An approach to fluorinated surface coatings via photoinitiated cationic cross-linking of mixed epoxy and fluoroepoxy systems

The synthesis and characterisation of four polyfluorinated monoepoxides is described. These fluoroepoxy monomers were cationically polymerised either neat or as mixtures with diglycidylether of bisphenol-A using the initiator system (CH3CH2)3Al/H2O (2/1) or the photoinitiator Ph2I+, PF6−. Contact angle measurements indicated that, in favourable cases, the fluorinated epoxide monomer surface segregated at low loadings to give significant lowering of the surface free energy of photocured films of diglycidylether of bisphenol-A.