Synthesis of superhydrophobic fluorinated polystyrene microspheres via distillation precipitation polymerization

Superhydrophobic fluorinated polystyrene microspheres were prepared by distillation precipitation polymerization of 4-fluorostyrene (FSt), styrene (St), with divinylbenzene (DVB) as cross-linker in acetonitrile in the absence of any stabilizer. Both the fluorine contents and sizes of the polymeric microspheres were tuned via altering the feed ratio of the fluorinated monomers for polymerization. The films via casting the suspension with fluorinated microspheres exhibited a superhydrophobic behavior with contact angles larger than 150°. The resultant microspheres were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier-transform infrared spectrometry (FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), ion chromatography, and contact angle system.