Environment-friendly and biodegradable a-Fe₂O₃/C₂₀H₃₈O₁₁nanocomposite growth to lengthen the Solanum lycopersicum storage process

Abstract

In this work, the growth of enviro-friendly and biodegradable α-Fe2O3/C20H38O11 nanocomposite is reported by means of a real time application to prolong the storage life of Tomato (Solanum Lycopersicum). A low temperature technique is used to prepare the α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles to obtain a crystalline nanopowder. XRD confirms the phase formation and crystalline nature of α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles. The surface morphology and elemental analysis of α-Fe2O3/C20H38O11 nanocomposite is conducted by SEM and EDX. Nanocomposite exhibits excellent antimicrobial activity against Klebsiella pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus bacteria. Tomato fruit samples are coated with two different concentrations of α-Fe2O3/C20H38O11 nanocomposite with 5% UC1A, UC2A and 3% UC1B, UC2B; and uncoated samples UC1, UC2 are stored at room temperature (25 ± 2 °C) and refrigerator temperature (4 °C) respectively for ascorbic acid (vitamin C) analysis on days 0, 4, 8, 12 and 16. Our study revealed that a 3% concentration of α-Fe2O3/C20H38O11 nanocomposite material is quite potent in maintaining quality aspects of the tomato fruit with no decline in vitamin C under refrigerated conditions up to the 16th day. FTIR analysis of all samples was done to determine the functional groups present in tomato samples after storage. Atomic absorption spectrometer (AAS) was used to analyse the content of Fe in tomato samples.