Natural Rubber Bio-nanocomposites Reinforced with Self-Assembled Chitin Nanofibers from Aqueous KOH/urea Solution

Abstract Rigid chitin nanofibers (ChNFs) self-assembled from dilute α-chitin/KOH/urea aqueous solution were utilized as 1D filler to reinforce soft natural rubber (NR). The prepared ChNFs suspension has good compatibility with natural rubber latex (NRL) and thus showing favorable dispersibility in NR matrix at nanoscale. The bio-nanocomposites were fabricated by casting and evaporating the pre-mixed NRL/ChNFs suspensions with different ChNFs loadings. Gratifyingly, the NR/ChNFs bio-nanocomposite with only 0.3 wt% ChNFs content presented distinct improvement in both the strength and toughness due to the large aspect ratio of ChNFs and its homogeneous dispersion in NRL matrix. Moreover, the introduction of ChNFs can promote the proliferation of mBMSCs effectively and endow NR/ChNFs bio-nanocomposites with good biocompatibility, enabling expanded applications of NR in biomedical field, such as artificial blood vessel, cosmetology prosthesis and human diaphragm materials.