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Rapid industrial growth is associated with an increase in the production of environmentally harmful waste. A potential solution to significantly reduce pollution is to replace current synthetic materials with readily biodegradable plastics. Moreover, to meet the demands of technological advancements, it is essential to develop materials with unprecedented properties to enhance their functionality. Polysaccharide composites demonstrate significant potential in this regard. Polysaccharides possess exceptional film-forming abilities and are safe for human use, biodegradable, widely available, and easily modifiable. Unfortunately, polysaccharide-based films fall short of meeting all expectations. To address this issue, the current study focused on incorporating carbon quantum dots (CQDs), which are approximately 10 nm in size, into the structure of a starch/chitosan biocomposite at varying concentrations. This modification has improved the mechanical properties of the resulting nanocomposites. The inclusion of nanoparticles led to a slight reduction in solubility and an increase in the swelling degree. The optical characteristics of the obtained films were influenced by the presence of CQDs, and the fluorescence intensity of the nanocomposites changed due to the specific heavy metal ions and amino acids used. Consequently, these nanocomposites show great potential for detecting these compounds. Cellular viability assessments and comet assays confirm that the resulting nanocomposites do not exhibit any cytotoxic properties based on this specific analytic method. The tested nanocomposites with the addition of carbon quantum dots (NC/CD II and NC/CD III) were characterised by greater genotoxicity compared to the negative control. The positive control, the starch/chitosan composite alone, was also characterised by a greater induction of chromatin damage in mouse cells compared to a pure mouse blood sample. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inorganic nanocomposites can find application in various branches of industry, including food technology. Quantum dots have already been reported as promising nanosensors for the detection of heavy metal ions in soil, water and food. This study presents novel starch-based nanocomposites containing ZnS quantum dots capped with L-cysteine. The nanocomposites were prepared in form of gels and foils of potato starch with embedded spherical quantum dots sized 10-20 nm. They were characterized using photoluminescence, IR and UV spectra and TEM/SEM photographs. Pb2+ and Cu2+ ions decreased emission intensity of the photoluminescent spectral bands. The described quantum dots have been obtained using a simple, safe and low-cost method. Their properties make them alternative sensors for Pb2+ and Cu2+ ions that could be applied in biotechnology and food technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]