Understanding the Barrier and Mechanical Behavior of Different Nanofillers in Chitosan Films for Food Packaging

Abstract

The continuous petroleum-based plastics manufacturing generates disposal issues, spreading the problem of plastic pollution and its rise in the environment. Recently, innovative techniques and scientific research promoted biopolymers as the primary alternative for traditional plastics, raising and expanding global bioplastic production. Due to its unmatched biological and functional attributes, chitosan (Ch) has been substantially explored and employed as a biopolymeric matrix. Nevertheless, the hydrophilicity and the weak mechanical properties associated with this biopolymer represent a significant intrinsic restriction to its implementation into some commercial applications, namely, in food packaging industries. Distinct methodologies have been utilized to upgrade the mechanical and barrier properties of Ch, such as using organic or inorganic nanofillers, crosslinkers, or blends with other polymers. This review intends to analyze the most recent works that combine the action of different nanoparticle types with Ch films to reinforce their mechanical and barrier properties.

Biodegradable Chitosan Films with ZnO Nanoparticles Synthesized Using Food Industry By-Products—Production and Characterization

“…Overall, the presence of chemically bonded organic molecules was confirmed for the as-synthesized particles [61]. Similarly, in ZnO NPs loaded with gallic acid [23], the formation of ZnO loaded with phenolic acids was inferred by the spectral band appearing at 736 cm −1 due to Zn-O stretching vibration.…”

“…Finally, with 2% of ZnO NPs, a slight increase in the OP can be explained by a possible agglomeration of the NPs within the chitosan chain, which resulted in a lower reinforcement, in comparison to the 1% ZnO NPs films, although between the two bionanocomposites, the OP results did not differ significantly. In the literature, studies addressing the determination of OP were not as abundant as those with WVP [23], probably due to the more complex methods or the demand for equipment to determine OP. However, in comparison to the data reported by Yadav et al [26], our results presented the opposite pattern, once bionanocomposites slightly increased OP with the incorporation of ZnO NPs, while reductions of 7.5 and 10.9% in the OP of chitosan incorporated with 1.5 and 2.5% of ZnO@gal [26], respectively, were observed.…”

Decolorization of a Corn Fiber Arabinoxylan Extract and Formulation of Biodegradable Films for Food Packaging

“…Films from FucoPol produced with Enterobacter A47 were obtained using citric acid as cross-linker [ 11 ]. Chitosan with different nanofillers enhanced the barrier and mechanical properties of the films for food packaging [ 12 ].…”

Active Edible Packaging

“…In addition, these nanomaterials can act as a delivery system of active compounds or they can interact with the permeant species (water vapor, O 2 ), or other species released from the food or from the outer environment, adding activity to the films. Nonetheless, more studies are needed to evaluate the safety of these compounds, whether they migrate to the food and the interaction they may have with the food [25,[64][65][66][67][68].…”