Preparation and investigation of waterborne fluorinated polyacrylate/silica nanocomposite coatings

Abstract

Abstract Fluorinated polyacrylate/silica nanocomposite particles were synthesized by methyl methacrylate (MMA), butyl acrylate (BA) and 1H,1H,2H,2H-heptadecafluorodecyl methacrylate (FA) via in situ miniemulison polymerization. Morphology of nanocomposite particles, surface microstructure, chemical composition, hydrophobicity, transparency and thermal performance of the films were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), water contact angle, Fourier transform infrared spectra (FT-IR), ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy (UV–vis), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and thermogravimetry (TGA) analyses. It is shown that the fluorinated polyacrylate/silica nanocomposite particles present “currunt-bun like” morphology. The hydrophobicity of fluorinated polyacrylate film was increased after incorporation of silica, which was due to the surface enrichment of fluorine and rough surface of the nanocomposite film. Moreover, the fluorinated polyacrylate/silica nanocomposite films exhibited high transparency in visible light range.