Surface, Thermal and Antimicrobial Release Properties of Plasma-Treated Zein Films

Shashi Pankaj, Dublin Institute of Technology
C. Bueno-Ferrer, Dublin Institute of Technology
N. Misra, Dublin Institute of Technology
Luke O'Neill, Dublin Institute of Technology
A. Jiménez, University of Alicante
Paula Bourke, Dublin Institute of Technology
Patrick Cullen, Dublin Institute of Technology

Document Type Article

Journal of Renewable Materials,

DOI 10.7569/JRM.2013.634129

Abstract

The effects of dielectric barrier discharge plasma treatment on zein film containing thymol as an active ingredient were evaluated. The plasma discharge was optically characterized to identify the reactive species. A significant increase in the film roughness (p < 0.05) was observed due to the etching effect of DBD plasma, which was correlated with the increase in the diffusion rate of thymol in the food simulant. The diffusion of thymol from the zein film was measured in aqueous solution. The kinetics of thymol release followed the Fick’s law of diffusion as shown by the high correlation coefficients between experimental and theoretical data. No significant change (p > 0.05) was observed for the thermal properties of the antimicrobial films after DBD plasma treatment.