Exploration on structural morphology and properties of novel poly(urethane-imide)/TiO2 bionanocomposites derived from L-tyrosine based diol

Abstract

In this study, an optically active biodegradable poly(urethane-imide) (PUI) derived from L-tyrosine was synthesized. Since biopolyurethanes cannot be fully competitive with conventional thermoplastics and are sometimes too weak for practical use, these biopolymers have been formulated and associated with nano-sized fillers. For the preparation of PUI/titanium dioxide (TiO2) bionanocomposites (BNC)s, the high-intensity ultrasound was applied. The PUI/TiO2 BNCs were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and UV–vis spectroscopy. The TEM and SEM results specified that the nanoparticles were dispersed homogeneously in PUI matrix on nanoscale. TGA/DSC confirmed that the heat stability of the novel BNCs was improved. UV–vis studies indicated that the resulting BNCs had high absorbance value than those values of pure PUI.