Study on Photocatalytic Degradation behaviour of LDPE/ NanoTiO2/OrganoClay Nanocomposites

Plastics waste originated from disposable products has been recognized as a worldwide environmental problem. Though, attempts have been made by scientists to overcomethis problem by means of incorporation of photosensitizers. Recently, photocatalytic techniques have shown as asuccessful method to accelerate the degradation of disposedarticles when exposed to UV irradiation. Polymer nanocomposites (PNCs) are the latest materials aimed atsolving this problem. Though enhancing polymer barrier and other mechanical properties is the most obvious application ofPNC’s in relevant industries, It has been shown that the environmental degradation of PNCs is higher than neat polymeric matrix [1, 2, 3]. Therefore, it is worthwhile to studysolid-phase degradation of Low density polyethylene (LDPE) as one of the most commercially used thermoplastic. Hence, the main scope of the present work to prepare nanocomposites based on LDPE film grade and hybrid of TiO2 as photoactive nanofillers and organoclay in order to study its degradation behaviour.