Transparent cellulose-based bio-hybrid films with enhanced anti-ultraviolet, antioxidant and antibacterial performance

Developing the biodegradable and eco-friendly materials to substitute for the traditional petroleum-derived plastics is significant, and cellulose is the most promising candidate to replace petroleum-derived plastics. However, the high-cost dissolving pulps are still the major raw materials in industry. Moreover, the traditional cellulose materials lack functions, limiting their application and service life. Herein, multi-functional cellulose/tea polyphenols (TPs) bio-hybrid films were fabricated successfully via employing low-cost waste cotton textiles as cellulose source. It was found that the cellulose/TPs films displayed high anti-ultraviolet capacity and irradiation stability without sacrificing their transparency, and UV-A and UV-B blocking values can reach 85.08 % and 99.97 %. Besides, cellulose/TPs films show up to 63 % of radical scavenging activity and possess obvious antibacterial capacity, due to the copious phenolic hydroxyls within TPs. Hence, the cellulose/TPs bio-hybrid films with enhanced anti-ultraviolet, antioxidant and antibacterial performance were manufactured successfully, which demonstrated great potentials in packaging fields.