LAUSR

Intended for use in the food packaging field, active PBAT/ZnO bionanocomposite films were successfully prepared by solvent casting and characterized by several techniques. The antibacterial performance of these nanomaterials was evaluated against three bacterial strains ( Staphylococcus aureus , Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Bacillus subtilis ), and a Zn 2+ ions liberation study was also carried out, focusing thus their potential and effectiveness in food packaging industry application. The viability curves of PBAT/ZnO samples against the three bacterial strains showed a considerable decrease in bacteria’s number, confirming therefore the high antibacterial performance of these nanocomposite films, against both of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, whereas the Zn 2+ release profiles have approved a long-term controlled release during a time period exceeding 45 days. Furthermore, the kinetic modeling of Zn 2+ ions release plots indicates a good fit with Higuchi and Korsmeyer–Peppas models, and describing therefore the combination of three physicochemical phenomena: dissolution, diffusion and degradation, as mechanism inducing thus the controlled Zn 2+ ions release.