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Lookup NU author(s): Professor David XieORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND).
A series of plasticised chitosan-based materials and nanocomposites were successfully prepared by thermomechanical kneading. During the processing, the montmorillonite (MMT) platelets were fully delaminated. The nanoclay type and content and the preparation method were seen to have an impact on the crystallinity, morphology, glass transition temperature, and mechanical properties of the samples. When higher content (5%) of MMT–Na+ or either content (2.5% or 5%) of chitosan-organomodified MMT (OMMT–Ch) was used, increases in crystallinity and glass transition temperature were observed. Compared to the neat chitosan, the plasticised chitosan-based nano-biocomposites showed drastically improved mechanical properties, which can be ascribed to the excellent dispersion and exfoliation of nanoclay and the strong affinity between the nanoclay and the chitosan matrix. The best mechanical properties obtained were Young's modulus of 164.3 MPa, tensile strength of 13.9 MPa, elongation at break of 62.1%, and energy at break of 0.671 MPa. While the degree of biodegradation was obviously increased by the presence of glycerol, a further increase might be observed especially by the addition of unmodified nanoclay. This could surprisingly contribute to full (100%) biodegradation after 160 days despite the well-known antimicrobial property of chitosan. The results in this study demonstrate the great potential of plasticised chitosan-based nano-biocomposites in applications such as e.g., biodegradable packaging materials.
Author(s): Xie DF, Martino VP, Sangwan P, Way C, Pollet E, Dean KM, Halley PJ, Avérous L
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Polymer
Year: 2013
Volume: 54
Issue: 14
Pages: 3654-3662
Print publication date: 21/06/2013
Online publication date: 14/05/2013
Date deposited: 10/10/2023
ISSN (print): 0032-3861
ISSN (electronic): 1873-2291
Publisher: Elsevier
URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymer.2013.05.017
DOI: 10.1016/j.polymer.2013.05.017
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