Abstract

Natural rubber (NR) composite foams filled with various amounts of anatase- and rutile-titanium dioxide (TiO<inf>2</inf>) were prepared. Confirmation of each types of TiO<inf>2</inf> was done from XRD, FTIR and particle size analyzer. Also, the properties of NR/TiO<inf>2</inf> foams in terms of tensile strength and toughness, morphologies, photocatalytic and photo-oxidative properties were elucidated. Results showed that, the incorporation of both TiO<inf>2</inf> into NR foams enhanced its mechanical, photocatalytic and UV stabilizing properties and reached an optimum concentration at 15 phr in case of anatase-TiO<inf>2</inf>. This can be explained in terms of different particulate structure of both TiO<inf>2</inf> based on particle size, surface area and degree of electron recombination. In addition, the photocatalytic activity of the resulting foams by the degradation of methylene blue (MB) solution and benzene solvent under UV irradiation was examined and clearly exhibited a change in color of MB solution and benzene concentration. Particularly, in case of anatase-TiO<inf>2</inf>, the results were well correlated to the UV stability as confirmed from the ATR-FTIR spectrum, which exhibited a considerable reduction in the specific peak intensity, corresponds to the functional groups. The incorporation of anatase-TiO<inf>2</inf> retards the propagation of photo-oxidation of NR foams. Therefore, the results clearly indicate the applicability of these modified NRs for NR foam-based furniture and filter.