Compatibilization Potential of Ionic Liquid-Based Surfactants for Polymer Blends
Authored
by Ahmad AdlieShamsuri  
Opinion
The development of the polymer composites industry 
has been very encouraging in the past years. The polymer blends have 
also been received considerable attention, this is due to the blends are
 easy to prepare, their production cost is low, and so on. At the 
present time, bioplastics such as polylactic acid, polyhydroxybutyrate 
and polybutylene succinate are gaining consideration due to their 
excellent biodegradability, biocompatibility and non-toxicity. Blend 
between bioplastics and biopolymers (for example; cellulose, zein and 
starch) to produce bioplastic/biopolymer blends have attracted the 
researchers’ interest. Besides, the produced bioplastic/biopolymer 
blends may also be able to be used in fabrication of biocompatible and 
biodegradable products. Moreover, the utilization of expensive synthetic
 bioplastics can be reduced through consumption of biopolymers this can 
further lower the cost of products [1,2].
Nevertheless, the blend approach suffers from low 
physicochemical properties due to incompatibility in the blends
system. The compatibility between the bioplastic and biopolymer is very 
low, thus results in reductions of their performance, particularly in 
the mechanical, thermal and rheological properties. The incompatibility 
is due to the bioplastic which wholly non-polar (hydrophobic) [3], while
 the biopolymer is naturally polar (hydrophilic) [4], and therefore the 
importance of compatibilization on the blends could not be ignored.
In response to this, the compatibilization methods by
 using compatibilizers were frequently carried out to compatibilize 
between two different polymers particularly for a better adhesion at 
their interface [5]. Previous reports have indicated that the organic 
salts such as surface-active agents (surfactants) could also be used as 
compatibilizers in polymeric blend
and composite systems specifically for non-polar and polar polymers 
[6-8]. This is due to the fact that the surfactants have amphiphilic 
character which contained of non-polar and polar parts (hydrophobic and 
hydrophilic groups) [9,10] that capable to compatibilize between 
non-polar and polar polymers [11]. Thus, they could provide 
compatibility between the component phases of bioplastic and biopolymer 
in the blends system.
On the other hand, ionic liquids (ILs) are known as 
organic salts that have low melting temperature (<100°C). ILs are 
non-volatile, highly polar and stable, miscible and soluble with many 
organic and/or inorganic compounds, chemically inert as well. ILs are 
also non-toxic, recyclable, non-flammable and eco-friendly [12]. The use
 of ionic liquid-based surfactants (ILBS) for compatibilization seems to
 be remarkable because they have fascinating feature i.e. low melting 
temperature compared to ordinary surfactants, this could increase the 
compatibilization efficiency.
Additionally, among several types of ILBS, 
1-dodecyl-3-methylimidazolium-based ILs can be employed for 
experimentation since they have some valuable characters for instance; 
consisted of single long alkyl chain (effective for the 
hydrophobic-hydrophobic interaction), environmentally friendly, low 
melting temperature, low toxicity and most importantly they are also 
thermally stable.
It is expected that the ILBS will improve the 
physicochemical properties (mechanical, thermal, rheological, etc.) of 
the polymer blends since they have amphiphilic character which can act 
as interaction link between non-polar (hydrophobic) and polar 
(hydrophilic) polymers, and they can assist them to interact with each 
other as well. It is also anticipated to benefit the industries that are
 interested.
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