Abstract
In the last few decades, the interest towards natural compounds, coming from a natural source and biodegradable, for biopolymers is always increasing because of a public request for the formulation of safe, eco-friendly, and sustainable materials. The main classes of natural compounds for biopolymers are: (i) naturally occurring fillers (nFil), such as nano-/micro- sized layered alumino-silicate: halloysite, bentonite, montmorillonite, hydroxyapatite, calcium carbonate, etc.; (ii) naturally occurring fibers (nFib), such as wood and vegetable fibers; (iii) naturally occurring antioxidant molecules (nAO), such as phenols, polyphenols, vitamins, and carotenoids. However, in this short review, the advantages and drawbacks, considering naturally occurring compounds as safe, eco-friendly, and sustainable additives for biopolymers, have been focused and discussed briefly, even taking into account the requests and needs of different application fields.
Highlights
If the natural fillers contain iron impurities, upon UV-light, the iron ions can change from Fe2+ to Fe3+, catalyzing the decomposition of the hydroperoxides, which are typical oxygen-containing products formed during the degradation of polymers and biopolymers
PronouncedInterestingly, for neat polylactic acid (PLA). the reduction of the sample weight at half (i.e., T50) for neat PLA and PLA-based nanocomposites occurs at very close temperatures because, at higher temperatures, the influence of the presented fatty acids onto calcium carbonate particles is Besides, the nanocomposites are more susceptible to oxidation because the presence of the nanoparticles hinders the organization of the macromolecules in regular structures, and, overall, the crystallinity degree decreases
The naturally occurring compounds for biopolymers are of three kinds: (i) naturally occurring fillers, such as nano-/micro-sized layered alumino-silicate: halloysite, bentonite, montmorillonite, hydroxyapatite, calcium carbonate, etc.; (ii) naturally occurring fibers, such as wood and vegetable fibers; (iii) naturally occurring antioxidant molecules, such as phenols, polyphenols, vitamins, and carotenoids, highlighting the main advantages and disadvantages in considering them as sustainable and suitable additives
Summary
In the last two decades, the extraction and use of naturally occurring compounds experience. Numerous scientific papers reveal properties and performance improvement due to adding of natural compounds to polymers and biopolymers matrices, and this opens new applications for these innovative eco-friendly, sustainable, and safe materials. Natural compounds, such as natural fillers (nFil), fibers (nFib), and antioxidant stabilizing molecules (nAO), are usually added to polymers and biopolymers during their processing and/or manufacturing in order to improve the performance, properties, and durability. In the last two decades, the gradual replacement of synthetic polymers with biopolymer counterparts, i.e., polymers coming from natural sources, has gained great interest, considering ever-increasing public interest towards the use of eco-friendly, sustainable, and safe materials, because of their beneficial effects on human health and environment [1]
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