Beads mill-assisted synthesis of poly methyl methacrylate (PMMA)-TiO 2 nanoparticle composites

Mitsugi Inkyo, Yusuke Tokunaga, Takashi Tahara, Toru Iwaki, Ferry Iskandar, Christopher J. Hogan, Kikuo Okuyama

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

62 Scopus citations

Abstract

A newly developed beads mill was used to create well-dispersed suspensions of TiO2 (titania) nanoparticles in methyl methacrylate (MMA) and TiO2-PMMA nanocomposites were synthesized by subsequent polymerization of the TiO2-MMA suspension. Beads milling successfully broke up titania nanoparticle agglomerates with the addition of the coupling agent (3-acryloxypropyl) trimethoxysilane (APTMOS) to the titania-MMA suspension. Agglomerated particles were broken up into primary particles as small as 10 nm in suspensions with nanoparticle mass fractions as high as 0.05. Well-dispersed suspensions of titania nanoparticles had reduced UV transmission but visible light transmittance similar to pure MMA. TEM images showed that the milled nanoparticles remained well dispersed in titania-PMMA nanocomposites, and the addition of titania nanoparticles to PMMA increased the PMMA thermal stability. Spin-coated titania-PMMA films had higher refractive indices than pure PMMA films, with film of higher titania weight percent having higher refractive indices.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)2597-2604
Number of pages8
JournalIndustrial and Engineering Chemistry Research
Volume47
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 16 2008

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