Open Access

ARTICLE

Mechanical and Biological Properties of Chitosan Nanocomposite Films: Effects of POSS nanoparticles

R. VENKATESAN^*, S. R. DARSON IMMANUEL JOHN, N. RAJESWARI

College of Engineering Guindy, Anna University, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India-600025

* Corresponding Author: e-mail:

Journal of Polymer Materials 2019, 36(3), 261-273. https://doi.org/10.32381/JPM.2019.36.03.6

Abstract

Nanocomposite films of chitosan (CH) incorporated with different wt. % of the polyoligomericsilsesquioxane (POSS) were prepared by solution casting. The thermal, mechanical, morphological and antimicrobial properties of the nanocomposites were examined. TGA analyses of the nanocomposites indicate that the filler enables the enhancement of thermal stability of chitosan. The tensile strength of the nanocomposite films is enhanced (10.9 MPa for neat chitosan to 24.0MPa for 5wt. % filled chitosan) by the addition of POSS while the elongation at break is reduced. The nanocomposite films exhibited excellent antimicrobial activity against both gram positive and gram negative bacteria. This activity increases with increasing filler content. Chitosan as well as POSS (the organic part) are biodegradable and hence these nanocomposite films can find application as food packaging material given their flexibility.

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Keywords

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