Abstract
The major challenge in preparing polymer nanocomposites is to prevent the agglomeration of inorganic nanoparticles (NPs). Here, with regenerated cellulose (RC) films as supporting medium, UV-shielding and transparent nanocomposite films with hydrophobicity were fabricated by in situ synthesis of CeO₂ NPs. Facilitated through the interaction between organic and inorganic components revealed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transformation infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) characterization, it was found that CeO₂ NPs were uniformly dispersed in and immobilized by a cellulose matrix. However some agglomeration of CeO₂ NPs occurred at higher precursor concentrations. These results suggest that the morphology and particle size of CeO₂ and the corresponding performance of the resulting films are affected by the porous RC films and the concentrations of Ce(NO₃)₃·6H₂O solutions. The optimized nanocomposite film containing 2.95 wt% CeO₂ NPs had more than 75% light transmittance (550 nm), high UV shielding properties, and a certain hydrophobicity.