Can't touch this: Highly omniphobic coatings based on self-textured C6-fluoroponytailed polyvinylimidazolium monoliths

The quaternization of 1-vinylimidazole with 1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorooctyl iodide, followed by anion metathesis reactions, allowed for the synthetic access of novel polymerizable fluorosurfactant salts with excellent yields, scalable from multigram up to bulk quantities on the kg scale. Subsequently, a series of doubly fluoroponytailed monomers as well as bridged bis-vinylimidazolium cross-linkers have been prepared via expedient thionation / S-alkylation. Thus, the resulting pool of these late stage intermediates offers great potential in task-specific surface tuning. Through polymerization in appropriate porogen mixtures combined with the micellar self-aggregation of the perfluoroalkyl moieties along with synergistic ionic interactions of the novel fluorosurfactants, the formation of nano-scalar monolithic structures is induced as evidenced by SEM imaging. According to contact angle measurements, the lotus-like textures hereby created drastically enhance oil and water repellency of the resulting polymer surface. Heeding the well-established cooperative concepts of chemical surface functionalization, accompanied by physical roughness, represents a proven strategy to impart high omniphobicity. However, the applicative maturity of systems based on nanophysics is frequently restricted by tedious and intricate patterning techniques as well as the environmental constraints of surface-active fluoroorganic compounds, on which high-performance systems indispensably rely.