Biodegradability, physical, mechanical and antimicrobial attributes of starch nanocomposites containing chitosan nanoparticles

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Title

International Journal of Biological Macromolecules

Volume

195

First Page

49

Last Page

58

Publisher

Elsevier

School

School of Engineering

RAS ID

51838

Comments

Babaee, M., Garavand, F., Rehman, A., Jafarazadeh, S., Amini, E., & Cacciotti, I. (2022). Biodegradability, physical, mechanical and antimicrobial attributes of starch nanocomposites containing chitosan nanoparticles. International Journal of Biological Macromolecules, 195, 49-58.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2021.11.162

Abstract

This study aimed to develop a plasticized starch (PS) based film loaded with chitosan nanoparticles (CNPs, 1, 2, 3, and 4%) as a reinforcing and antibacterial agent. We examined the morphology, biodegradability, mechanical, thermo-mechanical, and barrier properties of the PS/CNPs films. The antimicrobial activity against both Gram-positive (S. aureus) and Gram-negative (E. coli) bacteria was investigated by colony forming unit (CFU) and disc diffusion methods. A dense structure was obtained for all PS/CNPs films and, thus, their complete biodegradation occurred in more days than neat PS. The increase in the CNPs percentage led to improved mechanical behaviour and barrier properties. PS-CNPs composite films revealed inhibition zones against both E. coli and S. aureus, with the 100% reduction in CFU against S. aureus. The current study exhibited that PS-CNPs films were more effective in inhibiting bacteria growth than neat PS film, confirming the composite films potential application as antimicrobial food packaging.

DOI

10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2021.11.162

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