FT-IR investigation into the miscible interactions in new materials for optical devices

Abstract

In this article we determine the miscibility of azobenzene derivative (poly(4-(N-(2-methacryloyloxyethyl)-N- ethylamino)-4'-nitroazobenzene)90-co-(methyl methacrylate) 10)/poly(vinyl acetate) (PVAc) and azobenzene derivative/poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) blends using Fourier Transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. With this method we can clearly identify the exact interactions responsible for miscibility. In the azobenzene derivative 50:50PVAc blend new peaks were evident at 2960, 2890, 1237 and 959 cm-1, these peaks depict miscible interactions. These wavenumbers indicate that the miscible interactions occurring are from the C-H stretching band, the vinyl acetate C=O, conjugated to the ester carbonyl, the cis-transformation N=N stretch frequency and the acetate ester weak doublet. The azobenzene derivative 80:20PVC blend display peaks identical in profile to the blend homopolymers, indicating no miscible interactions. However, this could be due to overlapping of peaks within the same wavenumber region, making resolution difficult. This research demonstrates FT-IR can deduce favorable interactions for miscibility and therefore numerous miscible blends can successfully be calculated if possessing the same groups responsible for miscibility. This paves the way for a new generation of designer optical materials with the desired properties. © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.