Surface structuration (micro and/or nano) governed by the fluorinated tail lengths toward superoleophobic surfaces.

As compared to superhydrophobic surfaces, the challenge to obtain superoleophobic properties, surfaces against low-surface-tension probe liquids such as hexadecane, is very important because of their high tendency to wet. From the molecular design of the monomer, it is possible to obtain in one step superoleophobic surfaces by electrodeposition. Hence, we report the synthesis and the characterization of an original series of fluorinated 3,4-ethylenedioxypyrrole (EDOP) derivatives. The electrodeposited polymer films are characterized by contact angle measurements (static and dynamic with various probe liquids), optical profilometry, and scanning electron microscopy. In the view toward reaching superoleophobic properties, a common approach is to increase the number of fluoromethylene units of the surface post-treatment agent. Here, surprisingly, it is possible, in one step, to reach more efficient antioil surface properties by decreasing the length of the fluorinated tail (F-octyl to F-hexyl). This fact can be explained by a double scale of structuration (micro and nano) induced using only F-hexyl tails.