Application of Infrared Spectroscopy to Analysis of Chitosan/Clay Nanocomposites

By Suédina M L Silva, C. Braga, M. Fook, Claudia M. O. Raposo, L. H. Carvalho, E. Canedo. 2012

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In recent years, polymer/clay nanocomposites have attracted considerable interest because they combine the structure and physical and chemical properties of inorganic and organic materials. Most work with polymer/clay nanocomposites has concentrated on synthetic polymers, including thermosets such as epoxy polymers, and thermoplastics, such as polyethylene, polypropylene, nylon and poly(ethylene terephthalate) (Pandey & Mishra, 2011). Comparatively little attention has been paid to natural polymer/clay nanocomposites. However, the opportunity to combine at nanometric level clays and natural polymers (biopolymers), such as chitosan, appears as an attractive way to modify some of the properties of this polysaccharide including its mechanical and thermal behavior, solubility and swelling properties, antimicrobial activity, bioadhesion, etc. (Han et al., 2010). Chitosan/clay nanocomposites are economically interesting because they are easy to prepare and involve inexpensive chemical reagents. Chitosan, obtained from chitin, is a relatively inexpensive material because chitin is the second most abundant polymer in nature, next to cellulose (Chang & Juang, 2004). In the same way, clays are abundant and low-cost natural materials. Although chitosan/clay nanocomposites are very attractive, they were not extensively investigated, with relatively small number of scientific publications. In addition, the successful preparation of the nanocomposites still encounters problems, mainly related to the proper dispersion of nano-fillers within the polymer matrix. In this chapter, in addition to discussing the synthesis and characterisation by infrared spectroscopy of chitosan/clay nanocomposites, data of x-ray diffraction and mechanical properties are also considered.

Subfields: Biomaterials, Polymers and Plastics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/a0ee9edf189aab710cf8b13112dcbacdcd9a6eac