Abstract
The nanocomposites of chitosan and its derivatives with layered silicate have gained increasing attention since they showed many attracting properties. For the first time, the present study was carried out to investigate the intercalation of chitosan monomer (Dglucosamine hydrochloride, DGH) into organic rectorite (OREC). XRD, TEM, FTIR, 13C NMR, SEM and TGA were performed to characterize the microstructure, morphology and properties of DGH/OREC nanocomposites. The results showed that DGH monosaccharide could insert into the interlayer of OREC, and intercalation result was similar to that of chitosan/OREC nanocomposites. The interlayer distance of DGH/OREC nanocomposites was not proportional to the mass ratio of DGH to OREC, it increased firstly to reach a peak value before it decreased with the increase of the DGH amount. The largest spacing of 6.13 nm was obtained when the mass ratio of DGH to OREC was at 12:1. The direct observation by TEM and SEM also confirmed the intercalated but not exfoliated DGH/OREC nanocomposites. Noteworthily, most strong crystals of DGH in DGH/OREC nanocomposites were destroyed greatly, but its two weak crystals were stronger. TGA result indicated that the thermal stability of DGH/OREC nanocomposites were higher than that of pristine DGH.
Keywords: D-glucosamine hydrochloride, rectorite, nanocomposite, intercalation, crystalline, thermal stability, chitosan