UV–vis protective poly(vinyl alcohol)/bio-oil innovative films

Abstract The search of alternative plastics to replace the fossil-based ones has become an urgent matter in the last years. To contribute to this, the assessment of the incorporation of bio-oil into biodegradable PVA films was proposed in this work in order to obtain coating films with UV shielding properties. For this aim, organosolv-lignin-based bio-oil and PVA with different molecular weight and hydrolysis degrees were used for the film elaboration by solvent-casting method. The objective of this study was to analyze the effect of different amounts of bio-oil in PVA film-properties as well as the addition of glycerol as a plasticiser. The chemical and mechanical properties of the obtained films were measured. Results showed that bio-oil interacted with PVA, modifying in this way the film properties. The effect of the bio-oil on the long-term mechanical stability of the PVA films was assessed through their exposure to accelerated testing using UV. This experiment resulted in a decline on the Young’s modulus and in an increase on the elongation break and therefore, in a possible decrease on their degradation time. Hence, it can be concluded that bio-oil could be a potential functional additive to blend with PVA for tailoring films with specific applications, especially for UV protective ones. Moreover, the presence of bio-oil in the blends with PVA would improve their degradation decreasing their accumulation in the environment.