UV–vis protective poly(vinyl alcohol)/bio-oil innovative films

• Published in: Industrial crops and products 2019-05, Vol.131, p.281-292
• Main Authors: Morales, Amaia, Andrés, María Ángeles, Labidi, Jalel, Gullón, Patricia
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Bio-oil; Lignin; Mechanical properties; Polyvinyl alcohol; UV–vis protection
• ISSN: 0926-6690; 1872-633X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.indcrop.2019.01.071

[Display omitted] •PVA and bio-oil blends were formulated to obtain renewable-biodegradable films.•FTIR showed good compatibility between PVA and bio-oil.•The incorporation of bio-oil into PVA films enhanced their protection against UV.•The PVA and bio-oil films exhibited high hydrophilicity.•PVA/Bio-oil films exposed to long-term UV showed a drop of their mechanical integrity. The search of alternative plastics to replace the fossil-based ones has become an urgent matter in the last years. To contribute to this, the assessment of the incorporation of bio-oil into biodegradable PVA films was proposed in this work in order to obtain coating films with UV shielding properties. For this aim, organosolv-lignin-based bio-oil and PVA with different molecular weight and hydrolysis degrees were used for the film elaboration by solvent-casting method. The objective of this study was to analyze the effect of different amounts of bio-oil in PVA film-properties as well as the addition of glycerol as a plasticiser. The chemical and mechanical properties of the obtained films were measured. Results showed that bio-oil interacted with PVA, modifying in this way the film properties. The effect of the bio-oil on the long-term mechanical stability of the PVA films was assessed through their exposure to accelerated testing using UV. This experiment resulted in a decline on the Young’s modulus and in an increase on the elongation break and therefore, in a possible decrease on their degradation time. Hence, it can be concluded that bio-oil could be a potential functional additive to blend with PVA for tailoring films with specific applications, especially for UV protective ones. Moreover, the presence of bio-oil in the blends with PVA would improve their degradation decreasing their accumulation in the environment.