Surface wettability of amphiphilic fluorinated polymer thin films

The surface wettability of amphiphilic fluorinated polymer poly(N-1H,1H-pentadecafluorooctylmethacrylamide), (pC7F15MAA) films was investigated. Nanostructured fluorinated polymer pC7F15MAA films were prepared using two bottom-up methods: Langmuir–Blodgett technique and dropcasting. The pC7F15MAA LB films show quite smooth surfaces as low as the surface roughness of 1.16 nm, and the surface has a water contact angle (WCA) of 118°, indicating that the surface is occupied by the CF3 groups. Dropcasting provides pC7F15MAA nanoparticle assemblies with the surface roughness of 230 nm and a WCA of 163°. Results imply that bottom-up approaches with amphiphilic fluorinated polymer are effective to construct nanostructures, thereby controlling the surface wettability.