The current study sought to fabricate pectin nano-films from Premna microphylla Turcz (PMTP) leaves using a combination of ZnO-carboxymethyl cellulose. The rheological and physical properties of fabricated nano-ZnO films were studied. Spectroscopy FT-IR, microscopic study (SEM), thermogravimetry (TG), and XRD were applied to characterize the fabricated film. The antibacterial activity of the nanofilm was determined using the antibacterial circle method. The findings showed that the addition of PMTP can reduce the nanofilm color, water solubility/hydrophilicity, air permeability, and ultraviolet light permeability of the nanofilm. Treatment CPN0.5 achieved the optimized Tensile strength (TS) of 4.50 Mpa, significant differences compared to CPN2 (3.99 Mpa) and CPN1 (3.65 Mpa). In addition, treatment CPN1 achieved the lowest WVP value (29.35) compared to the highest value (41.62) achieved by CPN0.5 treatment with no significant differences with CPN3 (29.7) and CPN1 (30.98) treatments. Elongation (E%) at break was the best for each CP10 (74.9) and CPN0.5 (73.03). Moreover, ZnO can enhance the nanofilm activity and the nanofilm water swelling ratio. Furthermore, adding ZnO to the nano-formula improved the antibacterial activity of the fabricated film against Staphylococcus aureus. In sum, nanofilms fabricated of PMTP and ZnO possess promising prospects as antibacterial agents in packaging applications.
Keywords: Antibacterial agents; Composite film; Rheological properties.
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