Thermo-mechanical investigation of PEG-PVA biohybrid active film grafted with copper nanoparticles for packaging applications

The global fabrication of conventional plastics has increased attributes to the prodigious applications. The product developed in the present work is a vitreous alternative to the traditional, non-biodegradable, crude-based plastics, which degrades axiomatically. It compensates for the exceedingly depleting oil reserves and truncates the plastic waste. This research emphasizes the evolution of sustainable active food packaging film to proliferate the shelf life of a product and to retain the nutritional content. Here, copper nanoparticles are reinforced into the biohybrid film made up of using polyvinyl alcohol, polyethylene glycol and citric acid for an active copper releasing packaging system, which improves the barrier property of the film. Scanning electron microscopy micrographs of the copper nanoparticles and the reinforced films delineate the uniform distribution of the nanoparticles in the hybrid matrix. Biodegradation test examined the 16.69% for 1 phr copper-loaded film, which is high in contrary to others. The mechanical properties and heat stability of the biocomposite film meliorated significantly by the inclusion of 1% Cu nanoparticles. The water solubility of the nano-film ranges from 3.64 to 100%, depending upon the extent of crosslinking. The resultant hybrid film is versatile and can be utilized both as cured and uncured forms. The aforementioned properties make it pertinent for drug-delivery applications too.