Studies on Polyvinyl Alcohol Starch Composite Films Targeting Wound Dressing Applications

Abstract

Certain limitations of biodegradable natural polymers such as affordability, availability, shelf life and mechanical stability potentially restrict their role to replace synthetic polymers that gained wider acceptance in the global economy. On the other hand, the synthetic polymers do suffer with a basic limitation in terms of their disposal and inevitable recycling needs. To circumvent the issue, synthetic polymers need to be supplemented with natural polymers to enhance the biodegradability characteristics of the fabricated composites. Among synthetic and natural polymers, polyvinyl alcohol and starch can serve as potential composite film materials due to their promising features such as film forming capability, non-toxicity and transparency. However, the PVA-St composites need to be further engineered to supplement their higher water solubility and poor mobility characteristics with other additives that further enhance their combinatorial characteristics. .