Formulation of titanium dioxide nanoparticles using sol-gel technique

Abstract

Bio-based polymer has been extensively used as a plastic alternative for its ability of biodegradability. Currently, there is considerable interest in the self-cleaning and antimicrobial property of TiO2 for applications in the food industry. In this research, TiO2 nanoparticles (TiO2NPs) were formulated using the sol-gel method. The synthesis of TiO2NPs was carried out in varying pH condition which are in 1.5, 7 and 11. The optimize synthesized TiO2NPs powder was dispersed with bio-based polymer which is PLA to prepare self-cleaning bio-based polymer. 5mL Titanium isopropoxide (TTIP) as a precursor, 15mL of isopropanol act as a solvent, either ammonium hydroxide or hydrochloric acid with 250mL of distilled water and 2% of honey as stabilizing and reducing agent were used to synthesized TiO2NPs. Then the suitable TiO2NPs were used to fabricate self-cleaning bio-based polymer. Characterization of the synthesized nanoparticles (NPs) with different pH condition and calcined temperature were investigated using Powder X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) was used to identify the presence of honey in TiO2NPs powder samples. From the XRD results, it proved that honey has been successfully reduced the crystallite size of the TiO2NPs and the optimal synthesized TiO2NPs was from anacidic condition with the calcined temperature of 400 ̊C. The size of obtaining TiO2NPs is calculated using Scherrer formula. The crystallite size of the fine pure anatase phase is 11.84 nm. Thus, the purpose of this research was achieved with the hydrophobic property, the bio-composite with the highest, the smaller TiO2NPs content in PLA will also exhibit self-cleaning ability which makes it suitable for the usage of hydrophobic food packaging material.