Comparison of aluminum and sodium doped poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene) copolymers by x-ray photoemission spectroscopy

The chemical interaction between the simple metals, aluminum and sodium, and crystalline copolymer thin films of vinylidene fluoride (70%) with trifluoroethylene (30%), has been studied using x-ray photoemission spectroscopy. Aluminum and sodium metalize the polymer differently and different binding sites for the two metals can be inferred from the corresponding core level shifts. Aluminum leads to enhanced screening of final photoemission states associated with the polymer, while sodium doping strongly influences the fluorine, but perturbs the carbon backbone only slightly.