Synthesis and characterization of curcumin/MMT-clay-treated bacterial cellulose as an antistatic and ultraviolet-resistive bioscaffold

• Published in: Journal of polymer research Vol. 29; no. 10
• Main Authors: Wasim, Muhammad, Shi, Fei, Liu, Jingxiao, Zhang, Haoyuan, Zhu, Keya, Tian, Ziwei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.10.2022; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Analysis; Antistatics; Bacteria; Biodegradability; Cellulose; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Clay; Coatings; Contact angle; Dip coatings; Food packaging; Freeze drying; Immersion coating; Industrial Chemistry/Chemical Engineering; Molecular interactions; Molecular structure; Montmorillonite; Morphology; Nanocomposites; Original Paper; Polymer Sciences; Process parameters; Stability analysis; Structural analysis; Thermal stability; Antistatic; Montmorillonite (MMT)-clay; Curcumin; Bacterial cellulose (BC); UV-resistive
• ISSN: 1022-9760; 1572-8935
• DOI: 10.1007/s10965-022-03265-2

In modern era, natural and biodegradable polymer matrices have gained more attention in order to replace harmful materials that cause environmental damage. To deal with such types of issues, in this research work, we have prepared simple, fast, and eco-friendly curcumin/montmorillonite (MMT)-clay-loaded bacterial cellulose (BC) bioscaffolds via dip-coating and freeze-drying process following time parameters 06 h, 12 h, and 24 h. These newly developed curcumin/MMT-clay/BC nanocomposites were characterized by morphological and structure analysis. So in contrast, the molecular interaction between bacterial cellulose and curcumin/MMT-clay was determined by the FTIR analysis. The morphological structures of prepared nanocomposites were observed by DSC and TGA to determine the thermal stability and EDS, XRD, and SEM analysis to determine the elemental composition in curcumin/MMT-clay/BC nanocomposites. Moreover, the contact angle analysis determined the enhancement in contact angle with obtained values θ  = 21.5°, θ  = 31.8°, and θ  = 38.6°, respectively, to demonstrate the trend from hydrophilic to hydrophobic and illustrate that the prepared films were fully covered with curcumin/MMT-clay which can be observed in SEM analysis. So, the surface morphological characterizations of curcumin/MMT-clay/BC nanocomposites reveal that curcumin/MMT-clay can be counterpart as a filler material via dip-coating and freeze-drying process and has good thermal stability. The machinal characteristics of curcumin/MMT-clay/BC nanocomposites were revealed by the strength analysis, which shows the slight reduction in strength values 6.1%, 5.9%, and 4.8%, respectively, while the overall properties of curcumin/MMT-clay/BC nanocomposites were improved in comparison to pure bacterial cellulose. In addition, this novel curcumin/MMT-clay/BC nanocomposites illustrate the excellent antistatic properties after 24-h coating time of curcumin/MMT-clay with good (static half period; 6.585 ± 0.45, instantaneous electrostatic voltage (V); 510.30 ± 3.60) significances. Moreover, the outstanding ultraviolet-resistive properties of curcumin/MMT-clay/BC (24-h coating) were observed with excellent (T.VUA/%; 0.88 ± 0.9), (T.VUB/%; 0.65 ± 0.08), (UPF; 1135.30 ± 15.5) significances. So, consequentially, this study illustrates that curcumin/MMT-clay/BC nanocomposite can be a novel green bioscaffold as antistatic and UV-resistive material in many routine life food packaging, drugs, medical as well as in other protective applications.