Chapter 1
Introduction to PVA-Based
Bionanocomposite Films
Abstract Biopolymers have gained their great popularity over synthetic polymers
since conventional non-recyclable polymeric wastes are easily accumulated to negatively impact environmental sustainability and ecological systems. Polyvinyl alcohol
(PVA), in possession of some favourable characteristics of good recyclability and
biotribological properties, can be widely used in biotechnological applications, which
is deemed as one of popular water-soluble and ecofriendly biopolymers. Nonetheless, it is also worth mentioning that insufficient thermal and mechanical properties of
such biopolymers inevitably make them less competitive as opposed to commercially
available synthetic polymers. Such material demerits of PVA can be overcome by
reinforcing a variety of nanoreinforcements consisting of carbon nanotubes (CNTs),
halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) and nanoclays in order to generate new nanocomposite
systems for enhancing overall material performance. This chapter elaborates preparation, characterisation and properties of different PVA bionanocomposites reinforced
with layered silicates, HNTs and BCs, as well as other popular fillers to gain the
insight of their wide range of applications.
Keywords Bionanocomposites · Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) · Biopolymers ·
Nanofillers
1.1 Introduction
Advances in material science have yielded an increasing annual production of
synthetic polymers. To date, 8.3 billion metric tons of synthetic polymers have
been produced [1], among which 6.3 billion metric tons becomes typical wastes.
In between, about 9% have been recycled as opposed to 12% incinerated wastes.
The other 79% plastic wastes are stored in landfills or directly released into the
environment [1]. The majority of such plastics are petroleum-based synthetic polymers such as polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE) and polystyrene (PS) [2–5]. For
example, the sole annual productions of PE and PP have reached more than 70 and 50
million metric tons, respectively [6]. Such polymers are generally regarded as nondegradable wastes after the consumption, and are often disposed of directly in the
environment to cause severe pollution like dumped solid wastes and marine plastic
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
M. Mousa and Y. Dong, Multiscaled PVA Bionanocomposite Films,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-8771-9_1
1
Introduction to PVA-Based
Bionanocomposite Films
Abstract Biopolymers have gained their great popularity over synthetic polymers
since conventional non-recyclable polymeric wastes are easily accumulated to negatively impact environmental sustainability and ecological systems. Polyvinyl alcohol
(PVA), in possession of some favourable characteristics of good recyclability and
biotribological properties, can be widely used in biotechnological applications, which
is deemed as one of popular water-soluble and ecofriendly biopolymers. Nonetheless, it is also worth mentioning that insufficient thermal and mechanical properties of
such biopolymers inevitably make them less competitive as opposed to commercially
available synthetic polymers. Such material demerits of PVA can be overcome by
reinforcing a variety of nanoreinforcements consisting of carbon nanotubes (CNTs),
halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) and nanoclays in order to generate new nanocomposite
systems for enhancing overall material performance. This chapter elaborates preparation, characterisation and properties of different PVA bionanocomposites reinforced
with layered silicates, HNTs and BCs, as well as other popular fillers to gain the
insight of their wide range of applications.
Keywords Bionanocomposites · Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) · Biopolymers ·
Nanofillers
1.1 Introduction
Advances in material science have yielded an increasing annual production of
synthetic polymers. To date, 8.3 billion metric tons of synthetic polymers have
been produced [1], among which 6.3 billion metric tons becomes typical wastes.
In between, about 9% have been recycled as opposed to 12% incinerated wastes.
The other 79% plastic wastes are stored in landfills or directly released into the
environment [1]. The majority of such plastics are petroleum-based synthetic polymers such as polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE) and polystyrene (PS) [2–5]. For
example, the sole annual productions of PE and PP have reached more than 70 and 50
million metric tons, respectively [6]. Such polymers are generally regarded as nondegradable wastes after the consumption, and are often disposed of directly in the
environment to cause severe pollution like dumped solid wastes and marine plastic
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
M. Mousa and Y. Dong, Multiscaled PVA Bionanocomposite Films,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-8771-9_1
1