Improving the Properties of Medium Molecular Weight Chitosan/PVA Composite Polymers via Designed ZnO Particles

Abstract

Chitosan exhibit great potential to be a critical part of the global sustainability solution; however, itsapplication areas are limited due to its inadequate properties for some applications. The use of chitosan islimited because of several reasons such as performance (brittleness, poor barrier properties) and processing (lowthermal strength temperatures). The properties of chitosan depend on its molecular weight and there are notenough studies in the literature. The application of nanoparticles to chitosan provides new advantages both inimproving the properties of chitosan and in reducing its costs. However, such nanoparticles can introduce somedifficulties. Nanoparticles additives increase transparency but cause agglomerates due to the highsurface/volume ratio, which reduces the local mechanical strength. Recently a novel particle technology, calledas MicNo®. MicNo® particles are designed micron size hexagonal plates which are composed of primary fineparticles. They only exhibit advantages of micron and nano size. For example, they exhibit superior surfacecoverage (up to 70% mole) with respect to spherical particles while they are transparent. Accordingly, theresearch goal of this study was to appraise effects of MicNo® and nano ZnO particles on structure developmentand hence properties of medium molecular weight Chitosan/PVA films. The results show that MicNo® particlesimprove UV-resistance and degree of crystallinity of the films and demonstrate great potential as newgeneration additive systems for biodegradable polymers to extend their application areas.