Eco‐Friendly Food Packaging Barrier Coatings Comprised of Ball‐Milled Polysaccharide Polyelectrolyte Complexes

ABSTRACT Increasing demand for packaging has motivated research into sustainable materials to prevent continued plastic pollution. Materials based on polysaccharide polyelectrolyte complexes (PPCs) are emerging as a viable solution for packaging applications. We employed ball milling, a well‐established technology, for the preparation of PPC materials to create an innovative one‐step process capable of producing highly concentrated and homogeneous PPC particle precursor dispersions. We fabricated carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) and chitosan (CS)–based PPC solutions exhibiting high‐solid loading and investigated the potential of PPC solutions made from ball milling as alternative barriers for packaging. PPC‐coated paperboard exhibited improved Cobb test performance and outstanding grease resistance as compared to pristine paper. The results certified that a single‐step process via ball milling can produce high‐solid content PPC solutions useful for creating bio‐based coatings with excellent barrier performance.