A novel main chain benzoxazine polymer with the ability of UV-induced self-surface modification

In this paper, a series of benzophenone-based polybenzoxazine (PBD) was synthesized through the formation of oxazine rings, and the structures of the obtained polymers were confirmed by FTIR, 1H NMR and UV–visible analysis. As the existence of benzophenone units in the main chain, PBD could initiate photopolymerization of various monomers. The photo-initiative behavior of PBD was tested by differential scanning photocalorimetry, which shows the high photopolymerization efficiency. Meanwhile, PBD could be used as film substrates for initiating photopolymerization of the monomers and change the surface performance without additional initiator. Through this method, the surface properties of PBD film could be tailored conveniently. The surface wettability modifications through the surface photo-polymerization of styrene (St) and N-isopropyl acrylamide (NiPAM) were carried out for example, and the surface properties were investigated by water contact angle measurements (WCA), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Atom Force Microscopy (AFM) and the results showed that the surface properties PBD film could be well designed by selecting different kind of monomer through photopolymerization to realize an easy-tuned surface with desired wettability required.