High-barrier cellulose-based packaging material for enhanced food preservation with visual freshness monitoring

Ruotong Yao; Chao Wang; Yunli Xu; Min Wu

doi:10.1016/j.jobab.2025.11.003

Volume 11 Issue 1

Feb. 2026

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Ruotong Yao, Chao Wang, Yunli Xu, Min Wu. High-barrier cellulose-based packaging material for enhanced food preservation with visual freshness monitoring[J]. Journal of Bioresources and Bioproducts, 2026, 11(1): 100227. doi: 10.1016/j.jobab.2025.11.003

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Ruotong Yao, Chao Wang, Yunli Xu, Min Wu. High-barrier cellulose-based packaging material for enhanced food preservation with visual freshness monitoring[J]. Journal of Bioresources and Bioproducts, 2026, 11(1): 100227. doi: 10.1016/j.jobab.2025.11.003

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High-barrier cellulose-based packaging material for enhanced food preservation with visual freshness monitoring

doi: 10.1016/j.jobab.2025.11.003

Ruotong Yao^{a, b},
Chao Wang^{a, b
,
,},
Yunli Xu^{a, b},
Min Wu^{a, b
,
,}

a.
Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
b.
College of Materials Science and Optoelectronic Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China

More Information

Corresponding author: E-mail address: chwangipc@mail.ipc.ac.cn (C. Wang); E-mail address: wumin@mail.ipc.ac.cn (M. Wu)
Received Date: 2025-09-25
Accepted Date: 2025-11-11
Rev Recd Date: 2025-11-04

Available Online: 2025-11-23

Publish Date: 2026-02-01

Abstract

Abstract

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the development of cellulose or nanocellulose (CNF) materials in food packaging industry due to their green and processable nature, while the inherent hydrophilicity of cellulose presents significant challenges in meeting the high barrier requirements essential for food packaging applications. In this study, a dual strategy of internal cross-linking and external functional coating was employed to fabricate high-barrier nanocellulose-based packaging. Dialdehyde CNF (DCNF) was incorporated into pristine CNF to form a dense cross-linking network containing hemiacetal linkages and hydrogen bonds. Additionally, an ethyl cellulose (EC)/curcumin (Cur) coating was applied to further improve hydrophobicity while leveraging curcumin’s pH-responsive properties for visual monitoring. The influence of DCNF oxidation time and CNF incorporation ratio on film crystallinity and water resistance was systematically studied. The synergistic interaction of DCNF/CNF crosslinking and surface coatings endows the composite membrane (DCNF_1-75/CNF/ECCur) with exceptional barrier properties, achieving a 44% reduction in water vapor transmission rate and 99% suppression of oxygen transmission rate. Moreover, the film demonstrated multifunctional properties: over 99.9% antibacterial efficacy against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, 91% antioxidant activity, effective food preservation capability along with visual monitoring functionality. This work provides a novel approach for designing multifunctional nanocellulose-based intelligent packaging materials.
- Nanocellulose,
- Water vapor barrier,
- Oxygen barrier,
- Intelligent packaging,
- Antibacterial

Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Author contributions
Ruotong Yao: investigation, conceptualization, data curation, writing original draft. Chao Wang: review and editing, supervision. Yunli Xu: resources, data curation. Min Wu: supervision, review and editing, funding acquisition.
Supplementary materials
Supplementary material associated with this article can be found, in the online version, at doi:10.1016/j.jobab.2025.11.003.
^✩ Peer review under the responsibility of Editorial Office of Journal of Bioresources and Bioproducts.

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References(36)

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