Effect of wall thickness of hollow TiO 2 spheres on properties of polyacrylate film: Thermal insulation, UV-shielding and mechanical property

摘要

Highlights?The different wall thickness of hollow TiO2spheres have been effectively controlled by simply varying the dosage of TBT.?The possible formation mechanism of hollow TiO2spheres was proposed.?The results showed that hollow TiO2spheres were proven to have extremely enhanced the thermal insulation, UV-shielding, and mechanical property of polyacrylate membrane.AbstractHollow TiO2spheres were fabricated by calcining the polystyrene-titania composite microspheres prepared via a sol-gel process of titanium tetrabutoxide (TBT) using cationic polystyrene (PS) spheres as template. The wall thickness of hollow TiO2spheres was finely tuned between 13nm and 94nm by varying the amount of titania precursor from 0.43wt% to 1.25wt% based on polystyrene latex during the coating process. The thermal insulation, UV-shielding, and mechanical properties of polyacrylate (PA) film were obviously enhanced by introducing hollow TiO2spheres via physical blending method. Moreover, these properties exhibit a trend of first good and then become worse with the wall thickness of hollow TiO2spheres increasing. When the wall thickness of hollow TiO2spheres is 43nm, the properties of polyacrylate/hollow TiO2composite film are optimum.]]>