Abstract
Traditional plastics have long been used for packaging purposes because of their good mechanical properties, but these pose a major environmental threat as a result of non-degradability effects. Thanks to the innovation of green technology that employs bio-based plastics such as Poly (lactic acid) (PLA) which are biodegradable. Although the usage of PLA as a packaging material is limited due to its brittleness, the employment of PLA-based nanocomposites may be a solution. PLA in this regard was used to make nanocomposites containing variable amounts of titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanomaterials, graphene oxide (GO) sheets and a combination of both fillers (GO/TiO2) at 0.1, 0.25 and 0.5 wt.%. The structure and morphology the prepared nanomaterials were confirmed by the use of (Fourier Transform Infra-Red spectroscopy) FTIR, Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM), X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and Brunauer Emmet Teller (BET), the thermal stability was measured using Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), the mechanical performance was measured using the Tensile tester whereas the thermomechanical properties were measured using DMA. The performance characteristics of the material such as the antibacterial properties, enzyme degradation, UV blockage and contact angle measurements were also examined...
M.Sc. (Nanoscience)