Fri. Mar 29th, 2024
Scientists develop non-toxic, biodegradable & environmentally friendly material to replace plastics in food industry

A recently developed biodegradable, biopolymer nanocomposite which can detect relative humidity. It can be used as smart packaging materials, especially for the food industry since perishable packed foods are easily damaged by the change in relative humidity. 

A biodegradable material is a material which can be decomposed by bacteria or other natural organisms and not be added to pollution.

Biopolymers are polymers, macromolecules formed by the chemical bonding of large numbers of smaller molecules called monomers. Biopolymers are produced by or derived from living organisms, such as plants and microbes.

There is a dire need for non-toxic, biodegradable, low-cost, and environmentally friendly material for use as packaging material to replace petroleum-based material like plastics in the food industry. 

It also needs smart and active packaging materials to detect and report food quality in a real-time fashion. Such smart and active packaging systems respond to signals while interacting with the food packaging environment.

Scientists from the Institute of Advanced Study in Science and Technology (IASST), led by Prof. Devasish Chowdhury, Professor in the Physical Sciences Division, and his INSPIRE Senior Research Fellow (SRF) student Mr. Sazzadur Rahman has developed a smart biodegradable biopolymer nanocomposite which can detect relative humidity. IASST is an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology.

In this, two biopolymers, Guar Gum (a variety of beans obtained from plants) and Alginate (obtained from brown algae), were blended with carbon dots (nanomaterial) to make a nanocomposite film that was successfully used to detect relative humidity. The fabricated nanocomposite film was an excellent smart sensor based on the fluorescence ‘on-off’ mechanisms against humidity. 

Their research has been published in the International Journal of Biological Macromolecules.

The nanocomposite film shows change in fluorescence in presence of high humidity. Hence, the fabricated nanocomposite film can monitor the packed food freshness using just a UV light source. 

Prof. Chowdhury said, “Smart and active packaging can help consumers select a fresh product without breaking the pack. Such innovative packaging boosts sales and reduces consumers’ time to identify fresh food products”.

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