Bamboo (Neosinocalamus affinis)-based thin film, a novel biomass material with high performances

• Bamboo biomass was directly used for the first time to prepare films.
• Presence of cellulose was favorable to improving film-forming property of bamboo.
• Bamboo-based films possess excellent oxygen barrier property.
• Enhanced water resistance and thermal stability were obtained in the presence of bamboo.

Exploration of biomass based materials to replace conventional petroleum based ones has been a trend in recent decades. In this work, bamboo (Neosinocalamus affinis) with abundant resources was used for the first time to prepare films in the presence of cellulose. The effects of weight ratio of bamboo/cellulose on the appearances and properties of the films were investigated. It was confirmed there existed strong interactions between bamboo and cellulose, which were favorable to formation of homogeneous structure of blend films. Particularly, the presence of bamboo could improve the surface hydrophobicity, water resistance and thermal stability of blend films, and the films possessed an excellent oxygen barrier property, compared with generally used commercial packaging films. The bamboo biomass, therefore, is successfully used to create a new film material with a good application prospect in the fields of packaging, coating, and food industry.