Integration of wood-based components – Cellulose nanofibrils and tannic acid - into a poly(vinyl alcohol) matrix to improve functional properties

Abstract

Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) biocomposite films reinforced with cellulose nanofibrils (CNF) and biologically active tannic acid (TA) were prepared. The influence of different concentrations of CNF and TA in the PVA polymer matrix was investigated in terms of mechanical properties, thermal properties and hydrophobicity improvement of the prepared films. The results showed that in all cases the addition of CNF and TA improved the values of tensile strength and elastic modulus. The PVA film with 10 % CNF exhibited a 30 % higher tensile strength, and the three-component PVA film with 2 % CNF and 10 % TA (P2C10T) exhibited a 40 % higher tensile strength compared to the neat PVA film. The thermal properties (Tg, Tonset) of the PVA biocomposite films were greatly improved, with a significant effect observed for the three-component PVA films. The Tg of the PVA film with 10 % CNF and 10 % TA was 87 °C, 12 °C higher than that of the neat PVA film. For three-component PVA biocomposites with 4 % and 6 % CNF and with all weight percentages of TA, the Tonset shifted to a higher temperature range by about 30 °C compared to the neat PVA film. The PVA film with 2 % CNF and 10 % TA exhibited about a 20° higher contact angle than the neat PVA film. Moreover, the addition of both fillers to the PVA matrix resulted in PVA biocomposites with lower water absorption. PVA film with 10 % TA absorbed about 90 % less water and PVA film with 10 % CNF and 10 % TA absorbed about 80 % less water than the neat PVA film after the films were soaked in water for one hour. The better properties of the composite films produced are due to hydrogen and ester bonds between the components of the composite, which was confirmed by FT-IR spectroscopy. Antioxidant effective films were also obtained due to the biologically active TA to the PVA and PVA/CNF systems.