Hydrophobic thin fluoropolymer coating on cotton surfaces

We report a simple novel procedure to prepare hydrophobic cotton textiles by admicellar polymerization. By in situ introducing fluoropolymer on cotton fibers to generate a dual-size surface roughness, followed by hydrophobization with a little amount of fluoromonomer Octafluoropentamethyl methacrylate (OFPM) with short time, normally hydrophilic cotton has been easily turned into hydrophobic. Hydrophobic cotton textile exhibits a static water contact angle of 124° for a 10?µl droplet. When an octa fluoroalkyl chain is introduced to the cotton surface, the originally smooth surface changed immediately to rough surface which is the key factor for hydrophobicity like lotus leaves.