Current Progress in Biopolymer-Based Bionanocomposites and Hybrid Materials

Dear Colleagues,

In recent years, the development of biopolymers based on constituents obtained from natural resources has been gaining much attention. The exploitation of biopolymers to engineer advanced bionanocomposites and hybrid materials is the focus of increasing scientific activity, explained by the growing environmental concerns and the interest in the novel features and multiple functionalities of these macromolecules.

The term bionanocomposites was introduced several years ago, to express an emerging class of bionano and bionanohybrid materials, resulting from the reinforcement of biopolymers such as proteins (gelatin, casein, soy and gluten), polysaccharides (cellulose, starch, chitosan, pectin, alginate, carrageenan and glycogen), lipids (cutin), and nucleic acids with inorganic or organic solids at the nanoscale. Such organic fractions comprise nanocrystalline cellulose, nanofibrillated cellulose, bacterial nanocellulose, and lignin nanoparticles, whereas inorganic fractions consist of finely divided solids, spanning from clays to phosphates or carbonates, whose origins can be either synthetic or natural.

As will become increasingly clear for the reader throughout the collection of authoritative research and reviews in this Special Issue, the relevance of coupling biopolymers with organic and inorganic nanomaterials, through innovative architectures, is twofold. First, it contradicts the idea that biopolymers are either eco-friendly or high performance. Second, it demonstrates how the properties resulting from these biopolymers are highly significant in applications such as food packaging, water treatment, gas-diffusion barriers, electronic devices, agriculture, sensing devices, flame retardancy, automotive parts, adhesives, regenerative medicine, tissue engineering, and drug delivery.

In this Special Issue, we aim to capture the cutting edge of the state of the art in research pertaining to biopolymer-based bionanocomposites and hybrid materials, and their advanced applications. Contributions on the processing of biopolymers and bionanocomposites, the use of diverse biopolymer sources such as polysaccharides, the reinforcement of nanosized materials with biopolymers, and applications of these biopolymers, bionanocomposites and biohybrid materials will constitute the backbone of this Special Issue.

Prof. Dr. S.M. Sapuan
Dr. R.A. Ilyas
Dr. Emin Bayraktar
Guest Editors

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• biopolymers
• polysaccharides
• proteins
• lipid
• nanocellulose
• nanoclay
• natural fibres
• synthetic fibres
• polymer composites
• nanocomposites
• hybrids
• advanced application