Affiliations 

  • 1 Advanced Engineering Platform, Mechanical Engineering Discipline, School of Engineering, Monash University Malaysia, Selangor 47500, Malaysia. maziyar.makaremi@gmail.com
  • 2 Biomedical Engineering faculty, Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic), Tehran 15875-4413, Iran. hosniehyousefi@yahoo.com
  • 3 Department of Physics and Chemistry, University of Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, pad. 17, 90128 Palermo, Italy. giuseppe.cavallaro@unipa.it
  • 4 Department of Physics and Chemistry, University of Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, pad. 17, 90128 Palermo, Italy. giuseppe.lazzara@unipa.it
  • 5 School of Science, Monash University Malaysia, Selangor 47500, Malaysia. calvin.goh@monash.edu
  • 6 School of Science, Monash University Malaysia, Selangor 47500, Malaysia. lee.sui.mae@monash.edu
  • 7 Biomedical Engineering faculty, Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic), Tehran 15875-4413, Iran. atefeh.solouk@aut.ac.ir
  • 8 Advanced Engineering Platform, Mechanical Engineering Discipline, School of Engineering, Monash University Malaysia, Selangor 47500, Malaysia. pooria.pasbakhsh@monash.edu
Polymers (Basel), 2019 Sep 29;11(10).
PMID: 31569482 DOI: 10.3390/polym11101594

Abstract

Extensive usage of long-lasting petroleum based plastics for short-lived application such as packaging has raised concerns regarding their role in environmental pollution. In this research, we have developed active, healable, and safely dissolvable alginate-pectin based biocomposites that have potential applications in food packaging. The morphological study revealed the rough surface of these biocomposite films. Tensile properties indicated that the fabricated samples have mechanical properties in the range of commercially available packaging films while possessing excellent healing efficiency. Biocomposite films exhibited higher hydrophobicity properties compared to neat alginate films. Thermal analysis indicated that crosslinked biocomposite samples possess higher thermal stability in temperatures below 120 °C, while antibacterial analysis against E. coli and S. aureus revealed the antibacterial properties of the prepared samples against different bacteria. The fabricated biodegradable multi-functional biocomposite films possess various imperative properties, making them ideal for utilization as packaging material.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.