Effects of ZnO and SiO₂ Nanoparticle Additions on the Structural, Water Absorption and Mechanical Properties of Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA) Films

Abstract

Nanocomposite films were prepared with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as a base matrix and ZnO, SiO2 nanoparticles as a filler material. SiO2 and ZnO nanoparticles were synthesized using sol-gel and co-precipitation methods, respectively. PVA-ZnO, PVA-SiO2, and PVA-ZnO-SiO2 hybrid nanocomposite films were prepared by a solution film casting method. The presence of ZnO and SiO2 nanoparticles within the films has been confirmed by structural and morphological analysis of the films. Water solubility, water absorption and tensile strength was evaluated for all the films produced. The addition of both types of nanoparticles in the PVA matrix led to a reduction in water absorption in addition to the water solubility capability of the material when compared to the pure PVA film. Addition of nanoparticles resulted in an increase in the tensile strength of the composite films compared to the pure PVA films by 14%, 23%, and 66% for the PVA-ZnO, PVA-SiO2, and PVA-ZnO-SiO2 films respectively. This work provides a simple route to tune the properties of PVA embedded with metal oxide nanoparticles for food packaging and medical applications.

Application of plasma-activated hydrogen peroxide solution synergized with Ag@SiO2 modified polyvinyl alcohol coating for strawberry preservation

“…Modification of PVA further enhanced the hydrophobicity of the coating ( Fig. 1 C), leading to an improvement in the barrier properties [ 18 ]. Meanwhile, the effects of different coating materials on the respiratory strength of strawberries during storage were shown in Fig.…”

“…In recent years, various kinds of metal nanoparticles have been added to PVA, such as Ag, ZnO, TiO 2 , SiO 2 , among which Ag nanoparticles (AgNPs) have been given great importance for showing better spectral antimicrobial properties [ 15 ]. In contrast to pure PVA films, which show high water vapor permeability and high oxygen permeability [ 16 ], polyvinyl alcohol modified with nanomaterials leads to improved hydrophobicity and barrier properties, as well as bactericidal properties [ 17 , 18 ]. For the toxicity, Biswas et al found that when higher silver (1.5 %) loaded silica-carbon-silver ternary blend nanocomposite film was immersed in distilled water for one week, no silver trace in the water was detected [ 19 ].…”

Molecular mobility and morphology change of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) film as induced by plasticizer glycerol

“…Numerous analytical techniques, that is, SAXS, 20 AFM, [21][22][23] and NMR 16,24 have been adopted to elucidate the microstructure of PVA in the presence of plasticizer. Among them, the low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (LF-NMR) has gained broad interest due to its supreme ability to access the chain dynamics information.…”