New starch ester/gelatin based films: Developed and physicochemical characterization

A new starch-based ester Starch-EDTAD-NHS (SEN) was successful prepared firstly and used to modify gelatin films by amidation. 1H NMR, FTIR spectra, XRD curves, elemental analysis and Van Slyke method verified the synthesis and confirmed the crosslinking procedure. The properties of the composite SEN-Gel film, such as mechanical test, surface hydrophobicity, light barrier performance, water uptake studies, morphology and solubility behavior were studied. The results of water contact angle showed the hydrophobicity of the films, and the obtained transparency values indicated that the films were opaque. Finally, the modified films with better surface hydrophobicity, more flexible and pliable, improved light barrier performances and low solubility were obtained. All the results above illustrated that the composite films obtained in this work maybe have potential applications in many fields.