Author(s)

Mariana Sato de S. B. Monteiro^1*, Maria Inês Bruno Tavares²

¹Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
²Instituto de Macromoléculas Professora Eloísa Mano, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Organic/Inorganic hybrid materials have been attracting much attention since they combine the advantages of inorganic materials with the properties of organic polymers. Titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO₂) present good thermal stability, accessibility and catalytic properties. Polycaprolactone (PCL) is a bi-ocompatible and bioresorbable material, which is being examined as biode-gradable packaging materials, controlled drug release carriers and other medical applications. Hybrids based on PCL containing different amounts of titanium dioxide nanoparticles, ranging from 0.05% to 0.35% w/w, were prepared using the solution cast method. These systems were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), thermogravimetric analysis (TG) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The FTIR analysis confirmed that there was an interaction between the PCL chains and the TiO₂ nanoparticles. The XRD and DSC analysis showed that the PCL crystallization was affected by TiO₂ incorporation, modifying its semi-crystalline structure to a less ordered structure. When TiO₂ nanoparticles were added the values of T₁H and T1ρH increased for all hybrids, therefore, their addition produced a new material with less molecular mobility. In the TG analysis, it was observed that the introduction of TiO₂ nanoparticles decreased the thermal resistance of PCL. In DSC analysis, the PCL/TiO₂ hybrids presented a reduction in the crystallization temperature and degree of crystallinity, except for PCL hybrids containing 0.15% w/w of TiO₂ nanoparticles.

Poly (ε -Caprolactone), Dioxide Titanium, Hybrids, NMR Relaxometry

Monteiro, M. and Tavares, M. (2018) The Development and Characterization of Polycaprolactone and Titanium Dioxide Hybrids. Advances in Nanoparticles, 7, 11-27. doi: 10.4236/anp.2018.71002.