Biodegradable biopolymer nanocomposite that detects relative humidity can monitor packed food freshness

Source: The post is based on the article “Biodegradable biopolymer nanocomposite that detects relative humidity can monitor packed food freshness” published in PIB on 2nd August 2022.

What is the News?

Scientists have developed a biodegradable, biopolymer nanocomposite that can detect relative humidity and can find applications as smart packaging materials, especially for the food industry. 

Background

The food industry has an increasing need for non-toxic, biodegradable, low-cost and environmentally friendly materials for use as packaging materials to replace petroleum-based materials like plastics. 

Besides, it also needs smart and active packaging materials to detect and report food quality in a real-time fashion. Such smart and active packaging systems respond to signals while interacting with the food packaging environment.

Perishable packed foods are easily damaged by the change in relative humidity.

What has been developed by scientists?

Scientists have developed a smart biodegradable biopolymer nanocomposite which can detect relative humidity. 

In this, two biopolymers, Guar Gum (a variety of beans obtained from plants) and Alginate (obtained from brown algae) were blended with carbon dots (nanomaterial) to make a nanocomposite film that was successfully used to detect relative humidity. 

This fabricated nanocomposite film is an excellent smart sensor based on the fluorescence ‘on-off’ mechanisms against humidity. 

Hence, this development can find application as smart packaging materials, especially for the food industry.