Nanoparticle size and water diffusivity in nanocomposite agro-polymer based films
2013
Coussy, Hélène | Gastaldi, Emmanuelle | Correa da Silva, Felipe | Gontard, Nathalie | Guillard, Valérie | Ingénierie des Agro-polymères et Technologies Émergentes (UMR IATE) ; Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad)-Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Université Montpellier 2 - Sciences et Techniques (UM2)-Centre international d'études supérieures en sciences agronomiques (Montpellier SupAgro)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Institut national d’études supérieures agronomiques de Montpellier (Montpellier SupAgro) | Ecole Nationale Supérieure Agronomique d'Alger
Nanocomposite films were prepared by a thermo-mechanical process from wheat gluten (WG) and unmodified montmorillonite (MMT). The present work aims at predicting the relationships between the decrease in relative diffusivity of liquid water and the structure of the nanocomposite films, from in situ evaluation of the MMT size aspect ratio and volume fraction, and by using a simple tortuous path mathematical model. The modelling approach first allowed predicting and validating the tortuosity effect of MMT particles on liquid water transport properties of WG-based films. In spite of a well-exfoliated nanocomposite structure, the liquid water diffusivity in WG-based films can at best be decreased by a factor of 2 with this type of clay nanoparticle, which was in agreement with the Bharadwaj model predictions. This study underlines the necessity to achieve a totally exfoliated nanocomposite structure, and above all, to select layered silicates displaying higher size aspect ratio values in order to efficiently improve water barrier properties of WG-based nanocomposite films. Furthermore, the extremely complex structure of nanocomposite materials makes detailed morphological studies often difficult, time and cost consuming. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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