A Brief Review on Improvement in Antibacterial and Strength Properties of Paper Using Carboxymethyl Cellulose/Chitosan Composite

In recent years, the use of polymers as new materials compared to traditional substances has been significantly grown due to their numerous advantages. Utilization of polymers is a successful method for increasing resistance characteristics of cellulose fibers networks. Preparation of new polymers with the help of novel nanochemical technology as packaging materials is an innovative solution for increasing performance and obtaining healthy, economic, and environmental friendly materials with outstanding advantages such as saving energy consumption, increasing biodegradation capacity, and reducing waste materials. Chitosan has been used in many fields for being abundant and economical. Chitosan is used in paper industry as antimicrobial agent and additive to increase resistance in dry state. Adsorption of carboxymethyl cellulose on the surface of paper fiber reduces the resistance of paper fibers, therefore, the use of chitosan as a cationic polymer together with carboxymethyl cellulose results in an improvement in the resistance of fiber network significantly. In recent years a few researchers have focused of this subject, which is to examine the antibacterial mechanism of carboxymethyl cellulose/chitosan composite and its antibacterial performance and resistive characteristics in packaging and sanitary papers.