Synthesis and properties of perfluorocarbon chain terminated poly(ether sulfone)

Abstract

Perfluorocarbon groups or related compounds are usually used to modify polymer materials because of their low surface energy properties. In this paper, a novel perfluorocarbon-containing compound was synthesized and used as a capping agent for the preparation of perfluorocarbon chain terminated poly(ether sulfone). The regulation of the fluorine content was achieved by controlling the molecular weight. FTIR and ¹H NMR spectra were used to confirm the existence of perfluorocarbon terminated groups in the polymer chains. In addition, the ratios of F/C were acquired by integral area calculation from the ¹H NMR spectrum. XPS characterization showed that the surface migration phenomenon of fluorine became apparent along with the increase of the F/C ratio. Further testing found that the introduction of perfluorinated end groups into the PES chains had little influence on the polymers' mechanical and thermal performance, by contrast, their surface energy decreased efficiently from approximately 40 mJ m⁻² to 16 mJ m⁻² with the F/C ratio on the surface increased from 0 to 0.556, which could develop PES as a low surface energy material for industrial applications.