Synthesis and Characterization of Polystyrene/CuO-Fe₂O₃ Nanocomposites from Natural Materials as Hydrophobic Photocatalytic Coatings

Abstract

This study reports on the synthesis, characterization of polystyrene(PS)/CuO-Fe2O3 nanocomposites, and their application as hydrophobic coatings. CuO and Fe2O3 materials were synthesized from natural materials by the milling method. Meanwhile, the PS/CuO-Fe2O3 nanocomposites were synthesized by the sol-gel method. Furthermore, the hydrophobic coating on the glass substrate was made by the spin-coating. To obtain highest value of contact angle, the composition of both CuO and Fe2O3 in nanocomposite as well as calcination temperatures were varied. Sample characterization was conducted using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and ultraviolet visible (Uv-Vis) spectrophotometry analysis. The Sessile drop method was used to determine the contact angle of the layer. The results showed that PS/CuO-Fe2O3 nanocomposite was successfully obtained with a crystal size between 40–52 nm and grain size of 92 nm. In addition to the basic material of composites, hematite and tenorite, the presence of copper ferrite phase was also identified. The CuO-Fe2O3 composition and its large calcination temperature also plays an effective role in the magnitude of the contact angle. The highest value of contact angle obtained was 125.46° at 3:1 composition and calcination temperature of 200 °C. We found that the PS/CuO-Fe2O3 composite was hydrophobic, but the photocatalyst activity was very small at 0.24%.

Keywords

• composite
• calcination temperature
• contact angle
• hydrophobic