Engineering

Materials science

Ultimate tensile strength

Nanocomposite

Chemical engineering

Polymer

Organic chemistry

Composite material

Chemistry

Thermal stability

Vinyl alcohol

Lignin

Toughness

International Journal of Biological Macromolecules

High performance poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)/lignin nanomicelle (LNM) nanocomposite films with good vapor barrier and advanced UV-shielding properties were fabricated in this study. LNM was homogeneously distributed in the PVA matrix and strong robust hydrogen bonds were successfully constructed between LNM and PVA matrix. With only 5 wt% loading of LNM into the PVA/LNM nanocomposite, the water vapor transmission rate (WVTR) was declined by about 189% compared with pure PVA. Moreover, after introducing lignin, the PVA nanocomposite films showed improved tensile strength and toughness, excellent UV-blocking and good thermal stability. As both lignin and PVA are biodegradable, this study shows a meaningful design approach for biodegradable functional nanocomposite films using cheap and easily available biomass and biodegradable raw materials.

High performance PVA/lignin nanocomposite films with excellent water vapor barrier and UV-shielding properties