In-plane oxygen diffusion measurements in polymer films using time-resolved imaging of programmable luminescent tags

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Abstract

Oxygen diffusion properties in thin polymer films are key parameters in industrial applications from food packaging, over medical encapsulation to organic semiconductor devices and have been continuously investigated in recent decades. The established methods have in common that they require complex pressure-sensitive setups or vacuum technology and usually do not come without surface effects. In contrast, this work provides a low-cost, precise and reliable method to determine the oxygen diffusion coefficient D in bulk polymer films based on tracking the phosphorescent pattern of a programmable luminescent tag over time. Our method exploits two-dimensional image analysis of oxygen-quenched organic room-temperature phosphors in a host polymer with high spatial accuracy. It avoids interface effects and accounts for the photoconsumption of oxygen. As a role model, the diffusion coefficients of polystyrene glasses with molecular weights between 13k and 350k g/mol are determined to be in the range of (0.8–1.5) × 10–7 cm2/s, which is in good agreement with previously reported values. We finally demonstrate the reduction of the oxygen diffusion coefficient in polystyrene by one quarter upon annealing above its glass transition temperature.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Article number5826
JournalScientific reports
Volume14
Issue number1
Publication statusPublished - 9 Mar 2024
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

PubMed 38461364
ORCID /0000-0002-4112-6991/work/173054004

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas