Preparation and Characterization of Schizophyllan/Polyvinyl Alcohol Composite Film

Schizophyllan (spg) is an extracellular polysaccharide produced by schizophyllum commune# spg has several therapeutics effects such as antitumor, anticancer, antineoplastic, antiviral, and immunomodulating activities# in this study, spg/polyvinyl alcohol films were prepared using the casting method# for this purpose, aqueous spg (1#5 w/v %) was mixed with aqueous polyvinyl alcohol (pva) (10 w/v %) at various volume ratios# the films were studied for surface morphology by laser scanning confocal microscopy (lscm) and the mechanical properties of the tensile strength (ts) and percentage elongation (%e) were measured according to the standard test method of astmd882-10# the best ts was observed in spg-pva solution with 20% (v/v) aqueous spg# the results showed that the ts of film improved by increasing of spg ratio until 20% and decreased with more increasing# according to the mechanical test, the percentage elongation decreased with increasing in the spg ratio# the data of the water vapor transmission rate (wvtr) indicated wvpr has direct relation with spg concentration in the composite films#