Enhanced hygienic property of solvent-free polyurethane film by hollow TiO2 microspheres

Abstract

High curing speed of solvent-free polyurethane (SFPU) make the foam layer and coating layer of polyurethane film relatively compact, resulting in the poor hygienic performance of the SFPU film. Herein, we propose a strategy that hollow TiO2 spheres (HTSs) with large surface area, special interior spaces and permeability performance were introduced into SFPU film and endowed polyurethane film excellent hygienic and mechanical properties. Firstly, HTSs were successfully fabricated through a controlled chemical route using carbon spheres (CSs) as sacrificial templates. The particle size of CSs could turn between 150 nm and 450 nm. By increasing the amount of Butyl titanate, the spheres diameter of HTSs increased from 100 nm to 200 nm. Furthermore, the as-obtained HTSs were introduced into polyether glycol to prepare SFPU/HTSs composite film. SEM, FT-IR and TGA analyses revealed the morphology, polydispersity, and thermal stability between HTSs and SFPU. The results show that the HTSs have a major effect on the hygienic and mechanical properties, and the water vapor transmission rate and water resistance are increased by 90% and 650%, respectively.