Silver nanoparticles reinforced tamarind-based biopolymer for potential food packaging applications

: The antimicrobial, antiviral, and antifungal properties of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are increasingly recognized, making them useful for a range of applications, including environmental and biomedical fields. Moreover, incorporating them with other materials improves their efficiency. This work investigates the incorporation of AgNPs into tamarind seed extract to improve the characteristics of the resulting biopolymer composites. The biopolymer samples were characterized using the soil burial test, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and antibacterial activity for packaging applications. The biodegradation rate of the biopolymer films was 70% and 50% when AgNPs were added at 0% and 0.5% loading, respectively, in only 30 days. Both spectra confirmed the presence of various biomolecules. AgNPs-based biopolymer sample increases antimicrobial properties and shows a 92.28% bacterial inhibition rate against E. coli and 94% against S. aureus, whereas 0% AgNPs-based biopolymer shows 81% bacterial inhibition against E. coli and 92.31% bacterial inhibition against S. aureus .