Bioactive electrospun films for sustainable food packaging
Ahmad RABBANI, Anuj NIROULA, Ayman KHALIQ, Muhammad Z. IQBAL, Akmal NAZIR
Abstract. The growing demand for sustainable food packaging has accelerated the development of biodegradable films with enhanced functional properties. This study reports the fabrication of electrospun films using cellulose acetate (CA) as the structural polymer matrix, combined with Aloe vera gel (AV) and lemongrass essential oil (LGO) as bioactive components. Electrospun films containing 4% CA, 7.5% AV, 3% LGO, and 2% glycerol were prepared and evaluated for their physicochemical, mechanical, antioxidant, and antimicrobial performance. Electrospinning enabled efficient encapsulation of bioactive agents, resulting in films with tunable morphology and tailored functionality. The analysis of the film exhibited an optimal balance of mechanical properties, combining high tensile strength (up to 5.26 MPa), water vapor barrier properties (as low as 2.61×10⁻10 g·m⁻¹·s⁻¹·Pa⁻¹), and antioxidant capacity (up to 0.356 mg GAE/g). Structural and thermal analyses (FTIR, XRD, SEM, DSC, TGA) confirmed successful incorporation of AV and LGO into the CA matrix and revealed their influence on film crystallinity and stability. Importantly, films with elevated LGO content demonstrated strong antimicrobial activity against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. These results underscore the potential of electrohydrodynamic processing to develop multifunctional, biodegradable films for next-generation food packaging solutions.
Keywords
Electrospun Films, Cellulose Acetate, Aloe Vera Gel, Lemongrass Essential Oil, Food Packaging
Published online 6/20/2026, 8 pages
Copyright © 2026 by the author(s)
Published under license by Materials Research Forum LLC., Millersville PA, USA
Citation: Ahmad RABBANI, Anuj NIROULA, Ayman KHALIQ, Muhammad Z. IQBAL, Akmal NAZIR, Bioactive electrospun films for sustainable food packaging, Materials Research Proceedings, Vol. 67, pp 592-599, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21741/9781644904176-79
The article was published as article 79 of the book Climate Action and Sustainability
Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
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