Study of Physical chemistry and structural properties of starch-TiO2 bionanocomposites

Starch bionanocomposite films were produced with glycerol plasticizer and TiO2 nanoparticle (0.5, 1, and 2 wt%). Microstructure of bionanocomposites were investigated via XRD, AFM and FT-IR. XRD results revealed that nanoparticles were dispersed in polymeric matrix very well which was confirmed by AFM. AFM was shown that surface roughness was increased in bionanocomposites. Hydrogen and electrostatic bonds between Ti2+-OH and O-H functions in starch were confirmed by changing peaks from 3420 cm-1 to 3301 cm-1 and 1461 cm-1 to 1147 cm-1 (and also 1154 cm-1 to 1151 cm-1, respectively. DSC showed that glass transition temperature (Tg) and melting point were increased due to adding TiO2. Optical properties tests showed a meaningful increase in brightness (P<0.05), overall color difference, whiteness index, and transparency for PS-TiO2 bionanocomposite films. Amount of UV light went through bionanocomposite films Decreased dramatically

Keywords:

starch , microstructure , physical chemistry properties , TiO2 nanoparticles , bionanocomposite