All‐Natural Sustainable Packaging Materials Inspired by Plant Cuticles

Abstract

New sustainable composite materials inspired by plant cuticles have been fabricated by impregnation of fibrous cellulose substrates with a naturally occurring polyhydroxylated fatty acid (9,10,16‐trihydroxypalmitic or aleuritic acid) and subsequent polymerization of the latter into polyaleuritate. A two‐step preparation method is used, comprising of spraying and hot‐pressing. The hot‐pressing temperature is critical for the extent of polymerization of polyaleuritate and its alteration allows fine tuning of the mechanical properties, opacity, wettability, and water adsorption of the developed composite materials. The cellulose substrate controls other characteristics such as water permeability and thermal conductivity. Addition of carnauba wax into the polyaleuritate matrix results in improvement of water and oxygen barrier properties. Best results in terms of mechanical resistivity, transparency, water resistance, and low values of oxygen permeability are obtained for samples fabricated using hot‐pressing temperature of 200 °C and with a final formulation of 80.6% of cellulose, 17.7% of aleuritic acid, and 1.7% of carnauba wax. Comparison of the composite properties with common plastics confirms that these plant cuticle‐like materials can become promising alternatives to petroleum‐based macromolecules for packaging applications.

Sustainable Electronics Based on Crop Plant Extracts and Graphene: A “Bioadvantaged” Approach

“…GnP concentrations were added to tune electrical properties from 0.1 to 40.0 wt% with respect to dry weight polymer content. [26] During polymerization, the polyester acted as a strong compatibilizer between zein and cellulose as shown in Figure S2 (Supporting Information). The physicochemical and mechanical characteristics of the cellulose substrate were also given in our previous publications.…”

“…[26] Teflon anti-stick films (Advent Research Material, Art. [26] Teflon anti-stick films (Advent Research Material, Art.…”

“…Certain plant proteins such as zein [24,25] or plant cuticles [26] can be easily extracted from crops and may be directly used in tandem to produce alternative and cost-effective green electronic components. Corn-derived zein is a prolamine protein widespread in bakery products [27,28] and in food packaging/ safety applications.…”

“…Its films are very rigid and brittle requiring plasticizers for flexibility. [26,31] Among them, aleuritic acid (9,10,16-trihydroxyhexadecanoic acid) can be thermally polymerized into polyaleuritate, a cutin-like polyester, [32] having good waterproof and barrier properties as well as full biodegradability. [26,31] Among them, aleuritic acid (9,10,16-trihydroxyhexadecanoic acid) can be thermally polymerized into polyaleuritate, a cutin-like polyester, [32] having good waterproof and barrier properties as well as full biodegradability.…”

Bioelastomers Based on Cocoa Shell Waste with Antioxidant Ability

“…The signals of CH 2 bending and PO stretching were found at 1437 and 1250 cm −1 , respectively . The band centered at 1032 cm −1 was associated with CC and CO stretching vibrations from polysaccharides and lignin …”