Polyhedral Oligomeric Silsesquioxane Trisilanols As Dispersants For Titanium Oxide Nanopowder

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-15-2008

Department

Polymers and High Performance Materials

Abstract

Trisilanol isobutyl polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) was used to disperse nanosized titanium dioxide (TiO2) particles in polypropylene (PP). The silanol groups of the FOSS cage were bound to the surface of the TiO2 particles, creating a layer of isobutyl POSS that improved compatibility with the PP matrix. POSS was an effective dispersant both when applied in a chemical pretreatment of TiO2 and when simply added to the blend during melt compounding. The average particle size of TiO2 was reduced from 70 nm for neat TiO2 to 50 nm for the POSS/TiO2 blend to 33 nm for TiO2 chemically treated with POSS. Additionally, the POSS coating improved the color of the material and reduced the catalytic effect of TiO2 on thermooxidative degradation. (C) 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Publication Title

Journal of Applied Polymer Science

Volume

108

Issue

4

First Page

2503

Last Page

2508

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