Comparative study of the effects of anatase and rutile titanium dioxide nanoparticles on the structure and properties of waterborne polyurethane

Abstract

The anatase and rutile titanium dioxide (TiO2) were prepared and characterized by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscope and UV–vis spectrophotometer. Then they were introduced into waterborne polyurethane (WPU) to prepare hybrid films. The effects of anatase and rutile TiO2 on the structure and properties of hybrid films were comparatively studied. The results showed that the incorporation of nano-TiO2 into WPU can highly improve the UV protection ability, mechanical property, photocatalytic ability and antifungal capacity of the hybrid films. Moreover, the anatase TiO2 incorporated WPU exhibited the best UV protection ability, photocatalytic ability and antifungal capacity. However, the rutile TiO2 incorporated WPU had higher tensile strength at appropriate nano-TiO2 content, which may be resulted from the special asymmetric acicular sharp of rutile TiO2. The results indicated that the cooperation of anatase and rutile TiO2 may give the best performances of polymer–TiO2 nanocomposites.