POLYMERIC BIONANOCOMPOSITES BASED ON MONTMORILLONITE – MATERIALS IN CONTINUOUS INTEREST

Polymeric bionanocomposites are versatile materials that have many practical applications. The wide use of these materials is mainly due to their structure and properties, which combine at nanometric scale, the functionality of biopolymers with the excellent stability of inorganic solids, such as the clay minerals family. Montmorillonite is the most widely employed clay mineral in the development of polymeric bionanocomposites. The resulting materials from the combination of biopolymers and montmorillonite clay can form different structures (layered, delaminated, and exfoliated phases) and morphologies (powder, films or beads), exhibiting new features and better chemical, mechanical, thermal, and gas barrier properties compared to the pristine matrices, owing to the synergistic effect between both organic and inorganic moieties. In this sense, this review addresses polymeric bionanocomposites originating from the interaction between montmorillonite and chitosan and cellulose biopolymers. The synthesis, characteristics, and main applications of polymeric bionanocomposites have been reported, and in some cases, the relationship between the formed structures and final properties of bionanocomposites is also highlighted.

聚合物基生物纳米复合材料（polymeric bionanocomposites）是一类具备广泛实际应用价值的多功能材料。这类材料的大规模应用主要源于其独特的结构与性能：在纳米尺度下，其可同时兼具生物聚合物的功能特性与无机固体（如黏土矿物家族）的优异稳定性。蒙脱石（montmorillonite）是聚合物基生物纳米复合材料研发过程中应用最为广泛的黏土矿物。由生物聚合物与蒙脱石复合得到的材料可形成多种微观结构（层状相、分层相与剥离相）与形貌形态（粉末、薄膜或珠状颗粒），相较于纯基体材料，其可展现出全新的性能特征与更优异的化学、机械、热学及气体阻隔性能，这一优势源于有机与无机组分间的协同增效作用。基于此，本综述聚焦于由蒙脱石与壳聚糖（chitosan）、纤维素（cellulose）生物聚合物相互作用制备得到的聚合物基生物纳米复合材料。目前已有诸多研究报道了这类复合材料的合成方法、性能特点与主要应用场景，部分研究还重点阐明了所形成的微观结构与生物纳米复合材料最终性能之间的内在关联。