UV‐Blocking and Light‐Responsive Poly (ϵ‐Caprolactone)/ZIF‐8 Multifunctional Composite Films for Efficient Antibacterial Activities

Antibacterial photodynamic therapy (APDT) has received considerable attention owing to its superiority. ZIF‐8 was used to address the poor stability of the photosensitizer Rose Bengal (RB) encapsulation to synthesize RB@ZIF‐8 NPs, which were doped into a composite film with poly (ϵ‐caprolactone) (PCL) and polyvinyl alcohol‐quaternary ammonium chitosan (PVA‐QCS) as substrates to form composite films (PQZ). The composite films exhibited excellent photodynamic sterilization and good resistance to bacterial adhesion. The tensile strength of the film increased to 43.4 MPa, which was approximately 1.8 times that of the PCL film. With the addition of SiO2 and RB@ZIF‐8 NPs, the film exhibited water repellency and UV‐blocking properties. RAW264.7 cells were selected using the MTT method to confirm that the composite films had excellent biocompatibility and had no significant inhibitory effect on cell growth and reproduction. PQZ multifunctional composite films show potential as novel APDT antimicrobial materials for food packaging. PQZ composite films have many concurrent properties, including antibacterial, UV‐blocking, hydrophobicity, thermal stability, and high tensile strength, which are extremely important for their application as food packaging materials.