Vibration-Assisted Convective Deposition of Binary Suspensions for Structured Coatings

There are many applications for thin films of ordered particles including membranes, microlens arrays, and structure-color coatings. Convective deposition, a process that uses evaporation-driven flow in a thin liquid film to order particles, is a relatively fast and scalable method of making such films. Recently, it was shown that using lateral vibration in the direction of coating can enhance this process. This work focuses on depositing well-ordered monolayers of a binary suspension of microspheres and nanoparticles to understand the effect of the process parameters on the final distribution of particles. In order to investigate the deposited morphology of binary suspensions, various concentrations of nanoparticles were deposited on the substrate at 50 Hz frequency and a range of vibration amplitudes. The result was for all concentrations, the deposition rate and the range of speed for monolayers tend to increase with amplitude of vibration. The overall quality of the thin films is more uniform; the stripes are rarely seen. However, areas exist where microspheres were not surrounded by nanoparticles, and this inhomogeneity increases with higher amplitude vibration. To analyze the non-uniformity of deposition, samples were imaged using confocal laser scanning microscopy and particle-level image analysis. The particle coverage, the intensity of segregation, the distribution of number of nearest neighbored particles of microsphere and local area of particles were characterized. At low amplitude, the nanoparticle coverage is higher and has small deviation over large sample areas. As expected, each microsphere on average has 6 nearest neighbored (NN) particles and a relatively uniform local area distribution for uniform, well-ordered particle coatings. On the other hand, when the coverage has many defects due to vibration, the average number of NN particles tends to decrease which can also be described by the a decrease in the distribution of local areas. Even though many localized defects are generated when vibration is imposed, the overall uniformity remains high, as indicated by a low intensity of segregation across all vibration samples. All of these parameters allow a direct connection of microstructure to the macroscopic process parameters

Antibacterial, Antifungal and Antiviral Polymeric Food Packaging in Post-COVID-19 Era

Consumers are now more concerned about food safety and hygiene following the COVID-19 pandemic. Antimicrobial packaging has attracted increased interest by reducing contamination of food surfaces to deliver quality and safe food while maintaining shelf life. Active packaging materials to reduce contamination or inhibit viral activity in packaged foods and on packaging surfaces are mostly prepared using solvent casting, but very few materials demonstrate antiviral activity on foods of animal origin, which are important in the human diet. Incorporation of silver nanoparticles, essential oils and natural plant extracts as antimicrobial agents in/on polymeric matrices provides improved antifungal, antibacterial and antiviral properties. This paper reviews recent developments in antifungal, antibacterial and antiviral packaging incorporating natural or synthetic compounds using preparation methods including extrusion, solvent casting and surface modification treatment for surface coating and their applications in several foods (i.e., bakery products, fruits and vegetables, meat and meat products, fish and seafood and milk and dairy foods). Findings showed that antimicrobial material as films, coated films, coating and pouches exhibited efficient antimicrobial activity in vitro but lower activity in real food systems. Antimicrobial activity depends on (i) polar or non-polar food components, (ii) interactions between antimicrobial compounds and the polymer materials and (iii) interactions between environmental conditions and active films (i.e., relative humidity, oxygen and water vapor permeability and temperature) that impact the migration or diffusion of active compounds in foods. Knowledge gained from the plethora of existing studies on antimicrobial polymers can be effectively utilized to develop multifunctional antimicrobial materials that can protect food products and packaging surfaces from SARS-CoV-2 contamination

Functional Polymer and Packaging Technology for Bakery Products

Polymeric materials including plastic and paper are commonly used as packaging for bakery products. The incorporation of active substances produces functional polymers that can effectively retain the quality and safety of packaged products. Polymeric materials can be used to produce a variety of package forms such as film, tray, pouch, rigid container and multilayer film. This review summarizes recent findings and developments of functional polymeric packaging for bakery products. Functional polymerics are mainly produced by the incorporation of non-volatile and volatile active substances that effectively retain the quality of packaged bakery products. Antimicrobial agents (either synthetic or natural substances) have been intensively investigated, whereas advances in coating technology with functional materials either as edible coatings or non-edible coatings have also preserved the quality of packaged bakery products. Recent patents demonstrate novel structural packaging designs combined with active functions to extend the shelf life of bakery products. Other forms of active packaging technology for bakery products include oxygen absorbers and ethanol emitters. The latest research progress of functional polymeric packaging for bakery products, which provides important reference value for reducing the waste and improving the quality of packaged products, is demonstrated. Moreover, the review systematically analyzed the spoilage factors of baked products from physicochemical, chemical and microbiological perspectives. Functional packaging using polymeric materials can be used to preserve the quality of packaged bakery products