Abstract
Poly (3-hydroxybutyrate-co-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) is one of the aliphatic polyesters that are completely synthesized by microorganisms. Owing to the physical and chemical properties of PHA being similar with those of polypropylene, PHBV is expected to be able to partially replace petroleum-based polymers, and to reduce the pollution of environment at the same time. However, many inherent defects, including slow crystallization rate, large-size spherulite and secondary crystallization phenomenon, restrict the development of PHBV. In the present study, PHBV/WS2 hybrid materials where the tungsten disulphide (WS2) acted as nucleating agent were produced, and then its accelerated crystallization effect on PHBV was evaluated. Mo’s methods were employed to describe the non-isothermal crystallization kinetics of the nucleated PHBV hybrid materials. The activation energy (ΔE) of hybrid material was calculated by Kissinger formula. It was found that the addition of low WS2 loadings strongly increased the crystallization rate of PHBV and correspondingly the crystallization half time (t1/2) decreased from 97s to 38s with only 1wt.% WS2 added. Meanwhile, the crystallization temperature (Tc) increased from 81.9°C to 112 °C. The results reported here are expected to be of great interest for the practical application of PHBV.
Published Version
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