Structure and Surface Properties of Liquid Crystalline Fluoroalkyl Polyacrylates: Role of the Spacer

The organization of liquid crystalline fluorinated acrylate polymers has been generally described so far in the literature in terms of phase segregation between hydrogenated and fluorinated moieties within the polymer and preferential orientation induced by the backbone. However, little is known on the effects of the chemical composition on the properties of such fluorine-containing polymers. Our study was then focused on the role played by the spacer group located in the side chain between the backbone and the fluorinated segment and, in particular, on the properties of poly[2-[[[[2-(perfluoroalkyl)ethyl]sulfonyl]methyl]amino]ethyl]acrylates (pASn). Surface and bulk organization of fluorinated side chains of those polymers were investigated by surface tension, X-ray scattering, and differential scanning calorimetry measurements. Results were compared with those obtained with poly[(perfluoroalkyl)ethyl] acrylates (pAFn) of the same perfluoroalkyl chain lengths. A strong correlation between bulk organizati...