In the past decade, polymer nanocomposites have
emerged as a new class of materials and attracted
considerable interest and investment in research
and development worldwide. This is largely due to
their new and often much improved mechanical,
thermal, electrical and optical properties as
compared to their macro- and micro-counterparts.
In general, polymer nanocomposites are made
by dispersing inorganic or organic nanoparticles
into either a thermoplastic or thermoset polymer.
Nanoparticles offer enormous advantages over
traditional macro- or micro-particles (e.g., talc,
glass, carbon fibers) due to their higher surface
area and aspect ratio, improved adhesion between
nanoparticle and polymer, and lower amount of
loading to achieve equivalent properties [1].
Recently, considerable efforts have been made
to extend the application of nanocomposites to
packaging industries. Nanocomposites represent a
good candidate to produce food packaging because
of their good barrier and mechanical properties [2-
5]. Indeed, the preservation of the desired qualities
of the products, e.g. organoleptic properties in food
industries, depends on the ability for controlling
gas, vapor and flavours’ transports through the
packaging material [6].
In most researches concerning nanocomposites,
the barrier properties are examined by using gas
[7-10]. Such improvements in the gas barrier
properties of nanocomposite materials are
attributed to two separate phenomena resulting
from the addition of the inorganic phase. Firstly,
the inclusion of the inorganic phase results in
modifications of the polymer chain flexibility and
in the arrangement of the polymeric matrix itself,
which ultimately lowers the penetrate mobility
in the nanocomposite and changes the solubility
parameters. Moreover, the impermeable inorganic