Bionanocomposites

Abstract

Bionanocomposites are an emerging class of hybrid materials derived from combination at the nanometric level of inorganic solids with biopolymers. Certain biological materials, eg, nacre, ivory, bone and tooth, can be considered natural occurring bionanocomposites. The combination of polysaccharides, proteins, nucleic acids, and other biological materials with clay minerals, silica, phosphates, carbonates, and other inorganic solids opens the way to the preparation of a vast amount of bionanocomposites. Just like conventional nanocomposites, these biohybrid materials also exhibit both structural and functional properties, which can be of great interest for different applications. The most salient properties of bionanocomposites are related to biocompatibility, biodegradability, and good mechanical properties. These properties are of great significance in their application to regenerative medicine and in the development of environmentally friendly materials (green nanocomposites). Other examples of their potential application concern food packaging, fire safety, and sensor devices, which are based on gas‐barrier, flame retardancy, and sensing properties of bionanocomposites, respectively.

Characterization of chitosan/montmorillonite bionanocomposites by inverse gas chromatography

“…Bionanocomposites based on biopolymers and clays have received considerable attention over the last decade due to their new structure and functional properties. They are formed by the combination of natural polymers and clays and show at least one dimension on the nanometric scale [1]. Thus, the resulting materials are characterized by properties inherent to both types of components [2].…”

Immobilization of Nanoparticles on Fibrous Clay Surfaces: Towards Promising Nanoplatforms for Advanced Functional Applications

“…More recently, clays are attracting interest beyond classical applications, being used in the preparation of more sophisticated materials for application in diverse fields including nanotechnology. Actually, the clay mineral fraction separated from natural clays is mainly composed of particles of dimensions below the micrometer and thickness in the nanometer scale whose further exfoliation may reduce it to the nanometer range, being this characteristic fundamental in the development of advanced materials such as polymer‐clay nanocomposites and bionanocomposites . Another important group of clay‐based nanostructured materials deals with the assembly of clays to different types of inorganic nanoparticles (NP), being the so‐called pillared clays (PILC) the first paradigmatic example of nanoarchitectures, prepared from layered silicates of the clay minerals family ,.…”

Chitosan-Clay Bio-Nanocomposites

“…Assembling of polysaccharides, proteins and other polymers of natural origin to inorganic micro-or nano-particulate solids with emphasis in layered clay minerals can be driven by diverse mechanisms, such as electrostatic and hydrogen bonding, van der Waals forces and water bridges [10]. General procedures for preparation of bio-nanocomposites based on ion-exchange reactions, sol-gel processes, selfassembly, and layer-by-layer (LbL) adsorption using the concept of supramolecular chemistry, biomimetics, and biomineralization were reported [3,9,10].…”

“…General procedures for preparation of bio-nanocomposites based on ion-exchange reactions, sol-gel processes, selfassembly, and layer-by-layer (LbL) adsorption using the concept of supramolecular chemistry, biomimetics, and biomineralization were reported [3,9,10]. In this way, soluble biopolymers mainly present as hydrogels can be easily assembled to nanoparticulate inorganic solids by direct adsorption from aqueous solutions.…”