Active packaging is an innovative approach to prolonge the shelf-life of food products while ensuring their quality and safety. Carbon dots (CDs) from biomass as active fillers for biopolymer films have been introduced to improve their bioactivities as well as properties. Gelatin/chitosan (G/C) blend films containing active guava leaf powder carbon dots (GL-CDs) at various levels (0-3%, w/w) were prepared by the solvent casting method and characterized. Thickness of the control increased from 0.033 to 0.041 mm when 3% GL-CDs were added (G/C-CD-3%). Young's modulus of the resulting films increased (485.67-759.00 MPa), whereas the tensile strength (26.92-17.77 MPa) and elongation at break decreased (14.89-5.48%) as the GL-CDs' level upsurged (p < 0.05). Water vapor barrier property and water contact angle of the film were enhanced when incorporated with GL-CDs (p < 0.05). GL-CDs had a negligible impact on film microstructure, while GL-CDs interacted with gelatin or chitosan, as determined by FTIR. The release of GL-CDs from blend films was more pronounced in water than in alcoholic solutions (10-95% ethanol). The addition of GL-CDs improved the UV light barrier properties and antioxidant activities of the resultant films in a dose-dependent manner. Thus, GL-CD-added gelatin/chitosan blend films with antioxidant activities could be employed as potential active packaging for the food industry.
Keywords: UV barrier; antioxidant; carbon dots; chitosan; gelatin; water vapor permeability.