Enhancing hydrophobicity, strength and UV shielding capacity of starch film via novel co-cross-linking in neutral conditions

Ni Shuzhen, Jiao Liang, Yongchao Zhang, Zhang Yongchao, Fang Guigan, Xiao Huining, Dai Hongqi

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

27 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Starch films are developed as the biodegradable packaging materials to replace the petroleum-based materials in recent years. Thus, it is extremely beneficial to improve the hydrophobicity and mechanical strength of starch films, through a novel approach of co-cross-linking in neutral conditions, with glyoxal and AZC. In this work, systematic studies have been conducted to assess the performance of the co-cross-linked starch along with the control starch and starch cross-linked by glyoxal or AZC alone. Results showed that the co-cross-linked starch films exhibited significantly improved hydrophobicity and strength and the wet stress reached 1.53 MPa, compared to the control, glyoxal or AZC cross-linked starch films. More interestingly, the co-cross-linked film also demonstrated excellent UV shielding capacity and transmittance at visible wavelength range. The reaction mechanism was revealed based on the findings from UV, FT-IR and NMR spectra. This work established an innovative approach to improving the performance of starch film in neutral conditions for packaging applications.

Original languageUndefined/Unknown
Pages (from-to)
JournalRoyal Society Open Science
Volume5
Issue number11
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2018
MoE publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

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