ESCA applied to polymers. XXVI. Investigation of a series of aliphatic,aromatic, and fluorine-containing polycarbonates

The absolute and relative binding energies for the C_1s, O_1s, and F_1s core levels have been determined using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (ESCA) for a series of aliphatic, aromatic, and fluorine-containing polycarbonates. Comparisons of these experimentally determined, core-level binding energies with theoretical calculations using the ground-state potential model in the CNDO/2 SCF MO formalism as well as model compounds have been made on the C_1s and O_1s core levels. The degree of polymerization for low-molecular-weight fluorine-containing polycarbonates, as determined from ESCA measurements, is compared to measurements by vapor-phase osmometry and ¹⁹F-NMR.