Superhydrophobic wood grafted by poly(2-(perfluorooctyl)ethyl methacrylate) via ATRP with self-cleaning, abrasion resistance and anti-mold properties

Abstract

Wood is a natural, abundant, renewable resource, which is easily processed, has beautiful texture and good mechanical strength, and is widely used for furniture, flooring, decor and building construction. However, wood is vulnerable to moisture and microorganisms, resulting in deformation, cracks, mold and degradation, which causes aesthetic problems and/or shortens the service life of wood products. In this paper, superhydrophobic wood (wood-F) was fabricated by grafting poly(2-(perfluorooctyl)ethyl methacrylate) (PFOEMA) onto wood by atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with an energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) showed that PFOEMA was successfully grafted onto wood. The resultant wood-F exhibited excellent water resistance with a contact angle (CA) of 156° and hysteresis of 4°. The modified wood also showed abrasion resistance, self-cleaning ability and anti-mold properties, all of which are desirable for various wood products.

Trends in Chemical Wood Surface Improvements and Modifications: A Review of the Last Five Years

“…This method allows to improve the surface properties of wood while reducing the leaching of the chemicals [210]. Wang et al grafted poly(2-(perfluorooctyl)ethyl methacrylate) on the surface of Chinese fir by atom transfer radical polymerization [211]. The modified wood had a strong superhydrophobic behavior, which was only slightly affected by finger-wiping and tape-adhesion abrasion tests.…”

“…Some good technologies were developed in the last few years to reduce this problem such as the surface modification of wood, and more precisely the chemical grafting. Wang et al chemically grafted poly(2-(perfluorooctyl)ethyl methacrylate on Chinese fir by atom transfer radical polymerization [211]. As a result, the treated wood displayed superhydrophobicity, self-cleaning, resistance to A. niger, and extremely high durability to different forms of abrasion.…”

Biocompatible Catechol‐Functionalized Cellulose‐Based Adhesives with Strong Water Resistance

“…[51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60] Especially, graft polymerization of various monomers on the cellulose backbone by atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) in a living/controllable way is expected to produce functional materials, which could combine the advantage of synthetic polymer and natural polymer properties. [54,[61][62][63] Therefore, it is meaningful to graft catechol-bearing monomers onto cellulose to make biocompatible adhesives with strong mechanical strength and water resistance through ATRP.…”

Surface physical structure and durability of superhydrophobic wood surface with epoxy resin

“…The researchers used polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as a coating polymer, and then the PVA/SiO2 composite coatings with the mechanical robustness were prepared by the above method (Liu et al 2013). In addition, Wang et al (2020c) fabricated such a surface by grafting poly 2-perfluorooctyl ethyl methacrylate (PFOEMA) onto wood by atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). According to the existing literature on superhydrophobic polymer coating, research has focused on different resin types and addition amounts (Liu et al 2011;Su et al 2017;Tu et al 2018), but differences in the curing time of the polymer are rarely reported.…”