Investigation of electrophoretic deposition behavior of fluorinated poly (methacrylate)s: A new paradigm of electrophoretic non-ionic polymers

We demonstrate electrophoresis of non-ionic poly(methacrylate)s containing pendant fluoroalkanes for developing a new polymeric system of enhanced electrophoretic deposition (EPD) by making use of the high electronegativity of fluorinated fragments. Three kinds of fluorinated poly(methacrylaes)s with various fluorine content and molecular weights are synthesized via reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) radical polymerization. These polymers are characterized in the assembled dispersion particle states in the mixture solvents of tetrahydrofuran and several kinds of alcohols, and investigated for their EPD coating capability onto several kinds of metal plates. In addition, the coatings of fluorinated-polymers prepared via EPD are characterized by performing contact angle measurements. The results reveal exciting electrophoretic behavior of the simple fluorinated poly(methacrylate)s, and we propose the probable EPD mechanism based on our findings. This will lead to expansion of availability of non-ionic polymers with the instinctive EPD function, which gives insights into a new manipulation technique of functional coating.