Application of Atmospheric‐Air Plasma on Polyhydroxybutirate Solution – Evaluation of Promoted Changes on the Casted Film Surface and Nanoparticles Production

Abstract

AbstractPolyhydroxybutirate (PHB) is a very promising biopolymer once it can be used as an eco‐friendly substitute to some synthetic polymers. In this work, PHB solutions are prepared by casting using chloroform as solvent. The solution is modified by plasma treatment using a commercial atmospheric‐air plasma‐jet system (PlasmaPen TM; PVA TePla America), feed with ambient air compressed under 7 bar, operating with a fixed potency of 150 W, receiving 220 VAC (60 Hz, 2 A) as an input, having a plasma plume with a length of 1.2–1.5 cm and a diameter of ≈0.5–0.6 cm. The PHB solution (PHB not treated or PHB‐NT) is treated for 1 min, with 5 cm of distance between the solution surface and the output of the equipment in order to promote local precipitation of PHB. The resulting solutions are used to produce PHB treated films named as PHB‐T. The PHB‐NT and PHB‐T films surface are analyzed through contact angle measurements, Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), Fourier‐Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). Results point to changes in reduction of PHB crystallinity and increase in surface roughness of the PHB‐T film caused by the presence of the circular crystalline regions that can be an indicator of possible PHB nanoparticles production.