Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

Influence of Glycerol on the Surface Morphology and Crystallinity of Polyvinyl Alcohol Films

Version 1 : Received: 10 June 2024 / Approved: 11 June 2024 / Online: 12 June 2024 (14:07:00 CEST)

How to cite: Kovtun, G.; Casas, D.; Cuberes, T. Influence of Glycerol on the Surface Morphology and Crystallinity of Polyvinyl Alcohol Films. Preprints 2024, 2024060744. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202406.0744.v1 Kovtun, G.; Casas, D.; Cuberes, T. Influence of Glycerol on the Surface Morphology and Crystallinity of Polyvinyl Alcohol Films. Preprints 2024, 2024060744. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202406.0744.v1

Abstract

The structure and physicochemical properties of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and PVA/glycerol films have been investigated by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetry/differential thermal analysis (TG/DTA), and advanced scanning probe microscopy (SPM). In the pure PVA films, SPM allowed us to observe ribbon-shaped domains with a different frictional and elastic contrast, which apparently originated from a correlated growth or assembly of PVA crystalline nuclei located within individual PVA clusters. The incorporation of 1.0 wt.% glycerol led to modification in shape of those domains from ribbon-like in pure PVA to rounded in PVA/glycerol 1.0 wt.% films; changes in the relative intensities of the XRD peaks and a decrease of the amorphous halo in the XRD pattern were also detected, while the DTA peak corresponding to the melting point remained at almost the same temperature. For higher glycerol content, FT-IR revealed additional glycerol-characteristic peaks presumably related to the formation of glycerol aggregates, and XRD, FT-IR, and DTA all indicated a reduction in crystallinity. For more than 2.0 wt.% glycerol, the plasticization of the films complicated the acquisition of SPM images without tip-induced surface modification. Our study contributes to the understanding of crystallinity in PVA and how it is altered by a plasticizer such as glycerol.

Keywords

polyvinyl alcohol films pva/glycerol blends; crystallinity; infrared spectroscopy; x-ray diffraction; thermogravimetry; differential thermal analysis; atomic force microscopy; lateral force microscopy; ultrasonic force microscopy

Subject

Chemistry and Materials Science, Nanotechnology

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