Preparation and characterization of poly(MMA-M12-BPMA)/TiO₂ composite particles

In this paper, poly(MMA-M12-BPMA)/TiO₂ composite particles were prepared by the copolymerization of a reactive surfactant sodium sulfopropyl-laurylmaleate (M12) and a reactive UV-stabilizer 2-hydroxy-4-(3-methacryloxy-2-hydroxylpropoxy) benzophenone (BPMA) with methyl methacrylate (MMA) in the presence of TiO₂. The structure and performance of composite particles were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, gel permeation chromatography, ultraviolet–visible absorption spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimeter, and scanning electron microscope.The measurement results indicate that the percentage of grafting and the grafting efficiency can reach 336.87% and 36.38%, respectively, and the glass transition temperature of poly(MMA-M12-BPMA)/TiO₂ composite particles is higher than that of poly(MMA-M12-BPMA); the size of the composite particles is about 130–200 nm. The poly(MMA-M12-BPMA) grafted from the surface of TiO₂ keeps the excellent characteristic of BPMA that possesses high absorbance of ultraviolet light, which is very important for improving UV-resistant performance of the polymethyl methacrylate. These research results are very useful for preparing polymethyl methacrylate with resistance to UV light.