A new material containing an ingredient used to make bricks shows promise as a transparent coating for improving the strength and performance of plastic food packaging. Scientists from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University, United States, reporting at the 241st National Meeting and Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS), said the coating could help foods and beverages stay fresh and flavorful longer and may replace some foil packaging currently in use. “This is a new, ‘outside of the box’ technology that gives plastic the superior food preservation properties of glass,” said Jaime Grunlan, Ph.D., who reported on the research. “It will give consumers tastier, longer lasting foods and help boost the food packaging industry.” Grunlan uses a new film that combines particles of montmorillonite clay, a soil ingredient used to make bricks, with a variety of polymer materials. The film is less than 100 nanometers thick and completely transparent to the naked eye. It is also 100 times less permeable to oxygen than existing silicon oxide coatings. “Others have added clay to polymer to reduce (gas) permeability, but they are thousands of times more permeable than our film,” Grunlan said. “We have the most organized structure — a nano-brick wall — which is the source of this exceptional barrier. This is truly the most oxygen impermeable film in existence.” The article can be viewed online at the link below.