Physical and Morphological Characterization of Chitosan/Montmorillonite Films Incorporated with Ginger Essential Oil

Abstract

Novel bionanocomposite films of chitosan/montmorillonite (CS/MMT) activated with ginger essential oil (GEO) were produced and characterized in terms of their physical and morphological properties. The homogenization process led to a good interaction between the chitosan and the nanoparticles, however the exfoliation was diminished when GEO was incorporated. Film glass transition temperature did not statistically change with the incorporation of either MMT or GEO, however the value was slightly reduced, representing a relaxation in the polymer chain which corroborated with the mechanical and barrier properties results. Pristine chitosan films showed excellent barrier properties to oxygen with a permeability of 0.184 × 10−16 mol/m·s·Pa being reduced to half (0.098 × 10−16 mol/m·s·Pa) when MMT was incorporated. Although the incorporation of GEO increased the permeability values to 0.325 × 10−16 mol/m·s·Pa when 2% of GEO was integrated, this increment was smaller with both MMT and GEO (0.285 × 10−16 mol/m·s·Pa). Bionanocomposites also increased the UV light barrier. Thus, the produced bioplastics demonstrated their ability to retard oxidative processes due to their good barrier properties, corroborating previous results that have shown their potential in the preservation of foods with high unsaturated fat content.

Novel Active Food Packaging Films Based on Whey Protein Incorporated with Seaweed Extract: Development, Characterization, and Application in Fresh Poultry Meat

“…Films incorporated with the extract got darker (increased L, p < 0.05) with a stronger yellow appearance (higher b*, p < 0.05). A similar behavior was also observed in chitosan films incorporated with hydroalcoholic extracts from different plants (food seasoning herbs and tea) [49] or essential oil [50]. The extracts contribute to add color to the films due to their intrinsic color, and the ability of their active compounds to structurally bind with the polymer, changing the film's optical properties [49].…”

Effect of Na- and Organo-Modified Montmorillonite/Essential Oil Nanohybrids on the Kinetics of the In Situ Radical Polymerization of Styrene

“…The chemical structure of the main components of the three EO used, i.e., thymol, carvacrol and estragol appear in Scheme 1. Two types of clay were used: (i) sodium exchanged montmorillonite (NaMMT) with code name Nanomer ® PGV with mass density 2.6 g/cm 3 and CEC value 145 meq/100 g produced by Nanocor Inc. 2870 Forbs Avenue Hoffman Estates, IL, USA and supplied by Sigma-Aldrich, Darmstadt, Germany. The chemical composition of NaMMT was 62.9% SiO2, 19.6% Al2O3, 3.35% Fe2O3, 3.05% MgO, 1.68% CaO, 1.53% Na2O.…”

“…Among natural antioxidants, essential oils are the most widely used materials in the food packaging industry [ 1 ]. To this direction, hybrids of montmorillonite (MMT) with essential oils (EO) have been prepared recently in order to be used in active packaging because of their controllable and long-life antioxidant activity [ 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 ].…”

Chitosan Composites in Packaging Industry—Current Trends and Future Challenges

“…Recently, several studies with nanocomposites based on chitosan and MMT have been investigated, and, in general, an enhancement in the mechanical and barrier properties is observed when MMT is incorporated in the chitosan film [16,17,[46][47][48][49][50]. Beigzadeh Ghelejlu et al (2016) [46], Giannakas et al, (2016) [51] and Nouri et al (2018) [49], noticed that with low amounts of nanoclay in the bio-based films it is possible not only to improve strength, stiffness, and elongation at break but also increase water and oxygen barrier.…”