PMMA-ITO Composite Formation via Electrostatic Assembly Method for Infra-Red Filtering

Formation of functional composite materials with desired properties is important for advanced application development. However, formation of a homogenous composite material via conventional mixing methods still remains a challenge due to agglomeration. Therefore, this work reports and demonstrates the formation of a homogeneous poly(methylmethacrylate) (PMMA)-indium tin oxide (ITO) composite with high visible light transparency (up to 90%) with an excellent shielding effect of infra-red (IR) via a facile electrostatic assembly method. This PMMA-ITO composite with good transparency and an IR shielding effect has good potential to be used in the automobile industry for vehicle windscreens as well as in heat preservation or preventive technology. The IR shielding rate is demonstrated to be controllable by changing the amount of ITO nanoparticles additive. This finding would provide a platform for development of IR optical related polymeric composite materials.