Graphene in Packaging Material

Graphene being an allotrope of carbon is considered one of the best products to be produced for industries throughout the world. Its characteristics and properties make it one of a kind and enable the applications in rather a very vast scenario. One such is in the food and beverage packing industry.

Food and beverages are items related to the health and well-being of humans so they need to be cared for cautiously. Graphene plays a major and vast role in maintaining the hygiene of food and beverages and due to this role, food industries are benefiting a lot from graphene.

Introduction

Graphene is carbon’s allotrope which contains a single layer of atoms that is arranged in a 2-dimensional honeycomb lattice. ‘ene' in graphene means that carbon's graphite allotrope consists of stacked layers of graphene. In a graphene sheet, each atom is linked by σ-bond to the 3 nearest neighbors, contributing one of the electrons to a conduction band that therefore extends over the complete sheet. The bonding is of the same type that was seen in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and carbon nanotubes, and in glassy carbon and fullerenes partially. Graphene is a semimetal with rare but remarkable electronic characteristics because of these conduction bands, and they are best explained by the theories for massless relativistic particles.

Charge carriers

Linear, instead of quadratic, energy’s dependence on momentum is displayed by the charge carriers in graphene, and there can be a production of field-effect transistors with graphene, displaying bipolar conduction. Over long distances, the charge transport is ballistic however nonlinear and large diamagnetism and large quantum oscillations are displayed by the material. Electricity and heat are both very efficiently conducted by graphene along its plane. Graphite has a black color as it is a kind of material that absorbs light of all visible wavelengths completely. Although, due to its extreme thinness, a single graphene sheet is almost transparent. As compared to the strongest steel of the same thickness, this material is about 100 times stronger.

Properties of graphene :

Chemical properties

2630 m2/g is graphene’s theoretical specific surface area (SSA) which is way more than what the value is for carbon nanotubes (CNTs) or carbon black until now (less than 900 m2/g typically) and is the same as activated carbon. Graphene is carbon's only form or solid material in which every single one of the atoms is available to react chemically from 2 sides because of the 2-dimensional structure. Special chemical reactivity is possessed by the atoms at the graphene sheet's edges. As compared to any of the allotropes, the highest ratio of edge atoms is possessed by graphene. The chemical reactivity of the graphene sheet is increased by the defects within a graphene sheet.

Food industry

One of the largest industries in the world is the food industry and it is worth numerous trillions of dollars. The main purpose of this global and complex enterprise is to ensure consumed food's safety and high quality. Nanomaterial-based applications are very important now in the food industry while the food industry lags industries of automobiles and electronics in adopting new technologies. Nanotechnology has helped in several ways for enhancing food's safety, overall quality, nutrient delivery, shelf life, texture, and taste. For instance, silver (nanoparticles) and titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles (NPs) have been utilized in storage containers as antimicrobial agents for beverages and foods.

Graphene is highly responsible for the authenticity of food and beverages in the food industry. Packing food items is a long and hard process as it requires a safe and genuine method so that the food can be stored in a way that can keep it fresh and long-lasting and for this entire purpose graphene has been benefitting the food industries for a long time.