Synthesis and properties of perfluorinated conjugated polymers based on polyethylenedioxythiophene, polypyrrole, and polyfluorene. Toward surfaces with special wettabilities

The electrochemical deposition of organic materials is a convenient and straightforward method that affords rough films in mild conditions. The presence Of fluorinated chains covalently attached oil the polymer backbone allows the control of the second criterion which plays a role on the wetting properties of the surface, that is, the chemical composition. By modification of the nature of the polymer, films with different surface energies were obtained. Thus, original semifluorinated polypyrrole (PPy-RFn), polyfluorene (PFI-RFn), and polyethylenedioxythiciphene (PEDOT-RFn) have been chemically and electrochemically synthesized and characterized. On one hand, the chemical polymerization affords highly fluorinated soluble polymers. Soluble PFI-RFn exhibits blue fluorescence in solution while soluble PEDOT-RFn presents optical properties similar to those of PEDOT. Consequently, they represent interesting candidates for optical devices (OLEDs for PFI-RFn, electrochromic materials for PEDOT-RFn). On the other hand, surface properties have been investigated oil the electroformed polymers by goniometry and microscopy. Fluorinated surfaces of electrodeposited polypyrrole, like polythiophene, give birth to high hydrophobic and oleophobic surfaces, while the use of polyethylenedioxythiophene as the polymer increases Sufficiently the surface energy to get combined superhydrophobicity and superoleophilicity. The influence of the chemical composition is discussed through the comparison of the wetting properties of polyethylenedioxythiophene and semifluorinated polythiophene and polyethylenedioxythiophene.