Effect of Addition of Chitosan-ZnO as an Antibacterial on the Thermal Stability of PLA-Based Nanocomposites for Biofilm Packaging

Abstract

This research is about Composite Polylactic Acid with chitosan and zinc oxide reinforcement (ZnO) in the manufacture of packaging biofilms. The purpose of this study is to produce biofilms with good characteristics that can be applied to food packaging. The method used is heating by varying the concentration of chitosan (1, 3 and 6%) and the concentration of ZnO at (1,2,3 and 4%). The resulting biofilm was analyzed by tensile test, thermal gravimetric, and FTIR. The results showed that the optimum tensile strength value obtained at the addition of Chitosan 6% - ZnO 3%, amounting to 1.22 MPa. The functional groups contained with the addition of ZnO and chitosan are functional groups C-H, C = O, O-H, and N-H. Biofilm samples underwent single decomposition with biofilm degradation temperatures ranging from 220-300 °C, the highest On Set temperature was 238.24°C, while the highest End Set was 295.16 °C. ZnO reinforcement added to the resulting composite can increase the tensile strength.