ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Reversible wettability switching of piezo-responsive nanostructured polymer fibers by electric field

Hazem Idriss, Roman Elashnikov, Olga Guselnikova, Pavel Postnikov, Zdenka Kolska, Oleksiy Lyutakov, and Vaclav Švorčík

Department of Solid State Engineering, University of Chemistry and Technology Prague, Prague, Czech Republic

E-mail: idrissh@vscht.cz

Received: 22 May 2020  Accepted: 14 July 2020

Abstract:

In this work the preparation of fibers array with electric field switchable wettability is described. Piezoelectric properties of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and chemical reactivity of polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) are used. Electrospinning blend fibers were fabricated from both of polymers and deposited on glass (non-conductive) and aluminum (conductive) substrates. The samples were modified with diazonium salts (ADT-C₈F₁₇), causing the hydrophobic surface characteristics. Applying an external electric field (EF) on these surfaces results in fibers rearrangement and dramatic changes in surface hydrophilicity. The wettability of the surface and the shape of the droplet were studied reporting the effect of varying the orientation of the electric field and using different substrates with different conductivity, which allowed us to control the shape of the deionized water drop interfering with the applied voltage. Moreover, reporting the results of shifting the polarity of the water by dissolving NaCl salt in different concentrations was reported.

Keywords: Smart polymers; PVDF/PMMA; Surface modification; Switchable wettability; Electric field

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.1007/s11696-020-01290-3

Chemical Papers 75 (1) 191–196 (2021)