A new process involving the layering of a polymer with silica-based nanoparticles has the potential to enhance the properties of biodegradable materials, claims a UK research team.
The University of Warwick team, led by Dr Stefan Bon, has created a soap free emulsion polymerization process which makes colloid particles of polymer dispersed in water and in a one step process adds nanometre sized silica-based particles to the mix.The scientists said that the nanoparticles than coat the polymer colloids with a layer, ‘battering’ it much like coating a fish in bread crumbs.
Bon envisages that the newly developed technology might be most applicable to multi-layered biodegradable packaging which could gain more robustness and water barrier characteristics through the addition of a nano-particle coating.
He argues that the process would not be detrimental to the ‘green’ profile of these bio materials as the silica-based particles are derived from sand and clay.
