Being able to change a material's surface properties during its manufacturing process will provide commercial benefits and open up new applications according to UK researchers. 

Lian Hutchings and colleagues at the University of Durham used a functional additive to alter a material's surface. Their aim was to control useful surface properties like hydrophobicity while at the same time keeping the valuable mechanical properties of the bulk material.

 

                          

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Hutchings' surface altering step comes during polymer manufacture. Traditionally, any alterations are made after polymer processing. Hutchings said that by eliminating an extra post-processing step, industry will benefit. 

The functionalised additive introduced was a linear polymer chain attached to a dendron containing many trifluoromethyl groups. By using this additive, a polymer film with different fluorination levels in the surface layer and the bulk polymer was made. 

The group are now looking for similar additives which exhibit the same effect and aim to improve the liquid repellency of the films. 'This is an extraordinarily versatile structure and we still think that we have barely scratched the surface. There is probably a whole world of structures and applications that we haven't even dreamed of yet,' said Hutchings.  

Madelaine A Chapman