Polyelectrolyte-surfactant complexes with fluorinated surfactants: A new type of material for coatings

Polyelectrolytes complexed with oppositely charged fluorinated surfactants represent a new type of highly ordered, solid mesomorphous materials. Their coating properties, as well as their phase structure, con be adjusted to s pecific custumer demands. In contrast to polytetrafluorethylene polyelectro lyte-surfactant complexes are soluble in organic solvents. Four complexes w ere prepared using commercially available starting materials. These new mat erials were characterised by smell angle and wide angle X-ray scattering, e lectron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, differential scanning calorime try, contact angle measurements, polarised light microscopy, and elemental analyses. These coatings show surface energies gamma(sv) between 11 mN/m an d 14 mN/m, which is well below that of polytetrafluorethylene (gamma(sv) = 20.2 mN/m)(9).