Hydrothermal Wheat Straw–Reinforced Polyvinyl Alcohol Biodegradable Mulch Film

A novel eco-friendly polyvinyl alcohol-straw biodegradable agricultural film is prepared by simple film coating methods to address the poor degradation problems of residual films and the environmental pollution caused by traditional non-degradable agricultural films. Hydrothermally activated wheat straw was added to polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) solution as a reinforcing material. The morphological, structural, mechanical properties, water resistance, and degradability are carefully investigated in this study. The results show that the composite film has 34.1% higher water resistance, 10.8 ~ 15.4 MPa fracture stress, and 115 ~ 304% fracture strain. It also has appropriate wettability, high thermal stability, water resistance, light transmission, and excellent degradability. The prepared films are inexpensive and eco-friendly. They can be produced on a large scale and applied in biodegradable films.