Chinese researchers from Shanghai University have identified a new type of paper from nanomaterials that may be able to extend the shelf-life of meats and other products.
The material is made from two types of Graphene, which is a crystal of very tightly packed carbon atoms. The material has been found to inhibit E.coli growth and appears to be ideal for use in food packaging.
The sheets of material are being called GO sheets and, in testing, showed that products in them had a significant reduction in E.coli numbers compared to products in other packaging.
‘Given the superior antibacterial effect of GO nanosheets and the fact that GO nanosheets can be mass-produced and easily processed to make free-standing and flexible paper with low cost, we expect this new carbon nanomaterial could offer new opportunities for the development of antibacterial materials,” concluded the researchers.
Graphene-based Antibacterial Paper by Wenbing Hu, Cheng Peng, Weijie Luo, Min Lv, Xiaoming Li, Di Li, Qing Huang and Chunhai Fan Published in ACS Nano. DOI: 10.1021/nn101097v
