Fabrication of Environmentally Compatible Biopolymer Films of Pullulan/Piscean  Collagen/ZnO Nanocomposite and Their Antifungal Activity

• Published in: Journal of polymers and the environment Vol. 29; no. 4; pp. 1192 - 1201
• Main Authors: Bailore, Niveditha Nagappa, Balladka, Sarojini Kunhanna, Doddapaneni, Suman Joshi D. S., Mudiyaru, Murari Subrahmanaya
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.04.2021; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Absorption spectra; Antifungal activity; Aqueous solutions; Biopolymers; Bonding strength; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Collagen; Crystal structure; Crystallinity; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental Engineering/Biotechnology; Fabrication; Food industry; Food packaging; Food processing industry; Fungicides; Hydroxyl groups; Industrial Chemistry/Chemical Engineering; Materials Science; Mechanical properties; Modulus of elasticity; Nanocomposites; Nanoparticles; Original Paper; Packaging; Polymer Sciences; Polysaccharides; Pullulan; Stiffness; Tensile strength; Thermal stability; X ray powder diffraction; X-ray diffraction; Zinc oxide; Acid soluble collagen; Pullulan; ZnO nanoparticles; Polysaccharide
• ISSN: 1566-2543; 1572-8919
• DOI: 10.1007/s10924-020-01953-y

Polysaccharide pullulan acts as a base matrix for the fabrication of pullulan/collagen blend film with dopant ZnO nanoparticles. From the FTIR data, it could be confirmed that there was significant interaction among the pullulan/collagen/ZnO-NPs. The weak interactions like H-bonding was evident by shift absorption band of hydroxyl groups into the lower frequency region. The powder X-ray diffraction study revealed the amorphous nature of pullulan/collagen blended film which was modified into a crystalline structure after the addition of ZnO nanoparticles. The transformation of the films into crystallinity and the presence of the Zn element was confirmed by SEM-EDAX. Further, the results of TGA revealed that the addition of nanoparticles influenced the thermal stability of the pullulan/collagen blended films. The addition of ZnO nanoparticles lead to an increase of the stiffness and mechanical resistance of the nanocomposite films; which showed an increase in their tensile strength evidenced by an increase in Young’s modulus. The fabricated films exhibited antifungal activity against Aspergillus niger with a maximum zone of inhibition of 18 mm for pullulan/collagen/ZnO-NPs (0.5%). However, the nanocomposite films easily dissolved in an aqueous medium, indicating their possible use as edible packaging films in the food industry.