Fluorine depth profiling by high-resolution 1D magnetic resonance imaging

High-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been used, for the first time, to measure fluorine concentration profiles with a high spatial resolution (5 μm) along the full film depth of fluorinated polyurethane films. The MRI fluorine profiles were consistent with the results obtained by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) in combination with microtoming. MRI is a nondestructive and potentially quantitative technique for probing the spatial distribution of small quantities of fluorine in coatings and multi-layered systems.