Preparation and characterization of chitosan nanocomposites with vermiculite of different modification

In this study, the biopolymer chitosan/vermiculite (VMT) nanocomposites were prepared by the solution mixing process of the cationic biopolymer chitosan with three different modified VMT (HVMT, NVMT, and OVMT), which was treated by hydrochloride, sodium, and cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB), respectively. Wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) have been employed in the characterization of chitosan/HVMT, chitosan/NVMT, and chitosan/OVMT nanocomposites. Both WAXD data and TEM images of chitosan nanocomposites indicated that the silicate layers were disorderedly dispersed into the chitosan matrix in nano scale. The thermal stability of chitosan/HVMT nanocomposites have the greatest improvements compared to that of neat chitosan, chitosan/NVMT and chitosan/OVMT nanocomposites. It provides a potential approach to prepare high performance and low-cost chitosan nanocomposite. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.