There is growing interest in developing bio-based polymers and innovative process technologies that can reduce the dependence on fossil fuel and move to a sustainable materials basis. Furthermore, biodegradable polymer/clay nanocomposites are the next generation of materials for the future. This presentation reviews biodegradable polymer/clay nanocomposites including in particular, two key important issues, biodegradability and a barrier property of the clay containing bionanocomposites. The investigations have shown that, generally, polymers filled with impermeable nanoclays have a lower biodegradability and permeability than the corresponding virgin biodegradable polymers. However, although the diffusion and the solubility are equally important for the overall mass transport in the nanocomposites, they can have very different influence even opposite on the permeability. Also antibacterial properties of the green nanocomposites are the cause of decreased biodegradability.

Biodegradable polymer/clay nanocomposites

255th National Meeting (2018)

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