Enhanced Thermal Stability and UV-Shielding Properties of Poly(vinyl
alcohol) Based on Esculetin
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Abstract
In this article, PVA composites with
outstanding thermal stability, UV shielding, and high transparency
were fabricated on the basis of traditional Chinese medicine (esculetin).
Characterization data have suggested in which the resulting PVA/esculetin
(ESC) composites display excellent thermal stability compared to pure
PVA and most of the PVA nanocomposites. The pyrolysis mechanism of
PVA before and after modification with esculetin varies from chain
unzipping degradation followed by chain random scission. The DPPH
scavenging activity and FTIR measurements have illustrated that esculetin
can scavenge reactive radicals, which leads to improvements in thermal
stability and a change in the pyrolysis mechanism of PVA. More importantly,
the resulting composites can almost completely block the whole UV
region (200–400 nm) without any deterioration of the high transparency
of the composites. Therefore, the composites can convert harmful UV
light into blue light effectively, which is beneficial for their application
as optical materials and devices