Effect of Filler Properties on the Antioxidant Response of Thermoplastic Starch Composites

Influence of Green Tea and Basil Extracts on Cassava Starch Based Films as Assessed by Thermal Degradation, Crystalline Structure, and Mechanical Properties

“…The typical mechanical performance of thermoplastic starch was observed for all films, regardless of the incorporation of the extracts. A short initial linear elastic behavior (up to ≈4% in TPS‐T and TPS‐B, and at around 10% in TPS), followed by a non‐linear range until final fracture was found . The films containing green tea or basil extracts presented higher strain at break than TPS.…”

“…Particularly, the growth of non‐recyclable or biodegradable petroleum‐based plastics, most of which are toxic, has contributed significantly to the increase of environmental problems. Most of these materials come from food packaging industries that have been considered of great importance for the comfort of consumers for years and impacted with the new trends of “take and go.” Hence, the development of materials obtained from biodegradable and compostable polymers such as starch, cellulose, and proteins, is a current strategy to reduce synthetic plastics and move forward with the green culture trends …”

“…In the past years, some researchers evaluated the antioxidant activity of starch films containing natural extracts; however, only a few works have evaluated the plasticizing effect of the extracts in terms of the starch film properties. In particular, the plasticizing effect of yerba mate extract at different concentrations was revealed from the decrease of the relaxation of glycerol‐rich phase of starch films and the increase of strain at break, leading to more flexible materials …”

Lignocellulosic fractions from rice and coffee husks to improve functionality of biodegradable films based on starch and poly-lactic acid

“…Some of these, such as MgO, (Sanuja et al 2014); silicon carbide, (Dash and Swain 2013) and nano-clays (Cavallaro et al 2013;Majeed et al 2013;Abdollahi et al 2013), enhanced the mechanical and barrier properties of the films. Additionally, other ones can provide antimicrobial activity to the material, as occurs with Ag nanoparticles (Carbone et al 2016;Gutiérrez et al 2017), TiO2 nanoparticles (He et al 2015Gutiérrez et al 2017) and ZnO nanoparticles (Gutiérrez et al 2017).…”

“…The crystalline structure of nano-fillers enhances the tortuosity factor for the mass transport of gas molecules into the biopolymer matrix, contributing to the formation of a hydrogenbonded network Azeredo et al 2009;). On the other hand, inorganic particles are relevant as filling agents in food packaging materials due to the enhancement of the mechanical and barrier properties (MgO, silicon carbide or nano-clays) Some of them also exhibited antimicrobial activity, such as Ag, TiO2 and ZnO nanoparticles (Gutiérrez et al 2017;Azeredo et al 2009). It is remarkable that biodegradation behaviour is a crucial factor in the development of composites.…”