Synthesis and characterization of novel acrylic comb-shaped copolymer containing long fluorinated side chains

A novel acrylic comb-shaped copolymer containing long fluorinated side chains (ACCLF) was successfully synthesized by conventional radical polymerization of a novel mono-methacryloyloxy terminated fluorinated macromonomer (PHFBMA-MA), methyl methacrylate (MMA), isobutyl acrylate (IBA), and γ-methacryl propyl trimethoxyl silane (MPTS). GPC, FTIR, and 1 H-NMR data successfully verified the synthesis. The influence of both the molecular weight and concentration of PHFBMA-MA on the surface properties of ACCLF films was investigated. By increasing both the concentration and the molecular weight of PHFBMA-MA, the surface energy of the films decreased and contact angle increased. The surface energy of ACCLF-1/3-8 with just 8 wt% PHFBMA-MA-1/3 (20.68 mN/m) was almost the same as that of the neat PHFBMA (20.36 mN/m), indicating the high efficiency of the macromonomer in lowering the surface energy of the comb-shaped copolymer. The surface composition of ACCLF was characterized and quantified by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). XPS results strongly confirmed that, at the same fluorinated content, long fluorinated chains modified film (9.36 % fluorine content for ACCLF-1/3-4 and 8.19 % fluorine content for ACCLF-1/6-4) showed higher fluorine concentration at the top surface than that of ACSF-4 modified film (1.52 %). ACCLF films also had excellent adhesion [on glass, tin plate, and polycarbonate (PC)], pencil hardness, and thermal properties. The novel ACCLF prepared via conventional radical polymerization not only had excellent comprehensive performance, but also has prominent potential application in large-scale industrialization.