Impact of nano/micron vegetable carbon black on mechanical, barrier and anti-photooxidation properties of fish gelatin film

BACKGROUND In this paper, two kinds of commonly used vegetable carbon black (VCB, 3000 mesh; nano) at 50 g kg −1 concentration (based on dried gelatin) were added to 48 g kg −1 of fish gelatin (GEL) solutions and their effects on mechanical, barrier and anti-photooxidation properties of GEL films were investigated. RESULTS From the SEM images, it was shown that compared with 3000 mesh VCB (1–2 μm), nano VCB (100–200 nm) made the microstructure of GEL film more compact and more gelatin chains were cross-linked by nano VCB. The addition of nano VCB significantly increased gelatin film strength with the greatest tensile strength of 52.589 MPa and stiffness with the highest Young's modulus of 968.874 MPa, but led to the reduction of film elongation. Also, the VCB presence significantly improved water vapour and oxygen barrier properties of GEL film. Importantly, nano VCB increased GEL film with better UV barrier property due to its stronger UV absorption nature when compared with micron VCB. This property could help in the preservation of oil samples in the photooxidation accelerated test. CONCLUSION With improved properties, the nano VCB-reinforced GEL film may have great potential for application in the edible packaging field, especially for the anti-photooxidation property. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry