Abstract
Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) has been widely applied in industries for its low cost, nontoxicity, biodegradability, and renewable advantages. However, its unstable structure may not meet some strong physical and mechanical needs. In order to enhance the performances of the PVA film, cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs), tannic acid (TA), and chitosan (CS), working as a reinforcer, a crosslinker, and an antimicrobial agent, respectively, were introduced into the PVA matrix. The results indicated that CNCs, TA, and CS were evenly distributed and cohesively incorporated within the PVA matrix, which contributed to the good mechanical properties and thermal stabilities of biocomposite PVA films. Besides, the addition of TA remarkably improved the antiultraviolet and antioxidant capabilities of PVA films, although the light transmittance declined slightly. It was also observed that the pure PVA film and PVA reinforced with CNCs were incapable of protecting against bacteria, while the ones with CS had prominent antibacterial properties to Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. Overall, the resulting film presented a high potential utilization as a food packaging material for its outstanding physical and mechanical performances.
Highlights
The traditional fossil fuel-based synthetics had caused serious problems to environment for their nondegradability and the waste accumulationin nature [1]
The tensile strength and elongation at break of Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) were reinforced by cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs), which were partially ascribed to the high crystallinity of CNCs with the enhancement of inherent chain stiffness and rigidity [29]
The results indicated that the addition of CNCs, tannic acid, and chitosan slightly lowered the melting temperature of the biocomposite PVA films
Summary
The traditional fossil fuel-based synthetics had caused serious problems to environment for their nondegradability and the waste accumulationin nature [1]. Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) is a synthetic polymer with a broad application in industrial areas, such as drug delivery, recycling polymers, film formation, and food packaging [3,4,5,6,7]. Due to the large amount of hydroxyl groups on the PVA carbon chain, the formation of the polymer complex could be enhanced through hydrogen bonding [8]. It has a high water vapor permeability because of its extreme hydrophilicity [9]. The thin PVA film has poor mechanical properties and antibacterial abilities. A reinforcer, a crosslinker, and an antibacterial agent were introduced to build a PVA-based complex
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