Journal
AICHE JOURNAL
Volume 62, Issue 5, Pages 1758-1771Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1002/aic.15145
Keywords
soft matter; fluorinated polymer; Cu(0)-mediated reversible-deactivation radical polymerization; pH-responsive hydrophilic surface; oil/water separation
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Funding
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [21276213, U1462101]
- National Ministry of Science and Technology of China [2012CB21500402]
- National High Technology Research and Development Program of China [2013AA032302]
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Interest in functional soft matter with stimuli-responsive wettability has increasingly intensified in recent years. From the chemical product engineering viewpoint, this study aims to fabricate reversible pH-responsive polymeric surfaces with controllable wettability using [poly(2,2,3,4,4,4-hexafluorobutyl methacrylate)-block-poly(acrylic acid) (PHFBMA-b-PAA)] block copolymers. To attain this aim, three block copolymers with different PAA segment lengths were synthesized for the first time through Cu(0)-mediated reversible-deactivation radical polymerization and hydrolysis reaction. pH-induced controllable wettability was achieved by spin-coating the resulting block copolymers onto silicon wafers. Results showed that the pH-responsive wetting behavior was introduced by incorporating the PAA block, and that the responsiveness of as-fabricated surfaces was greatly influenced by PAA content. All three evolutions of water contact angle with pH shared a similar inflection point at pH 5.25. Furthermore, on the basis of the wetting properties and mechanism understanding, the application of copolymer coated meshes in layered water/oil separation was exploited. Given their superhydrophilicity and underwater superoleophobicity, PHFBMA(70)-b-PAA(148) and PHFBMA(70)-b-PAA(211) coated stainless steel meshes (SSMs) can efficiently separate water from different mixtures of organic solvent and water with high flux. However, considering long-term use, the PHFBMA(70)-b-PAA(148) coated SSM with good stability may be the best copolymer for water/oil separation. Therefore, a coordination of structure, composition, and functionality was necessary to enable practical applications of the functional materials. (C) 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers
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