Poor mechanical of the fish gelatin film has severely limited its application in food industry. To solve this problem, the titanium (Ti4+) was incorporated with proanthocyanidin (PA) polymer, dimer and monomer respectively, then applied as crosslinkers to improve the quality of the gelatin film. Results showed that, film crosslinked by PA incorporated with Ti4+ showed significantly better mechanical properties than crosslinked by PA or Ti4+ along, which indicated coordination effects during crosslinking. Furthermore, polymerization degree (PD) of the PA were shown to have positive impact on the crosslinking reactions, the higher the PD of the PA, the better the properties were shown by films. To explain these observed coordination effects, ATR-FTIR, X-ray diffraction spectrum and fluorescence spectrometry were used to investigate the crosslinking reaction, and PA-Ti4+ chelating reaction were found to responsible for the coordination. Results from high-performance size exclusion chromatography- evaporative light scattering detector (HPSEC-ELSD) and zeta sizer analysis indicated the coordination crosslinking effects were positively related with the PD of the PA. The antioxidant ability, hydrophobicity and morphrology were also improved by the PA-Ti4+ coordination effect. The results will provide useful information for developing high-quality gelatin edible film.
thank you very much for the interesting insights into your work.
I have a question about the mechanical properties: How do these compare to commercially available packaging, e.g. polyethylene or PLA?
Have you also tested the permeation properties (oxygen or water vapor) yet?
With kind regards and thank you,
Jasmin
Thanks for your kindly question.
At current stage, we are focusing on enhanceing the mechanical properties of fish skin gelatin film. In this research, the fish skin gelatin with 0 bloom strength were used as raw material. Therefore, the mechanical propertis are not good as the commercial films. But we believe better mechanical properties could be provided by tannin-titanium combination crosslinking effect if the fish skin gelatin are replaced by other gelatins (from pig or calf skin).
The permeation properties were not involved in current study, but will be done in the future. :)
Cheers,
Bo