Caffeine-treated wood as an innovative filler for advanced polymer composites

Enhancing Sustainability and Antifungal Properties of Biodegradable Composites: Caffeine-Treated Wood as a Filler for Polylactide

“…The results of thermal analysis suggest that the modified filler offers more nucleating sites at which the crystallization process may begin. This is supported by the findings of Tomczak et al [25], who stated that the surface of caffeine-treated wood is less smooth than that of pristine wood and has some grooves that may facilitate the formation of crystalline structures. This is confirmed by shorter crystallization half-times and higher crystallization temperature values.…”

“…More than 66% of the surface of the PLA and composites with 10% and 20% wood was colonized by F. culmorum. Each sample containing caffeine-treated wood and PLA with 30 CW filler showed no mold Caffeine has previously been shown to have an antifungal effect not only in wood but also in polymer composites [21,22,25,57]. However, these previous studies have been performed for wood or wood-polypropylene composites.…”

“…The most important changes in the spectrum of treated wood compared to the spectrum of untreated wood confirm the presence of bands characteristic for caffeine molecules. The peaks at 1703 and 1650 cm −1 can be attributed to the vibrations of C=O and/or the N-H bonds of the acetamide group of amide I [25,33]. In turn, the peaks at 1555 and 765 cm −1 can be ascribed to the vibration of the N-H and/or C-N groups of amide II [34,35].…”

“…Black cherry wood was treated with caffeine as previously described in the paper by Tomczak et al [25]: a 2% aqueous solution of caffeine was prepared and mixed with wood at 20 • C for 2 h. After treatment, the wood was dried until a constant mass was achieved.…”

“…It was also observed whether the mold grew on the tested samples. The degree of colonization of the materials tested by fungi was determined according to the four-level scale presented in the paper by Tomczak et al [25].…”