Considerable interest has been devoted to graphene since this material has shown promising and excellent results in mechanical and thermal properties. This finding has attracted more researchers to discover the attributes of graphene due to its extensive and potential applications. This paper reviewed the recent advances in the modification of graphene and the fabrication of polylactic acid/ graphene nanocomposite. The different techniques that have been employed to prepare graphene, such as reduction of graphene oxide and chemical vapor deposition, are discussed briefly. The preparations of PLA/graphene nanocomposites are described using in situ polymerization, solution, and melt blending; and the properties of these nanocomposites are reviewed. Due to the difficulties in obtaining good dispersions, modifications of nanomaterials have been the critical issues that lead to excellent mechanical properties.
The present research goals to investigate how the preparation technique became the factor to develop materials with a good combination of properties and optimum degradation ability. PLA/CNTs nanocomposites were prepared via melt blending and solution blending that were involved of unmodified carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and modified CNTs (mCNTs) at 1.5 wt.% loading. The surface morphology of nanocomposites was viewed by Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM). The effect of 5 wt.% poly (ethylene glycol) (PEG) as plasticizer on nanocomposites were determined. The weight loss in soil degradation study was run for 6 months. The morphology study by FESEM confirmed the finding through the existence of a smooth fracture surface especially when PEG was loaded. In soil degradation analysis, neat PLA exhibited a low weight loss rate after 6 months. The maximum weight loss for both techniques was shown by PLA/PEG/CNTs from melt blending technique and PLA/PEG/mCNTs from solution blending, believed from the pore occurred bring to poor properties.
The present research goals are to investigate how several parameters became the factor to maximize the degradation ability of biopolymer. Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) was blended in poly(lactic acid (PLA) assisted by poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) as a plasticizer. PLA/PEG/mCNTs from the melt blending technique was used for analysis in hydrolysis degradation purposely to discover how the time, temperature and pH of media solution could affect the weight loss and validate by Response Surface Methodology (RSM). The hydrolysis study was examined at three parameters of immersion; time from 7 to 28 days; the temperature at 25 °C, 45 °C and 65 °C; and pH of the solution at pH 3 (HCl), pH 6.5 (deionized water) and pH 10 (NaOH). The maximum weight loss, 22.53 % was observed after 28 days of immersion at 65 °C of immersion temperature and pH 3 of solution. The quadratic model developed was reasonably accurate based on the R2 value of 0.966, insignificant lack of fit, and low percentage error during validation experiment from the predicted values (< 5 %).
Heavy metals have previously been removed from aqueous media using activated carbon as an adsorbent but due to its high cost, researchers are working to develop low-cost adsorbents from agricultural products and by-products. In this research, fresh banana peels were utilised as raw materials, and they were subsequently carbonised using the hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) method to generate an efficient hydrochar adsorbent with the participation of potassium hydroxide (KOH) solution. Pure standard of Fe, Mn and Zn were used as the stock solution for the heavy metal ions removal. The catalysis of KOH with concentration ranging from 0% to 50% by weight were utilized as the reaction media. Parameters including the dosage, metal concentrations, contact time and pH value were carefully investigated. According to the results of concentrations of heavy metals before and after adsorption obtained from AAS, hydrochar produced in 30%wt KOH exhibit the most adsorption capacity and Zn removal exhibit the highest adsorption among all three metal ions used at 83% removal efficiency. The presence of a high number of oxygen functional groups (OFG) is confirmed by FTIR findings, that influence the adsorption reaction. As a result, chemically modified banana peels can be used as a low-cost alternative to other expensive adsorbents for heavy metal removal, and HTC could be a viable technique for producing low-cost adsorbents.
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