 10.1002/ppap.201200118 1612-8850 1612-8869 11.04.2013 0 P.-L. Girard-Lauriault Paul Dietrich Thomas Gross Thomas Wirth Wolfgang Unger eng uncontrolled Ageing eng uncontrolled Plasma polymers eng uncontrolled Primary amines eng uncontrolled ToF-SIMS eng uncontrolled XPS Verlagsliteratur Datei im Netzwerk der BAM verfügbar ("Closed Access")