Water adsorption and desorption from crystalline P(VDF-TrFE) copolymers

Water adsorption and absorption on crystalline poly(vinylidene fluoride -- trifluoroethylene), was examined by thermal desorption spectroscopy. Two distinctly different water adsorption sites are identified: one adsorbed species that resembles ice and another species that interacts more strongly with the polymer thin film. The existence of the latter species is consistent with X-ray diffraction studies of water absorbed into the bulk of copolymers of poly(vinylidene fluoride -- trifluoroethylene) crystalline thin films. There are strong steric effects observed in the angle-resolved thermal desorption that may be a result of the large polymer thin film surface dipoles.