Preparation and characterization of poly(MMA-M12-BPMA)/TiO2 composite particles

In this paper, poly(MMA-M12-BPMA)/TiO2 composite particles were prepared by the copolymerization of a reactive surfactant sodium sulfopropyl-laurylmaleate (M12) and a reactive UV-stabilizer 2-hydroxy-4-(3-methacryloxy-2-hydroxylpropoxy) benzophenone (BPMA) with methyl methacrylate (MMA) in the presence of TiO2. The structure and performance of composite particles were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, gel permeation chromatography, ultraviolet-visible absorption spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimeter, and scanning electron microscope.The measurement results indicate that the percentage of grafting and the grafting efficiency can reach 336.87% and 36.38%, respectively, and the glass transition temperature of poly(MMA-M12-BPMA)/TiO2 composite particles is higher than that of poly(MMA-M12-BPMA); the size of the composite particles is about 130-200 nm. The poly(MMA-M12-BPMA) grafted from the surface of TiO2 keeps the excellent characteristic of BPMA that possesses high absorbance of ultraviolet light, which is very important for improving UV-resistant performance of the polymethyl methacrylate. These research results are very useful for preparing polymethyl methacrylate with resistance to UV light.