Study on the Antibacterial Paper Coated by ZnO/MFC for Food Packaging

Abstract

As a kind of environmentally friendly material, microfibrillated cellulose (MFC) has the following advantages: renewable raw materials, easy recycling, biodegradable, safety and so on. It can be combined with antibacterial agents to prepare the antibacterial packing materials for food. In this paper, the nano-ZnO was modified by titanate coupling agent TM-38s at first,determines the best dosage of TM-38 is 3% in the modification process,the dosage of the isopropyl alcohol for 40ml,improving its dispersibility. And then added in the MFC suspension to formulate the antibacterial coating for antibacterial coated paper preparation. The changes of antibacterial properties of the paper before and after coating were investigated in this study. The results showed that the paper had a significant antibacterial activity to e. coli and staphylococcus aureus (the antibacterial circle was bigger than 15 mm).When the nano-ZnO dosage was 2.5wt%, the antibacterial properties of the coated paper could reach the best situation. Application of the antibacterial caoated paper to the food packaging could restrain and kill the microorganisms on the food surface effectively, prolong the shelf life of food, and improve the food safety.