Sprayable oxidized polyvinyl alcohol with improved degradability and sufficient mechanical property for fruit preservation†

Besides their limited preservation capacity and low biosafety, traditional fruit preservation procedures exacerbate “white pollution” because they utilize excessive plastic. Herein, an environmentally friendly one-pot method was developed to obtain degradable polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), where the hydroxyl radicals generated through the reaction between hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) and iron ions functioned to oxidize PVA. The oxidized PVA (OPVA-1.0) with abundant ketone groups, reduced crystallinity, and short molecular chains was completely degraded into H₂O and CO₂ after being buried in the soil for ∼60 days. An improvement in its degradation rate did not weaken the mechanical properties of OPVA-1.0 compared to other modified PVA films because the adverse effect of decreased crystallinity on its mechanical performance was offset by its ion coordination. Alternatively, the tensile strength or toughness of OPVA-1.0 was enhanced due to its internal multi-level interactions including molecular chain entanglement, hydrogen bonding, and metal coordination bonds. More interestingly, OPVA-1.0 was water-welded into various products in a recyclable way owing to its reversible physical bonds, where it was sprayed, dipped, or brushed conformally onto different perishable fruits to delay their ripening by 5–14 days. Based on the cellular biocompatibility and biosafety evaluations in mice, OPVA-1.0 obtained by the facile oxidation strategy was demonstrated to alleviate “white pollution” and delay the ripening of fruits effectively.