Conformational changes on PMMA induced by the presence of TiO2 nanoparticles and the processing by Solution Blow Spinning Articles uri icon

authors

publication date

  • March 2018

start page

  • 461

end page

  • 469

issue

  • 3

volume

  • 296

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 0303-402X

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 1435-1536

abstract

  • Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) films filled with titanium oxide (TiO2) nanoparticles were prepared by solution blow spinning (SBS). The influence of the presence of nanoparticles (up to 10% by weight) in the physicochemical properties of the material was studied, focusing on the morphology, structure, and thermal properties, by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetry (TGA), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). It was demonstrated that SBS allows obtaining PMMA/TiO2 nanocomposites with a relatively high amount of nanoparticles uniformly dispersed within the polymeric matrix, varying the surface characteristics of the films according to the amount of TiO2. The results indicate that the flow of the macromolecules is somewhat forced by the SBS process, and that specific interactions between the ester group of the MMA and the surface of the nanoparticles induce a preferential conformation of the functional group with respect to the PMMA backbone, at least at low loads of nanopartciles, conditions in which the self-aggregation of the nanofiller takes place in a lesser extent.

keywords

  • pmma; solution blow spinning; nanocomposites; characterization