Effect of corn oil on physical, thermal, and antifungal properties of gelatin-based nanocomposite films containing nano chitin

• Different concentration of corn oil and N-chitin have been used in order to improve physical and antifungal properties of gelatin film.
• Moisture content, solubility, WVP, surface hydrophobisity, mechanical properties, thermal stability and antifungal activity of the films were determined.
• Incorporation of N-chitin in gelatin film has improved physical and antifungal properties of gelatin film.
• Applying 0.20 g/g dry gelatin of corn oil has improved water vapor barrier and physical properties of the nanocomposite films.

Effects of corn oil on physical and antifungal properties of gelatin nanocomposite films containing chitin nano fibers (N-chitin) were investigated in this study. Different concentrations of corn oil (0.10, 0.20, and 0.30; g/g of dry gelatin) and (0.05 g/g of dry gelatin) N-chitin were used to prepare an emulsion nanocomposite gelatin film. Subsequently, characteristics of films were assessed by analyzing moisture content, solubility, hydrophobicity of the surface, water vapor permeability (WVP), as well as mechanical, thermal, and antifungal properties. The results obtained showed that films containing N-chitin had better mechanical properties than net gelatin film. In addition, N-chitin decreased film tendency to water absorption. However, because both gelatin and N-chitin have hydrophilic nature, nanocomposite films were still wettable. In this sense, incorporation of oil into film formulation improved barrier properties more than nanoparticles alone. In spite of the fact that gelatin films containing just N-chitin had antifungal properties, emulsion nanocomposite films did not show any antimicrobial activity. In addition, improving effect of oil on film properties was observed for concentrations up to 0.20 g/g, because films containing 0.30 g/g oil possessed weaker mechanical and thermal stability. Therefore, around 0.20 g/g of oil in gelatin nanocomposite films can lead to create biodegradable polymers with more acceptable properties for food packaging.