Swan-feathers inspired smart-responsive sustainable carboxymethyl cellulose/polyvinyl alcohol based food packaging film for robustly integrated Intelligent and Active Packaging

Abstract

The integration of advanced packaging technology with innovative multifunctional bio-based materials emerges as a promising next-generation strategy to tackle two enduring challenges in food storage technology: food spoilage and counterfeiting. Inspired by the superhydrophobic properties of swan feathers, this study developed a smart-responsive, sustainable food packaging film called C-CPQ using carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA). The as-prepared C-CPQ film exhibited remarkable hydrophobicity and water-vapor barrier properties owing to its novel design featuring an asymmetric bionic feather-like barbed texture, representing significant advancements in CMC/PVA-based packaging materials. Additionally, C-CPQ exhibited satisfactory mechanical strength, biodegradability, and film-forming capabilities. Notably, incorporating quercetin（QR） endowed C-CPQ with exceptional pH-sensing, fluorescence, antioxidant, UV-shielding, and antibacterial properties, enabling intelligent and active food packaging. Consequently, C-CPQ exhibited UV-stimulated photochromic characteristics and fatigue-resistant food anti-counterfeiting capabilities while extending food shelf life to 5 days, surpassing conventional PE packaging by 2 days. Moreover, the integration of smartphones enabled highly sensitive, rapid, and real-time visual monitoring of food degradation under natural light. The findings of this study present promising outcomes under real-world conditions, serving as a framework for the development of sustainable, high-performance modern food packaging with comprehensive real-time visual freshness monitoring, anti-counterfeiting, and preservation functionalities.