Novel clay‐based nanobiocomposites of biopolyesters with synergistic barrier to UV light, gas, and vapour

Abstract

This article presents novel solvent cast biocomposites of poly(lactic acid) (PLA), polyhydroxybutyrate-co-valerate (PHBV), and polycaprolactone (PCL) with enhanced barrier properties to UV light, oxygen, water, and limonene by means of incorporating an organomodified mica-based clay grade. The TEM results suggested a good clay dispersion but with no exfoliation in the three biopolyesters. In agreement with the crystallinity data, which was found to generally increase with increasing filler content, oxygen but specially water and D-limonene permeability coefficients were seen to decrease to a significant extent in the biocomposites and an optimum property balance was found for 5 wt % of clay loading in the three biopolymers. With increasing clay content, the light transmission of these biodegradable biocomposites decreased by up to 90% in the UV wavelength region due to the specific UV blocking nature of the clay used. As a result, these new biocomposites can have significant potential to develop packaging films, coatings and membranes with enhanced gas and vapor barrier properties and UV blocking performance.

Bio-Based Coatings for Paper Applications

“…The use of nanoscale fillers in paper coatings nowadays mainly focuses on the use of inorganic pigments [5], minerals [6], ceramics [7], while bio-based nanofillers such as nanocellulose [8] and nanoclays [9] were more recently considered. Several interesting functionalities attained by employing nanomaterials include, antimicrobial paper [10], microfluidic paper devices [11], bioactive papers for drug delivery [12], flame-retardant papers or self-healing properties for cotton fabric [13].…”

Biodegradable Polymer/Clay Nanocomposites

“…However, the use of melt intercalation for the preparation of PHB-based clay nanocomposites has been reported by several researchers, showing great difficulty to produce clay intercalation. No intercalation and particle aggregation has been reported by different authors when processing pure PHB and unmodified clays (montmorillonite and kaolinite), which was conducted for formation of microcomposites (Bordes et al 2008;Botana et al 2010;Sanchez-Garcia and Lagaron 2010). The best results have been obtained when processing PHB, PHB/HV, and PHB/PCL together with organo-modified clays such as C20A, C30B, etc., as reported by several researchers (Maiti et al 2007;Bordes et al 2008;Botana et al 2010;Sanchez-Garcia and Lagaron 2010;Mook Choi et al 2003;Feijoo et al 2005;Chen et al 2002;Wang et al 2005a, b;Chen et al 2004;Bruzaud and Bourmaud 2007).…”

Environmentally friendly polymer nanocomposites using polymer matrices from renewable sources

“…Similar preparation routes, with slight variations, have been used by other researchers in preparation of PHB/ clay 151,152 and PHB/HV. 149,150 Cabedo et al 141 compared the solution casting, melt mixing and extrusion methods for the preparation of PHB/HV-clay nanocomposites. The authors also investigated the effects of processing times, clay type and concentration on the type of nanocomposite structures obtained.…”

“…This expansion of the clays was less than the 1.8 nm reported by Choi et al 138 PHA/clay nanocomposites have also been prepared using the solution casting technique, with chloroform primarily being the solvent of choice. [148][149][150]152 Although the thermo-mechanical degradation of PHA is avoided through the use of solution casting, the method is not environmentally friendly due to the use of copious amounts of hazardous solvents. Chen et al [146][147][148] investigated the structure and properties of PHB/HV/OMMT nanocomposites prepared using the solution casting technique.…”