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Thermally Tunable Surface Wettability of Electrospun Fiber Mats: Polystyrene/Poly( N ‐isopropylacrylamide) Blended versus Crosslinked Poly[( N ‐isopropylacrylamide)‐ co ‐(methacrylic acid)]
Author(s) -
Muthiah Palanikkumaran,
Hoppe Sarah M.,
Boyle Timothy J.,
Sigmund Wolfgang
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
macromolecular rapid communications
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.348
H-Index - 154
eISSN - 1521-3927
pISSN - 1022-1336
DOI - 10.1002/marc.201100373
Subject(s) - poly(n isopropylacrylamide) , wetting , poly(methacrylic acid) , superhydrophilicity , materials science , contact angle , polystyrene , electrospinning , polymer chemistry , fiber , methacrylic acid , chemical engineering , polymer , composite material , copolymer , engineering
This work reports on thermally tunable surface wettability of electrospun fiber mats of: polystyrene (PS)/poly( N ‐isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPA) blended (bl‐PS/PNIPA) and crosslinked poly[( N ‐isopropylacrylamide)‐ co ‐[methacrylic acid)] (PNIPAMAA) (xl‐NIPAMAA). Both the bl‐PS/PNIPA and xl‐PNIPAMAA fiber mats demonstrate reversibly switchable surface wettability, with the bl‐PS/PNIPA fiber mats approaching superhydrophobic ≥150° and superhydrophilic contact angle (CA) values at extreme temperatures. Weight loss studies carried out at 10 °C indicate that the crosslinked PNIPAMAA fiber mats had better structural integrity than the bl‐PS/PNIPA fiber mats. PNIPA surface chemistry and the Cassie–Baxter model were used to explain the mechanism behind the observed extreme wettability.