Abstract:
The increased environmental awareness issues encouraged the manufacture of food -wares
and packaging items from cellulosic materials to cope with the rapid growth of fast- food
industry. In this work, scented biofilms with potent antimicrobial activity were prepared in a
multi-step process assisted with the AFM. The biofilms comprised of polyvinyl alcohol
(PVA) physically crosslinked with different weight ratios of alkaline cellulose (Na-Cell)
[PVA/Na-Cell]. Then, the effect of gamma irradiation on the surface features of the
optimized sample (PVA/Na-Cell4) was verified at 5-25 KGy. The optimum film (PVA/Na-
Cell4.20kGy) was fabricated with different weight ratios of essential clove oil (ECO). The
biofilms were characterized by the AFM, FT-IR, XRD, TGA, and the DMA. The contact
angle measurements of the optimized films reveal wettability resistance as following:
PVA/Na-Cell4.0kGy (102.48o
) < PVA/Na-Cell4.20kGy (133.66o
)< PVA/Na-Cell4.ECO20kGy
(140.62o
). The antimicrobial investigation displayed remarkable effect against different
pathogens. Therefore, the claimed biofilms are excellent candidates for packaging
application.
