Fabrication of highly photostable polystyrene films embedded with organometallic complexes

Ahmed, Dina S., Mohammed, Alaa, Husain, Amani A., El-Hiti, Gamal A., Kadhom, Mohammed, Kariuki, Benson M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8658-3897 and Yousif, Emad 2022. Fabrication of highly photostable polystyrene films embedded with organometallic complexes. Polymers 14 (5) , 1024. 10.3390/polym14051024

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Abstract

Polystyrene is a common thermoplastic and is produced in different shapes and forms. The scale of manufacture of polystyrene has grown over the years because of its numerous applications and low cost of production. However, it is flammable, brittle, has low resistance to chemicals, and is susceptible to photodegradation on exposure to ultraviolet radiation. There is therefore scope to improve the properties of polystyrene and to extend its useful lifetime. The current work reports the synthesis of organometallic complexes and investigates their use as photostabilizers for polystyrene. The reaction of excess ibuprofen sodium salt and appropriate metal chlorides in boiling methanol gave the corresponding complexes excellent yields. The organometallic complexes (0.5% by weight) were added to polystyrene and homogenous thin films were made. The polystyrene films blended with metal complexes were irradiated with ultraviolet light for extended periods of time and the stabilizing effects of the additives were assessed. The infrared spectroscopy, weight loss, depression in molecular weight, and surface morphology of the irradiated blends containing organometallic complexes were investigated. All the synthesized organometallic complexes acted as photostabilizers for polystyrene. The damage (e.g., formation of small polymeric fragments, decrease in weight and molecular weight, and irregularities in the surface) that took place in the polystyrene blends was much lower in comparison to the pure polystyrene film. The manganese-containing complex was very effective in stabilizing polystyrene and was superior to cobalt and nickel complexes

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	Published
Schools:	Chemistry
Additional Information:	This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)
Publisher:	MDPI
ISSN:	2073-4360
Funders:	King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	3 May 2022
Date of Acceptance:	2 March 2022
Last Modified:	11 May 2023 05:18
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/149489

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