Enhancing interfacial bonding between the copper foil and poly-ether-ether-ketone film via dual modification using UV/ozone and silane coupling

In this study, copper foil and poly-ether-ether-ketone (PEEK) film were directly bonded using nanosecond lasers. To strengthen the interfacial bonding between the copper foil and PEEK, ultraviolet/ozone (UV/ozone) and silane coupling treatment (APTMS) methods were proposed to modify the surface of the copper foil. The UV/ ozone treatment led to the oxidation of the surface of the copper foil to Cu2O. The bonding interface and fracture were characterized and analyzed via optical digital microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The Cu/PEEK joints demonstrated a 95 % improvement in peel strength following UV/ ozone + silane coupling treatments. Additionally, the red shift of the typical functional group wavenumbers demonstrated a strong hydrogen bond interaction between the copper foil treated with UV/ozone + silane coupling and the PEEK film. The mechanism behind the superior peel strength of UV/ozone + ATPMS-Cu/PEEK joints was subsequently validated through the density functional theory (DFT) analysis. Moreover, DFT was utilized to calculate the differential charge transfer and binding energies of Cu/silanol and Cu2O/silanol. As per the results, the bonding of Cu2O to silanol was more stable than that of Cu to silanol.