EFFECTS OF ZnO NANOPARTICLES AND GRAPHENE OXIDE ON PROPERTIES OF ACRYLIC POLYMER NANOCOMPOSITE COATING

Abstract

In this study, effects of graphene oxide (GO) and ZnO nanoparticles on the properties of acrylic polymer (R4152) coating were investigated. SEM images indicated that ZnO nanoparticles distributed uniformly on GO sheets. Hence, GO/ZnO could be dispersed homogenously in the acrylic polymer matrix while ZnO nanoparticles were agglomerated in acrylic polymer matrix in the absence of GO. In addition, GO had effect on the reduction of band gap energy of ZnO nanoparticles, i.e. 3.26 eV for GO/ZnO and 3.3 eV for ZnO. As a result, the photocatalytic activity of the R4152/GO/ZnO nanocomposite coating was higher than that of the R4152/ZnO nanocomposite coating. After 14 hours under UV exposure, the R4152/GO/ZnO nanocomposite coating can degrade over 80% methylene blue coated on its surface while only 60% methylene blue was degraded by the R4152/ZnO coating. Besides, in the presence of 2 wt.% ZnO nanoparticle, the abrasion resistance of the R4152/GO/ZnO coating was increased by nearly 25% (from 75 to 92.9 L/mil) in comparison with the abrasion resistance of R4152/GO coating. However, ZnO nanoparticles reduced the starting thermal decomposition temperature.