Modification in Surface Chemistry of the Polyetrafluoroethylene Through Chemical Graft Copolymerization for Potential Oil Contamination Control

In the present study, an attempt has been made to design an oleophobic surface through chemical graft copolymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA) onto polytetrafluroethylene (PTFE) film. The PTFE films were grafted with MMA resulting in PTFE-g-MMA grafts using benzoyl peroxide (BPO) as initiator in aqueous media. Optimum conditions pertaining to maximum percentage of grafting were evaluated by varying time, temperature, initiator, and monomer concentration. The maximum graft yield 9.47% was obtained at [BPO] = 0.03 M, [MMA] = 10%V/V, [reaction temperature] = 50°C and [reaction time] = 120 min. Methyl iodide was used to measure the contact angle, which revealed the oleophobic nature of grafted PTFE-g-MMA film. Maximum contact angle 95.5° of PTFE-g-MMA film was observed at optimum grafting conditions. The surface morphology of PTFE-g-MMA films was studied by Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and x-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis confirmed the change in structure of PTFE after MMA grafting.