Surface Nanostructuration and Wettability of Electrodeposited Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxypyrrole) and Poly(3,4-propylenedioxypyrrole) Films Substituted by Aromatic Groups

Abstract

In the aim to obtain parahydrophobic materials (both high contact angles and high hysteresis) for possible applications in water harvesting systems, we report the synthesis of novel 3,4-ethylenedioxypyrrole (EDOP) and 3,4-propylenedioxypyrrole (ProDOP) monomers with aromatic rings on the 3,4-alkylenedioxy bridge and the resulting conducting polymer films were prepared by electropolymerization. We show that the surface properties can be tuned by the nature of the aromatic ring (phenyl, biphenyl, diphenyl, naphthalene, fluorene, and pyrene) and the polymerizable core (EDOP or ProDOP). The best results are obtained with both EDOP and diphenyl, with which extremely high hydrophobic properties (up to 116°) are obtained, even if the polymers are intrinsically hydrophilic. These surfaces could be applied in the future, for example, in water harvesting systems or in water/oil separation membranes. The synthesis strategy is extremely interesting, and many other molecules will be envisaged in the future.

Bioinspired surfaces with strong water adhesion from electrodeposited poly(thieno[3,4-b]thiophene) with various branched alkyl chains

“…The electropolymerization process has been used in the literature to rapidly form on working electrode substrates conducting polymer films with various surface energy and surface structures [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25].…”

“…For the electropolymerization core, thieno [3,4-b]thiophene combines both exceptional polymerization capacity leading to polymers with unique opto-electronic properties, and a relatively easiness to introduce various substituents [26,27]. To adapt both surface hydrophobicity and water adhesion, perfluorinated or linear alkyl chains can be replaced by branched alkyl chains or aromatics groups [18][19][20][21][22].…”