Photocatalytic degradation of polypropylene/TiO2 nano-composites

Abstract

In this research, we have investigated the photocatalytic degradation of carbon-coated TiO2 nanoparticles in polypropylene-based nano-composites. For this purpose, polypropylene-based nano-composites were prepared using carbon-coated TiO2 nanoparticles and commercially available TiO2 nanoparticles (Degussa, P25). Our results from SEM, FTIR, and tensile tests showed that the photocatalytic property of TiO2 causes chain scission reactions, crosslinking and consequently photocatalytic degradation of polypropylene that affects the mechanical properties of exposed nano-composites. We have observed that with greater carbon content of the TiO2 nano-powders, there is less photocatalytic degradation.