Ultra-thin films of cationic amphiphilic poly(2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate) based block copolymers as surface wettability modifiers

Film Confinement Induced "Jump-Percolation" Wetting Transition in Amphiphilic Block Copolymer Films

We report a first-order like sharp surface wettability transition with varying film thickness dependent morphology in cast films of an amphiphilic triblock copolymer. Films composed of poly(2-(N-ethylperfluorooctanesulfonamido) ethyl methyl acrylate), poly(FOSM), and poly(N,N'-dimethyl acrylamide), poly(DMA), with thickness (h) in the transition-range, 200 < h < 300 nm, exhibited an abrupt hydrophobic to hydrophilic dynamic water contact angle transition. After an induction time, ti ≈ 40 to 180 s, water contact angle varied as θc ≈ 116° to 40° with an ultrafast contact angle decay time constant, [Formula: see text] ≈ -18°/s. This behavior is a result of competing heterogeneous and antagonistic effects of bumpy poly(DMA) wetting domains against a nonwetting planar poly(FOSM) background, with a "jump percolation" wetting transition when the poly(DMA) domain density reaches unity. Outside of this film thickness range, relatively shallow decreasing water contact angle gradients were observed with a monotonically increasing poly(DMA) domain area coverage with increasing film thickness in the overall range of 40 nm (hydrophobic, θc ≈ 118°) < h < 500 nm (hydrophilic, θc ≈ 8°). The optical diffuse reflectance properties of these rough surfaces exhibit an onset of diffuse reflectance maxima correlated to the transition morphology film thickness.

Adsorption of PEO-PPO-PEO triblock copolymers with end-capped cationic chains of poly(2-dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate)

We study the adsorption of a symmetric triblock copolymer of ethylene oxide, EO, and propylene oxide, PO, end-capped with quarternized poly(2-dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate), DMAEMA (DMAEMA(24)-EO(132)PO(50)EO(132)-DMAEMA(24)). Light scattering and tensiometry are used to measure the relative size of the associated structures and surface excess at the air-liquid interface. The adsorbed amount, the amount of coupled water, and the viscoelasticity of the adsorbed polymer layer are measured on hydrophobic and hydrophilic surfaces (polypropylene, cellulose, and silica) by using quartz crystal microgravimetry (QCM) and surface plasmon resonance (SPR) at different ionic strengths and temperatures. The results of the experiments are compared with those obtained after adsorption of the uncharged precursor copolymer, without the cationic end-caps (EO(132)PO(50)EO(132)). DMAEMA(24)-EO(132)PO(50)EO(132)-DMAEMA(24) possesses higher affinity with the negatively charged silica and cellulose surfaces while the uncharged copolymer adsorbs to a larger extent on polypropylene surfaces. In this latter case, adsorption increases with increasing solution ionic strength and temperature. Adsorption of EO(132)PO(50)EO(132) on silica surfaces has little effect on the water contact angle (WCA), while adsorption of DMAEMA(24)-EO(132)PO(50)EO(132)-DMAEMA(24) increases the WCA of silica to 32°, indicating a large density of exposed PPO blocks upon adsorption. After adsorption of EO(132)PO(50)EO(132) and DMAEMA(24)-EO(132)PO(50)EO(132)-DMAEMA(24) on PP, the WCA is reduced by ≈14° and ≈28°, respectively, due to the exposed hydrophilic EO and highly water-soluble DMAEMA segments on the surfaces. The extent of surface coverage at saturation at the polypropylene/liquid interfaces (≈31 and 40 nm(2)/molecule obtained by QCM and SPR, respectively) is much lower, as expected, when compared with results obtained at the air/liquid interface, where a tighter packing is observed. The percentage of water coupled to the adsorbed cationic polymer decreases with solution ionic strength. Overall, these observations are ascribed to the effects of electrostatic screening, polymer hydrodynamic size, and solvency.

Modification of surface wettability through adsorption of partly fluorinated statistical and block polyelectrolytes from aqueous medium

The wetting properties of electrostatically charged hydrophilic substrates were modified through adsorption of ultrathin layer of amphiphilic block or statistical polyelectrolyte from aqueous medium. The studied polymers were copolymers of 2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA) and 2,2,2-trifluoroethyl methacrylate (TFEMA). They were adsorbed on mica from varying pH conditions, either as dissolved unimers or as kinetically trapped aqueous nanoparticles. The structures (by atomic force microscopy) and wetting properties (by dynamic contact angle measurements) of the obtained surface layers were determined. The majority of the surface layers consisted of polymeric nanoparticles with varying surface coverage. Annealing at 150 °C flattened and spread the particles on the surfaces. The surface wettability was found to be significantly influenced by the morphology and chemical composition of the obtained polymeric surface layer. The surfaces with the most homogeneous and smooth polymer layers exhibited the lowest contact angle hysteresis. The advancing/receding contact angles on the most hydrophilic copolymer layer on mica were 47°/<20°, and on the least hydrophilic layer they were 96°/63°. On unmodified mica surface the water contact angle is ∼0°. When those copolymers that provided the highest contact angles on mica were adsorbed on cellulose fiber substrates and annealed at 120 °C, highly hydrophobic surfaces were obtained, with advancing contact angles around 160°.

Polyelectrolyte multilayers containing triblock copolymers of different charge ratio

Multilayers formed by the sodium salt of poly(4-styrenesulfonate), PSS, and triblock copolymers of the form PDMAEMA-PCL-PDMAEMA (PDMAEMA corresponding to poly[2-(N,N-dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate), and PCL to poly(epsilon-caprolactone) have been built by layer-by-layer self-assembly from the aqueous polyelectrolyte solutions. Two types of block copolymers have been used which differ on the type of the amino groups, either hydrochloride or quaternized. This leads to changes in the charge density of the chains for the same content of amino groups. The growth of the multilayers has been followed using dissipative quartz crystal microbalance and ellipsometry techniques. The results show that, independently of the conditions used in the assembling, the film thickness grows linearly with the number of layers. The comparison of the thickness values obtained from D-QCM and ellipsometry has allowed us to calculate the water content of the polymer film. The analysis of the D-QCM data also provides the shear modulus, whose values are typical of a rubber-like polymer system. The analysis of the mass adsorbed calculated by the ellipsometric measurements indicated that the nature of the charge compensation mechanism is extrinsic for all the studied systems, although the degree of extrinsic compensation is strongly dependent on the copolymer used and the concentration in solution. Finally, it was found that the adsorption kinetic of the layers is bimodal for all the films built. Even though the characteristic adsorption times depend on the specific copolymer used, no dependence on the number of layers has been found for a given multilayer.