Evaluations of Thermal and Antibacterial Properties of Nanocomposites of Functionalized Poly(methyl methacrylate) with Different Amino Containing Groups

The main object of this study is to analyse the effects of different functional groups on the thermal and microbial properties of nanocomposites of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA). For this, amino functionalized PMMA were synthesized by using post polymer functionalization method. In this method, PMMA was treated with four different amino compounds to obtain functionalized PMMA. To determine the structural features, functionalized PMMA was characterized with Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. These functionalized PMMA were used to prepare functionalized polymer nanocomposites with addition of nanoclay and Ag nanoparticles into the polymer matrix. These nanocomposites were further studied against thermal and antibacterial properties. Sophisticated analytical techniques i.e., thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), differential thermal analysis (DTA), and derivative thermogravimetric curve (DTG) were used to characterize the thermal properties of nanocomposites. Antibacterial study was performed by using disc diffusion method against bacteria E. coli. The thermal results showed that, the maximum degradation temperature (T-d) increases up to 85.5 degrees C in air atmosphere in case of sample HM2. Antibacterial study showed that, the bacteria have least effect on the silver containing functionalized polymer nanocomposites.