Preparation of polybutylene adipate terephthalate/tannic acid-ZnO nanocomposite films with excellent UV shielding, antioxidant and antibacterial activities

Polybutylene adipate terephthalate (PBAT) is a biodegradable polymer that can be applied as the food packaging material. Nonetheless, its insufficient functionalities limit the application in the active packaging field. In this study, a new type of nanoparticle were firstly prepared by a simple self-assembling procedure using tannic acid (TA), ZnO and cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) surfactant as precursors. The morphology, structure, and characteristics of TA-ZnO-CTAB were assessed, and the results showed that the ZnO loading in TA-ZnO-CTAB particles was 17.1%, with the particle size of 30–100 nm. The introduction of ZnO significantly improved the antimicrobial activity, as TA-ZnO-CTAB inhibited 99% and 95% against E. coli and S. aureus , respectively. Furthermore, TA-ZnO-CTAB exhibited a free radical scavenging rate (RSA) of 96.9%. Then, TA-ZnO-CTAB was compounded with PBAT via solution casting combined and hot-pressing techniques to produce multi-functional PBAT/TA-ZnO-CTAB composite films. The tensile strength and elongation at break of PBAT/2 TA-ZnO-CTAB reached 35.2 MPa and 1406%, respectively. Specifically, the antibacterial rates against E. coli and S. aureus for PBAT/2 TA-ZnO-CTAB composites were 82% and 74%, respectively, while the RSA of PBAT/3 TA-ZnO-CTAB was 93.4%. As a result, the PBAT/TA-ZnO-CTAB films with excellent UV shielding effects, antioxidant and antibacterial activities show good potential application as active food packaging materials. Preparation of TA-ZnO-CTAB nanoparticles with excellent antioxidant and antibacterial activities. • A new nanoparticle was prepared by a one-step method using TA, ZnO and CTAB. • TA-ZnO-CTAB inhibited 99% and 95% against E. coli and S. aureus , respectively. • TA-ZnO-CTAB exhibited a free radical scavenging rate (RSA) of 96.9%. • The antibacterial activities against E. coli and S. aureus of PBAT/2 TA-ZnO-CTAB films were greatly improved. • PBAT/TA-ZnO-CTAB composite films exhibited excellent UV shielding effects.