I am trying to blend chitosan with any other polymer (natural/synthetic) so as to enhance its antimicrobial properties along with its tensile strength.
Which polymer will be suitable for blending, so that its blended film can be used for food packaging?
Any suggestions?
There are a lot of polymers that can be blended with chitosan that have excellent antimicrobial properties for food packaging but as far as I know one of the most common is poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA). You just need to determine the effective Chitosan/PVA ratio in order to obtain your desired outcome.
With PVA, dried food.
PVA can dissolve in water.
Check PLA which is often applied for food packaging
Hai Shakeel,
It has been well known that cationic polymers such as chitosan evidences an intrinsic antimicrobial activity, so that it can be exploited as active polymer packaging. In this example, membrane disruption and cellular leakage results from the interaction of the film amine groups with the negatively charged cell surface of the microorganism.
Hi Shakeel,
I'd concur with Hernando: you can blend chitosan with a lot of other polymers to improve its mechanical properties. Watch out for compatibility of the polymers, though: some will tend to phase separate and will lead to materials with weaker mechanical properties than pure chitosan or pure alternate polymer.
Also, from this material perspective, blending chitosan with another polymer in order to obtain a composite material lowers the relative amount of chitosan and then possibly reduces its surface antimicrobial property. To avoid that, you can use a support material with adequate mechanical properties and coat chitosan on it (there area lot a papers out there reporting paper, PE or PET coated with chitosan or modified chitosan)
I may also mention another solution to improve chitosan antimicrobial and mechanical properties: cross-linking and incorporation of an antimicrobial agent. Cross-linking allows you to impact mechanical properties of your material. Also, if another antimicrobial agent is incorporated in the chitosan matrix, adequate cross-linking allows to control the release of this agent and get prolongued antimicrobial effect. Then, from the standpoint of antimicrobial activity, you have the benefit of a surface action from chitosan and depth action from the diffusion of the other antimicrobial agent.
Hope this helps... Cheers!
Nicolas
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