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A definite worldwide shift towards healthier and more nutrient-dense meals has emerged in the past couple of decades. There exists an emerging need for efficient preservation solutions that can effectively mitigate the perishable nature due to the increasing interest in healthy and fresh food products. An efficient method for lengthening the post-harvest lifespan of whole as well as chopped vegetables and fruits is packaging, which includes plastic films and coatings, however plastic packaging has the shortcoming of being a significant environmental threat in nearly every nation. Therefore, sustainable alternatives to traditional food packaging comprise films and/or coatings composed of bio polymers. However, compared to conventional plastic packaging, these biopolymers, which come from nature, have shortcomings such as essential physio-chemical and mechanical qualities. These flaws are fixed by strengthening biopolymers with nanomaterials, which also gives the resulting nanocomposites useful features including antioxidant and/or antibacterial activity. These advances in biopolymer-based nanocomposite can be made with the application of both inorganic (eg., zinc oxide, montmorillonite) and organic (such as nanocellulose fibrils) nanomaterials. This review article discusses the worth of biopolymer coating and films reinforced with nanocomposites to package whole and sliced fruits and vegetables to enhance their lifespan.

Abstract Plant food bioactives (PFBs) offer immense health benefits with a greater scope for treating various life‐threatening diseases and lifestyle disorders. Knowing their therapeutic potentials, a lot of research works are being carried out on formulating PFBs‐loaded nano delivery systems (NDSs) to enhance their bioefficacy. However, limited information are available on the interactions occurring at the nano‐bio interface. Therefore, studies on nano‐bio interactions are of immense importance towards designing/formulating effective NDSs for PFBs. Understanding the significance of nano‐bio interface of food bioactive‐loaded NDSs would help us to predict the formation of biocorona as well as the correlation between the nanoparticles and their surrounding environments that are influenced by the NDS's physicochemical properties. The physicochemical characteristics of NDSs like size, shape, and surface charge will decide their fate in the biological fluids and have been discussed in detail. As the bioactives‐loaded NDS enters the gastrointestinal tract, formation of biocorona including protein and enzyme corona at the nano‐bio interface will takes place. Subsequently, the fate of PFBs‐loaded NDSs influences the absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME) processes and thereby its bioavailability, bioefficacy, and biosafety. The current review focuses on understanding the journey of PBFs‐loaded NDSs, the nature of interactions happening at nano‐bio interface, and its pharmacokinetics properties. In addition, a specific case study approach on curcumin‐loaded NDSs, and its reported interactions at nano‐bio interface, including ADME mechanism are comprehensively presented.

Electrochemical water splitting is one of the most important method for energy conversion and storage. For this, the design and development of a low-cost robust electrocatalyst are highly desirable. In this study, Cobalt-based electrocatalyst for Oxygen Evolution Reaction was synthesized by thermal treatment of Cobalt-dehydroacetic acid (Co-DHA). The as-synthesized Co nanostructures and Co-DHA crystals were characterized with powder X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy thermo-gravimetric analysis, and field emission scanning electron microscopy. The electrochemical O2 evolution study shows the overpotential (at 10 mV/cm−2) correspond to 294 mV vs reference hydrogen electrode (RHE) for K-300 (Co3O4@300), whereas K-500 (Co3O4@500) shows 170 mV vs RHE values in 1 M KOH solution, respectively. Similar trends have been observed for electrochemical O2 evolution studies in 0.5 M H2SO4, where K-300 and K-500 shows the overpotential (at 10mV/cm−2) of 234 mV vs RHE, and 199 mV vs RHE, respectively. The outcomes show better catalytic efficiency of K-500 as compared to K-300.