Bionanocomposites from Biofibers and Biopolymers

Abstract

This particular chapter focuses on bionanocomposites, an emergent group of bio-hybrid materials at nanostructured level, as a concept of environmental, bioinspired, and functional hybrid materials. Bionanocomposites represents at least their one dimension on a nanometer scale and can be engineered using naturally occurring biofibers and/or biopolymers either in pristine form or the combination of both along with other inorganic elements. Nanoscale cues/constructs have now become a high requisite for new applications. Likewise, synthetic polymer-based nanocomposites, bionanocomposites (based on biofibers or biopolymers) also exhibit inherited or improved structural and multifunctional characteristics, such as renewability, recyclability, biocompatibility, biodegradability, (re)-generatability, high and efficient functionality against various substrates, induced turn-over, and overall cost-effectiveness are of high interest for numerous applications. Individually or collectively, all those properties of bionanocomposites open new and interesting perspectives with notable incidences in the environmental, biomedical, and biotechnological sector of the contemporary world. In this context, research is underway, around the globe, on the positioning of bionanocomposites as a new interdisciplinary area that could cover significant topics such as bioinspired biomaterials, green composites, bio-nanofabrication strategies and/or engineering processes, and biomimetic systems. Briefly, this chapter discusses various perspectives related to the biofibers and biopolymers, such as cellulose, chitosan, and polyhydroxyalkanoates, as building blocks of bionanocomposites, their sources, and classification along with the development of bionanocomposites using those fibers and polymers. Further to this end, the applied standpoints in relation to environmental and biomedical applications of bionanocomposites are also given with suitable examples.