Abstract:
In recent times, the field of biopolymer (BP) blends has been the focus of
intensive fundamental and applied researches. Such BP combinations possess
unique properties that are different from those of the individual components.
However, most polyester polymers are thermodynamically immiscible because
of their poor interactions. In the past, a third component, known as a welldefined
diblock or triblock copolymer, whose chemical structure is identical to
that of the main components, was usually used as a compatibilizer in order to
emulsify the interfacial phase, decreasing the interfacial tension and refining
the phase size. Currently, nanofillers are used to improve the phase morphologies
of immiscible BP blends. The main advantage of using nanofillers, when
compared to copolymers, is that the former can simultaneous act as nanoreinforcements
and compatibilizers. In this review, the addition of nanofillers
as the third component in the BP blend systems are reported in relation to
their morphologies, barrier properties, shape memory, thermal, and mechanical
properties. The effects of selectively localized nanofillers on the properties
of the BP blends are also explored, with the aim of establishing the relationships
between the localization of the fillers and the overall properties of the BP
blends. Furthermore, the effect of the processing techniques on the localization
of the nanofillers/BP blend is also reported. The review article discusses recent
progress from 2014 up to 2019 on filler localization of BP blend
nanocomposites.
