Duck feather inspired hydrophobic carboxymethyl cellulose/gelatin film for intelligent and active food packaging

Inspired by the superhydrophobic characteristics of duck feathers this research introduced an intelligent, responsive, and eco-friendly food packaging film constructed from carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) and gelatin (Gel). The film successfully mimics the asymmetric, bionic, barbed structure of a duck feather, offering outstanding hydrophobicity and moisture vapor resistance characteristics. Moreover, the bionic film demonstrated good mechanical strength, film-forming ability and biodegradability. In addition, resveratrol (Res) was integrated into the CMC/Gel matrix, endowing the film with excellent antibacterial, antioxidant, pH-sensitive, fluorescent, and UV shielding properties. The film also exhibited UV-induced photochromic behavior and antifatigue food anti-counterfeiting capabilities. Furthermore, the film enables swift, sensitive, and real-time visual tracking of food spoilage under natural daylight conditions. In beef preservation applications, the developed film packaging can extend the shelf-life of beef to five days, two days longer than that of conventional polyethylene packaging. Therefore, the bionic intelligent active packaging engineered in this study offers promising guidelines for the design of eco-friendly and efficient consumable containment solutions.