文摘
Zein powders were subjected to dielectric barrier discharges (DBD) cold plasma (CP) treatment, and the physicochemical and structural properties were investigated. The results indicated that CP treatment decreased the average diameter of zein micelles. It also increased the free sulfhydryl (SH) group concentration and decreased the pH of zein solutions. Significant improvement was observed in solubility of zein in both neutral and acidic water solutions after treatment. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS) results indicated the conformation rearrangement for all treated samples. FTIR spectrum confirmed the change of secondary structure for amide I region (1600–1700 cm−1) after CP treatment. Furthermore, the film-forming properties of zein were also studied. It was found that the increase of CP treatment time could reinforce the tensile strength (TS) and surface hydrophilicity of zein films. It is suggested that the DBD CP treatment technology can improve the utilization and broaden the application field of zein as an effective modification method.