According to a report this past week by the MEHR News Agency (Tehran, Iran), researchers from the University of Tehran have applied silver nanoparticles and nanocellulose at laboratorial scale to produce papers with antibacterial properties specific to food packaging.

 

Although plastic and glass prevent the diffusion of water, oil, and oxygen into food containers, they are not biocompatible or fully sterilized. They also require a large amount of energy to be produced. Therefore, there are some limitations in the applications of these materials. The use of paper has been proposed by packaging designers to overcome those problems.

According to Iran's Nanotechnology Initiative Council (INIC), the aim of the research was to produce antibacterial paper by using silver nanoparticles to be used in the packaging industry. In this research, the surface of two packaging papers were coated with cellulose nanofibers saturated with silver nanoparticles at various concentrations. Results showed that the optimum amount of silver nanoparticles is 5 and 10 ppm to prevent the growth of both bacteria. The produced papers have higher resistance to tension due to the presence of cellulose nanofibers with high flexibility.

Since paper is an eco-friendly material, results of this research may significantly reduce environmental pollution considering the fact that plastic and glass are not biodegradable.