Determination of Phase Content in Multiphase Polymers by Solid-State NMR Techniques

Abstract

Solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy has emerged as a relatively facile technique for the characterization of multi-component polymer systems. In particular, it has emerged to be a useful technique for probing the molecular structure, conformation and dynamics of polymer chains at interfaces between phases in various types of multi-component polymer systems including nanomaterials. The usefulness of solid-state NMR stems from its ability to non-destructively probe not only the bulk of the polymer, but moreover its ability to selectively probe the interface or interphase. As such, the technique has been extensively exploited in the study of multi-component polymer systems. To achieve 13C spectral resolution in the solid-state magic angle spinning (MAS), dipolar decoupling and cross-polarization are applied which enables the study of individual carbon atoms directly with excellent resolution and sensitivity. Some examples of applications of this technique to the study of multiphase aliphatic polyesters are reviewed herein.