Preparation and properties of superhydrophobic fluorinated polyurethane with room temperature self-healing performance

This study synthesized a series of linear polyurethane elastomers (FTPU) with hydrophobicity and self-healing properties by adjusting the content of Polytetrahydrofuran (PTMEG) and fluorinated polyol (F-OH) as soft chain segments, isophorone diisocyanate (IPDI) and disulfide as hard chain segments. FT-IR, XPS, OM, 3D optical surface profilometer, contact angle tester, SEM, TG, and solvent resistance test were used to characterize its structure and study its self-healing, hydrophobicity, heat resistance, solvent resistance, etc. The results showed that with the increase of F-OH addition, the repair time was shortened and the repair effect was enhanced under the synergistic effect of disulfide bonds and fluorine hydrogen bonds. When the content of F-OH is 50 wt%, the self-healing efficiency is the highest, reaching 94.7%. FTPU can complete self-healing at room temperature (23 +/- 2 degrees C) for 10 h, and self-healing can be completed within 6 min at 100 degrees C. Second, the introduction of F-OH significantly increased the F content on the surface of FTPU, and the water contact angle of FTPU gradually increased from 70 degrees to 105.5 degrees. More importantly, when FTPU was applied to fabrics, superhydrophobic fabrics with a contact angle of up to 154 degrees were obtained. In addition, FTPU also exhibits excellent thermal stability and solvent resistance, with the T5% of FTPU-3 reaching 331 degrees C. FTPU has excellent comprehensive performance and can be widely used in various fields such as medical devices, electronic skin, flexible devices, etc.