PMMA-ITO Composite Formation via Electrostatic Assembly Method for Infra-Red Filtering

Abstract

Formation of functional composite materials with desired properties is important for advanced application development. However, formation of a homogenous composite material via conventional mixing methods still remains a challenge due to agglomeration. Therefore, this work reports and demonstrates the formation of a homogeneous poly(methylmethacrylate) (PMMA)-indium tin oxide (ITO) composite with high visible light transparency (up to 90%) with an excellent shielding effect of infra-red (IR) via a facile electrostatic assembly method. This PMMA-ITO composite with good transparency and an IR shielding effect has good potential to be used in the automobile industry for vehicle windscreens as well as in heat preservation or preventive technology. The IR shielding rate is demonstrated to be controllable by changing the amount of ITO nanoparticles additive. This finding would provide a platform for development of IR optical related polymeric composite materials.

Graphene Oxide with Controlled Content of Oxygen Groups as a Filler for Polymer Composites Used for Infrared Radiation Shielding

“…To save the energy NIR shielding materials can be used as coatings in buildings and cars to reduce the heat transmission through their outer surfaces. These coatings can be divided into inorganic materials (such as heat-reflective glasses) [1,3,6,7] and polymer composites with inorganic fillers (such as indium tin oxide-ITO, antimony tin oxide-ATO, lanthanum hexaboride-LaB 6 , tungsten oxide-WO 3 nanoparticles) [4,[8][9][10][11]. The fillers should possess high absorption or high reflectance of infrared radiation.…”

“…The fillers should possess high absorption or high reflectance of infrared radiation. Usually, for polymer composites good infrared (IR) shielding is obtained with an addition of few wt.% of the filler (around 1-5 wt.%) which can change the mechanical and thermal properties of the used polymer, not to mention the price of the material obtained [4,8,9,11]. Therefore new materials used as fillers in the polymer composites are sought.…”

Design of Heat-Conductive hBN–PMMA Composites by Electrostatic Nano-Assembly

“…PMMA also exhibits an amorphous polymer processing dimensional stability that allows it to be used as a host in composite material fabrication [1]. Various PMMA composite materials with desired properties were reported such as functional transparent composites [2][3][4] and infrared (IR) shielding composites [5].…”

“…Previously, our group demonstrated the feasibility of an EA method for fabricating various composite materials [14]. The composites were used for applications such as IR shielding [5], optical property-controlled ceramic composite films [15], selective laser sintering [16], mechanical property control of carbon-based alumina composite [17], and fabrication of the negative electrode for rechargeable Fe-air batteries [18]. The EA method not only allows for the homogeneous decoration of additives onto desired primary particles, but also the preservation of the shape and size of the starting materials.…”

Micro- and Nano-assembly of Composite Particles by Electrostatic Adsorption

“…In the LbL method, despite the possible application of uncharged particles/colloids, the charged ones still remain the commonly used method through the assembly of multilayer polyelectrolyte [19]. Other than polyelectrolyte utilization, the zeta potential can also be controlled using pH adjustment depending on the material used in the composite formation [20, 21]. The sequential application of oppositely charged polyelectrolyte could increase the surface charge strength as well as stability of the polyelectrolyte coatings which can be determined using zeta potential measurement [13, 22].…”