Carson Meredith used cellulose fibers found in trees and woody plants that is used to make paper and the hard material found in the clamshells and the exoskeleton of lobsters called chitin
Chitin and cellulose are oppositely charged at molecular level so they are attracted to each other.
Meredith and his colleagues used a clear flexible PLA base and applied alternating layers of chitin and cellulose nano-fibers. The result was a thin and durable plastic
The new material is good at keeping oxygen out, which is a prerequisite for food packaging but Meredith hasn’t formally tested it as a food packing material yet.
Theoretically, the new material would be compostable and biodegradable.
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