Abstrast
As natural antimicrobials, essential oils (EOs) are used for food preservation because they are both antibacterial and antioxidant. However, the preservative effect can be lost and the food destroyed before the expected date if the EOs release too quickly, resulting in excessive concentration of EOs in the package, followed by exhaustion in a short time span. Here, using cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) and thyme essential oil (EO), we demonstrate a simple and environmentally-friendly approach to fabricate a foam hybrid system (CNF-EO) for sustained release of EO. CNFs can be prepared by enzymatic hydrolysis pre-treatment and TEMPO (2, 2, 6, 6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxide)-mediated oxidation pre-treatment. Enzymatically hydrolyzed cellulose nanofibers (EHCN) and TEMPO-oxidized cellulose nanofibers (TOCN) are immersed in EO nanoemulsion before the freeze-drying process, which forms CNF-EO foam hybrid systems, enzymatically hydrolyzed cellulose nanofibers-EO foam (EHCN-EO) and TEMPO-oxidized cellulose nanofibers-EO foam (TOCN-EO), with porous structure and sustained EO release property. The morphology and structure of the CNF-EO foam hybrid systems were measured by scanning electron microscopy, Brunaner–Emmett–Teller and Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometer (FTIR), and the sustained-release property was measured by gas chromatography-mass spectrometer (GC–MS). Meanwhile, the antibacterial property of EHCN-EO and TOCN-EO was investigated through fresh beef antibacterial experiment. EHCN-EO displays larger pore size and smaller specific surface area than that of TOCN-EO. According to the FTIR signal, EO has been successfully incorporated into cellulose nanofiber (CNF) foams. The results of GC–MS illustrate that EHCN-EO and TOCN-EO exhibit good absorption capacity and sustained release property, of which TOCN-EO illustrates superior performance. The beef in the CNF-EO foam groups shows higher acceptability in the senses such as flavor and color at the same time, compared with the Control without essential oil at the same time and TOCN-EO is shown to be able to prolong the shelf life of fresh beef by 5 days. This CNF-EO foam hybrid system fabrication strategy would be of great importance for the preservation of fresh food.
Graphic abstract
Abbreviations
- BHKP:
-
Bleached eucalyptus kraft pulp
- EO:
-
Thyme essential oil
- CNFs:
-
Cellulose nanofibers
- EHCN:
-
CNFs prepared by enzymatic hydrolysis pre-treatment and followed by homogenization
- TOCN:
-
CNFs prepared by TEMPO (2, 2, 6, 6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxide)-mediated oxidation pre-treatment and followed by homogenization
- EHCN foam:
-
EHCN treated by freeze-drying
- TOCN foam:
-
TOCN treated by freeze-drying
- EHCN-EO:
-
EHCN-EO foam hybrid system
- TOCN-EO:
-
TOCN-EO foam hybrid system
References
Arza CR et al (2018) New biobased non-ionic hyperbranched polymers as environmentally friendly antibacterial additives for biopolymers. Green Chem 20(6):1238–1249
Avila HM et al (2015) Novel bilayer bacterial nanocellulose scaffold supports neocartilage formation in vitro and in vivo. Biomaterials 44:122–133
Bethke K et al (2018) Functionalized cellulose for water purification, antimicrobial applications, and sensors. Adv Funct Mater 28(23):14
Binks BP, Murakami R (2006) Phase inversion of particle-stabilized materials from foams to dry water. Nat Mater 5(11):865–869
Bornscheuer U et al (2014) Enzymatic degradation of (ligno) cellulose. Angew Chem Int Ed 53(41):10876–10893
Brunauer S et al (1938) Adsorption of gases in multimolecular layers. J Am Chem Soc 60(2):309–319
De France KJ et al (2017) Review of hydrogels and aerogels containing nanocellulose. Chem Mater 29(11):4609–4631
Dou HJ et al (2017) Higher-order assembly of crystalline cylindrical micelles into membrane-extendable colloidosomes. Nat Commun 8:1–8
Fang Q et al (2017) Nitrogen-doped graphene nanoscroll foam with high diffusion rate and binding affinity for removal of organic pollutants. Small 13(14):1603779
Fu QL et al (2018) Wood nanotechnology for strong, mesoporous, and hydrophobic biocomposites for selective separation of oil/water mixtures. ACS Nano 12(3):2222–2230
Ganner T et al (2015) Tunable semicrystalline thin film cellulose substrate for high-resolution, in situ afm characterization of enzymatic cellulose degradation. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 7(50):27900–27909
Guan H et al (2018) Highly compressible wood sponges with a spring-like lamellar structure as effective and reusable oil absorbents. ACS Nano 12(10):10365–10373
Hu J et al (2018) Preparation and properties of cinnamon-thyme-ginger composite essential oil nanocapsules. Ind Crops Prod 122:85–92
Isogai A et al (2010) TEMPO-oxidized cellulose nanofibers. Nanoscale 3(1):71–85
Kim D et al (2017) Multiscale modulation of nanocrystalline cellulose hydrogel via nanocarbon hybridization for 3D neuronal bilayer formation. Small 13(26):1700331
