Water-resistant surface modification of hydrophobic polymers with water-soluble surfactant additives

Colin P. Gibson, Matthew A. Litwinowicz, James P. Tellam, Rebecca J.L. Welbourn, Maximilian W.A. Skoda, Jan Claussen, Richard L. Thompson

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

Water-soluble nonionic surfactant, pentaethylene glycol monododecyl ether, C12 E5, spon-taneously blooms to the surface of spin-cast hydrophobic polyisoprenes, generating hydrophilic surfaces. This system provides a simple model for hydrophilic chemical modification of rubbery polymers that demonstrates surprisingly rich, complex, and unexpected behaviour. The vertical depth profiles were quantified using neutron reflectometry (NR) using a novel procedure to ac-count for undulations in the film thickness. Surface properties were characterized using contact angle analysis and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Despite the low surface tension of the toluene solvent used in film preparation and the low surface energy of the polyisoprene (PI) matrix, NR depth profiles revealed clear evidence of surfactant segregation. This surface layer was typically thicker than a monolayer, but incomplete, yet was remarkably stable with respect to dissolution, even when exposed to hundreds of thousands of times the volume of water required to dissolve all the surfactant on the surface. Despite the apparent resistance to removal from the surface, water exposure does alter the subsequent wettability of the surface, with a hydrophilic-to-hydrophobic transition occurring after rinsing. Complementary AFM images of these C12 E5 /cis-PI films showed unexpected strand-like features on the surface of the film, which we attribute to a non-uniform lateral distribution of some of the surfactant. This surface structure becomes more evident after rinsing, and it appears that there are two distinct populations of surfactant on the PI film surface. We conclude that some of the bloomed surfactant exists as layers, which are relatively inert with respect to rinsing or surface modification, and some is laterally inhomogeneous. This latter population is primarily responsible for surface wetting behaviour but is not detected by specular NR.

Original languageEnglish
Article number3407
JournalPolymers
Volume13
Issue number19
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 1 2021
Externally publishedYes

Funding

Funding: This research was funded by EPSRC/Procter and Gamble (UK) [EP/P007864/1] and the Soft Matter and Functional Interfaces CDT (SOFI-CDT) [EP/L015536/1]. This research was funded by EPSRC/Procter and Gamble (UK) [EP/P007864/1] and the Soft Matter and Functional Interfaces CDT (SOFI-CDT) [EP/L015536/1].We thank W.D. Carswell, Durham University, for the supporting thermal analysis (DSC) experiments.

FundersFunder number
Procter and GambleEP/P007864/1, EP/L015536/1
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
Durham University

    Keywords

    • Blooming
    • Hydrophobicity
    • Poly(isoprene)
    • Segregation
    • Surface modification
    • Surfactant

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