Structural characterization of swift heavy ion irradiated polycarbonate

Makrofol-N polycarbonate thin films were irradiated with copper (50 MeV) and nickel (86 MeV) ions. The modified films were analyzed by UV-VIS, FTIR and XRD techniques. The experimental data was used to evaluate the formation of chromophore groups (conjugated system of bonds), degradation cross-section of the special functional groups, the alkyne formation and the amorphization cross-section. The investigation of UV-VIS spectra shows that the formation of chromophore groups is reduced at larger wavelength, however its value increases with the increase of ion fluence. Degradation cross-section for the different chemical groups present in the polycarbonate chains was evaluated from the FTIR data. It was found that there was an increase of degradation cross-section of chemical groups with the increase of electronic energy loss in polycarbonate. The alkyne and alkene groups were found to be induced due to swift heavy ion irradiation in polycarbonate. The radii of the alkyne production of about 2.74 and 2.90 nm were deduced for nickel (86 MeV) and copper (50 MeV) ions respectively. XRD analysis shows the decrease of the main XRD peak intensity. Progressive amorphization process of Makrofol-N with increasing fluence was traced by XRD measurements.