FLIM–FRAPP: near-simultaneous characterization of multi-scale polymer dynamics via fluorescence microscopy

Abstract

Characterizing multi-scale dynamics of polymers is crucial to inform property–process relationships, but there is an outstanding gap between accessibility and comprehensive data collection. To this end, we present a new multi-scale characterization method, FLIM–FRAPP, a near-simultaneous, hybrid approach between fluorescence lifetime measurement (FLIM) and fluorescence recovery after patterned photobleaching (FRAPP) to probe the glass transition temperature and self-diffusion coefficient of a model entangled copolymer, poly(methyl acrylate-stat-methyl methacrylate) (P(MA-stat-MMA)). Our investigation reveals opportunities and challenges concerning the nature of fluorescence characterization techniques for the exploration of polymer dynamics.