Potential of polylactide based nanocomposites-nanopolysaccharide filler for reinforcement purpose: a comprehensive review

Polylactide (PLA) is considered as an environmentally friendly substitute of various petroleum-based polymers on account of its renewability, biocompatibility, biodegradability, and excellent thermo-mechanical properties. Despite having numerous advantages of PLA, PLA application has not been commercialized yet due to certain limitations such as low thermal resistance, barrier and electrical properties. Therefore, to minimize the drawbacks of PLA and optimize the conditions for commercial implementation, the necessity of highly crystalline nanofiller addition has been opted in this review. The primary goal of this study is to elaborate the importance of highly crystalline nanofillers integration with PLA for enhancement of the properties as well as diversifying the applications of nanocomposites. Hence, this review outlined an overview of preparation of PLA based nanocomposites reinforced with nanopolysaccharides as fillers. Besides, four types of nano-polysaccharides fillers: cellulose nanocrystals, starch nanocrystals, chitin nanocrystals and chitosan nanocrystals have been emphasized in this study. Along with that, the effect of filler loading, type of modification, and nano-composite preparing methods, PLA matrix have been demonstrated comprehensively. In addition, different properties of nanocomposites namely thermal, morphological, mechanical, structural, and barrier properties are delineated in detail.