In this study, a gel/liquid interface is utilized for growing a new (calcium‐phosphate)/carrageenan garden. The hydrogels are made from carrageenan loaded with either sodium phosphate or calcium chloride, while the interfaced solution contains a source of the salt not used in the hydrogels (i. e. the sodium‐phosphate hydrogel with the calcium‐chloride solution and vice versa). The physical and chemical properties of tubes grown from both systems of the same amount of carrageenan have been reported. Interestingly, when varying the amounts of carrageenan (and thus controlling the stiffness of the phosphate‐hydrogel system), it is possible to control the thickness and height of the tubes.

Innovative active packaging has the potential to maintain the food quality and preserve the food safety for extended period. The aim of this study was to discover the effect of active films based on commercially available polylactic acid blend (PLAb) and natural active components on the shelf life and organoleptic properties of chicken fillets and to find out; to what extent they can be used as replacement to the traditional packaging materials. In this study, commercially available PLAb was compounded with citral and cinnamon oil. Active films with 300 µm thickness were then produced on a blown film extruder. The PLAb-based films were thermoformed into trays. Fresh chicken breast fillets were packed under two different gas compositions, modified atmosphere packaging of 60% CO2/40% N2, and 75% O2/25% CO2 and stored at 4 ℃. The effect of active packaging materials and gas compositions on the drip loss, dry matter content, organoleptic properties, and microbial quality of the chicken fillets were studied over a storage time of 24 days. The presence of active components in the compounded films was confirmed with FTIR, in addition the release of active components in the headspace of the packaging was established with GC/MS. Additionally, gas barrier properties of the packages were studied. No negative impact on the drip loss and dry matter content was observed. The results show that PLAb-based active packaging can maintain the quality of the chicken fillets and have the potential to replace the traditional packaging materials, such as APET/PE trays.

The aim of this study is to highlight novel CuS‐carrageenan nanocomposites grown from the interface between sulfide solutions (liquid phases) and Cu‐ι‐carrageenan gels. Several parameters including pH, copper and carrageenan concentration of the hydrogel that influence the growth of the nanocomposite have been examined. The most effective parameter is the initial pH of the liquid phase, hence, three growing samples at pH 7, 10 and 13 were selected for further studies and referred as LPH7, LPH10 and LPH13. Three CuS‐carrageenan nanocomposites obtained from the three pH conditions were purified and examined in detail using several characterization techniques such as X‐ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The structure, composition, properties as well as the growth mechanism of the nanocomposite have been studied. Additionally, the electrical conductivity of the nanocomposite was exploited to be used as a sensor of relative humidity and temperature.

Invited for this month′s cover is the group of Lilac Amirav at Technion—Israel Institute of Technology. The image shows the sustainable solar‐driven photocatalytic generation of hydrogen from water using a molecular metallocorrole–nanorod photocatalytic system. The Research Article itself is available at 10.1002/cssc.202200804.