title: Polylactic acid/zinc oxide biocomposite films for food packaging application.
abstract: Although PLA is much more expensive than polyolefins, such as PP and PE, there is a great interest to propose PLA based material as alternative films for food packaging being PLA derivable from natural source, compostable and biodegradable. For this purpose the research has the task to investigate and propose PLA materials with enhanced properties to be effectively and efficiently alternative to polyolefin films for food packaging application. In this contribution, biocomposite films of PLA with 1, 3 and 5wt% of ZnO have been investigated to determine mechanical, barrier and antimicrobial (against Escherichia coli) properties. It is found that the biocomposite films are characterized by a good dispersion of the ZnO particles in PLA matrix, although no previous treatment was performed on ZnO particles, such as silanization, to decrease its incompatibility with the polymer. The biocomposite films have shown good mechanical properties, decrease of permeability to CO2 and O2, and only a slight increase to water vapour. Particularly important is that, for the biocomposite with 5wt% of ZnO, the % Reduction for E. Coli test reached the value of 99.99 already after 24h.
authors.affiliation: Istituto per i Polimeri, Compositi e Biomateriali (IPCB), Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Via Campi Flegrei 34, 80078 Pozzuoli, NA, Italy.
authors.forename: Antonella
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Marra
authors.affiliation: Istituto per i Polimeri, Compositi e Biomateriali (IPCB), Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Via Campi Flegrei 34, 80078 Pozzuoli, NA, Italy.
authors.forename: Clara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Silvestre
authors.affiliation: Istituto per le Macchine Agricole e Movimento Terra (IMAMOTER), Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Strada delle Cacce 73, 10135 Torino, Italy.
authors.forename: Donatella
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Duraccio
authors.affiliation: Istituto per i Polimeri, Compositi e Biomateriali (IPCB), Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Via Campi Flegrei 34, 80078 Pozzuoli, NA, Italy. Electronic address: Sossio.Cimmino@ipcb.cnr.it.
authors.forename: Sossio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cimmino
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000737:chemistry; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development; D018857:Food Packaging / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D010100:Oxygen / Q000737:chemistry; D010539:Permeability; D011091:Polyesters / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology; D013227:Steam / Q000032:analysis; D015034:Zinc Oxide / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D011091:Polyesters; D013227:Steam; D002245:Carbon Dioxide; C033616:poly(lactide); D010100:Oxygen; D015034:Zinc Oxide
keywords: Antimicrobial property; Barrier property; Biocomposite; Food packaging; Polylactic acid; Zinc oxide