LDPE and PLA Active Food Packaging Incorporated with Lemon by-Products Extract: Preparation, Characterization and Effectiveness to Delay Lipid Oxidation in Almonds and Beef Meat.

Low-density polyethylene-based packaging with 4% lemon extract (LDPE/4LE) and two polylactic-based (PLA) packaging materials with 4% and 6% lemon extract (PLA/PEG/4LE and PLA/6LE) were produced. O2 and water permeability tests were performed, the total and individual phenolic compounds content were measured, and the films' antioxidant activities were determined. The films' ability to delay lipid oxidation was tested in two model foods: almonds, packaged with LDPE/4LE, PLA/4LE and PLA/6LE for a maximum period of 60 days at 40 °C (accelerated assay); and beef meat, packaged with the PLA/6LE for a maximum period of 11 days at 4 °C. The LE improved the WVP in all of the active films by 33%, 20% and 60% for the LDPE/4LE, PLA/4LE and PLA/6LE films, respectively. At the end of 10 days, the migration of phenolic compounds through the PLA films was measured to be 142.27 and 114.9 µg/dm2 for the PLA/4LE and PLA/6LE films, respectively, and was significantly higher than phenolic compounds migration measured for the LDPE/4LE (15.97 µg/dm2). Naringenin, apigenin, ferulic acid, eriocitrin, hesperidin and 4-hydroxybenzoic acid were the main identified compounds in the PLA, but only 4-hydroxybenzoic acid, naringenin and p-coumaric acid were identified in the LDPE films. Regarding the films' ability to delay lipid oxidation, LDPE/4LE presented the best results, showing a capacity to delay lipid oxidation in almonds for 30 days. When applied to raw beef meat, the PLA/6LE packaging was able to significantly inhibit lipid oxidation for 6 days, and successfully inhibited total microorganisms' growth until the 8th day of storage.

Fabrication of Green Diatomite/Chitosan-Based Hybrid Foams with Dye Sorption Capacity.

The latest tendency of the scientific community regards the development of different classes of green materials able to solve pollution problems caused by industrial and human activity. In this paper, chitosan and diatomite were used to produce a broad-spectrum hybrid adsorbent, either in powder or in monolithic form for environmental pollutant removal. Diatomite-chitosan-based powders and porous diatomite-chitosan hybrids were prepared and characterized by chemical-physical, thermal and morphological analysis. Moreover, their adsorbent capacity towards anionic dye (Indigo Carmine) was also evaluated. Obtained data showed that chitosan improves the adsorption capacity of both systems, increasing the uptake of dye in both diatomite-chitosan systems.

An anisotropic layer-by-layer carbon nanotube/boron nitride/rubber composite and its application in electromagnetic shielding.

Multifunctional polymer composites with anisotropic properties are attracting interest as they fulfil the growing demand of multitasking materials. In this work, anisotropic polymer composites have been fabricated by combining the layer-by-layer (LBL) filtration method with the alternative assembling of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and hexagonal boron nitride flakes (hBN) on natural rubber latex particles (NR). The layered composites exhibit anisotropic thermal and electrical conductivities, which are tailored through the layer formulations. The best composite consists of four layers of NR modified with 8 phr (parts per Hundred Rubber) CNTs (∼7.4 wt%) and four alternate layers with 12 phr hBN (∼10.7 wt%). The composites exhibit an electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding effectiveness of 22.41 ± 0.14 dB mm-1 at 10.3 GHz and a thermal conductivity equal to 0.25 W m-1 K-1. Furthermore, when the layered composite is used as an electrical thermal heater the surface reaches a stable temperature of ∼103 °C in approx. 2 min, with an input bias of 2.5 V.

Enhancing the EMI shielding of natural rubber-based supercritical CO2 foams by exploiting their porous morphology and CNT segregated networks.

Natural rubber/carbon nanotubes composite foams (F-NR/CNTs) with high electrical conductivity and excellent electromagnetic interference (EMI) performance were developed through a multi-step process including: (a) CNTs assembled on natural rubber latex particles, (b) pre-crosslinking of natural rubber, (c) supercritical carbon dioxide foaming of pre-crosslinked composite samples and (d) post-crosslinking of foamed composite samples. A closed-cell porous structure and a segregated CNT network are clearly observed in the resulting foams. Due to this morphology, F-NR/CNTs exhibit low density, good mechanical properties, and high electrical conductivity. Owing to the multiple radiation reflections and scattering between the cell-matrix interfaces, the composite foams presented an excellent specific shielding effectiveness (SSE) of 312.69 dB cm2 g-1 for F-NR/CNTs containing 6.4 wt% of CNTs, which is significantly higher than those already published for rubber composites containing comparable filler content. Furthermore, the analysis of EMI SE highlights that absorption efficiency is more significant than reflection efficiency, implying that most of the incident electromagnetic radiation is dissipated in the form of heat. This work provides the fundamentals for the design of innovative light weight and efficient EMI shielding foams characterized by a three-dimensional segregated CNT network with huge potential for use in the electronics and aerospace industries.

Long-Lasting Efficacy of Coatings for Bronze Artwork Conservation: The Key Role of Layered Double Hydroxide Nanocarriers in Protecting Corrosion Inhibitors from Photodegradation.

