Development of high‐performance zinc stannate based multifunctional thermoplastic polyurethane nanocomposite films

Abstract A lot of demand exists for multifunctional TPU that can provide enhanced performance to address a variety of inflatable application needs. To develop multifunctional nanocomposite films for such uses, synthesized zinc stannate (ZnSnO ₃ ) nanoparticles are integrated for the first time in a thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) matrix. ZnSnO ₃ was synthesized using hydrothermal method. The morphological analysis vividly displayed the nanocubic structures. As‐synthesized nano ZnSnO ₃ was added as a nanofiller at varied concentration from 2 to 10 wt% in TPU and nanocomposite films were prepared by solvent intercalation and casting method. These films were thoroughly examined for their multifunctional properties such as UV protection, helium gas barrier and infrared emissivity. Mean value of UV protection factor was improved by 75% at 10 wt% loading of ZnSnO ₃ whereas 23% improvement was observed in helium gas barrier. Moreover, a good correlation of experimental data with various theoretical models of gas permeability was obtained at lower volume fraction of ZnSnO ₃ . IR emissivity value also showed improvement from 0.802 to 0.842. Thus, the developed TPU‐ZnSnO ₃ nanocomposite films exhibited a significant improvement in multiple functional properties with improved tensile strength at optimized loading of 6 wt% of ZnSnO ₃ . Highlights UPF mean value of ZnSnO ₃ incorporated TPU film has been improved by 67%. Helium gas barrier has been improved by approximately 23% at 6 wt% loading. TPU film exhibited improved properties at optimized loading of 6 wt% of ZnSnO ₃ . Nanocomposite TPU film can be employed in various weathering inflatables.