Hydrogels can offer new opportunities for the design of efficient packaging materials with desirable properties
(i.e. durability, biodegradability and mechanical strength). It is a promising and emerging concept,
as most of the biopolymer based hydrogels are supposed to be biodegradable, they can be considered as
alternative eco-friendly packaging materials. This article reports about synthetic (polyvinylpyrrolidone
(PVP)) and biopolymer (carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC)) based a novel hydrogel film and its nature of
biodegradability under controlled environmental condition. The dry hydrogel films were prepared by
solution casting method and designated as ‘PVP–CMC hydrogel films’. The hydrogel film containing PVP
and CMC in a ratio of 20:80 shows best mechanical properties among all the test samples (i.e. 10:90, 20:80,
50:50, 80:20 and 90:10). Thus, PVP–CMC hydrogel film of 20:80 was considered as a useful food packaging
material and further experiments were carried out with this particular hydrogel film. Biodegradation
of the PVP–CMC hydrogel films were studied in liquid state (Czapec-Dox liquid medium + soil extracts)
until 8 weeks. Variation in mechanical, viscoelastic properties and weight loss of the hydrogel films with
time provide the direct evidence of biodegradation of the hydrogels. About 38% weight loss was observed
within 8 weeks. FTIR spectra of the hydrogel films (before and after biodegradation) show shifts of the
peaks and also change in the peak intensities, which refer to the physico-chemical change in the hydrogel
structure and SEM views of the hydrogels show how internal structure of the PVP–CMC film changes in
the course of biodegradation.