Perfluoropolyether-based organic–inorganic coatings

In the present paper a comprehensive analysis on the preparation and characterization of organic–inorganic hybrids containing perfluoropolyethers (PFPE) as organic component and silica (in situ generated from tetraethoxysilane by means of the sol–gel process) as inorganic counterpart is reported. PFPE with different molecular weights and functionalities have been used in order to improve the miscibility with respect to other reactants and solvents comprising the final formulation of the coating. In this respect, PFPE oligomers have been used with or without chain extension with polycaprolactone segments. The hybrids have been applied with different techniques onto glass substrates as functional coatings and the effects of different molecular structures, molecular weights and organic–inorganic ratios have been thoroughly investigated in terms of surface properties (i.e. water and oil wettability and surface segregation of PFPE segments).