Study of the effect of TiO2/polyaniline nanocomposite on the self-cleaning property of polyacrylic latex coating

A transparent, industrial, and cost effective coating with self-cleaning property for indoor and outdoor applications based on commercial grade water-based polyacrylic emulsion was prepared using TiO2/polyaniline nanocomposite. TiO2/polyaniline nanocomposites was produced in various TiO2 to polyaniline ratios and used to modify polyacrylic coatings. The TiO2/polyaniline nanocomposites and additive contained polyacrylic coatings were specified by the use of FT-IR, UV-Vis, SEM, and XRD methods. The additive contained polyacrylic coatings showed better hydrophilicity, water resistivity, Vis and UV lights absorption, surface photodecolorization of contaminants and antibacterial property in compare to the pristine polyacrylic coating. The coatings modified with TiO2/PANI nanocomposites showed more hydrophilic surface with the water contact angle of < 10° compared to the unmodified coating with the water contact angle of 68°. Also according to the results, polyacrylic coating containing 3 wt% of TiO2/polyaniline nanocomposite with 100:1 ratio of TiO2 to polyaniline is the best coating formulation because of its high UV and visible light absorption, stability in aqueous environment, and so high efficiency in the surface photodecolorization of organic contaminant and hydrophilicity under visible light illumination.