Surface immobilization of perfluorinated acrylate copolymers by self-crosslinking

Perfluorinated acrylate copolymers with methyl methacrylate (MMA), n-butyl acrylate (n-BA) and sodium 2-acrylamide-2-methyl propanesulfonate (AMPSNa) as comonomers were successfully prepared by soap-free emulsion polymerization, using vinyltriethoxysilane as a crosslinking agent. The structure and surface morphologies of this self-crosslinking copolymer were characterized by FT-IR, NMR, DSC, TGA, and AFM, respectively. Further studies were directed at determining the influence of crosslinking on the physical properties of perfluorinated acrylate copolymers. It was found that the properties of anti-water and anti-solvent, as well as values of contact angle for water/oil, were improved with increasing extend of crosslinking, achieving to alleviate contact angle hysteresis.