3.5.1. Tensile strength
Tensile strength of bionanocomposite films was presented in this Fig. 5a. It was observed that the tensile strength increases sig- nificantly by increasing the concentration of nanoparticles from
0.1% to 0.5% into the chitosan matrix. In which chitosan/0.5% ZnO nanocomposite films have higher tensile strength (51 MPa) when compared to the pure chitosan (30 MPa) and other two concentra- tions, this is because of maximum well dispersion of nano zinc oxide into chitosan polymer matrix which prevents material from coag- ulation. And further increased in essential oil incorporated in the chitosan/0.5% ZnO nanocomposite film (60 MPa) was found due to the good interaction between the metal oxide and chitosan as well as the strong interaction taking place between bio-active group present in neem oil and functional group present in chitosan–metal oxide composite material as earlier described in FTIR spectrum.