Gelatin-Based Nanocomposites: A Review

Abstract This manuscript summarizes the extensive research and new advancements on gelatin and gelatin-based nanocomposites. In the first part, various modifications including physical, chemical, and enzymatic modifications of gelatin were summarized, with an emphasis on the effect of these modifications on their structures and properties. Recently, many gelatin-based nanocomposites have been prepared and characterized. They found many important applications in various scientific fields namely drug controlled release, biosensor, food packaging, water treatment, cell imaging, cell proliferation, tissue engineering, and in disease and cancer diagnosis and treatment. Gelatin based nanocomposites have superior physico-chemical properties including tensile strength, conductivity, anti-microbial properties, anti-water permeation properties, barrier properties compared to gelatin alone. In the second part, we focus on the recent researches dealing with different aspects of gelatin-based nanocomposites, including their preparation, characterization, small and large deformation mechanical properties, and application.