Development and evaluation of biodegradable starch-based films containing cellulose nanocrystals/titanium dioxide nanoparticles as an alternative for food packaging
Aluisie Picolotto, Lílian Vanessa Rossa Beltrami, Danielli Dallé, Heitor Luiz Ornaghi, Ademir J. Zattera, André Luís Catto, Cleide Borsoi
Abstract
Biodegradable starch-based films are an environmentally friendly solution to reduce the use of petroleum-derived polymers. Thus, this work aims to obtain corn starch films by incorporating 5% w/w of cellulose nanocrystals (CNC), different concentrations of titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO 2 ) (0, 0.25, 0.5, 1, and 2% w/w), and 40% w/w of glycerol and sorbitol (plasticizers), in a 1:1 ratio. The films showed a high potential for UV-light barrier, with an increase of 307% incorporating only 2 wt% of TiO 2 in relation to the film without incorporation of TiO 2 . The use of TiO 2 increased the white pigmentation capacity of the samples and decreased the lower water solubility – a reduction of approximately 28% using 0.5 wt% TiO 2 compared to the CNC control sample was observed. The incorporation of TiO 2 nanoparticles increased the tensile strength by adding 1 wt% of TiO 2 nanoparticles with 34% increase in the tensile strength of the film without incorporation of TiO 2 . The thermal stability of the films with 1 wt% TiO 2 and 5 wt% CNC increased by 85°C. Thus, the addition of CNC and TiO 2 enabled an improvement in the physical/thermal/chemical properties of the films, making them possible alternatives for use in food packaging.