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Updated: Jul 25, 2025

The Effect of Interfacial Chemical Bonding in TiO2-SiO2 Composites on Their Photocatalytic NOx Abatement Performance
Published on: July 4, 2017
Macroscopic Property Evaluation of Titania Nanocomposite Polymer Capable of Drawing Double-Network Macrostructure
Hiroki Ikake1, Shuta Hara2, Minami Kubodera1
1Department of Materials and Applied Chemistry, College of Science and Technology, Nihon University, 1-8-14 Kandasurugadai, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-8308, Japan.
Abstract:
In this study, we developed a double-network hybrid polymer that controls the strength and density of cross-linking points by utilizing the bonds of titania and catechol groups with an o-nitrobenzyl group (ONBg) as the photoreactive cross-linking points. In addition, this hybrid material system, which is composed of thermally dissociable bonds between titania and carboxyl groups, can be molded before light irradiation. The Young's modulus increased by approximately 1000 times upon irradiation with UV light. Moreover, introducing microstructures using the photolithography technique improved the tensile strength and fracture energy by approximately 32 and 15 times, respectively, compared to the sample without the photoreaction. The improved toughness was achieved by the macrostructures, which enhanced the effective cleavage of sacrificial bonds between the carboxyl groups and titania.

