The effect of perfluoroalkyl and hydrocarbon liquid chain lengths on oleophobic behaviors of copolymer surfaces

In this work, the effect of wt.% of perfluoroalkyl content and also hydrocarbon chain length on oleophobic properties of perfluoroethyl alkyl methacrylate-methyl methacrylate (Zonyl-TM-MMA) copolymers was investigated. The wetting performance of p(Zonyl-TM-ran-MMA) copolymer films by hydrocarbon liquids was found to be strongly depended on perfluoroalkyl chain lengths. Besides, increase in hydrocarbon chain length also caused an increase in contact angle results of p(Zonyl-TM-ran-MMA) copolymer films due to the stronger cohesion interactions of liquid molecules and this resulted in weaker adhesion interactions between copolymer surface and hydrocarbon drop. It was also discovered that contact angle hysteresis, Delta cos theta, values of copolymers depend on both wt.% Zonyl-TM content and also hydrocarbon chain length of liquids. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.