Plasma Treated Titanium Dioxide Particles to Prepare stable Aqueous Suspensions for Ink Formulations

固体颗粒在液体中的分散形成稳定的悬浮液是一个重要的技术挑战。 这种挑战的一个具体例子是二氧化钛纳米颗粒在水中的分散 用于印刷业的不透明油墨的制备。目前的方法涉及表面活性剂的使用。 再加上重型机械搅拌和碾磨，形成的悬浮液将在有限的时间内保持稳定。 将二氧化钛颗粒悬浮在水中的方法的改进将使我们的合作伙伴VeraJet 喷墨，生产独特的喷墨墨水，具有更长的使用寿命和更好的性能，比竞争对手 产品。近年来，我们的实验室已经开发出一种独特的专业知识，可以轻松高效地 在各种液体中产生稳定的纳米颗粒悬浮液。我们使用的是反应等离子体，一种电离气体 通过放电产生的，以使粒子表面具有极性官能团和 从而改善了颗粒的亲水性。我们最成功的发展之一是 利用乙烷/氧等离子体使碳纳米管功能化，从而制备纳米管 悬浮期长时间(年)稳定。该项目的目标是将类似的方法应用于 生成稳定的二氧化钛悬浮液。我们将初步研究小量的功能化 使用我们现有的设备对收到的粉末进行检测。主要目标将是确定功能组 接枝在二氧化钛颗粒上。同时，我们将重新启用我们的飞行中功能化设备(从 在2005-2010年期间进行的研究)，并对其 适合预期的应用程序，因为它具有可伸缩性的潜力。

The dispersion of solid particles in a liquid to form a stable suspension is an important technological challenge. A specific example of such a challenge is the dispersion of titanium dioxide nanoparticles in water for the preparation of opaque inks for the printing industry. The current approach involves the use of surfactants coupled with heavy mechanical stirring and milling to create a suspension that will be stable for a limited time. The improvement of methods to suspend titanium dioxide particles in water would allow our partner, Verajet Inkjet, to produce unique inkjet inks having a much longer lifetime and better performances that competing products. Over the recent years, our laboratory has developed a unique expertise to readily and efficiently generate stable suspensions of nanoparticles in various liquids. We use a reactive plasma, an ionized gas created by an electrical discharge, to functionalize the surface of the particles with polar functional groups and thereby improving the hydrophilic character of the particles. One of our most successful developments has been to functionalization carbon nanotubes using ethane/oxygen plasmas allowing the preparation of nanotube suspensions stable over long periods (years). The objective of this project is to apply a similar methodology to the generation of stable TiO2 suspensions. We will initially investigate the functionalization of small quantities of as-received powders using our current equipment. The main goal will be to identify the functional groups grafted on the TiO2 particles. In parallel, we will recommission our in-flight functionalization equipment (from studies carried on over the 2005-2010 period) and perform a preliminary assessment of its suitability for the intended application as it bears potential for scalability.