Hydrophobic thin fluoropolymer coating on cotton surfaces

ABSTRACT

We report a simple novel procedure to prepare hydrophobic cotton textiles by admicellar polymerization. By in situ introducing fluoropolymer on cotton fibers to generate a dual-size surface roughness, followed by hydrophobization with a little amount of fluoromonomer Octafluoropentamethyl methacrylate (OFPM) with short time, normally hydrophilic cotton has been easily turned into hydrophobic. Hydrophobic cotton textile exhibits a static water contact angle of 124° for a 10 µl droplet. When an octa fluoroalkyl chain is introduced to the cotton surface, the originally smooth surface changed immediately to rough surface which is the key factor for hydrophobicity like lotus leaves.

KEYWORDS:

• Admicellar polymerization
• contact angle
• fluoropolymer