I am looking for a treatment method to make the surface of an inverse opal (with polymer-air interface) more hydrophilic. We used to use fluorosilanes to treat polymers to greatly enhance the hydrophobicity of them, now I am searching for a method to go the other way. The polymer we use is trimethylolpropane ethoxylate triacrylate (ETPTA) photocured with Darocur 1173.
Dear Zhuxiao Gu, methods to do that are either chemical, physical or some combinations of both. Strong Oxidizing agents such as acids, electron beam surface bombardement are conventional techniques. My Regards
Abdelkader BOUAZIZ Thank you, Abdelkader BOUAZIZ. That is very useful suggestion.
In addition to Abdelkader BOUAZIZ's suggestions I would add:
Treatments with low pressure plasmas are relatively simple tools for oxidizing polymer surfaces and also the inner surfaces of porous materials.
As oxidizing acids you might consider sulfuric acid mixed with hydrogen peroxide or permanganates. Be carefull as these are a very strong oxidizing agent. However, in case your material is hydrophopic your will have trouble in getting aqueous agents into the pores. In this case you may consider organic oxidizing agents. Peracetic acid is a good candidate.
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