Development of chitosan/potato peel polyphenols nanoparticles driven extended-release antioxidant films based on potato starch

An extended-release antioxidant film was prepared by starch, potato peel polyphenols (PP), and chitosan nanoparticles (CNP) to study the mechanical, hydrophobic properties and antioxidant activity of composite films. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were used to investigate the interactions and compatibility of PP, CNP-PP, and the film substrates. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to analyze the microstructures of the films. The release of PP in 10% and 50% (v/v) ethanol simulants was also examined. The results indicated that the incorporation of PP or CNP-PP into the starch film (S) increased their opacity and also improved their hydrophobicity. XRD and SEM revealed that the elongation at break increased significantly (p < 0.05), while the tensile strength decreased with the addition of CNP-PP, which were attributed to the reduced crystallinity and agglomerates distributed onto the film surface, respectively. Release studies revealed that the S + CNP-PP film exhibited an extended-release behavior of the encapsulated PP for 1440 min, compared to the burst release in the S + PP film, and the release kinetics was well fitted by the Fick’s diffusion model. Moreover, the S + CNP-PP film showed excellent antioxidant activity and could inhibit the oxidation of cheese. Therefore, the extended-release antioxidant film has potential applications in food packaging for extending food shelf-life.