Wettability of a Poly(vinylidene fluoride) Surface by a Pure Good Solvent and a Good Solvent/Nonsolvent Mixture: All-Atom Molecular Dynamics Study.

Abstract

This study investigated the wettability of poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) surfaces by a good pure solvent and a good solvent/nonsolvent mixture based on all-atom molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. In particular, droplets of pure N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) and of mixed NMP/water molecules were brought into contact with both crystalline and amorphous PVDF surfaces. The contact angles of the macroscopic droplets on the crystalline surface were higher and those on the amorphous surface were lower than the experimental values. As the PVDF sheet surface is a mixture of crystalline and amorphous phases, the experimental contact angles being between those on crystalline and amorphous surfaces is reasonable. On the crystalline surface, the decrease in the contact angle with increasing NMP concentration in the droplets can be explained by the increase in the NMP density near the solid-liquid interface. On the amorphous surface, however, the contact angle is strongly affected by the swelling of PVDF by the mixed droplets at high NMP concentrations. The solvation free energy of PVDF in NMP is greater than that in water, suggesting that this may be a driving force of the swelling of the amorphous PVDF. Furthermore, when the Cassie equation for mixed crystalline and amorphous surfaces was assumed, the calculated contact angle corresponded well with the experimental value.