Preparation and characterization of thermosensitive poly(NIPAM-co-MAH-β-CD)/(TiO2-MWCNTs) composites by UV light photoinitiating method

In this report, a novel thermosensitive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-maleic anhydride-β-cyclodextrin)/(TiO2-multi-walled carbon nanotubes) (poly(NIPAM-co-MAH-β-CD)/(TiO2-MWCNTs)) composite was synthesized by UV light photoinitiating method. The results indicated that MAH modified β-CD (MAH-β-CD) could polymerize to NIPAM by UV light irradiation in the presence of TiO2-MWCNTs composite nanoparticles. The characteristic results confirmed that the TiO2-MWCNTs composite nanoparticles were embedded evenly within the thermally responsive copolymer of NIPAM and MAH-β-CD. The effects of irradiation time and TiO2-MWCNTs concentration on the yield of the composites were investigated by keeping NIPAM to MAH-β-CD mass ratio constant. The optimal polymerization reaction conditions were a TiO2-MWCNTs concentration of 10 wt.% under UV light for the illumination of 3 h.