Bio-nanocomposite films based on polyvinyl alcohol/chitosan (PVA/CS) polymeric blend and cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) were prepared by casting a homogenous and stable aqueous mixture of the three components. CNC used as nanoreinforcing agents were extracted at the nanometric scale from sugarcane bagasse via sulfuric acid hydrolysis; then they were characterized and successfully dispersed into a PVA/CS (50/50, w/w) blend to produce PVA/CS-CNC bio-nanocomposite films at different CNC contents (0.5, 2.5, 5 wt %). Viscosity measurement of the film-forming solutions and structural and morphological characterizations of the solid films showed that the CNC are well dispersed into PVA/CS blend forming strong interfacial interactions that provide an enhanced load transfer between polymer chains and CNC, thus improving their properties. The obtained bio-nanocomposite films are mechanically strong and exhibit improved thermal properties. The addition of 5 wt % CNC within a PVA/CS blend increased the Young's modulus by 105%, the tensile strength by 77%, and the toughness by 68%. Herein, the utilization of Moroccan sugarcane bagasse as raw material to produce high quality CNC has been explored. Additionally, the ability of the as-isolated CNC to reinforce polymer blends was studied, resulting in the production of the aforementioned bio-nanocomposite films with improved properties
Novel functional hybrid nanofillers composed of cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) and graphene oxide nanosheets (GON), at different weight ratios (2:1, 1:1 and 1:2), were successfully prepared and characterized, and their synergistic effect in enhancing the properties of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) nanocomposites was investigated. Due to the synergistic reinforcement, it was found that the Young's modulus, tensile strength and toughness of the PVA nanocomposite containing 5 wt% hybrid nanofiller (1:2) were significantly improved by 320%, 124% and 159%, respectively; and the elongation at break basically remained compared to the neat PVA matrix. In addition, the glass and melting temperatures as well as the moisture sorption of nanocomposites were also enhanced. This synergistic effect improved the dispersion homogeneity by avoiding the agglomeration phenomenon of nanofillers within the polymer matrix, resulting in nanocomposites with largely enhanced properties compared to those prepared from single nanofiller (CNC or GON). The preparation of these hybrid nanofillers and their incorporation into a polymer provided a novel method for the development of novel multifunctional nanocomposites based on the combination of existing nanomaterials.
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