Effect of Metal Oxide Nanoparticles on the Mechanical, Thermal, Barrier, and Antimicrobial Properties of Thermomechanically Plasticized Chitosan

Abstract

Chitosan nanocomposites containing metal oxide nanoparticles (ZnO, CuO and TiO2) were obtained using propylene carbonate (PC) as plasticizer and lactic acid as protonating agent via thermomechanical processing in an internal mixer and sheets were produced by compression molding in hydraulic press. The mechanical, thermal, surface wettability and water absorption properties of the nanocomposites were investigated and it was found that the tensile strength and Shore A hardness improved significantly at 1% ZnO, 0.01% CuO and 0.1% TiO2 loading into chitosan in the presence of plasticizer. The barrier and antimicrobial properties of the nanocomposites improved with the incorporation of nanomaterials. Such nanocomposites show potentiality as packaging materials for replacing the petroleum based counterparts.