Xanyar Mohammadi, Golshan Matinfar, Abul Hossain, Anubhav Pratap‐Singh
Background Biodegradable packaging materials made from polysaccharides, proteins, and other biobased polymers offer environmental benefits over synthetic plastics but often suffer from poor mechanical strength, water sensitivity, and weak barrier properties. These limitations hinder their broader adoption in food packaging applications. Cold plasma (CP), a non-thermal and solvent-free surface engineering technique, has emerged as a promising solution to enhance the functionality of biodegradable films without affecting their bulk characteristics. Scope and approach This review summarizes recent developments in CP technology for modifying biodegradable packaging materials. Key focus areas include plasma-induced changes in surface chemistry, wettability, and interfacial properties, as well as CP-assisted coating strategies and nanoparticle integration. Key findings and conclusions CP treatment introduces reactive species that etch and functionalize polymer surfaces, increasing surface roughness and incorporating polar groups. These modifications can improve wettability, coating adhesion, and compatibility with active agents. CP also enhances tensile strength, thermal stability, and barrier performance under optimized conditions. Moreover, it enables the synthesis and functionalization of nanomaterials, such as nanocellulose, starch, and protein-based nanoparticles, providing additional reinforcement and functionality to packaging films. Plasma-treated films have shown improved antimicrobial performance, particularly when combined with essential oils or metallic nanoparticles. While CP offers a green, tunable platform for developing multifunctional packaging systems, challenges related to treatment uniformity, scalability, and material-specific responses remain. Addressing these limitations through process optimization and standardization will be essential to support industrial translation and regulatory approval.