Investigation on surface structure of potassium permanganate/nitric acid treated poly(tetrafluoroethylene)

In the previous articles concerning the treatment of poly(tetrafluoroethylene) (PTFE) with potassium permanganate/nitric acid mixture, the conversion of a hydrophobic to a hydrophilic surface was partially assigned to the defluorination of PTFE and then the introduction of carbonyl and hydroxyl groups into the defluorinated sites. In the present work, PTFE sheets were treated with potassium permanganate/nitric acid, and the surfaces before and after treatment were comparatively characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The surface sediments of the treated PTFE were also determined by atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS). The results indicate that the conversion of the hydrophobicity to the hydrophilicity on the modified PTFE surface is mainly due to the deposition of hydrophilic manganese oxides which covered the fluorocarbon surface, and no detectable chemical reactions of PTFE occur in the treating process.