Experimental Investigation of Enhanced Selfcleaning Properties of Alkyd Resin by Modified Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles

In this research, the efficiency of the self-cleaning property of alkyd resin containing zinc oxide ZnO nanoparticles has been investigated. Production of surfaces with self-cleaning property is possible by photocatalytic degradation method based on the chemical degradation of contaminated materials under light radiation. For this purpose, pure and doped ZnO nanoparticles were synthesized by sol-gel method as a pigment. The structure, morphology and photocatalytic performance of particles were investigated by X-Ray diffraction analysis XRD, transient electron microscopy TEM and UV-VIS spectrophotometer, respectively. The polymeric coating based on the alkyd resin from the type of long oil and white spirit solvent was prepared and was applied on the galvanized sheet by an applicator with a thickness of 100 microns. Hexagonal structure with an average size of 30 nm and rod-like structure with an average size of 50 nm were obtained for pure ZnO nanoparticles and doped ZnO nanoparticles, respectively. Photocatalytic activity of applied coatings exposed to methyl orange contaminant and ultraviolet radiation was measured and its optical properties were compared to coating including nanopigments titanium dioxide TiO2 as the reference sample. According to the results, doped ZnO sample after 6 hours radiation, has had 40 of degradation. While undoped ZnO form and TiO2 particles at the same time have created 25 and 35 of degradation, respectively. The kinetic investigation of degradation showed that degradation follows well the first order kinetic equation.