Bio-modification of Cloisite Na+ with Chiral L-Leucine and Preparation of New Poly(vinyl alcohol)/Organo-nanoclay Bionanocomposite Films

The main purpose of this study was to prepare poly(vinyl alcohol)/organo-modified Cloisite Na⁺ bionanocomposites with various amounts of organo-nanoclay. At first the pristine sodium montmorillonite (Cloisite Na⁺) was modified by protonated form of enantiomeric pure L-leucine amino acid as a cationic surfactant. In the next, the novel poly(vinyl alcohol)/organo-modified Cloisite Na⁺ bionanocomposite films were prepared with different wt% of the nanoclay using ultrasonic energy following by solution film casting method. The obtained bionanocomposite films were characterized by X-ray diffraction, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, and UV-visible transmission spectra.