Fabrication of antimicrobial films based on hydroxyethylcellulose and ZnO for food packaging application

The study aims to prepare antimicrobial films for food packaging using hydroxyethylcellulose (HEC) biopolymer to decrease environmental problems of synthetic polymer. Different ZnO concentrations (0.05, 0.1, and 0.2 %) were incorporated into HEC. The citric acid (CA) was used as a crosslinker for HEC and the casting method was used to prepare HEC/CA and HEC/CA/ZnO films. The prepared films were characterized by FT-IR, XRD, TGA and SEM. Also, mechanical, wettability and antimicrobial properties were examined. The presence of ZnO particles in the films was confirmed by XRD. SEM showed surface morphological differences between HEC/CA and HEC/CA/ZnO films. HEC/CA/ZnO film inhibited the growth of Staphylococcus aureus (91.4 %) and Escherichia coli (61.7 %) bacteria. Consequently, the prepared films consider a promising material for food packaging application.