Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Colloids and Surfaces A journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/colsurfa Development of poly (ethylene oxide) bioactive nanocomposite flms functionalized with zein nanoparticles Cleonice Gonçalves da Rosa a,b, *, William Gustavo Sganzerla c , Matheus Vinicius de Oliveira Brisola Maciel a , Ana Paula Zapelini de Melo a , Aline da Rosa Almeida a , Michael Ramos Nunes c , Fabiano Cleber Bertoldi d , Pedro Luiz Manique Barreto a a Departament of Food Science and Technology, Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), Florianópolis, SC, 88034-001, Brazil b Post Graduate Program in Environment and Health, University of Planalto Catarinense (UNIPLAC), Lages, SC, 88680-000, Brazil c Instituto Federal de Santa Catarina (IFSC), Campus Lages, SC, 88506-400, Brazil d Agricultural Research and Rural Extension of Santa Catarina (EPAGRI), Itajaí, SC, 88318-112, Brazil GRAPHICALABSTRACT ARTICLEINFO Keywords: Films Nanoparticles Essential oil Nanocomposite Polymer composites ABSTRACT In this work, zein nanoparticles (NP) loaded with thymol (PEO/T-NP) and carvacrol (PEO/C-NP), were in- corporated in poly (ethylene oxide) (PEO) flms. Structural, mechanical, optical, wettability, thermal, mor- phological, antioxidant potential and controlled released properties were investigated in the nanocomposite flms produced. The interaction between the zein nanoparticles and PEO was confrmed by Diferential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) techniques. The antioxidant activity increased in three times, due to the incorporation of nanoparticles in the flmogenic matrix, compared to the control flm. PEO nanocomposite with 30% of NP increased the hydro- phobicity from 65.6°±0.4–106.7°±0.3, in the presence of polar solvent. The thermal stability was confrmed by the lower variability of melting point. An increase in color and opacity of the flms was also observed while maintaining the brightness and plasticizing efect of the PEO flm. Evaluating the controlled released, the sta- bility was obtained for 12 days, with 13.6 and 15.6 mg g −1 flm, to PEO/C-NP and PEO/T-NP, respectively. By the model of Korsmeyer–Peppas, PEO flms incorporated with zein nanoparticles were characterized as super caseIItransport.Basedontheresultsobtained,thePEOnanocompositeflmsdevelopedmaybeanalternativeto packaging in food systems. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.colsurfa.2019.124268 Received 24 September 2019; Received in revised form 21 November 2019; Accepted 22 November 2019 ⁎ Corresponding author at: Rodovia Admar Gonzaga 1346, Florianópolis, SC, 88034-001, Brazil. E-mail address: cleorosaqm@yahoo.com.br (C.G. da Rosa). Colloids and Surfaces A xxx (xxxx) xxxx Available online 22 November 2019 0927-7757/ © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Please cite this article as: Cleonice Gonçalves da Rosa, et al., Colloids and Surfaces A, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.colsurfa.2019.124268