TiO2-SiO2-GLYMO nanocomposite prepared by sol-gel processing for leather finishing

Abstract

TiO2 is one of the most studied due to its unique characteristics: non-Toxicity, good chemical stability, strong mechanical properties, low cost, and excellent photocatalytic performance. SiO2 has high thermal stability, excellent mechanical strength and helps to create new catalytic active sites due to interaction between TiO2 and SiO2. GLYMO (y-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane) is an organically modified alkoxide, whose organic group contains an epoxide ring that can be cross-linked to form a poly(ethylene oxide) chain and acts as network former. In this work, we propose to prepare TiO2-SiO2 nanocomposite with addition of GLYMO at ambient temperature via sol-gel method. In this context, in order to reveal the characteristics, turbidity, viscosity and pH of the nanocomposite were measured. The chemical structure of the nanocomposite was evaluated by means of Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) were employed to characterize the surface properties of composite film. In summary, the TiO2-SiO2-GLYMO nanocomposite was successfully synthesized using the sol-gel method. The turbidity value of the nanocomposite was 9.93 ntu. The nanocomposite was mildly acidic with a pH value of 4.80. It was determined that the viscosity of the nanocomposite was approximately equal to 2-5 mPa.s. The particles sizes were approximately 10.5 nm. The thin and transparent coating obtained from the nanocomposite was evenly distributed. From the results obtained it was revealed that the TiO2-SiO2-GLYMO nanocomposite can be used in leather finshing.