Switchable hydrophobic/hydrophilic surface of electrospun poly (l-lactide) membranes obtained by CF4 microwave plasma treatment

Abstract A switchable surface that promotes either hydrophobic or hydrophilic wettability of poly ( l -lactide) (PLLA) microfibrous membranes is obtained by CF 4 microwave plasma treatment in this paper. The results indicated that both etching and grafting process occurred during the CF 4 plasma treatment and these two factors synergistically affected the final surface wettability of PLLA membranes. When plasma treatment was taken under a relatively low power, the surface wettability of PLLA membranes turned from hydrophobic to hydrophilic. Especially when CF 4 plasma treatment was taken under 100 W for 10 min and 150 W for 5 min, the water contact angle sharply decreased from 116 ± 3.0° to ∼0°. According to Field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) results, the PLLA fibers were notably etched by CF 4 plasma treatment. Combined with the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements, only a few fluorine-containing groups were grafted onto the surface, so the etching effect directly affected the surface wettability of PLLA membranes in low plasma power condition. However, with the plasma power increasing to 200 W, the PLLA membrane surface turned to hydrophobic again. In contrast, the morphology changes of PLLA fiber surfaces were not obvious while a large number of fluorine-containing groups grafted onto the surface. So the grafting effect gradually became the major factor for the final surface wettability.