Creation of Hydrophobic Materials Fabricated from Soy Protein and Natural Rubber: Surface, Interface, and Properties

Abstract

Hydrophobic materials were successfully prepared from SPI and NR by blending via freezing/lyophilizing. The interfacial interaction, surface properties, hydrophobicity, and mechanical properties, biodegradability as well as the biocompatibility were investigated. The blend sheets exhibited good interface adhesion and good optical transparency. Their hydrophobicity was significantly improved compared with pure soy protein sheets. XPS results proved the NR surface enrichment. Flexibility and toughness of the blend sheets were enhanced and phase inversion phenomena were observed. Furthermore, the blend sheets exhibited good biodegradability and biocompatibility capable of supporting cell adhesion and proliferation.

Structure and property of biodegradable soy protein isolate/PBAT blends

“…However, SPI is not thermoplastic, and possesses only poor mechanical strength and water resistance (Tian and Zhang, 2009;Kumar et al, 2008). Blending SPI with polycaprolactone (Hong et al, 2009), poly(lactic acid) (Liu et al, 2010), poly(vinyl alcohol) (Su et al, 2010), natural rubber (Jong, 2015;Tian et al, 2010) etc. thus becomes a way to enlarge its applications.…”

Microstructure and mechanical properties of soy protein/agar blend films: Effect of composition and processing methods

“…The commercial raw material of soy protein is soy protein isolate (SPI) with more than 90% protein and 18 diverse amino acids. Usually, the poor mechanical performance as well as the water sensitivity of soy protein materials which limit their applications , could be improved, such as by blending with polyurethane (Tian et al, 2010a), gelatin (Cao et al, 2007), natural rubber (Tian et al, 2010b), cellulose derivates (Su et al, 2010), chitosan (Silva et al, 2007), konjac glucomannan (Tang et al, 2003), lipid (Monedero et al, 2010) and beeswax (Monedero et al, 2009), filling with nanoparticles Liu et al, 2009) or chemical modifications (Kumar, 2010).…”

A review on research and development of green composites from plant protein-based polymers

“…Tianet et al successfully prepared a novel kind of hydrophobic materials from SPI and NR by blending via freezing/lyophilizing. The interfacial interaction, surface properties, hydrophobicity, and mechanical properties, biodegradability as well as the biocompatibility were investigated.…”