Abstract
For the high-value utilization of hemicellulose-based composite films, the poor film-forming and mechanical properties of hemicellulose-based composite films must be surmounted crucially. Based on this, hemicellulose-based organic-inorganic composite films with good mechanical properties were prepared from quaternized hemicelluloses (QH), bentonite, and polyethyleneimine (PEI). The QH/PEI/bentonite composite films were prepared by vacuum filtration, and the properties of the composite film were investigated. The results showed that the QH was inserted into bentonite nanosheets through hydrogen bonding and electrostatic interactions. PEI was cross-linked with hemicellulose by hydroxyl groups, electrostatically attracted by the bentonite flake layers. The mechanical properties of the composite films were significantly increased by the incorporation of PEI. When the PEI content was 20%, the tensile stress of the composite film was increased by 155.18%, and the maximum tensile stress was reached 80.52 MPa. The composite films had strong UV absorption ability with the transmittance was almost 0 in the UV region from 200 to 300 nm. The thermal property of composite film was also improved, and the residual mass increased by three times compared to QH. These results provide a theoretical basis for the use of hemicellulose-based composite films in packaging applications.
Highlights
In recent years, there had been growing interest in the development of materials from natural polymers, and those obtained from renewable resources [1,2].Among natural polymers, ligno-cellulosic materials are potentially valuable resources because of the conversion into biofuels and bio-products [3,4]
The structure, morphology, optical transparency and thermal stability of the composite films were analyzed by fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), transparency and tensile properties
The quaternized hemicelluloses (QH) was obtained from the previous work [30], which average molecular weight (Mw) was 9240 g mol−1 tested by size exclusion chromatography (SEC)
Summary
There had been growing interest in the development of materials from natural polymers, and those obtained from renewable resources [1,2]. It is reported that the biomaterial obtained with clay added to biopolymers has higher thermal stability, mechanical strength, and better barrier properties [22,23,24]. The clay nanosheets endowed the hemicellulose based composite films with good thermal stability and UV Vis transparency [25]. It was found that the mechanical strength, thermal stability, transparency of hemicellulose based composite films can be well improved [29]. The structure, morphology, optical transparency and thermal stability of the composite films were analyzed by fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), transparency and tensile properties. These results might help to interpret the relationship between structures and properties of the composite films and explore the potential applications of composite films
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
