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Environmentally friendly zwitterionic fluorocarbon surfactant for high-efficiency emulsion polymerization of fluoropolymers

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Abstract

Fluorocarbon surfactants are widely used, especially in the emulsion polymerization of fluoropolymers, due to their high surface activity, excellent stability, and excellent compatibility. However, the long-term environmental pollution of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl groups in fluorocarbon surfactants has made them banned. Here, we designed and prepared an environmentally friendly zwitterionic fluorocarbon surfactant (PFSC) through shortening fluorocarbon chains and covalent bonding them with the zwitterionic groups, and further demonstrated the effect on the emulsion polymerization of fluoropolymers. The results showed that the surface tension of the emulsion after adding PFSC reached 12 mN/m at a concentration above 0.05%, which is significantly superior to that of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). The study also examined the reaction kinetics, emulsion particle size, and emulsion stability during the emulsion polymerization reaction. The results demonstrated that the fluorinated surfactant exhibits excellent emulsification effects and can serve as an alternative to PFOA. This work presents the synthesis strategy of a new environmentally friendly zwitterionic fluorocarbon surfactant for high-efficiency emulsion polymerization of fluoropolymers.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Science and technology project of Jiangxi Provincial Transportation Department, (Grant No. 2021C0008, Youhua Zhang), (Grant No. 2022H0014, Zewen Zhu), (Grant No. 2022C0007, Zewen Zhu), (Grant No. 2023C0008, Zewen Zhu), the Central Non-Profit Scientific Research Fund for Institutes, (CKSF2023302/CL, Zeyu Fan), (CKSF2019507/CL, CKSF2023317/CL, Wei Han).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jiangxi Communications Investment Group Co., Ltd. Project Construction Management Company, Nanchang, People’s Republic of China

    Youhua Zhang, Jian Liu & Li Dai

  2. Sinochem International Corporation, Shanghai, 200126, People’s Republic of China

    Meng Zhao

  3. Jiangxi Institute of Transportation Research Co., Ltd, **xiang, People’s Republic of China

    Qiang Luo, Zewen Zhu, Yao Rong & Yaoting Zhu

  4. Key Laboratory of Bridge Structure of Jiangxi Province, Nanchang, People’s Republic of China

    Zewen Zhu, Li Dai & Yao Rong

  5. Changjiang River Scientific Research Institute, Wuhan, 430010, Hubei, People’s Republic of China

    Zeyu Fan & Wei Han

Authors
  1. Youhua Zhang
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  2. Meng Zhao
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  3. Qiang Luo
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  4. Jian Liu
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  5. Zewen Zhu
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  6. Li Dai
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  7. Yao Rong
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  8. Yaoting Zhu
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  9. Zeyu Fan
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  10. Wei Han
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Contributions

YZ and MZ contributed equally to this work. YZ and MZ involved in conceptualization, data curation, formal analysis, investigation, writing–original draft, supervision and funding acquisition. QL involved in data curation, formal analysis and investigation. JL involved in methodology, formal analysis and investigation. ZZ involved in methodology, formal analysis and investigation. LD involved in data curation and formal analysis. YR involved in data curation and formal analysis. YZ involved in investigation, writing–original draft, and supervision. ZF involved in conceptualization, writing–review and editing and funding acquisition. WH involved in conceptualization, writing–review and editing, funding acquisition and project administration. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Qiang Luo or Wei Han.

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Zhang, Y., Zhao, M., Luo, Q. et al. Environmentally friendly zwitterionic fluorocarbon surfactant for high-efficiency emulsion polymerization of fluoropolymers. J Coat Technol Res (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11998-024-00943-2

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