Synthesis and electrical conductivity evaluation of novel hybrid poly (methyl methacrylate)/titanium dioxide nanowires

This work aims at preparation, characterization and electrical conductivity evaluation of novel poly (methyl methacrylate), PMMA, based nanocomposites. The sodium titanate nanowire (Na2TinO2n+1) was prepared using titanium dioxide nanoparticles via hydrothermal treatment method. The hybrid PMMA nanocomposites were prepared by in situ emulsion polymerization of methyl methacrylate in presence of cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide and potassium persulfate as a cationic surfactant and initiator, respectively. In addition to, PMMA/polyaniline (PA)-based nanocomposites were obtained by adding sodium titanate nanowires and/or silver nitrate nanoparticles into the polymer mixture. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) transmission electron microscope (TEM), scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffraction pattern (XRD) and infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) were used to characterize the structures of the nanocomposites. The resultant nanocomposites exhibited core–shell structure. Moreover, the conductivity of the prepared hybrid PMMA nanocomposites was increased from 1.32 × 10−8 to 5.9 × 10−5 scm−1 with an increasing of the titanium dioxide nanowires concentration.