A Self-Healing Nanofiber-Based Self-Responsive Time-Temperature Indicator for Securing a Cold-Supply Chain |
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Authors: | Sejin Choi Youngho Eom Seon-Mi Kim Da-Woon Jeong Jongmin Han Jun Mo Koo Sung Yeon Hwang Jeyoung Park Dongyeop X Oh |
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Affiliation: | Research Center for Bio-based Chemistry, Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT), Ulsan, 44429 Republic of Korea |
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Abstract: | Perishable foods at undesired temperatures can generate foodborne illnesses that present significant societal costs. To certify refrigeration succession in a food-supply chain, a flexible, easy-to-interpret, damage-tolerant, and sensitive time-temperature indicator (TTI) that uses a self-healing nanofiber mat is devised. This mat is opaque when refrigerated due to nanofiber-induced light scattering, but becomes irreversibly transparent at room temperature through self-healing-induced interfibrillar fusion leading to the appearance of a warning sign. The mat monitors both freezer (?20 °C) and chiller (2 °C) successions and its timer is tunable over the 0.5–22.5 h range through control of the polymer composition and film thickness. The thin mat itself serves as both a temperature sensor and display; it does not require modularization, accurately measures localized or gradient heat, and functions even after crushing, cutting, and when weight-loaded in a manner that existing TTIs cannot. It also contains no drainable chemicals and is attachable to various shapes because it operates through an intrinsic physical response. |
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Keywords: | foodborne illness self-healing nanofibers thermodynamic energy time-temperature indicators transparency |
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