Physiochemical and Barrier Properties of Polyvinyl alcohol/chitosan/TEMPO-oxidized Cellulose Nanofibers Composite Films

By : K.W. Choo, Y.C. Ching, C.H. Chuah

Page No: 223-233

Abstract
In this present work, microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) was oxidized by TEMPO-mediated oxidation, followed by mechanical homogenization to form a transparent dispersion which consisted of individual TEMPO-mediated oxidized cellulose nanofibers (TOCNs). Various amounts of TOCNs were incorporated into PVA/CS composites using solution casting method to produce bionanocomposite films. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis proved that the TOCNs and PVA/CS composites are miscible due to the strong intermolecular bonding. TOCNs improved the barrier properties of the PVA/CS composites by decreasing the water vapor transmission rate (WVTR), oxygen permeability (OP) and swelling property. From optical transmittance study, the bio-nanocomposite films indicated good optical light transparency due to the homogeneous dispersion of nano-filler within PVA/CS composites upon the addition of 1.0 wt% of TOCNs. Due to their excellent physiochemical and barrier properties, the reinforcement of TOCNs into PVA/CS composite was an effective method to produce a transparent bio-nanocomposite material for food packaging application.

Authors :
K.W. Choo and Y.C. Ching : Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia.
C.H. Chuah : Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia