Development, Fabrication, and Characterization of Composite Polycaprolactone Membranes Reinforced with TiO 2 Nanoparticles

This paper focuses on developing, fabricating, and characterizing composite polycaprolactone (PCL) membranes reinforced with titanium dioxide nanoparticles (NPs) elaborated by using two solvents; acetic acid and a mixture of chloroform and N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF). The resulting physical, chemical, and mechanical properties of the composite materials are studied by using experimental characterization techniques such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-Ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) analysis, contact angle (CA), uniaxial and biaxial tensile tests, and surface roughness measurements. Experimental results show that the composite material synthesized by sol-gel and chloroform-DMF has a better performance than the one obtained by using acetic acid as a solvent.