The nano-biocomposites structure, including the nanoclay dispersion, was studied by wide angle X-ray scattering (WAXS) patterns and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) micrographs. WAXS patterns were recorded at room temperature in the scattering angle (2h) 2–30 (step size: 0.01, scanning rate: 8 s step1) using filtered Cu Ka radiation (k: 1.54 Å). A Bruker D8-Advance model diffractometer (Madison, WI, USA) was used to determine the interlayer distance (d-spacing) and intercalation of the nanoclay.
TEM micrographs were performed using a JEOL JEM-2010 (Tokyo, Japan) with accelerating voltage 100 kV. Prior to analysis, films were ultra-microtomed to obtain slices of 100 nm thick (RMC, model MTXL).