Super gas barrier of transparent polymer-clay multilayer ultrathin films.

Flexible and transparent polymeric "superbarrier" packaging materials have become increasingly important in recent years. Layer-by-layer assembly offers a facile technique for the fabrication of layered, polymer-clay superbarrier thin films. At only 51 nm thick, these nanocomposite thin films, comprised of 12 polymer and 4 clay layers, exhibit an oxygen permeability orders of magnitude lower than EVOH and SiOx. Coupling high flexibility, transparency, and barrier protection, these films are good candidates for a variety packaging applications.