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Gels
Special Issues
Hydrogels for Food Safety and Sensing Applications
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Hydrogels for Food Safety and Sensing Applications

A special issue of Gels (ISSN 2310-2861). This special issue belongs to the section "Gel Applications".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2026 | Viewed by 685

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Yufeng Sun

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Food Science and Engineering, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai’an 271018, China
Interests: hydrogels; nanomaterials; food safety; electrochemical analysis; sensor
Prof. Dr. Dirk Kuckling

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, Paderborn University, D-33098 Paderborn, Germany
Interests: controlled polymer synthesis; polymer characterization; smart polymers; hydrogels; actuators and sensors
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Owing to their fast analysis speed, high sensitivity and low cost, sensors are widely used for detecting hazards in food, which can better ensure food safety. Hydrogels, with their unique three-dimensional polymeric networks, tunable physicochemical properties, and stimuli-responsive behavior (e.g., to pH, temperature, enzymes, and contaminants), have emerged as promising materials for enhancing food safety and sensor technologies. This Special Issue will highlight cutting-edge research on hydrogel-based systems for the detection of food hazards (e.g., pathogens, pesticides, and heavy metals), intelligent packaging for real-time freshness monitoring, and controlled release of antimicrobial/antioxidant agents to extend shelf life. It will also explore advanced hydrogel sensors for tracking food quality indicators (e.g., gases, pH, and temperature) via optical, electrochemical, or mechanical transduction. Emphasis will be placed on material design (e.g., nanocomposite, biohybrid, or stimuli-responsive hydrogels), scalability, and compliance with food-contact regulations. This Special Issue aims to gather interdisciplinary research achievements, promote the industrial application of hydrogel technology in the field of food safety, and simultaneously look forward, addressing future challenges and development directions in intelligent monitoring systems.

Dr. Yufeng Sun
Prof. Dr. Dirk Kuckling
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Gels is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2100 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • novel hydrogels
  • sensors
  • detection
  • food safety
  • smart packaging
  • stimuli-responsive materials

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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18 pages, 3990 KB  
Article
Novel Garlic Carbon Dot-Incorporated Starch Whey Protein Emulsion Gel for Apple Spoilage Sensing
by Hebat-Allah S. Tohamy
Gels 2026, 12(1), 47; https://doi.org/10.3390/gels12010047 - 1 Jan 2026
Viewed by 465
Abstract
This study presents the development of a smart packaging material utilizing garlic-derived nitrogen-doped carbon dots (CDs) integrated into a whey protein–starch (WP-S) emulsion. The research aimed to create a real-time, non-invasive biosensor capable of detecting microbial spoilage. The synthesized CDs demonstrated strong pH-sensitive [...] Read more.
This study presents the development of a smart packaging material utilizing garlic-derived nitrogen-doped carbon dots (CDs) integrated into a whey protein–starch (WP-S) emulsion. The research aimed to create a real-time, non-invasive biosensor capable of detecting microbial spoilage. The synthesized CDs demonstrated strong pH-sensitive photoluminescence, exhibiting distinct changes in CIE coordinates and fluorescence intensity in response to varying pH values. The WP-S-CDs emulsion was tested against E. coli, S. aureus, and C. albicans. The results showed that the composite film provided a clear colorimetric shift and fluorescence quenching, both of which are directly correlated with microbial metabolic activity. The physical and electronic properties of the composite were investigated to understand the sensing mechanism. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of the dried film revealed that the WP-S-CDs system formed a more porous structure with larger pore sizes (3.63–8.18 µm) compared to the control WP-S film (1.62–6.52 µm), which facilitated the rapid diffusion of microbial metabolites. Additionally, density functional theory (DFT) calculations demonstrated that the incorporation of CDs significantly enhanced the composite’s electronic properties by reducing its band gap and increasing its dipole moment, thereby heightening its reactivity and sensitivity to spoilage byproducts. In a practical application on apples, the WP-S-CDs coating produced a visible red spot, confirming its function as a dynamic sensor. The material also showed a dual-action antimicrobial effect, synergistically inhibiting C. albicans while exhibiting an antagonistic effect against bacteria. These findings validate the potential of the WP-S-CDs emulsion as a powerful, multi-faceted intelligent packaging system for food quality monitoring. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Hydrogels for Food Safety and Sensing Applications)
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