Viscoelastic investigation of graphene oxide grafted PVA biohybrid using ostwald modeling for packaging applications

Abstract

Biopolymer nanocomposites due to their distinctive properties and biodegradability can sustainably replace conventional polymers. Biopolymers have a massive spectrum in hydrogels, environmental, biomedical field, bio-coating, sensors, etc. The rheological study has been investigated to essay the viscoelastic behavior of the aqueous solution and thin films of GO reinforced PVA nanocomposite thin films. The resultant nanocomposite films have the potential to be employed in the packaging and coating domain. The viscosity curve purports the shear-thinning behavior of the aqueous solution of PVA-GO nanocomposite. The data evaluated from Ostwald (Power law) representing flow curves could also be attributed to pseudoplastic behavior in which coefficient p < 1. Neat PVA has 162.3 mPa s Newtonian viscosity compared to 1% of GO-PVA i.e. 66.01 mPa s which is quite high. XPS analysis has been conducted to evaluate the kinetics of the dispersion of nanofiller in the solvent. Water absorption kinetics revealed the behavior of bionanocomposites against moisture for packaging and biomedical applications, it is mandatory to evaluate the moisture uptake capacity of polymer, especially for hydrogels applications. XRD and FTIR analysis have been conducted to assay the formation of polymer nanocomposite by validating the characteristic peak of GO.