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-

In this work, two different technologies (electrospraying and nanospray drying) were evaluated for encapsulation of folic acid using a whey protein concentrate (WPC) matrix and a commercial resistant starch. The morphology of the capsules, molecular organization of the matrices, encapsulation efficiency, and stability of folic acid within the capsules under different storage conditions and upon thermal exposure were studied. Results showed that spherical submicro-and microcapsules were obtained through both techniques, although electrospraying led to smaller capsule sizes and to an enhanced control over their size distribution. Greater encapsulation efficiency was observed using WPC as encapsulating matrix, probably related to interactions between the protein and folic acid which favoured the incorporation of the bioactive. The best results in terms of bioactive stabilization in the different conditions assayed were also obtained for the WPC capsules, although both materials and encapsulation techniques led to improved folic acid stability, especially under dry conditions. Highlights Folic acid was encapsulated through nanospray drying and electrospraying  A whey protein and a resistant starch were used as encapsulating matrices  Spherical nano-, submicro-and microcapsules were obtained through both techniques  Greater encapsulation efficiency was observed for the protein-based capsules  Both materials and encapsulation techniques led to improved folic acid stability

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In this work, lycopene was encapsulated through electrospraying and spray drying (using a microporous membrane cap) within different edible biopolymeric matrices. Specifically, dextran, a whey protein concentrate (WPC) and chitosan were used as matrix materials. As a strategy to incorporate the hydrophobic bioactive within the hydrophilic matrices, emulsion electropraying and spray drying from emulsion were carried out. Moreover and, for comparison purposes, coaxial electrospraying was also performed. The electrospraying solutions properties were studied, since they do not only affect the success of the electrohydrodynamic process, but also influence the morphology of the capsules. Apart from characterizing the morphology and molecular organization of the developed capsules, the encapsulation efficiency and the lycopene stability under moisture and heating conditions were also evaluated. Results showed that even though encapsulation structures were obtained from all the matrices assayed through both processing technologies, spray drying, as a consequence of the high temperatures needed in this process, affected lycopene stability. It was also seen that WPC presented the greatest encapsulation efficiency, probably ascribed to the interactions between the biopolymer and the lycopene. Furthermore, WPC capsules were able to better protect lycopene against moisture and thermal degradation.