Title:Preparation and Characterization of Chitosan Monomer/Organic Rectorite Nanocomposite
VOLUME: 8 ISSUE: 3
Author(s):Jiwen Luo, Bo Liu, Xiaoying Wang, Yuanfeng Pan and Runcang Sun
Affiliation:State Key Laboratory of Pulp & Paper Engineering, School of Light Industry and Food, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, Guangdong, China.
Keywords:D-glucosamine hydrochloride, rectorite, nanocomposite, intercalation, crystalline, thermal stability, chitosan
Abstract:The nanocomposites of chitosan and its derivatives with layered silicate have gained increasing attention since they showed
many attracting properties. For the first time, the present study was carried out to investigate the intercalation of chitosan monomer (Dglucosamine
hydrochloride, DGH) into organic rectorite (OREC). XRD, TEM, FTIR, 13C NMR, SEM and TGA were performed to characterize
the microstructure, morphology and properties of DGH/OREC nanocomposites. The results showed that DGH monosaccharide
could insert into the interlayer of OREC, and intercalation result was similar to that of chitosan/OREC nanocomposites. The interlayer
distance of DGH/OREC nanocomposites was not proportional to the mass ratio of DGH to OREC, it increased firstly to reach a peak
value before it decreased with the increase of the DGH amount. The largest spacing of 6.13 nm was obtained when the mass ratio of
DGH to OREC was at 12:1. The direct observation by TEM and SEM also confirmed the intercalated but not exfoliated DGH/OREC
nanocomposites. Noteworthily, most strong crystals of DGH in DGH/OREC nanocomposites were destroyed greatly, but its two weak
crystals were stronger. TGA result indicated that the thermal stability of DGH/OREC nanocomposites were higher than that of pristine
DGH.
