Hassan Dilawar, Sani Ayesha, Chanihoon Ghulam Qadir, Antonio Pérez Aurora, Ehsan Muhammad, Torres Huerta Ana Laura
School of Engineering and Sciences, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Atizapan de Zaragoza C.P. 52926, Estado de Mexico, Mexico.
National Centre of Excellence in Analytical Chemistry (NCEAC), University of Sindh, Jamshoro 76080, Pakistan.
Polymers (Basel). 2024 Dec 12;16(24):3466. doi: 10.3390/polym16243466.
Currently, there is a rush to develop green polymeric films such as biodegradable chitosan (CH) films to control and prevent plastic pollution from degrading the environment. This study reports a novel and sustainable green approach to the development of CH films using lemon juice (LJ) and lemon peel extract (LPE), the latter to dilute the LJ. The LPE was also utilized for the synthesis of ZnFeO nanoparticles (NPs), adding to this work's novelty. The crystalline size of the ZnFeO NPs was computed to be ~16 nm. The introduction of 1% and 2% ZnFeO NPs improved not only the mechanical properties of the films, but also their barrier properties and water solubility (WS). The tensile strength increased from 0.641 MPa to 0.835 MPa when 2% NPs were incorporated, which is almost 1.30 times greater; the NPs also enhanced the surface strength by 2.66 times, which was demonstrated by the puncture strength. The introduction of NPs occupied the vacant spaces and improved the barrier capabilities of the CH film by reducing the water vapor permeability (WVP) value from 8.752 ± 0.015 for bare CH films to 6.299 ± 0.009 for 2% NP-containing CH films. Overall, the introduction of ZnFeO NPs boosted the mechanical and barrier properties of the CH films, and offers a promising method for developing sustainable, eco-friendly, and biodegradable polymeric films for potential packaging and medical applications to contribute to circular economic efforts.
目前，人们正急于开发绿色聚合物薄膜，如可生物降解的壳聚糖（CH）薄膜，以控制和防止塑料污染对环境造成破坏。本研究报告了一种新颖且可持续的绿色方法来制备CH薄膜，该方法使用柠檬汁（LJ）和柠檬皮提取物（LPE），后者用于稀释LJ。LPE还被用于合成ZnFeO纳米颗粒（NPs），这增加了这项工作的新颖性。计算得出ZnFeO NPs的晶体尺寸约为16nm。引入1%和2%的ZnFeO NPs不仅改善了薄膜的机械性能，还提高了其阻隔性能和水溶性（WS）。当加入2%的NPs时，拉伸强度从0.641MPa增加到0.835MPa，几乎提高了1.30倍；NPs还使表面强度提高了2.66倍，这通过穿刺强度得到证明。NPs的引入占据了空隙，通过将裸CH薄膜的水蒸气透过率（WVP）值从8.752±0.015降低到含2% NPs的CH薄膜的6.299±0.009，提高了CH薄膜的阻隔能力。总体而言，ZnFeO NPs的引入提高了CH薄膜的机械和阻隔性能，并为开发可持续、环保和可生物降解的聚合物薄膜提供了一种有前景的方法，可用于潜在的包装和医疗应用，为循环经济做出贡献。
