We examined the possibility of the
surface modification of hydrophobic polystyrene (PS) and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) by
ozone aeration,
UV irradiation and combination of
ozone aeration and UV irradiation (
ozone/UV) in distilled water. The
surface states of treated films and particles were investigated by means of contact angle, atomic force microscopy (AFM) and FT-IR measurements. According to the contact angle measurements, the values of the contact angle of ultrapure water on treated PS films decreased with an increase in the elapsed time of the
treatments. The most remarkable decrease was seen in
ozone/UV
treatment. On the other hand, the contact angle on treated PMMA films slightly increased to an equal extent after three types of
treatments. The film and the particle
surfaces of PS with aromatic rings were found to be well modified with hydroxyl (OH) and carbonyl (C
O) groups and to give the most remarkable effects in
ozone/UV
treatments, whereas those of PMMA with no aromatic ring were hardly modified, merely resulting in a slight disorder in their
surface roughness. The experimental results on
surface modification of PS and PMMA revealed that the
ozone/UV
treatment in distilled water is usable as one of the useful techniques for the
surface modification of polymers with aromatic rings.