Preparation, characterization, and antimicrobial activity of chitosan/gum arabic/polyethylene glycol composite films incorporated with black pepper essential oil and ginger essential oil as potential packaging and wound dressing materials

Essential oils (EOs), black pepper essential oil (BPEO), and ginger essential oil (GEO) exhibit excellent antimicrobial, antioxidant, nutritional, and biomedical properties; however, poor aqueous solubility and instability of their constituents reduced the retention of these properties for the longer time. In this study, biocomposite films based on the chitosan- (CS), gum arabic- (GA), and polyethylene glycol (PEG)-incorporated BPEO and GEO were fabricated by solvent casting method to overcome the limitations and the sensitivity of the EOs. The interaction of the EOs with composite matrix was evaluated using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) were performed with the determination of swelling degree, water solubility, volatile mass fraction, and mechanical properties. The BPEO-CS/GA/PEG film showed rough surface with coarseness nature due to the migration of BPEO towards CS/GA/PEG surface; likewise, GEO-CS/GA/PEG appeared rough surface whereas showed more cavities with entrapment of GEO droplets. The BPEO- and GEO-incorporated CS/GA/PEG films showed great mechanical strength and flexibility with high thermal stability. The BPEO- and GEO-incorporated CS/GA/PEG films showed high antimicrobial activity againstBacillus cereus,Staphylococcus aureus,Escherichia coli, andSalmonella typhimurium.The obtained results have demonstrated that both BPEO- and GEO-incorporated CS/GA/PEG films are promising alternatives to food packaging and wound dressing materials.