Preparation, Characterization, and Antibacterial Evaluation of Novel Biodegradable Self-Healing Film Based on Fish Collagen Crosslinked Carboxymethyl Cellulose

Abstract Biodegradable films are widely explored to environment pollution. One of the best alternatives to reduce packaging waste is the use of biodegradable polymers. Fish collagen is attracting great interest due to its high biocompatibility and absence of religious and social limitations compared to other terrestrial collagen sources. This study aimed to prepare and characterize a biodegradable and antibacterial fish collagen-based film crosslinked carboxymethyl cellulose with good mechanical performance, good moisture barrier, and self-healing property. The films were prepared by mixing a solution of isinglass (IG) with different carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) contents (0.1, 0.25, and 0.4 g) using triethanolamine (TEA) as plasticizer. Up to the results the optimized film contained 0.4 g CMC and 0.5 ml TEA. Morphological characteristics were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and the interactions between the functional groups were analyzed by FTIR. The optimized CMC-IG film possessed a tensile stress of around 1.02–3.32 MPa, and an elongation at break of 176–241%. Moreover, the films showed a good self-healing property and antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria. The good mechanical properties, antibacterial activity, and good moisture barrier made this thin film a good choice for food packaging applications.