Cation Exchange Membranes by Radiation-Induced Graft Copolymerization of Styrene onto PFA Copolymer Films. IV. Morphological Investigations Using X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy

Morphological investigations of poly(tetrafluoroethylene-co-perfluorovinyl ether) (PFA)-g-polystyrene sulfonic acid membranes prepared by radiation-induced graft copolymerization of styrene onto PFA films followed by sulfonation were performed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The analyzed materials included grafted film and sulfonated membrane samples having various degrees of grafting. Original PFA film was used as a reference material. The results of the X-ray photoelectron spectral analysis show that PFA film undergoes changes in terms of chemical compositions and binding energies of its basic elemental components under the influence of membrane preparation procedure, i.e., grafting and sulfonation. The chemical compositions of the surfaces of the membranes were found to be dependent on the degree of grafting unlike the binding energies of their elemental components (C, F, O, and S), which were found to be independent of the degree of grafting. The atomic ratio of F/C was found to decrease drastically with the increase in the degree of grafting and the membranes were found to have almost pure hydrocarbon structure at the layers close to their surfaces where degradation is suggested to be concentrated. The results of these investigations suggest that the morphology of the membranes plays an important role in the chemical degradation of the membranes. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 77: 2455–2463, 2000