Photo-oxidative degradation of TiO2/polypropylene films

Photo-oxidative degradation of polypropylene films with TiO2 nanoparticles incorporated was studied in a chamber of weathering with Xenon lamps as irradiation source. TiO2 powder with crystalline structure of anatase was synthesized by thermal treatments at 400 and 500 degrees C starting from a precursor material obtained by sol-gel method. Composites of TiO2/polypropylene were prepared with 0.1, 0.5 and 1.0 wt% of TiO2. The mixture of components was performed using a twin screw extruder, the resulting material was pelletized by mechanical fragmenting and then hot-pressed in order to form polypropylene films with TiO2 dispersed homogeneously. Photo-oxidative degradation process was followed by visual inspection, weight loss of films, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), infrared spectroscopy with Fourier transformed (FTIR), and gel permeation chromatography (GPC). (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.