Assessment of Mechanical, Water Barrier and Anti-Microbial Properties of Paper Sheets Loaded with Hyperbranched Polyester/ Graphene Oxide Composite and Effect of FlaxSeed-Gel Coatings

Hyperbranched polyester/graphene oxide (PES/GO) is prepared by in-situ polymerization technique to ensure complete homogeneity of GO in the formed composite.Chemical structure of the composite is studied using FTIR and its thermal stability is investigated by TGA.The prepared composite is used as active filler for cellulosic paper through additions of different ratios during sheets-making.Physical and mechanical properties beside thermal stability of the paper sheets have been examined.The results showed that both density and thermal stability of loaded paper are increased while porosity is decreased significantly with increasing amount of filler.However, the paper sheets demonstrated very low water permeability when loaded with 20% PES/GO.Paper sheets dipped for 1 min.in flaxseed gel showed improved water vapour permeability compared with uncoated sheets.Moreover, the loaded sheets acquired significant antibacterial activity against different microorganisms.This property is declined upon coating with flaxseed gel but still higher than blank sheets.