Crystallization, mechanical and UV protection properties of graphene oxide/poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyhexanoate) biocomposites

In this research, a series of green biodegradable composites were synthesized from graphene oxide (GO) with nanolayered and poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyhexanoate) (PHBH) by solvent casting and segmented drying method. The DSC and polarized optical microscope showed that the addition of GO increased the crystallinity and the number of spherulites, which indicated that GO was effective nucleating agent for PHBH. Compared to PHBH, the tensile strength and elastic modulus of biocomposites increased by 25% and 40%, respectively. Moreover, the oxygen permeability of biocomposites was almost 50% lower than PHBH. It was also found from UV–Vis that the transmittance of biocomposites reached to 4.4% in the ultraviolet region (≤ 400 nm), far less than that of pure PHBH (81.8%). The results revealed that GO/PHBH biocomposites are promising anti-ultraviolet materials for the practical application.