LDPE/clay/carvacrol nanocomposites with prolonged antimicrobial activity

Over the past decade there is an immense effort to develop antimicrobial packaging systems, which incorporates natural biopreservatives, such as essential oils (EOs). The highly volatile nature of EOs, which is advantageous for their efficient diffusion and mode of action, presents a major obstacle for their incorporation with polyolefins via conventional high-temperature melt compounding and processing. This study presents a new approach to use organo-modified montmorillonite (MMT) clays, as active carriers for carvacrol (used as a model EO), aiming to minimize its loss throughout the polymer compounding. Different MMT clays are pretreated with carvacrol, resulting in the oil molecules intercalation in between the clay galleries and enhanced carvacrol thermal stability. These hybrids are incorporated within low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and the resulting films are characterized in terms of their nanostructure, thermal properties, and antimicrobial activity. The LDPE/(clay/carvacrol) nanocomposites exhibit excellent and prolonged antimicrobial activity against E. coli bacteria, while LDPE/carvacrol films loss their antimicrobial functions within several days. The superior antimicrobial behavior is ascribed to the significantly higher carvacrol content and its enhanced thermal stability within the films.