High resolution monochromated X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy of organic polymers: A comparison between solid state data for organic polymers and gas phase data for small molecules

With the new generation of high energy resolution and high intensity XPS spectrometers now commercially available, several novel aspects of the XPS of organic polymers have become apparent. These include observations on the symmetry and width of core line components, effects resulting from the overlap of shake-up and inelastic scattering regions, the effect of shake-up on nonstoichiometry in the core line envelope, and the observation of surface specific states. We report on these effects and show how a comparison of spectra for a solid phase polymer and the corresponding small molecule in the gas phase can assist interpretation of the polymer data. The implications for analytical and curve fitting work on polymers are discussed.