Creating stable hydrophobic surfaces by poly(butyl methacrylate) end- capped with 2-perfluorooctylethyl methacrylate units

It is a challenge to fabricate fluorine-containing polymer surface with low-energy properties and superior long-lasting barrier properties as well as lower fluorine content. In this paper, poly( butyl methacrylate) end-capped with 2-perfluorooctylethyl methacrylate units ( PBMA-ec-FMA), having the so-called push-me/pull-you structures, have been synthesized by ATRP and their surface properties were investigated. This structure was in favorable of the longer -(CF2)(7)CF3 moieties self-assembling on the polymer surface during film formation, which resulted in better chain alignment and packing of the longer -( CF2) 7CF3 moieties. Therefore, the contact angles of water and paraffin oil on the surface of the end-capped PBMA were 118 degrees and 84 degrees, respectively, approaching that of poly(2-perfluorooctylethyl methacrylate) homopolymer, even though the content of FMA was 0.34 mol% ( the average polymerization degree of PFMA units is 1). However, more than 9 mol% was necessary for the relative random copolymer (PBMA-r-PFMA) to reach these values of the contact angle. Regardless of the wetting properties, the end-capped PBMA by fluorinated methacrylate has better resistance to surface reconstruction than PBMA-rPFMA random copolymer even though FMA content in PBMA-ec-FMA is much lower than that in random copolymer. Therefore, it may be a facile method to create stable hydrophobic surfaces with lower price.