The effects of agar addition and ultrasound treatment on thermomechanical and physical properties of smooth hound (Mustellus mustellus) skin gelatin film

Gelatine Blends Modified with Polysaccharides: A Potential Alternative to Non-Degradable Plastics

Non-degradable plastics of petrochemical origin are a contemporary problem of society. Due to the large amount of plastic waste, there are problems with their disposal or storage, where the most common types of plastic waste are disposable tableware, bags, packaging, bottles, and containers, and not all of them can be recycled. Due to growing ecological awareness, interest in the topics of biodegradable materials suitable for disposable items has begun to reduce the consumption of non-degradable plastics. An example of such materials are biodegradable biopolymers and their derivatives, which can be used to create the so-called bioplastics and biopolymer blends. In this article, gelatine blends modified with polysaccharides (e.g., agarose or carrageenan) were created and tested in order to obtain a stable biopolymer coating. Various techniques were used to characterize the resulting bioplastics, including Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA)/differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), contact angle measurements, and surface energy characterization. The influence of thermal and microbiological degradation on the properties of the blends was also investigated. From the analysis, it can be observed that the addition of agarose increased the hardness of the mixture by 27% compared to the control sample without the addition of polysaccharides. In addition, there was an increase in the surface energy (24%), softening point (15%), and glass transition temperature (14%) compared to the control sample. The addition of starch to the gelatine matrix increased the softening point by 15% and the glass transition temperature by 6%. After aging, both compounds showed an increase in hardness of 26% and a decrease in tensile strength of 60%. This offers an opportunity as application materials in the form of biopolymer coatings, dietary supplements, skin care products, short-term and single-contact decorative elements, food, medical, floriculture, and decorative industries.

Food applications of bioactive biomaterials based on gelatin and chitosan

Food packaging must guarantee the products' quality during the different operations including packing and maintenance throughout transportation and storage until to consumption. Thus, it should satisfy, both, food freshness and quality preservation and consumers health safety. Natural bio-sourced polymers have been explored as safe edible materials for several packaging applications, being interestingly carrier of bioactive substances, once added to improve films' properties. Gelatin and chitosan are among the most studied biomaterials for the preparation of edible packaging films due to their excellent characteristics including biodegradability, compatibility and film-forming property. These polymers could be used alone or in combination with other polymers to produce composite films with the desired physicochemical and mechanical properties. When incorporated with bioactive substances (natural extracts, polyphenolic compounds, essential oils), chitosan/gelatin-based films acquired various biological properties, including antioxidant and antimicrobial activities. The emerging bioactive composite films with excellent physical attributes represent excellent packaging alternative to preserve different types of foodstuffs (fruits, meat, fish, dairy products, …) and have shown great achievements. This chapter provides the main techniques used to prepare gelatin- and chitosan- based films, showing some examples of bioactive compounds incorporated into the films' matrix. Also, it illustrates the outstanding advantages given by these biomaterials for food preservation, when used as coating and wrapping agents.

The properties of pH-responsive gelatin-based intelligent film as affected by ultrasound power and purple cabbage anthocyanin dose

A pH-sensitive intelligent film was prepared using gelatin as base substrate and purple cabbage anthocyanins (PCA) as indicator with the aid of ultrasound. Fourier transforms infrared and X-ray diffraction analysis showed that 600 W ultrasound brought changes to characteristic bands of gelatin and PCA, and flattened diffraction peak around 2θ = 20°. Film prepared with 600 W ultrasound exhibited high tensile strength and elongation at break and showed high transition temperature and surface hydrophobicity by differential scanning calorimetry and contact angle analysis. The incorporation of <0.35 % PCA had no effect on mechanical properties of films, but it improved the antioxidative activity. Films with 0.14 %, 0.21 % and 0.28 % PCA suggested pronounced color difference at pH 5-8, in accordance with the sharp ΔE difference. Films with 0.28 % PCA was applied for monitoring chilled-stored fish quality. It showed visible color change from pink to atrovirens during storage. The difference of ΔE at various days was ≥5 and ΔE highly correlated with total volatile basic nitrogen. Therefore, gelatin along with PCA under appropriate ultrasound treatment could prepare intelligent film to preserve and monitor the quality of chilled-stored fish.

Ultrasound-assisted preparation of chitosan/nano-silica aerogel/tea polyphenol biodegradable films: Physical and functional properties

In this study, chitosan(CS), nano-silicon aerogels(nSA) and tea polyphenols(TP) were used as film-forming materials and processed with ultrasonication to form films using the tape-casting method. The effects of ultrasonication time, temperature and frequency on the properties of CS/nSA/TP film were explored via material property testing. The results of response surface showed that the maximum tensile strength of the film was 4.036 MPa at ultrasonication time(57.97 min), temperature(37.26 °C) and frequency(30 kHz). The maximum elongation at break of the film was 279.42 % at ultrasonication time(60.88 min), temperature(39.93 °C) and frequency(30 kHz). Due to cavitation and super-mixing effects, ultrasonication may make the surface of the film smoother and easier to degrade. After ultrasonication, TPs were protected by the 3D network structure composed of CS and nSA. Ultrasonication improved the antioxidant and antibacterial properties of the film. These results show that ultrasonication is an effective method to improve the properties of films.