Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 27, 2025
Selective Area Modification of Silicon Surface Wettability by Pulsed UV Laser Irradiation in Liquid Environment
Published on: November 9, 2015
Tuning the Wettability and Surface Free Energy of Poly(vinylphenol)Thin Films by Modulating Hydrogen-Bonding
Chih-Feng Wang1, Dula Daksa Ejeta1, Jian-Yi Wu2
1Advanced Membrane Materials Research Center,Graduate Institute of Applied Science and Technology, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei 106, Taiwan.
Abstract:
The ability to tune the surface properties of a polymer film in a simple and effective manner is important for diverse biological, industrial, and environmental applications. In this work, we investigated whether or not the surface free energy of poly(vinyl phenol; PVPh) can be tuned by adjusting the casting solvent and the thermal treatment time, which alters the proportions of intra-and intermolecular hydrogen bonding interactions. Compared to the untreated sample, in tetrahydrofuran (THF) system, the thermal treatment resulted in a lower proportion of intermolecular hydrogen bonds and a concomitant decrease in the surface free energy (from 39.3 to 18.8 mJ/m2). In contrast, the thermal treatment in propylene glycol methyl ether acetate (PGMEA) and ethyl-3-ethoxypropionate (EEP) systems increased the proportion of intermolecular hydrogen bonds and the surface free energy of the polymer thin films, from 45.0 to 54.3 mJ/m2 for PGMEA and from 45.5 to 52.9 mJ/m2 for EEP. Controlling intermolecular hydrogen-bonding interactions is a unique and easy method for tuning the surface free energies of polymer substances.
