Sustainable Food Packaging via Biodegradable Silicon Carbide: Insight into An Innovative Technology

Silicon carbide (SiC) is a versatile material in food science due to its chemical inertness and thermal stability. It is used in food processing equipment and components because it does not react with food substances or cleaning chemicals, minimizing the risk of contamination. In this study, silicon carbide-based bio nanocomposite films coating with boron (B), aluminum (Al) and gallium were characterized for food packaging applications. A vast study on efficiency of B2(SiC2)10, Al2(SiC2)10 and Ga2(SiC2)10 complexes was probed using computational approaches due to density state analysis of charge density differences (CDD), total density of states (TDOS), and localized orbital locator (LOL) for hybrid clusters of B2(SiC2)10, Al2(SiC2)10 and Ga2(SiC2)10. A small portion of B, Al or Ga entered the Si–C layer could improve the structural stability of nanocomposites. Therefore, silicon carbide is considered chemically stable and inert under normal food processing conditions, with little or no likelihood of migrating into food at harmful levels. This proves to be a novel research concept for environmentally friendly greener packaging materials for active food packaging applications.