Transparent Self-Cleaning Coatings Based on Colorless Polyimide/Silica Sol Nanocomposite

We herein report transparent self-cleaning coatings based on polyimide-fluorinated silica sol (PIFSS) nanocomposite. Polyamic acid-silica sol (PASS) suspensions were synthesized by adding four different amounts of a silica sol suspension to each end-capped polyamic acid solution. The PASS suspensions were spin-coated on glass slides, thermally imidized and treated with triethoxy-1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorodecylsilane (TEFDS) to prepare PIFSS coatings. The PIFSS coatings showed high resistance to separation from glass substrates and thermal stability. Furthermore, the PIFSS coatings on the glass substrate could be cleanly removed using polar aprotic solvents and repeated coating was possible. As the amount of silica sol particles in the PIFSS coating was increased, the hydrophobic contact angle increased. Among them, PIFSS-10 and PIFSS-15 coatings showed nearly superhydrophobic contact angles (144° and 148°, respectively) and good self-cleaning property. It was confirmed by SEM and AFM studies that their hydrophobic and self-cleaning properties are due to uniform particle distribution and relatively high surface roughness. PIFSS-10 coating showed a high transmittance value (88%) at 550 nm and good self-cleaning property, therefore suitable as a transparent self-cleaning coating. The advantages of the coating are that the fabrication process is simple, and the substrate is reusable. The PIFSS coating is expected to be applied in solar cell panels, windows, lenses and safety goggles.

Physical Properties of Thermally Crosslinked Fluorinated Polyimide and Its Application to a Liquid Crystal Alignment Layer

This study demonstrated the use of a thermally crosslinked polyimide (PI) for the liquid crystal (LC) alignment layer of an LC display (LCD) cell. Polyamic acid was prepared using 4,4′-oxydianiline (ODA) and 4,4′-(hexafluoroisopropylidene) diphthalic anhydride (6FDA). The 6FDA−ODA-based polyimide (PI) prepared by the thermal cyclic dehydration of the polyamic acid (PAA) was soluble in various polar solvents. After forming a thin film by mixing trifunctional epoxide [4-(oxiran-2-ylmethoxy)-N,N-bis(oxiran-2-ylmethyl)aniline] with the 6FDA−ODA-based PAA, it was confirmed that thermal curing at −110 °C caused an epoxy ring opening reaction, which could result in the formation of a networked polyimide not soluble in tetrahydrofuran. The crosslinked PI film showed a higher rigidity than the neat PI films, as measured by the elastic modulus. Furthermore, based on a dynamic mechanical analysis of the neat PI and crosslinked PI films, the glass transition temperatures (Tgs) were 217 and 339 °C, respectively, which provided further evidence of the formation of crosslinking by the addition of the epoxy reagent. After mechanical rubbing using these two PI films, an LC cell was fabricated using an anisotropic PI film as an LC alignment film. LC cells with crosslinked PI layers showed a high voltage holding ratio and low residual direct current voltage. This suggests that the crosslinked PI has good potential for use as an LC alignment layer material in advanced LCD technologies that require high performance and reliability.

APPLICATION OF PIEZOSENSORS BASED ON THE MOLECULARLY IMPRINTED POLYIMIDE FOR DETERMI-NATION OF CAFFEINE IN TEA

In this article the molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) have been synthesized on the surface of piezosensors. The starting polymer for MIPs production was polyamic acid, which is a copolymer of 1,2,4,5-benzenetetracarboxylic acid and 4,4′-diaminodiphenyl ether. The caffeine served as the template. The quantum-chemical simulation was performed by the Gaussian 09 software using the DFT method at the B3LYP/6-31G(d,p) level with the basis set superposition error (BSSE) at the preliminary stage of the synthesis of the MIP for caffeine. The prepolymerization complexes were calculated to establish intermolecular interactions and obtain the optimum molar ratio between the template and polyamiс acid. It is shown that the constitutional repeating units of polyamic acid interact with the caffeine by forming H-bonds via carboxyl groups. The interaction energy first increases and then decreases with increasing the molar ratio of imprinting. Based on the quantum-chemical calculations, the optimal ratio of the reagents in prepolymerization mixture was set to 1 : 3 with the highest interaction energy (96.7 kJ/mol). Applying thermal imidization of solution of polyamic acid in the presence of a template, the molecularly imprinted polyimide has been synthesized by the non-covalent imprinting method. The ability of the obtained piezosensors to recognize the tempalte in model mixtures was experimentally evaluated. It was found that the range of detectable concentrations of caffeine is 3.1.10-6-10-1 mol/dm3 and the detection limit is 10-6 mol/dm3. Correctness of the caffeine determination in model solutions was verified in the spike/recovery tests. Piezosensors based on MIP were approved for the determination of the caffeine in tea varieties. It is shown that the concentration of caffeine in the aqueous solution increases with increasing brewing time. The relative standard deviation is less than 8%.

Novel 3D-Networked Melamine-Naphthalene-Polyamic Acid Nanofillers doped in Vinyl Ester Resin for Higher Flame Retardancy

In this study, melamine-naphthalene covalent polyamic acid and its metal carboxylate salts were synthesized as building blocks of nanofillers (Nt-Mn-PA-COOR, R=H, Li, Na, and K). The Nt-Mn-PA-COOR nanofillers were added...