Fabrication of nanocellulose fibril-based composite film from bamboo parenchyma cell for antimicrobial food packaging

The development of nanocellulose fibril (NCF)-based films for use in food packaging has aroused tremendous attention because of their good biodegradability. In this work, NCFs isolated from bamboo parenchyma cell were used to fabricate the composite film with embedded silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). Results demonstrate that the low content of AgNPs, especially at content of 0.1 wt% in the composite film could slightly improve the tensile strength and Young's modulus of the composite film by about 11.0%, owing to the reduced thickness of cellulose crystallites and decreased amount of adsorbed water, as well as the increment in crystallinity and the hydrogen-bond intensity confirmed by X-ray diffraction measurement and Fourier transform infrared spectra. On the other hand, high content of AgNPs could enhance antimicrobial activity and thermal stability while showed negligible negative effect on tensile properties. Specifically, the maximum inhibition zone of the composite film (with AgNPs content of 0.1 wt%) was 13.5 ± 0.8 mm against Salmonella typhi (S. typhi) and 7.5 ± 0.3 mm against Escherichia coli (E. coli). The strong antimicrobial activity of NCF-based films highlights their potential as a biodegradable food packaging material.