Jali Sandile, Mohan Turup Pandurangan, Mwangi Festus Maina, Kanny Krishnan
Composite Research Group (CRG), Durban University of Technology, Durban 4000, South Africa.
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Durban University of Technology, Durban 4000, South Africa.
Polymers (Basel). 2023 Dec 22;16(1):51. doi: 10.3390/polym16010051.
Packaging materials are used to protect consumer goods, such as food, drinks, cosmetics, healthcare items, and more, from harmful gases and physical and chemical damage during storage, distribution, and handling. Synthetic plastics are commonly used because they exhibit sufficient characteristics for packaging requirements, but their end lives result in environmental pollution, the depletion of landfill space, rising sea pollution, and more. These exist because of their poor biodegradability, limited recyclability, etc. There has been an increasing demand for replacing these polymers with bio-based biodegradable materials for a sustainable environment. Cellulosic nanomaterials have been proposed as a potential substitute in the preparation of packaging films. Nevertheless, their application is limited due to their poor properties, such as their barrier, thermal, and mechanical properties, to name a few. The barrier properties of materials play a pivotal role in extending and determining the shelf lives of packaged foods. Nanofillers have been used to enhance the barrier properties. This article reviews the literature on the barrier properties of cellulose/clay nanocomposite polymers. Cellulose extraction stages such as pretreatment, bleaching, and nanoparticle isolation are outlined, followed by cellulose modification methods. Finally, a brief discussion on nanofillers is provided, followed by an extensive literature review on the barrier properties of cellulose/clay nanocomposite polymers. Although similar reviews have been presented, the use of modification processes applied to cellulose, clay, and final nanocomposites to enhance the barrier properties has not been reviewed. Therefore, this article focuses on this scope.
包装材料用于保护消费品，如食品、饮料、化妆品、医疗保健用品等，使其在储存、分销和搬运过程中免受有害气体以及物理和化学损伤。合成塑料被广泛使用，因为它们具备满足包装要求的充分特性，但它们的最终归宿会导致环境污染、填埋空间耗尽、海洋污染加剧等问题。这些问题的存在是由于它们的生物降解性差、可回收性有限等原因。为了实现环境可持续发展，用生物基可生物降解材料替代这些聚合物的需求日益增加。纤维素纳米材料已被提议作为制备包装薄膜的潜在替代品。然而，由于其阻隔、热和机械等性能较差等原因，其应用受到限制。材料的阻隔性能在延长和确定包装食品的保质期方面起着关键作用。纳米填料已被用于提高阻隔性能。本文综述了关于纤维素/粘土纳米复合聚合物阻隔性能的文献。概述了纤维素提取阶段，如预处理、漂白和纳米颗粒分离，接着介绍了纤维素改性方法。最后，对纳米填料进行了简要讨论，随后对纤维素/粘土纳米复合聚合物的阻隔性能进行了广泛的文献综述。尽管已有类似的综述，但尚未对应用于纤维素、粘土和最终纳米复合材料以提高阻隔性能的改性工艺进行综述。因此，本文聚焦于这一范围。