The photodegradation kinetics of 2-mercaptobenzothiazole (MBT), a corrosion inhibitor for copper-based alloys, is studied in high amorphous polyvinyl alcohol coatings subjected to either UV irradiation or indoor light exposure. The photodegradation process proceeds rapidly, thus compromising the anticorrosion ability of the coating. The encapsulation of MBT into layered double hydroxide (LDH) nanocarriers slows down its decomposition kinetics by a factor of three. Besides preserving the corrosion inhibitor, such a strategy allows a controlled release of MBT triggered by corrosion-related stimuli, for example, presence of chloride species and acid pH. The developed coating guarantees long-lasting corrosion protection even at low amounts of inhibitor-loaded LDH nanocarriers (ca. 5 wt %). This also reflects in a high transparency, which makes the protective coating suitable for demanding applications, such as the conservation of high-value metal works of art.

Borate cross-linked graphene oxide-chitosan as robust and high gas barrier films.

Chitosan (CS) is one of the most promising polymers due to its biocompatibility, biodegradability, and natural abundance. However, its poor mechanical and barrier properties make it difficult to satisfy a wide range of applications. Herein, borate ions, originating from the hydrolysis of sodium tetraborate decahydrate (borax), have been used to crosslink chitosan and graphene oxide (GO) nanocomposites. Chitosan films consisting of 1.0 wt% boron and 1.0 wt% GO exhibit a significant improvement in both the toughness and oxygen barrier properties compared to pristine chitosan. In particular the tensile strength of the samples after thermal treatment increases by ∼160% compared to pristine chitosan, whereas their oxygen permeability reduces by ∼90%. This is ascribed to the chemical crosslinking between chitosan and GO nanoplatelets through borate ions, as well as the formation of a layered morphology with graphene nanoplatelets oriented parallel to the sample surface. The exceptional robust and high gas barrier film has promising application in the packaging industry. The borate-crosslinking chemistry represents the potential strategy for improving properties of other polymer nanocomposites.

Gas-Barrier Hybrid Coatings by the Assembly of Novel Poly(vinyl alcohol) and Reduced Graphene Oxide Layers through Cross-Linking with Zirconium Adducts.

Gas-barrier materials obtained by coating poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) substrates have already been studied in the recent literature. However, because of the benefits of using cheaper, biodegradable, and nonpolar polymers, multilayered hybrid coatings consisting of alternate layers of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanosheets and a novel high amorphous vinyl alcohol (HAVOH) with zirconium (Zr) adducts as binders were successfully fabricated through a layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly approach. Atomic force microscopy analysis showed that rGO nanoplatelets were uniformly dispersed over the HAVOH polymer substrate. Scanning and transmission electron microscopies revealed that multilayer (HAVOH/Zr/rGO)n hybrid coatings exhibited a brick-wall structure with HAVOH and rGO as buildings blocks. It has been shown that 40 layers of HAVOH/Zr/rGO ultrathin films deposited on PET substrates lead to a decrease of 1 order of magnitude of oxygen permeability with respect to the pristine PET substrate. This is attributed to the effect of zirconium polymeric adducts, which enhance the assembling efficiency of rGO and compact the layers, as confirmed by NMR characterization, resulting in a significant increment of the oxygen-transport pathways. Because of their high barrier properties and high flexibility, these films are promising candidates in a variety of applications such as packaging, selective gas films, and protection of flexible electronics.

Tailoring assembly of reduced graphene oxide nanosheets to control gas barrier properties of natural rubber nanocomposites.

Self-assembling of reduced graphene oxide platelets, as a tailored interconnected network within a natural rubber matrix, is proposed as a mean for obtaining nanocomposites with improved gas barrier, as compared to neat natural rubber. Interestingly, this nanocomposite structure results to be much more effective than homogeneous dispersion of graphene platelike particles, even at low graphene loadings. Such behavior is interpreted on the grounds of a theoretical model describing permeability of heterogeneous systems specifically accounting for self-segregated graphene morphology.

Effect of surface fluorination of TiO2 particles on photocatalitytic activity of a hybrid multilayer coating obtained by sol-gel method.

A multilayer photoactive coating containing surface fluorinated TiO(2) nanoparticles and hybrid matrices by sol gel approach based on renewable chitosan was applied on poly(lactic acid) (PLA) film by a step wise spin-coating method. The upper photoactive layer contains nano-sized functionalized TiO(2) particles dispersed in a siloxane based matrix. For the purpose of improving TiO(2) dispersion at the air interface coating surface, TiO(2) nanoparticles were modified by silane coupling agent 1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorooctyltriethoxysilane (FTS) with fluoro-organic side chains. An additional hybrid material consisting of chitosan (CS) cross-linked with 3-glycidyloxypropyl trimethoxy silane (GOTMS) was applied as interlayer between the PLA substrate and the upper photoactive coating to increase the adhesion and reciprocal affinity. The multilayer TiO(2)/CS-GOTMS coatings on PLA films showed a thickness of ~4-6 µm and resulted highly transparent. Their structure was exhaustively characterized by SEM, optical microscope, UV-vis spectroscopy and contact angle measurements. The photocatalytic activity of the multilayer coatings were investigated using methyl orange (MeO) as a target pollutant; the results showed that PLA films coated with surface fluorinated particles exhibit higher activity than films with neat particles, because of a better dispersion of TiO(2) particles. The mechanical properties of PLA and films coated with fluorinated particles, irradiated by UV light were also investigated; the results showed that the degradation of PLA substrate was markedly suppressed because of the UV adsorptive action of the multilayer coating.