ABSTRACT
Over the last decade, “green polymers” have gained attention and have been extensively used for the development of new sustainable polymeric nanocomposite materials due to their eco-friendly nature, renewability, and broad applicability. The increasing demand for the integration of green polymers into nanomaterials is due to their advantages of lacking the toxic byproducts from the chemical or physical degradation of synthetic polymers and the materials being more biologically and environmentally compatible. Green polymers have broad range classifications such as natural polysaccharides (cellulose, chitin/chitosan, alginate, guar gum, starch, carrageenan, glycosaminoglycans, etc.) and proteins (collagen, gelatin, elastin, fibrin, silk, etc.). Depending on the structural variability and side-chain functional groups, polymers have been fabricated into nanostructured material or incorporated into various organic/inorganic nanomaterials which ultimately resulted in functionally active natural polymers nanocomposites. These green polymeric nanocomposites inherit characteristic advantages of both nanomaterials and biopolymers such as higher surface-area-to-volume proportion owing to huge surface interfacial reactivity and biocompatibility and bioactivity, respectively. This research has shifted the paradigm from non-biodegradable to completely biodegradable and biocompatible nanomaterial development. This chapter encompasses various green polymeric nanocomposites and their applications in numerous fields i.e. biomedical applications, food packaging, dyes degradation/absorption, water purification, air filtration, catalyst, nanosensor and energy storage devices, etc.
