Fabrication of self-cleaning bio-based plastic with antimicrobial properties via solution casting technique

Abstract

PLA/TiO2 composite materials were created using solution casting approaches in this investigation. Water absorption and antimicrobial were examined by evaluating the interactions between the essential components of the film-forming materials. The overall performance of nanocomposites with varying TiO2 concentration was investigated. Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) Spectroscopy, a water absorption test, and antimicrobial analysis were used to conduct the studies. The water absorption of bioplastics was shown to be reduced when TiO2 concentration was increased up to 5.0 wt%, with the lowest water saturation point of 17.93%. This is because the interaction between PLA and TiO2 lowers the number of free OH groups in the resultant bioplastics. As a consequence, there was a decrease in water absorption-related deterioration, such tensile property degradation of the bioplastics. Furthermore, antibacterial activity enhanced under UV-A irradiation with a TiO2 nanoparticles concentration of 5.0 wt%, and 1.0 wt% of the nanofilms displayed inhibitory zones of 10.49 ± 0.22 and 12.61 ± 0.78 mm and 6.83 ± 0.19 and 6.96 ± 0.62 mm for E. coli and S. aureus, respectively. Overall, the performance of the nanofilm with a higher TiO2 concentration outperformed the pure film. Nonetheless, both nanocomposite membranes complied with the requirements of food packaging films.