Control of Interaction with Water Molecules Through Polymer Design

Abstract

The properties of polymer surface are impacted by their chemical structure and the mobilities of their chains. Herein, the author focused on the effect of the chemical structure and densities of their side chains. In poly(substituted methylene)s with various side chains, the side chains had effects on their surface free energies through their chain mobilities. The pentafluorosulfanyl groups possess hydrophobic properties same as the functional groups in the side chains. In contact with water, polymers form thin swollen layers at the topsurface. The hydrophobic properties of the pentafluorosulfarnyl groups and the other functional groups correlated to the thickness of the swollen top surface layers in water. Recently, the icephobic surface has also attracted much attention. For example, the formation of a non-frozen layer of the hydrophilic surface led to the icephobic properties and the liquid-like surface of the soft polydimethyl siloxane brush provided lower ice adhesion strength. In the future, the surface chemistry will be further developed.