Optimisation of Characteristics of CHI-ALG-CaCl₂ Nanocarriers Loaded with Non-Volatile Extracts of <i>Cymbopogon</i> <i>Sp.</i>

Abstract

Nanotechnology is receiving an intense attention these days due to its potential application in various fields including cosmeceutical and pharmaceutical. Nanoparticles encapsulating natural extract are usually characterised for their particle size and polydispersity index but zeta potential is hardly discussed. The zeta potential is the measurement that shows the aggregation behaviour, reactivity and toxicology. In this study, nanoparticle encapsulating Cymbopogon sp. have been formulated to develop a cosmeceutical product. The antioxidant properties from aqueous extract of Cymbopogon sp. was encapsulated with chitosan/alginate biopolymeric nanoparticles. Central Composite Design (CCD) of Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was employed to investigate and optimise the effects of independent variables such as pH of SA, concentration of non-ionic surfactant concentration of CaCl2 and pH of chitosan on zeta potential and encapsulation efficiency (EE). Following the model, the optimum condition for zeta potential was selected as 6.2 of sodium alginate pH, 0.12% of non-ionic surfactant concentration, 0.05 concentration of CaCl2 and 5.6 of chitosan pH with negative zeta potential of 18.3mV. The zeta potential obtained experimentally was close to its predicted value which is-18.09mV. The model provides a basis on the optimisation of the zeta potential on chitosan/alginate nanoparticle encapsulating Cymbopogon sp. extracts.