Innovative Paper-Based Dielectric Materials for Improved Food Packaging Security

Recipient Organization
UNIV OF ALABAMA
BOX 870344
TUSCALOOSA,AL 35487

Performing Department
(N/A)

Non Technical Summary
Food waste is an enormous problem globally as 14% of food is lost during production activities. There are many technologies available, and still under development, to address varied root causes of food waste such as microbial growth and environmental damage. However, simply understanding and addressing mechanical degradation of food is still a challenge. Specifically, technology is needed that can detect in real-time when food products and parcels are subjected to impact and other undesired forces from improper handling or transportation. Sensors would be the clear answer to this challenge, but typical sensors are made from materials that are not commonly used in food packaging and would raise safety and cost concerns. Instead, this work seeks to develop the materials needed to create sensors that would detect impact and other forces from paper. Paper is one of the best packaging materials available due to its low cost and environmental compatibility. This work will fill or coat paper with electrically active nanomaterials. The nanomaterials will improve the sensitivity and overall ability of the paper to sense a wide range of mechanical impacts to food products. This material will be tested in a variety of temperature and humidity environments to validate that it can measure impact under relevant transportation and storage conditions. It is envisioned that the new paper-based sensing material will be integrated into wireless sensor systems to enable real time detection of mishandling of food, eventually leading to a significant reduction in food waste.

Animal Health Component

75%

Research Effort Categories

Basic

(N/A)

Applied

75%

Developmental

25%

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
501	5340	2020	100%

Knowledge Area
501 - New and Improved Food Processing Technologies;

Subject Of Investigation
5340 - Nonfarm structures and related facilities;

Field Of Science
2020 - Engineering;

Keywords

food security and waste

Goals / Objectives
The overall goal of the proposed project is to "create an in-situ dielectric material for capacitive pressure sensors in paper packaging using nano material fillers". Development of such a material will ultimately lead to real-time monitoring of mechanical damage to packaged food during storage and transportation, leading to a reduction in food wastage due to ill-handling of goods. The supporting objectives for this work are:Develop experimental methods to impregnate three possible dielectric composite fillers into paper matrices: nano iron oxide (nano-Fe2O3), graphene (G), and graphene oxide (GO);Measure the impact of nano material fillers on paper dielectric permittivity and dielectric loss as well as the ability of these dielectric composites to register capacitive changes in response to a broad range of mechanical impacts;Explore impacts of humidity and temperature changes on the resulting dielectric material.Should the above objectives be successfully met during the two-year period of seed-grant support, a longer-term project will be planned with anticipated support from funding agencies such as USDA-NIFA, NSF, US Department of Transportation (USDoT) and EPSCoR-based grants. The following will be likely objectives for a longer-term project:Incorporate paper dielectric composites into a full sensor device to include thin/deformable electrodes and wireless data transmission.Measure sensing ability of dielectric composites as a function of temperature and ambient humidity under applied pressure.Prepare impregnated paper on larger scale for packaging applications.

Project Methods
Task 1: Preparation of nano-material filler suspensions in PDMS or water.Task 2:Impregnation or coating of nano-materials into paper substrates via dip coating or supercritical CO2.Task 3: Microscopic assessment of infiltration of fillers into substrate via SEM or digital microscope. Assessment of mechanical and wetting properties of coated/impregnated material via dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) and hydrophobicity via contact angle analysis.Task 4: Measurment of dielectric permittivity and dielectric loss of filled materials with impedance analyzer. Analysis of relationship between filler composition, loading, and electrical properties.Task 5: Evaluation of sensitivity and capacity of paper dielectric materials utilizing a combined impedance analyzer and ultimate mechanical tester setup.Task 6: Measurement of dielectric permittivity and loss as a function of humidity and temperature.Task 7 and 8: Measurement and analysis of adhesion kinetics and dielectric filler thickness as a function of temperature or humidity using a quartz crystal microbalance with a high tempreature chamber and flow module.

Progress 08/01/23 to 07/31/24

Outputs
Target Audience:There has been no dissemination of data during this reporting period. The work still focuses on paper packaging, aimed at making paper materials into improved dielectrics for packaging. The intended audience would be packaging manufacturers and food transportion/distributors. Changes/Problems:Co-PD Prager has had challenges finding a graduate student to work on the project, but a student has joined and is coming in Fall 2024. We don't expect any further challenges and expect that the project will be completed on time. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?1. A graduate student at the University of Alabama has worked on this project so far. 2. 3 undergradaute students have contributed to the development of this work at the University of Mississippi. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?During the next reporting period, with the method of compositing developed and the apparatus for measurement at T and RH cosntructed, we will complete the permittivity measurements at room tempreature and elevated/reduced temperature as well as relative humidity for composites of graphene, graphene oxide, iron oxide, and nano-iron oxide. We will also use the established method in the Koh Lab for investigating their behavior as pressure sensor materials and test them using QCM-D.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? 1. We have developed a method, using spin coating and specifically tuning the viscosity of the host PDMS, that permeates a layer of PDMS/filler onto/into the paper substrate. 2. We have built an apparatus for measuring the permittivity and dielectric loss of the paper samples at temperatures up to 100C and up to ~96%RH. We have also built the measurement fixture for the paper composites that has been independently verified to work at this temperature and humidity range. 3. We have successfully made graphene oxide. 4. We have begun permittivity measurements at room temperature. We completed many of these measurements along the course of method development.

Publications