SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF POLYMER-BLEND/TiO2 NANOCOMPOSITES
SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF POLYMER-BLEND/TiO2 NANOCOMPOSITES
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Date
2012-11
Authors
ISMA’ILA, ABDULSALAM
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Abstract
The polymer-blend/ TiO2 nanocomposites are achieved via a two-stage reaction involving
synthesis of TiO2 nanoparticles and their subsequent mixing with the host polymer- blend matrix
employing solution-mixing technique commonly referred to as one-pot reaction. The
nanoparticles are characterized by a combination of Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and
Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS). The SEM-EDS analysis reveals TiO2 to be almost
isomorphic (≥ 99% phase purity) spherical in shape and particles’ diameters in the range 25-40
nm. Structural modifications are studied via Fourier Transform Infra-Red (FTIR) Spectroscopy,
Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and X-ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis. The FTIR reveals
that significant absorptions below 900 cm-1 represent Titanium bond organic groups and Oxygen.
Other prominent functional groups occurring in the range 1076.30 cm-1 - 3483.56 cm-1 reflect the
additivity of polyvinyl alcohol and polyvinyl acetate. XRD analysis shows that the materials are
semi-crystalline in nature with percentage crystallinity as high as 67.6 ± 0.7%. The sizes of the
crystallites are large with values in the range 1688 nm - 4589 nm. The SEM reveals that the
crystallites have wider diameters with values ranging from 119 ± 5 μm to 179 ± 4 μm which is in
good agreement with the sizes obtained from XRD analysis. UV-Vis Spectrophotometry shows
that only sample with 1% TiO2 absorb in the UV and Visible ranges. The samples containing
2%, 3% and 4% TiO2 nanoparticles are transparent to UV light and show strong absorption of
the visible light in the wavelength ranges of 520 nm, 590 nm and 550 nm respectively
Description
SUBMITTED TO
DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS
AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA, NIGERIA
IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE AWARD OF
MASTERS OF SCIENCE DEGREE IN SOLID-STATE
PHYSICS/MATERIALS SCIENCE
SUPERVISORS:
1. DR. P. O. AKUSU
2. DR. T. O. AHMED
NOVEMBER, 2012.
Keywords
SYNTHESIS,, CHARACTERIZATION,, POLYMER-BLEND/TiO2,, NANOCOMPOSITES