A functionalized photocrosslinked organic-inorganic hybrid hydrogel for strawberry preservation and multimodal...

The development of sustainable packaging materials capable of simultaneously preserving perishable foods and enabling real-time quality monitoring remains a critical challenge. In this study, we report a new photocrosslinked organic-inorganic hybrid hydrogel that integrates a dynamic PA-Fe³⁺ coordination network within a PVA-p(AA-AM) matrix, facilitating synergistic fruit preservation and multimodal sensing. This designed dual-crosslinked architecture, which combines dynamic metal-ligand coordination with abundant hydrogen bonding, imparts exceptional mechanical robustness to the optimized hydrogel, characterized by a tensile strength of 0.12 MPa, an elongation at break of 1877%, and a compressive strength of 4.1 MPa, thus ensuring structural integrity during handling and transport. The hydrogel also exhibits superior UV-blocking capability (20.8% transmittance at 365 nm), protecting light-sensitive fruits from photodamage. When utilized as a strawberry packaging film, it significantly extends shelf life by over 10 days under ambient conditions, markedly outperforming commercial polyethylene film in reducing weight loss (2.1% vs. 11.6%) and decay rate (13.2% vs. 75.3%). This preservation efficacy is attributed to its potent antioxidant activity (90.5% DPPH scavenging) and broad-spectrum antibacterial properties. Furthermore, the ionic conductive network enables reliable dual-mode sensing of strain (GF up to 2.14) and pressure (GF of 1.67), facilitating real-time monitoring of mechanical stress during logistics. By synergistically integrating freshness preservation, UV protection, and intelligent sensing into a single, easily fabricated platform, this work offers a sustainable and innovative strategy for advanced food packaging and supply chain management.