A review on electrospun polymer nanostructures as advanced bioactive platforms

Abstract

This review article deals with latest literature studies on the potential use of polymer ultrathin and nanosized structures obtained by electrospinning to design novel engineered materials with bioactive properties. The electrofluidodynamic process offers the option to form high-performance bioactive systems based on polymer yarns of nanofibers or coatings of nanobeads with high surface-to-volume ratios. The electrospun and electrosprayed nanostructures can be further functionalized by encapsulation with bioactive fillers and substances. For both scenarios, the resultant polymer nanostructures present unique bioactive properties capable of providing a beneficial impact over human's health and with improved and advanced performance for biomedicine, pharmaceutics, nutrition, bioengineering, and healthcare applications. These novel functional materials attained by the electrospinning technology can be of interest for many bioactive applications such as functional food design, food packaging, functional coatings, controlled delivery of drug solutions and, mainly, tissue engineering. This article is purposely designed to gather, for the first time, most recent and promising multi-and inter-disciplinary develop-

Multilayer structures based on annealed electrospun biopolymer coatings of interest in water and aroma barrier fiber‐based food packaging applications

“…Recent advances in this field have shown that multilayer systems containing electrospun ultrathin fibers, that is, both submicron fibers and nanofibers, can significantly contribute to improve the barrier performance of biopolymers . Additionally, more remarkably, the electrospinning technology provides novel routes to develop novel active and bioactive functionalities, for instance packaging materials with antimicrobial performance and control release capacity of health‐promoting functional ingredients …”

Multi‐jet electrospinning with high‐throughput using a coaxial grooved nozzle and two fluids

“…Electrospinning is a simple and versatile technique for fabricating nanofibers and fibrous mats, capable of producing continuous nanofibers with various types of surface morphology . Because of its numerous advantages, the procedure has been widely employed with variety of polymers in various applications . Although the single‐step electrospinning and electrospray processes have developed rapidly in creating different kinds of micro‐/nano structures such as core–shell and Janus, how to manipulate the behaviors of working fluid under electrical fields for high‐throughput production is still a big concern .…”

Multilayer packaging: Advances in preparation techniques and emerging food applications

“…Both electrospinning and electrospraying can be used as a reliable approach for nanoencapsulation of active and bioactive components with high surface to volume ratio, porosity, and versatility. Importantly, research has proven the suitability of EHDP for packaging applications (Echegoyen et al., 2017; Torres‐Giner, Pérez‐Masiá, & Lagaron, 2016).…”