Emulsion-based systems for fabrication of electrospun nanofibers: food, pharmaceutical and biomedical applications

Abstract

Electrospinning is considered a promising technology for fabricating ultrafine fibers via the application of electrostatic repulsive forces. Electrospun nanofibers produced via emulsion electrospinning are widely used as delivery systems to encapsulate bioactive compounds and drugs in food and pharmaceuticals, respectively.Emulsion electrospinning has also gained significant interest for the production of vehicles for sustained and controlled release. There are several parameters affecting the properties of fabricated fibers including the type of emulsion, emulsion composition, electric field strength, conductivity of solution, surface tension, electrode configuration, solution cooling time, dissolution temperature, and solution flow rate; therefore, all these parameters should be precisely controlled to obtain optimum results. Some of the advantages of these fibers are the protection of encapsulated materials from environmental conditions, room temperature processes, release rate control and high loading efficiency. This study presents an overview of the emulsion electrospinning method, its mechanism of action and its applications in both the food and pharmaceutical fields.

Biphasic, tough composite core/shell PCL/PVA‐GEL nanofibers for biomedical application

“…Compared with the concentric nozzles used in coaxial electrospinning, only a single nozzle is required in emulsion electrospinning to prepare core/shell nanofibers. Since two concentric nozzles are applied in coaxial electrospinning with two separate polymer systems, the influencing parameters on such a process are much more complex and a further understanding and standardization of this technique is demanded . By utilizing this advantage, extensive works have been done to apply emulsion electrospinning in fabrication of different types of core/shell nanofibers.…”

“…Emulsion electrospinning has successfully been used for high mechanical properties of natural polymers. During the early years of research, the use of emulsion electrospinning focused on encasing water insoluble drugs within polymer fibers …”

“…Since two concentric nozzles are applied in coaxial electrospinning with two separate polymer systems, the influencing parameters on such a process are much more complex and a further understanding and standardization of this technique is demanded. [3][4][5][6] By utilizing this advantage, extensive works have been done to apply emulsion electrospinning in fabrication of different types of core/ shell nanofibers. Emulsion electrospinning has successfully been used for high mechanical properties of natural polymers.…”

“…During the early years of research, the use of emulsion electrospinning focused on encasing water insoluble drugs within polymer fibers. 6 Emulsion electrospinning is consisting of a continuous phase of natural or synthetic polymer dissolved in organic/aqueous solvents and also a separate emulsion phase containing bioactive agents as water-in-oil or oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions. 7 In emulsion electrospinning, an aqueous phase is incorporated an oil phase prior to the electrospinning.…”

New Trends in the Microencapsulation of Functional Fatty Acid‐Rich Oils Using Transglutaminase Catalyzed Crosslinking

“…Microencapsulation has been utilized as a technique for the fortification and controlled release of functional food components such as antioxidants, flavors, fatty acids, vitamins, minerals, and so on (Estevinho and others ; Aguiar and others ; Gonçalves and others , ). A number of microencapsulation techniques for bioactive compounds such as functional edible oils are applied which can be generally divided into 2 separate categories physical (for example, spray‐drying) and chemical (for example, complex coacervation) techniques (Roohinejad and others , ; Gharibzahedi and Jafari , , ; Nikmaram and others ).…”