Starch-cellulose nanofibril multilayer coated paper with enhanced oxygen and water vapor barrier for food packaging applications
| Authors: | Yufei Nan, Daniel J. Franke, Cody Schilling, Ronald C. Sabo, Nicole M. Stark, Laurent M. Matuana |
| Year: | 2026 |
| Type: | Scientific Journal |
| Station: | Forest Products Laboratory |
| DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fpsl.2026.101815 |
| Source: | Food Packaging and Shelf Life |
Abstract
Developing green, sustainable, and high-performance cellulose-based paper materials to replace single-use plastic packaging is both promising and essential to meet consumer demands and industry targets for renewable packaging. Herein, a novel starch-cellulose nanofibril multilayer coated paper with excellent oxygen and improved water vapor barrier properties was developed. Starch was used as a base layer to fill the porous structure of the paper, thereby reducing the amount of functional TEMPO-mediated oxidized cellulose nanofibrils (TCNFs) required to achieve oxygen barrier properties. Moreover, reduced viscosity of TCNF-based coating dispersions contributed to lower surface roughness and improved coating uniformity, while surface tension showed no significant effect. As a result, the required TCNF coating weight was reduced from 9.4 ± 0.9 g/m2 to 3.1 ± 0.4 g/m2 while maintaining functionality when the starch layer coating weight ranged from 10.9 ± 1.2–26.8 ± 1.9 g/m2. Notably, incorporation of the starch layer enabled the composite system to maintain strong oxygen barrier performance under high humidity conditions. At 80% relative humidity (RH) and 23 ◦C, oxygen transmission rates were reduced from 130.6 to 22.7–34.7 cm³ m⁻² day⁻¹ , corresponding to a 73.4–82.6% reduction compared with TCNF-only coatings. Meanwhile, water vapor transmission rates were also reduced by 50.0–59.9%. This study provides a new, sustainable, and versatile approach for the large-scale production of fully bio-based, recyclable, and biodegradable paper materials that provide oxygen barrier properties meeting industry specific targets with low coating weights.