The enhancement in antifungal efficacy of konjac glucomannan films with attapulgites immobilized of AgNPs

The objective of this study was to enhance the water barrier properties and antifungal efficacy of KGM film by incorporating (attapulgites-Ag nanoparticles, APTs-AgNPs) composites. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and Energy dispersive X-ray (EDS) analyses indicated that the successful fabrication of APTs-AgNPs composites. Water vapour permeability (WVP), moisture content (MC), water solubility (WS) and water absorption (WA) values decreased by 19.15%, 12.50%, 74.96% and 41.74% respectively, while the water contact angle (WCA) increased by 134.74%. These results demonstrated that the water barrier property of KGM/APTs-AgNPs films was superior to that of pure KGM films. The Rheological properties, fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrum, X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns and Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images results indicated that hydrogen bonds formed between homogeneous APTs-AgNPs (1.5 wt%) and KGM, which enhanced the water barrier properties of the KGM/APTs-AgNPs films. The KGM/APTs-AgNPs composite films possessed excellent oxygen permeability, Mechanical properties, UV barrier properties, opacity properties and thermostability. Moreover, KGM/APTs-AgNPs films slowly released Ag+ and exhibited long-acting antifungal efficacy against Aspergillus niger, as the inhibition circle diameter was 20.70 ± 0.32 mm for 10 days. Therefore, KGM/APTs-AgNPs films could be a potential alternative to petroleum-based films.