Fabrication of polystyrene-acrylic/ZnO nanocomposite films for effective removal of methylene blue dye from water

Polymer nanocomposite films were formed from the aqueous dispersion of thermally linking styrene-acrylic copolymer (Tubifast 4010®, CHT), partially esterified melamine resin (Tubifix®, CHT), and ZnO nanoparticles as filler. The developed nanocomposite films were characterized by elemental (CHNS) analysis, SEM, EDX, IR spectroscopy, XRD, and swelling degree study. The EDX analysis proved the presence of Zn in the polymer nanocomposite, and according to SEM and XRD, all ZnO nanoparticles are separated with a uniform structure with 20 nm in size. Analyzing a swelling degree of the polymer films showed that the film with nano ZnO as the filler possesses 3.4 times lower swelling degree compared to the film formed from Tubifast 4010®. This can be explained by the inorganic structure of ZnO and the ability to form extra chains, which is consistent with IR spectroscopy data. It was demonstrated that the polymer nanocomposite film could adsorb methylene blue due to the quick swelling of the film which increases the volume of the sample and provides more active adsorption sites of the film.