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Bioplastics 2016
November 10-11, 2016
Volume 7 Issue 6(Suppl) J Bioremediat Biodegrad
ISSN: 2155-6199 JBRBD, an open access journal
conferenceseries .com
November 10-11, 2016 Alicante, Spain
International Conference onSustainable Bioplastics
Sarah Montes et al., J Bioremediat Biodegrad 2016, 7:6(Suppl)
Biocomposites reinforced with nanocellulose/graphene hybrid nanofillers
Sarah Montes1, Germán Cabañero1, H Grande1, Jalel Labidi2 and Ibon Odriozola1
1IK4-CIDETEC, Spain
2University of the Basque Country, Spain
In the last few decades, the development of green composites has gained increasing attention, mainly due to the global
awareness of environmental issues. This fact has resulted in the emergence of sustainable and environmentally friendly green
materials, which are renewable, recyclable or biodegradable. Cellulose is considered the most abundant renewable polymer on
Earth. Nanostructures such as microfibrillated cellulose (MFC) and cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) can be extracted from this
naturally occurring polymer by mechanical and chemical methods, respectively. CNCs have been extensively investigated in
the preparation of polymer biocomposites, especially those based on biodegradable polymers, due to their good mechanical
properties and reinforcing capability, abundance, low weight and biodegradability. As well as reinforcing nanomaterial, CNCs
have been recently reported to effectively stabilize graphene aqueous dispersions prepared by liquid phase exfoliation of
graphite, obtaining a nanocellulose-graphene hybrid nanomaterial. This hybrid nanomaterial was used in the preparation
of green composites based on two different polymeric systems. On the one hand, a hydrophilic matrix such as polyvinyl
alcohol, PVA, in which the biocomposite was prepared by direct incorporation into PVA of, previously exfoliated graphene
with cellulose nanocrystals. As a result of the combination of graphene and nanocellulose in PVA, a synergistic effect was
obtained. On the other hand, a fully bioderived green composite based on polylactic acid, was also prepared. The investigation
of the optical, thermal and mechanical properties of the new green composites will be presented.
Biography
Sarah Montes has got her degree in Polymer Chemistry and has done her Master’s in Applied Chemistry and Polymers from the University of The Basque Country.
Currently, she is a Scientific Researcher at IK4-CIDETEC, specialized in the development of polymeric composites/nanocomposites, especially bio-based polymers
and in the characterization of polymeric materials. She has been the Coordinator of the ECLIPSE European Project. She is the author and co-author of 5 scientific
papers and 2 patents.