Preparation of cationic fluorinated acrylate copolymer latex and its application on cotton fabric

Coupled with the improvement in people’s living standards, the demand for textiles having a special performance like water repellency is mushrooming. In this study, the cationic fluorinated acrylate copolymer latex particles with a core–shell structure were synthesized via semicontinuous seed emulsion polymerization process, using Span 80, Tween 80, and dodecyltrimethylammonium chloride as composite emulsifier and (2-(acryloyloxy)ethyl)trimethylammonium chloride as a cationic monomer. Cationic fluorinated acrylate copolymers were successfully confirmed through the FTIR, 1H NMR, and XPS analyses. In addition, the homogeneous latex particles (~ 132 nm of average size) with an evident core–shell structure were observed by TEM analysis, and a stable positive charge (48 ± 5 mV) on the surface of latex particles was demonstrated by zeta potential analysis. Meanwhile, the results showed that the dosage of dodecafluoroheptyl methacrylate (DFMA) played a vital role in the hydrophobicity of the latex films and the one with the best water repellency was identified with 10 g of DFMA dosage. Furthermore, the cotton fabric finishing experiments demonstrated that, after finishing by the cationic fluorinated acrylate copolymer emulsion, the treated cotton fabric exhibited excellent hydrophobicity even at low concentration, with > 130° of the water contact angle and > 60 min of the static absorbing time.