from the conferences organized by TANGER Ltd.
Materials with immobilized or entrapped nanoparticles are of considerable interest. Sulphur as one of the abundant elements on earth is cheap and environmentally friendly. In this work, we have studied the surface properties of polystyrene foil and changes of its surface properties after (i) activation by ultraviolet radiation and (ii) subsequent grafting with sulphur particles (SPs). We have also investigated the effect of surface pre-grafting with cysteamine on subsequent SPs grafting. SPs have been prepared by an acid catalyzed precipitation of sodium thiosulphate in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulphate as capping agent. The changes in surface properties of modified foils were characterized by contact angle measurement, electrokinetic analysis and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The contact angle decreased after UV activation due to the formation of oxygen polar groups. The presence of sulphur and sodium on the polystyrene surface, revealed by XPS, showed that SPs were bound to this surface. The surface morphology of samples and grafted SPs size were examined by scanning electron microscopy. The significant changes in SPs agglomeration after grafting on surface were observed.
Keywords: Polystyrene, sulphur particles, surface modification, UV treatment, surface properties© This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.