Thermal and Photocatalytic Degradation of Poly(methyl methacrylate), Poly(butyl methacrylate), and Their Copolymers

Abstract

The photocatalytic degradation of the homopolymers, poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), poly(butyl methacrylate) (PBMA), and their copolymers (PMMABMA) was studied in o-dichlorobenzene in the presence of commercial TiO2 (Degussa P-25) and TiO2 synthesized by combustion synthesis (CSN-TiO2). Gel permeation chromatography was used to determine the evolution of molecular weight distributions with reaction time. The experimental data indicated that the polymers PMMA and PBMA and their copolymers degrade by simultaneous random and chain end scission. A continuous distribution model was developed for the mechanism involved in degradation by both random and chain end scission and used to determine the degradation rate coefficients. The degradation rate coefficients of the polymers in the presence of CSN-TiO2 were higher than the degradation rate coefficients obtained with commercial TiO2 (Degussa P-25). The degradation rate coefficient of copolymers was in between that of the homopolymers and increased linearly with the increase of mol % of PMMA. The degradation of PMMA, PBMA, and their copolymers was also investigated by thermogravimetric analysis. The copolymers exhibited better thermal stability than the homopolymers in contrast to that observed for photocatalytic degradation.