Fully Biodegradable Films Based on Functionalized Natural Polyphenol/Poly(3-Hydroxybutyrate-co-3-Hydroxyvalerate) as a Potential Material for Food Packaging

Abstract:

As a potential material for food packaging, fully biodegradable composite films based on novel functionalized natural polyphenol/Poly (3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) were successfully fabricated by solution casting, and also the functionalized natural polyphenol (C₁₈TA_x) was synthesized by grafting fatty acid onto natural polyphenol Tannic Acid (TA). The resultant C₁₈TA_x with better hydrophobicity was uniformly dispersed into a PHBV matrix. The influence of C₁₈TA_x dosage on the mechanical behavior, crystallization behavior and thermal properties of the C₁₈TA_x/PHBV composite films was investigated by uniaxial tensile mechanical testing, Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC), Polarizing Optical Microscope (POM) and Wide Angle X-ray Diffractometry (WAXD). The results revealed that the x value was about 0.09, showing that about 11/20 phenol hydroxy groups in TA molecules were replaced with fatty acid chains. Compared with those of neat PHBV, the tensile strength and elongation at break of the C₁₈TA_0.09/PHBV composite films with 10 wt.% C₁₈TA_0.09 content were enhanced by 121%, and 458%, respectively. This improvement was primarily ascribed to intermolecular hydrogen bonding interactions in composite films. This new type of fully biodegradable bio-based composite films shows great potential for food packaging.

• Periodical: Materials Science Forum (Volume 898)
• Pages: 2279-2285
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/MSF.898.2279
• Online since: June 2017
• Authors: Heng Xue Xiang, Zi Ye Chen, Wei Chen, Zhe Zhou, Bin Sun, Mei Fang Zhu*
• Keywords: Biobased Films, Food Packaging, Natural Polyphenol, Polyhydroxyalkanoate, Tannic Acid

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