Fabrication of a composite film based on the extracted aloe vera solution and polyvinyl alcohol by freeze–thawing method

Abstract

Aloe vera, a tropical plant, growing a lot in Vietnam, has been used in industries such as pharmacy, food and medicine. This paper presented a fabrication a film composed of Aloe vera extract (AV) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) by freeze–thawing method. This method was simple, easy-to-implement which involved some steps such as freezing at low temperature (below -20 °C), then defrosting at room temperature (25 °C) and then performing some consecutive cycles to generate the film. The AV‒PVA composite film was evaluated for its mechanical property by tensile testing, chemical composition by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and morphology by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The obtained AV‒PVA composite film was solidified with a high AV extract content of AV: PVA (1:1, v:v). A composite film with 25% (volume) AV achieved a high elongation–at–break of 317.8%, the tensile strength of 10.45 MPa and the Young’s Modulus of 3.29 MPa. The AV‒PVA composite film contained all specific functional groups of PVA and AV. Otherwise, the composite film displayed the presence of pores on surface. This composite film is a environmentally friendly material and would be potential in applications in the water filter and biomedical field.