Superhydrophobic Films Fabricated by Electrospraying Poly(methyl methacrylate)-b-poly(dodecafluoroheptyl methacrylate) Diblock Copolymers

We present the fabrication of superhydrophobic surfaces by electrospraying structure controlled poly(methyl methacrylate-bromine) (PMMA-Br) homopolymer and degree of fluorination controlled poly(methyl methacrylate)-b-poly(dodecafluoroheptyl methacrylate) (PMMA-b-PDFMA) copolymers synthesized via atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). The flow rate has great effects on the surface hydrophobicity of PMMA(50.6), and superhydrophobic surface was obtained at a higher flow rate of 5 mu L/min. For fluorinated diblock copolymers, superhydrophobic surfaces can be obtained by electrospraying PMMA(50.6)-b-PDFMA(0.8) and PMMA(147.9)-b-PDFMA(17.5) at the selected flow rates. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) detections the film formation, more hydrophobic surfaces would be fabricated due to the surface segregations of C-C and C-H groups with THF as solvent instead of C-O C=O group with DMF as solvent. This investigation may be of great value in fabricating superhydrophobic polymer materials.