Light Scattering in Poly(Methyl Methacrylate) Hybrid Sheet Filled by Titanium Dioxide Nanocrystals Prepared by High Electric Field Assisted Spray Pyrolysis Process

In this work, titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanocrystals were prepared via spray pyrolysis process under high electric field, and were used for tuning the light scattering properties of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) sheets by embedding their nanopowders in PMMA matrix. The effect of processing conditions such as precursor concentration and calcination temperature on morphology and particle size was investigated. The sprayed and calcined TiO2 nanopowders were characterized by XRD, SEM and TEM. The intensity of the light radiation for TiO2/PMMA hybrid sheets was measured using a LUX meter. It was suggested that the efficiency of TiO2 nanocrystals can be increased dramatically by controlling both the particle size and the morphology. For TiO2/PMMA nanocomposite hybrid sheets, the light scattering capability was found to be about 15 times higher than that of pristine PMMA sheets at the distance of 30 cm.