Prasert Ampawan, Sontikaew Somchoke, Sriprapai Dilok, Chuangchote Surawut
Department of Tool and Materials Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi, 126 Prachauthit Rd., Bangmod, Thungkru, Bangkok 10140, Thailand.
Research Center of Advanced Materials for Energy and Environmental Technology, King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi, 126 Prachauthit Rd., Bangmod, Thungkru, Bangkok 10140, Thailand.
Materials (Basel). 2020 Feb 19;13(4):914. doi: 10.3390/ma13040914.
Nanocomposite materials were prepared by compounding polypropylene (PP) with zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles, using a twin-screw extruder. The compound was molded by injection molding to form dumbbell-shaped specimens. The influence of ZnO nanoparticle content on the morphology, mechanical properties, chemical structure, photocatalytic activity, and antibacterial properties of the obtained nanocomposites was investigated. The morphological images showed that the ZnO nanoparticles were well distributed in the PP matrix. Characterizations of the mechanical properties and chemical structures before and after sunlight exposure found that at the shortest exposure time, crosslinks could occur in the nanocomposites, which resulted in improved mechanical properties. However, sunlight exposure with the time period longer than 18 weeks caused the reduction of the mechanical properties, due to degradation of the PP matrix. It was found that PP with 2% ZnO could achieve the photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue up to 59%. Moreover, the result of antibacterial tests indicated that the nanocomposites had better antibacterial properties than neat PP.
采用双螺杆挤出机将聚丙烯(PP)与氧化锌(ZnO)纳米颗粒复合制备纳米复合材料。通过注塑成型将该复合材料制成哑铃形试样。研究了ZnO纳米颗粒含量对所得纳米复合材料的形态、力学性能、化学结构、光催化活性和抗菌性能的影响。形态图像显示ZnO纳米颗粒在PP基体中分布良好。对阳光照射前后的力学性能和化学结构进行表征发现,在最短的照射时间下,纳米复合材料中会发生交联,从而导致力学性能提高。然而,由于PP基体的降解,超过18周的阳光照射会导致力学性能下降。发现含有2%ZnO的PP对亚甲基蓝的光催化降解率可达59%。此外,抗菌测试结果表明,纳米复合材料比纯PP具有更好的抗菌性能。