Evaluation of physico-chemical properties of plasma treated PS–TiO2 nanocomposite film

In this work, we use TiO2 nanoparticles with average particle size 30 nm and polystyrene for production nanocomposite thin films. After polystyrene was dissolved in toluene, then TiO2 nanoparticles was added to the solution with different percentage. The obtained solutions were coated on quartz substrate using spin coater. The effect of argon RF plasma (13.6 MHz, with treatment time 30–120 s) on the optical properties, crystallinity, and the surface energy of PS-TiO2 nanocomposite has been investigated. Some characterization techniques viz., X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), UV–visible spectroscopy and contact angle measurement were used to study the induced changes on the properties of the treated PS–TiO2 nanocomposite. Crystalinity and optical properties remained unchanged at the same conditions. Moreover, the surface energy of treated sample varied comparing to the respective untreated samples.