Abstract
This paper introduces a boron nitride nanosheet (BNNS)-reinforced cellulose nanofiber (CNF) film as a sustainable oxygen barrier film that can potentially be applied in food packaging. Most commodity plastics are oxygen-permeable. CNF exhibits an ideal oxygen transmission rate (OTR) of <1 cc/m2/day in highly controlled conditions. A CNF film typically fabricated by the air drying of a CNF aqueous solution reveals an OTR of 19.08 cc/m2/day. The addition of 0–5 wt % BNNS to the CNF dispersion before drying results in a composite film with highly improved OTR of 4.7 cc/m2/day, which is sufficient for meat and cheese packaging. BNNS as a 2D nanomaterial increases the pathway of oxygen gas and reduces the chances of pinhole formation during film fabrication involving water drying. In addition, BNNS improves the mechanical properties of the CNF films (Young’s modulus and tensile strength) without significant elongation reductions, probably due to the good miscibility of CNF and BNNS in the aqueous solution. Addition of BNNS also produces negligible color change, which is important for film aesthetics. An in vitro cell experiment was performed to reveal the low cytotoxicity of the CNF/BNNS composite. This composite film has great potential as a sustainable high-performance food-packaging material.
Highlights
Synthetic polymers such as polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) have been widely used as food- and medicine-packaging materials owing to their high strength, low cost, viscoelastic properties and chemical resistance
We show that a boron nitride nanosheet (BNNS)-containing cellulose nanofiber (CNF) composite film can achieve a low oxygen transmission rate (OTR) of reported that BNNS/CNF composite films exhibit good thermal conductivity [32,33,34,35,36]
The CNF/BNNS composite film exhibited good oxygen-barrier properties and an OTR of
Summary
Synthetic polymers such as polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) have been widely used as food- and medicine-packaging materials owing to their high strength, low cost, viscoelastic properties and chemical resistance. Most polymeric films are oxygen permeable and exhibit a high oxygen transmission rate (OTR) of. Halogenated and metalized polymeric films can achieve an OTR of 0.1–10 cc/m2 /day [6,7,8,9]. These polymer films pose many environmental and health threats [6,7,8,9].
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