Abstract
Original perfluoropolyether (PFPE)-based oligomeric polyurethanes (FOPUs) with different macromolecular architecture were synthesized (in one step) as low-surface-energy materials. It is demonstrated that the oligomers, especially the ones terminated with CF3 moieties, can be employed as safer replacements to long-chain perfluoroalkyl substances/additives. The FOPU macromolecules, when added to an engineering thermoplastic (polyethylene terephthalate, PET) film, readily migrate to the film surface and bring significant water and oil repellency to the thermoplastic boundary. The best performing FOPU/PET films have reached the level of oil wettability and surface energy significantly lower than that of polytetrafluoroethylene, a fully perfluorinated polymer. Specifically, the highest level of the repellency is observed with an oligomeric additive, which was made using aromatic diisocyanate as a comonomer and has CF3 end-group. This semicrystalline oligomer has a glass transition temperature (Tg) well above room temperature, and we associate the superiority of the material in achieving low water and oil wettability with its ability to effectively retain CF3 and CF2 moieties in contact with the test wetting liquids.
Highlights
This work focuses on attaining water and oil repellency of engineering thermoplastics, such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET), with the addition of perfluoropolyethers (PFPEs)based oligomeric polyurethanes
We report on the synthesis, properties, and wettability of the original PFPEbased polyurethane oligomers (FOPUs) designed to serve as low-surface energy non-LCPFA additives to impart water and oil repellency to engineering thermoplastics
The materials and experimental details for FOPUs synthesis and structural characterization are provided in Supporting Information (SI: S1–S3)
Summary
This work focuses on attaining water and oil repellency of engineering thermoplastics, such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET), with the addition of perfluoropolyethers (PFPEs)based oligomeric polyurethanes. While the additives reported by us were remarkably effective in delivering the low surface energy CF3 (γ ≈ 6 mN/m) [9,10] and CF2 (γ ≈ 18 mN/m) [9,10] moieties to the material surface, it was necessary to employ an elaborated multistep synthetic procedure to obtain the macromolecules (molecular brushes and triblock polyesters) With this in mind, we report on the synthesis, properties, and wettability of the original PFPEbased polyurethane oligomers (FOPUs) designed to serve as (easy-to-make in one step) low-surface energy non-LCPFA additives to impart water and oil repellency to engineering thermoplastics. The obtained blended films demonstrated low wettability with water and hexadecane depending on the oligomer composition, confirming the efficiency of our polymer modification strategy We expect that this surface modification method can be readily transferred to a number of other essential thermoplastic polymers
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