Self-assembly of well-defined thermo-responsive fluoropolymer and its application in tunable wettability surface

- Fabricating tunable wettability surface on cotton fabrics by dip-coating into thermal-responsive fluoro-copolymer micelle.
- Cotton fiber dipped in cold micelle with uniform spheres is smooth and hydrophobic.
- Surface dipped in hot micelle with irregular particles is rough and hydrophilic.

A facile and effective strategy for fabricating a tunable wettability surface on cotton fabrics by dip-coating into self-assembled fluoro-copolymer micelle of poly(hexafluorobutyl methacrylate)-b-poly(oligo(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate) is developed. The micelle solution, exhibiting thermal-responsive property with uniform spheres at 20 °C and irregular particles at above 50 °C, shows switchable wetting behaviors at different dipping and drying temperatures due to the changeable chemical structure of responsive polymer on fibers. The cotton fabric processed in cold micelle is smooth caused by the self-assembled structure of thermal-responsive micelle with fluorinated parts on the outmost fiber-layer, and it also has high fluorine content and good hydrophobic property. While the one treated in hot micelle is rough, and has good hydrophilic property due to the outmost layer of hydrophilic PEG segments on fibers. This work provides a simple strategy to construct controllable wettability surface and makes a great application potential in household commodity, industrial products and other smart complex materials.

A facile and effective strategy for fabricating a tunable wettability surface on cotton fabrics by dip-coating into self-assembled thermal-responsive fluoro-copolymer micelle is investigated. The surface of dried cotton fiber dipped in cold micelle with uniform spherical particles is smooth and hydrophobic with low surface energy fluorinated parts on the outmost layer, while that dipped in hot micelle with irregular particles is rough and hydrophilic with outmost layer of hydrophilic PEG segments on fibers.202