Hydrophilic modification of poly(ether sulfone) used TiO2 nanoparticles by a sol–gel process

Poly(ether sulfone)/TiO2 (PES/TiO2) nanoparticle composites with different TiO2 content were prepared by a sol–gel process. These composites exhibited high optical transparency, having nanosized TiO2 rich domains well dispersed within PES matrix. The structure and properties of these composites were characterized by SEM, FT-IR, TGA, DMA and contact angle test method, respectively. Hydrogen bonding interactions between the sulfone groups in the PES and the hydroxyl groups on the inorganic oxide were observed. Comparing with the pure PES polymer, the PES/TiO2 composites exhibited higher glass transition temperature, an increase and flattening of the rubbery plateau modulus and an increase in hydrophilicity. The mechanism of the hydrophilicity improvement of these composites was discussed.