Degradation study on the thermally stable nickel phthalocyanine sheet polymer

Abstract

Poly (nickel phthalocyanine) which has exceptional thermal stability is synthesized. Knowledge of modes of degradation of this polymer is found to be necessary for its high temperature applications. This polymer showed very high thermal stability with maximum polymer decomposition temperatures (PDTmax) of 500 °C in air and 890 °C in N2, with char yield 93% at 800 °C. Because of its excellent thermal stability, degradation study with MS as well as GC-MS techniques were found to be very difficult. The present publication deals with MS and GC-MS studies of nickel phthalocyanine sheet polymer at high temperatures ranging from 700 to 1000 °C. Tentative mechanisms are proposed for its modes of fragmentations and based on GC-MS studies, the most probable degradation products are identified. © 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.