Application of Atmospheric‐Air Plasma on Polyhydroxybutirate Solution – Evaluation of Promoted Changes on the Casted Film Surface and Nanoparticles Production

• Published in: Macromolecular symposia. Vol. 406; no. 1
• Main Authors: Rosa, Victor Sermoud, dos Santos Mendonça, Tiago, Mendonça, Roberta Helena, Simao, Renata Antoun, Bastos, Daniele Cruz
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Weinheim Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01-12-2022
• Subjects: Air plasma; Atomic force microscopy; Biopolymers; Chemical precipitation; Chloroform; cold plasma; Commercial aircraft; Compressed air; Contact angle; Diameters; Infrared spectroscopy; Microscopy; Nanoparticles; nanoparticles production; Plasma; plasma treatment; Polyhydroxybutyrate; Scanning electron microscopy; Surface roughness
• ISSN: 1022-1360; 1521-3900
• DOI: 10.1002/masy.202200041

Polyhydroxybutirate (PHB) is a very promising biopolymer once it can be used as an eco‐friendly substitute to some synthetic polymers. In this work, PHB solutions are prepared by casting using chloroform as solvent. The solution is modified by plasma treatment using a commercial atmospheric‐air plasma‐jet system (PlasmaPen TM; PVA TePla America), feed with ambient air compressed under 7 bar, operating with a fixed potency of 150 W, receiving 220 VAC (60 Hz, 2 A) as an input, having a plasma plume with a length of 1.2–1.5 cm and a diameter of ≈0.5–0.6 cm. The PHB solution (PHB not treated or PHB‐NT) is treated for 1 min, with 5 cm of distance between the solution surface and the output of the equipment in order to promote local precipitation of PHB. The resulting solutions are used to produce PHB treated films named as PHB‐T. The PHB‐NT and PHB‐T films surface are analyzed through contact angle measurements, Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), Fourier‐Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). Results point to changes in reduction of PHB crystallinity and increase in surface roughness of the PHB‐T film caused by the presence of the circular crystalline regions that can be an indicator of possible PHB nanoparticles production.