Visible-light induced anti-bacterial and self-cleaning waterborne polyacrylic coating modified with TiO2/polypyrrole nanocomposite; preparation and characterization

Nowadays, self-cleaning technology is used in various industries to decreasing the time, energy consumption and costs of surface servicing as well as the increasing of surface durability. Self-cleaning and anti-bacterial coatings can be made by the addition of suitable additives to a polymer matrix with good properties. In the present research, TiO 2 /polypyrrole nanocomposites were prepared in different TiO 2 to polypyrrole weight ratios and used in various percent as an additive in waterborne commercial grade polyacrylic latex. Characterization and evaluation of structural and morphological features of nanocomposites and coatings were performed by FTIR, XRD, UV–Vis and FESEM techniques. By the addition of prepared nanocomposites as an additive to the polyacrylic matrix, the hydrophilic, water resistant, anti-bacterial, and photocatalytic coatings were prepared. The TiO 2 to polypyrrole weight ratio of TiO 2 /polypyrrole nanocomposites and the percent of nanocomposite additive in the polymeric matrix were optimized. According to the results, the coating containing 2% and 3% of TiO 2 /polypyrrole nanocomposite with TiO 2 to polypyrrole weight ratio of 100:10 are proposed as the best coating formulations in the formulations examined in this work, due to their good properties in the most of experiments.