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Tunable surface chemistry and wettability of octafluorocyclobutane and acrylic acid copolymer combined LDPE substrate by pulsed plasma polymerization

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Abstract

Octafluorocyclobutane and acrylic acid (C4F8-co-AA) are plasma copolymerized onto low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and glass slides under various pulsation periods of radio frequency pulsed plasma. The surface wettability of plasma polymer coating is traditionally considered as a substrate-independent property. The combined effect of ultrathin C4F8-co-AA coatings and LDPE substrate on surface wettability is presented. The high concentration of the carboxylic acid functional groups gives rise to hydrophilicity via lowering duty cycle, and substrate impact gives rise to hydrophobicity for ultrathin coatings. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and coating thickness measurements confirmed that the sudden increase in water contact angle for the lower duty cycle is influenced by the hydrophobic substrate for ultrathin polymer coatings. It is highlighted that the precise control over the surface wettability is attained by tuning the plasma parameters. The substrate-dependent wettability for flat substrate persisted for longer than 8 weeks, which demonstrates wetting stability for ultrathin coatings.

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Acknowledgments

This work is supported by the projects supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos. 51611530706 and 51621064, the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program) under Grant No. 2015CB057306, the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities under Grant No. DUT16QY17, and the Chinese Government Scholarship under Grant No. 2013GXZE57.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Plasma Engineering Laboratory, Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials, Daejeon, 34103, Republic of Korea

    I. Muzammil & D. K. Dinh

  2. Surface Engineering Laboratory, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, 116024, China

    Y. P. Li, X. Y. Li & M. K. Lei

  3. School of Physics, Key Laboratory of Materials Modification by Laser, Ion and Electron Beams (Ministry of Education), Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, 116024, China

    M. Imran & H. Sattar

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  1. I. Muzammil
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Muzammil, I., Li, Y.P., Li, X.Y. et al. Tunable surface chemistry and wettability of octafluorocyclobutane and acrylic acid copolymer combined LDPE substrate by pulsed plasma polymerization. J Coat Technol Res 17, 621–632 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11998-019-00244-z

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