Performance Evaluation and Application Exploration of Deacidified Chitin Nanofibril Film

Abstract

In order to reduce dependence on petroleum resources, research on the application of polysaccharide-based materials has become one of the mainstream trends. The chitin nanofibril (ChNF) is a promising building block for fabricating chitin films from aqueous dispersions. In this study, tannic acid (TA) was introduced into the deacidified ChNF film as a cross-linking agent and functional additive. The structure and performance of the deacidified ChNF film were evaluated and its potentials in fruit packaging were explored. The cross-sectional morphology of the film was characterized by a scanning electron microscope, which revealed that the film was densified by deacidification, thereby improving the water resistance. The addition of TA further improved the film’s wet-state mechanical property, antioxidant property, UV-shielding property and antibacterial activity, while the film preserved good optical properties. Specifically, the tensile strength of the film with TA reached (145.1 ± 9.3) MPa, and its free-radical scavenging rates were over 95%. Moreover, preliminary experiments demonstrated the potential of the film with TA for strawberry preservation.

Keywords

chitin nanofibril (ChNF) / tannic acid (TA) / deacidification / casting / fruit packaging

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Funding

National Key R&D Program of China(2020YFC1910305-02)