Fluoropolymer particles are subjected to high energy treatment so as to change the chemical functionality of the particle surfaces and thereby change the surface characteristics of the particles. These characteristics improve the usefulness of these particles and can make them highly dispersible, even in water. The surface treated fluoropolymer particles are subject to a chemical crosslinking process, or alternatively, are subject to a high energy treatment process, and may optionally be pretreated with a macromolecular chemical species prior to the foregoing processes. The high energy treatment can be used to both surface treat the fluoropolymer particles and in some embodiments, may also cause chain scission of the fluoropolymers to thereby reduce the molecular weight of the fluoropolymer particles. The surface treated fluoropolymer particles can be used to form fluoropolymer coatings on various substrates.