UV resistant transparent bionanocomposite films based on potato starch/cellulose for sustainable packaging

Abstract

Biobased polymers are considered as a promising alternative to conventional synthetic plastics from fossil fuels to recompense the draining resources for petroleum‐based products, which addresses several environmental issues. Here, briefly, cellulose nanofibers were isolated from pineapple leaves and the quality of the prepared nanofibers was characterized using advanced instrumental technologies. Poor mechanical properties, barrier properties, and the hygroscopic nature are notable issues that reduce the shelf life of starch‐based films, which can be rectified by the addition of nanoscale fillers. The impact of filler reinforcement on the films was investigated in different aspects. Morphology, UV shielding, wettability, and thermal degradation were carefully analyzed using polarized optical microscopy, UV–vis spectroscopy, static water contact angle measurements, and thermal gravimetric analysis, respectively. The water contact angle increases from neat TPS to nanocomposites with 3 wt% of CNF (41.25 0 to 51.77 0 ) and the water vapor permeability decreases from 7.32 to 5.68 × 10 −2 g min −1 m −2 for 3 wt% CNF loading. Also, several enhanced properties were observed for the final product quality with respect to the reference sample, including that the potato starch/cellulose nanocomposite films were found to be UV resistant, and that higher transparency indicates the nanoscale dispersion. Further studies are anticipated to develop the materials on an industrial scale.