In this research, we have investigated the photocatalytic degradation of carbon-coated TiO 2 nanoparticles in polypropylene-based nano-composites. For this purpose, polypropylene-based nano-composites were prepared using carbon-coated TiO 2 nanoparticles and commercially available TiO 2 nanoparticles (Degussa, P25). Our results from SEM, FTIR, and tensile tests showed that the photocatalytic property of TiO 2 causes chain scission reactions, crosslinking and consequently photocatalytic degradation of polypropylene that affects the mechanical properties of exposed nano-composites. We have observed that with greater carbon content of the TiO 2 nano-powders, there is less photocatalytic degradation.

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