Intrinsic UV Reflection and Fluorescence Studies for Water Sorption in Polycarbonate, Polyurethane and Poly(Ethylene Terephthalate) Films

Intrinsic UV reflection and fluorescence behaviors of polycarbonate, polyurethane and poly(ethylene terephthalate) films were investigated in order to characterize the interaction of water in these films. During water sorption process, UV reflection spectra of polycarbonate and polyurethane films showed little peak position changes. Fluorescence emission spectra of polycarbonate films showed red spectral shifts from 332 nm with water immersion time. This red-shifted peak could be due to phenyl-2-phenoxybenzoate, which is one of the major thermal degradation products in polycarbonate. Fluorescence peaks of polyurethane films appeared at two different positions and the ratio of these peak intensities increased with increasing immersion time. In the case of PET films, the UV reflection spectrum showed the peak intensity around 340 nm to change in response to water sorption. The fluorescence near 388 nm probably due to ground state dimer exhibited sensitivity with water sorption, when excited at 340 nm.