Antimicrobial potential of LDPE/TPS polymeric films with MMT/essential oils hybrids for applications as active packaging

Abstract Polymeric films with antimicrobial activity are a prominent theme due to the potential in applications such as food packaging with antimicrobial activity. Eugenol (E) and Carvacrol (C) essential oils are attractive as natural antimicrobial additives. The focus of this work was to investigate the antimicrobial potential of the polymeric blends, low density polyethylene (LDPE) with thermoplastic starch (TPS), LDPE/TPS, filled with hybrids, in different proportions: montmorillonite nano-clay (MMT) with essential oils (OE), MMT-E; and MMT-C. Blend stability and hybrid influence were investigated by Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Infrared with Fourier Transform (FT-IR). Study of essential oils releasing from the polymeric matrix, as well as microbiological analyzes were conducted to evaluate the antimicrobial potential attributed to polymeric films of LDPE/TPS/MMT-E and LDPE/TPS/MMT-C. The results founded were promising regarding the excellent interaction of the oils with the matrix and nano-clay, in addition to the absence of pathological agents proving the action of the oils.