Polycaprolactone/polyvinyl pyrrolidone nanofibers developed by solution blow spinning for encapsulation of chlorogenic acid

Abstract

Abstract Study on the application of nanofibers in food active packaging has been a research hotspot in recent years. In this work, solution blow spinning (SBS) was applied to rapidly fabricate the polycaprolactone (PCL), polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP), and PCL/PVP nanofibrous films to encapsulate chlorogenic acid (CGA). All films showed uniform and smooth nanofibers, and the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction proved the success of mixed spinning of PCL and PVP. With the increase of PVP content, the thermal stability of the PCL/PVP nanofibrous films improved. The PCL/PVP (weight ratio of 4:1) film possessed better mechanical properties than PCL and PVP films because of the stronger fiber–fiber interactions. The addition of PCL endowed the hydrophobic surfaces to the PCL/PVP films, and the PCL/PVP films had better water vapor barrier ability. The PCL/PVP (4:1) film exhibited the best long-term continuous release of CGA during 72 h. The PVP nanofibrous film exhibited no inhibition against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli due to the low encapsulation efficiency, but the PCL and PCL/PVP films exhibited good antimicrobial activity. The above results suggested that the nanofibrous films developed by SBS possess promising prospects in food packaging.