A comprehensive study on enhanced characteristics of modified polylactic acid based versatile biopolymer

• The PLA–HA film shows well scattered dispersion of HA domains in between the PLA chains.
• Increased surface roughness was observed with the presence of protuberance with HA domain.
• Incorporation of humic acid in the PLA film slightly escalated the thermal stability.
• The film shows reduction in the degree of crystallinity.

Now a days, polylactic acid (PLA) and its derivatives are receiving significant attention due to its versatile applications. The present study provides a deep insight on major structural and functional properties of novel PLA–HA polymer synthesized by incorporating humic acid (HA) in PLA. Topographical features of both pure and modified PLA have been studied using SEM and AFM to analyze their comparative surface microstructures. Incorporation of HA was found to enhance slightly the thermal stability profile of the polymer. However, reduction of Tg, Tm and degree of crystallinity has also been noticed, which in turn resulted in enhanced ductility and higher elongation at break. Moreover, improvement in radical scavenging properties, total available phenolics (0.075 μmole GAE/g film) and water absorption capacity (90.65%) has been observed which essentially suggested introduction as well as enhancement of several utility features, originally absent in pure PLA. The study thus predicts multifaceted applications of PLA–HA polymer, from industrial packaging to fabrication of biomedical devices depending on its superior characteristics as compared to pure PLA.

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