Quantifying Fluorogenic Dye Hydration in an Epoxy Resin by Noncontact Microwave Dielectric Spectroscopy

We investigated a chemically modified rhodamine B dye as a sensor of local water content in dye-modified epoxy resins, where these measurements were combined with dielectric measurements to estimate the dye-water association ratio in the material. In particular, the water-sensitive fluorogenic dye was covalently attached to the epoxy resin backbone. This dye becomes fluorescent only upon photoactivation by ultraviolet light and its protonation in the presence of water. High-resolution noncontact microwave cavity dielectric measurements on these materials indicate a decrease of the dielectric permittivity upon photoactivation. We utilize this effect to determine the average extent of hydration of the activated dye molecules. Our results suggest that fluorogenic dyes are promising for the quantification of the local water content in polymer materials, such as the technologically important problem of interfacial water in epoxy materials.