Pembuatan Nanoserat Selulosa Tongkol Jagung Sebagai Bahan Bioplastik Dengan Plasticizer Sorbitol

Abstract

Research has been conducted on bioplastics made from cellulose nanofibers from corn cobs and chitosan with sorbitol plasticizer, varying the ratio of cellulose nanofibers and chitosan at 30%:70%; 40%:60%; 50%:50%; 60%:40%; 70%:30% using the melt intercalation method at a drying temperature of 70°C for 24 hours. This research aims to investigate the production of bioplastics based on cellulose nanofibers from corn cobs with the plasticizer sorbitol on the characteristics of bioplastics, including thickness test, density, absorption, tensile strength, elongation, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR), and degradation capability. The results of the particle size analyzer test on corn cob cellulose obtained an average diameter value of 0.50971 μm for the corn cob cellulose. The optimum bioplastic results are found in the BTJ-B5 sample with a cellulose nanofiber: chitosan ratio of 70%:30% and an 80% sorbitol plasticizer, yielding a thickness of 0.200 mm, a density of 1.071 g/cm³, and a tensile strength of 1.3000 MPa, which increases with the addition of corn cob cellulose nanofiber, as well as a degradation percentage of 52.00%. However, the water absorption value is quite high at 59.62% and the elongation is 18.53%, which decreases with the addition of corn cob cellulose nanofibers. The results of the bioplastic microstructure characterization include SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy) results, which show a fairly uniform surface morphology with a black color indicating that the combination of cellulose nanofibers, chitosan, and sorbitol is well mixed. Then, from the FT-IR (Fourier Transform Infrared) test results, the same functional groups as the bioplastic components, namely O-H and C-H, were obtained, indicating that the bioplastic produced is the result of physical mixing.