| Summary: | The growing consciousness about global environmental concerns, particularly landfills, in conjunction with the rapid use of petroleum-based plastics, is a key factor behind the use of natural and biodegradable polymers in short-life applications like food packaging, container, and tray. Sugar palm stem is a biomass that has proven the potential to produce biodegradable polymers such as sugar palm starch. Nevertheless, their applications were limited due to their low tensile strength and excessive hydrophilicity. Plasticization using polyols, reinforcement with sugar palm fiber, cellulose, microcrystalline cellulose, or nanocellulose, blending with thermoplastic polymer, and addition of essential oils has been used to maximize the functional qualities of the starch biopolymer. As the content of plasticizers grew, the glass transition temperature and water absorption ability decreased. Furthermore, the addition of sugar palm nanocellulose to sugar palm starch improves the performances of sugar palm starch-based films as a packaging material. Addition of essential oil contributes to antibacterial properties and slightly improved tensile strength of the film. A comprehensive understanding on the interaction of starch-based biodegradable polymer and nanocellulose constituents for enhancing the physico-chemical properties of starch-based films is prerequisite for researchers in the design of industrial products with enhanced functional attributes. To address the knowledge gap, more studies including the reinforcement of new types of biodegradable polymer and nanocellulose derived from natural sources should be conducted in order to continually populate the database for research purposes. © 2023 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston.
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