title: Crosslinking of agarose bioplastic using citric acid.
abstract: We report chemical crosslinking of agarose bioplastic using citric acid. Crosslinking was confirmed using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The effects of crosslinking on the tensile strength, swelling, thermal stability, and degradability of the bioplastic were studied in detail. The tensile strength of the bioplastic films increased from 25.1MPa for control films up to a maximum of 52.7MPa for citric acid crosslinked films. At 37°C, the amount of water absorbed by crosslinked agarose bioplastic was only 11.5% of the amount absorbed by non-crosslinked controls. Thermogravimetric results showed that the crosslinked samples retain greater mass at high temperature (>450°C) than control samples. Moreover, while the crosslinked films were completely degradable, the rate of degradation was lower compared to non-crosslinked controls.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences and Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur, India.
authors.forename: Ankur
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Awadhiya
authors.affiliation: Department of Aerospace Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur, India.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Centre for Environmental Science & Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur, India. Electronic address: vverma@iitk.ac.in.
authors.forename: Vivek
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Verma
mesh_terms: D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000737:chemistry*; D019343:Citric Acid / Q000737:chemistry*; D003432:Cross-Linking Reagents / Q000737:chemistry*; D010969:Plastics / Q000737:chemistry*; D012685:Sepharose / Q000737:chemistry*; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; D013696:Temperature; D013718:Tensile Strength; D013818:Thermogravimetry; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D003432:Cross-Linking Reagents; D010969:Plastics; D014867:Water; D019343:Citric Acid; D012685:Sepharose
keywords: Agarose; Bioplastic; Citric acid; Crosslinking; Swelling