Kuang YD et al (2018) Conductive cellulose nanofiber enabled thick electrode for compact and flexible energy storage devices. Adv Energy Mater 8(33):8
Lavoine N, Bergstrom L (2017) Nanocellulose-based foams and aerogels: processing, properties, and applications. J Mater Chem A 5(31):16105–16117
Leung ACW et al (2011) Characteristics and properties of carboxylated cellulose nanocrystals prepared from a novel one-step procedure. Small 7(3):302–305
Li TF et al (2018) Encapsulation of Ni3Fe nanoparticles in N-doped carbon nanotube-grafted carbon nanofibers as high-efficiency hydrogen evolution electrocatalysts. Adv Funct Mater 28(51):9
Ma QM et al (2018) Active tara gum/PVA blend films with curcumin-loaded CTAC brush-TEMPO-oxidized cellulose nanocrystals. ACS Sustain Chem Eng 6(7):8926–8934
Mahfoudhi N, Boufi S (2017) Nanocellulose as a novel nanostructured adsorbent for environmental remediation: a review. Cellulose 24(3):1171–1197
Martoia F et al (2016) Cellulose nanofibril foams: links between ice-templating conditions, microstructures and mechanical properties. Mater Des 104:376–391
Mendes FRS et al (2017) Preparation and evaluation of hemicellulose films and their blends. Food Hydrocolloids 70:181–190
Mikkonen KS et al (2013) Prospects of polysaccharide aerogels as modern advanced food materials. Trends Food Sci Technol 34(2):124–136
Qiu C et al (2017) Preparation and characterization of essential oil-loaded starch nanoparticles formed by short glucan chains. Food Chem 221:1426–1433
Saito T et al (2005) TEMPO-mediated oxidation of native cellulose: SEC-MALLS analysis of water-soluble and -insoluble fractions in the oxidized products. Cellulose 12(3):305–315
Saito T et al (2007) Cellulose nanofibers prepared by TEMPO-mediated oxidation of native cellulose. Biomacromol 8(8):2485–2491
Tang RL et al (2018) Coupling chitosan and TEMPO-oxidized nanofibrilliated cellulose by electrostatic attraction and chemical reaction. Carbohydr Polym 202:84–90
Van Rie J, Thielemans W (2017) Cellulose-gold nanoparticle hybrid materials. Nanoscale 9(25):8525–8554
Walton KS, Snurr RQ (2007) Applicability of the BET method for determining surface areas of microporous metal-organic frameworks. J Am Chem Soc 129(27):8552–8556
Wang Q et al (2018a) 3D printing with cellulose materials. Cellulose 25(8):4275–4301
Wang Z et al (2018b) Copper-plated paper for high-performance lithium-ion batteries. Small 14(48):8
Xu T et al (2018) Retention and release properties of cinnamon essential oil in antimicrobial films based on chitosan and gum arabic. Food Hydrocolloids 84:84–92
Yang S et al (2018) Enhancing the Fock reactivity of dissolving pulp by the combined prerefining and poly dimethyl diallyl ammonium chloride-assisted cellulase treatment. Bioresour Technol 260:135–140
Yao XL et al (2015) Amphiphilic, ultralight, and multifunctional graphene/nanofibrillated cellulose aerogel achieved by cation-induced gelation and chemical reduction. Nanoscale 7(9):3959–3964
Yoon J et al (2018) Recent progress in coaxial electrospinning: new parameters, various structures, and wide applications. Adv Mater 30(42):23
Zhang JP et al (2016a) Ultralight, compressible and multifunctional carbon aerogels based on natural tubular cellulose. J Mater Chem A 4(6):2069–2074
Zhang XF et al (2016b) Mechanically strong and thermally responsive cellulose nanofibers/poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) composite aerogels. ACS Sustain Chem Eng 4(8):4321–4327
Zhang T et al (2018a) Recent advances of cellulose-based materials and their promising application in sodium-ion batteries and capacitors. Small 14:1802444
Zhang Z et al (2018b) Poly(dimethyldiallylammonium chloride) (polyDADMAC) assisted cellulase pretreatment for microfibrillated cellulose (MFC) preparation and MFC analysis. Holzforschung 72(7):531–538
Zhao HQ et al (2018) Molecular mechanism of ion-pair releasing from acrylic pressure sensitive adhesive containing carboxyl group: roles of doubly ionic hydrogen bond in the controlled release process of bisoprolol ion-pair. J Controll Release 289:146–157
Zheng QF et al (2018) Highly porous polymer aerogel film-based triboelectric nanogenerators. Adv Funct Mater 28(13):9
Zhu LT et al (2018) Shapeable fibrous aerogels of metal-organic-frameworks templated with nanocellulose for rapid and large-capacity adsorption. ACS Nano 12(5):4462–4468
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by Tianjin Nature Science Foundation (Grant No. 18JCQNJC76800), the “Research Plan Program” of Tianjin Municipal Education Commission (Grant Nos. 2018KJ096, 2018KJ095) and Tianjin Enterprise Science and Technology Commissioner Project (Grant No. 19JCTPJC55200). The authors declare no competing financial interests.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Zhang, Z., Wang, X., Gao, M. et al. Sustained release of an essential oil by a hybrid cellulose nanofiber foam system. Cellulose 27, 2709–2721 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-019-02957-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-019-02957-1