Abstract:Electrospinning is an easy and effective method for preparing polymer nanofibers. Electrospun nanofibers possess excellent properties such as adjustable diameter, high porosity, and large specific surface area, and have shown promise in the fields of biomedicine, filtration materials, sensors, enzyme fixation, and food packaging, among others. The electrospun nanofibers used in food industry should have good biocompatibility, low toxicity, and controllable biodegradability; thus, proteins, polysaccharides, and other natural polymers are commonly used natural polymers for electrospinning. The development of methods to prepare electrospun protein (soy protein isolate, zein, whey protein, etc.) or polysaccharide (chitosan, hylauronic acid, starch, pullulan, etc.) nanofibers; effect of major factors on the electrospinning process, such as the morphology of nanofibers; and properties of nanofibers and their potential applications in the food industry, including antibacterial, antioxidant, controlled release applications, are summarized in this paper. Additionally, future research directions for electrospun polysaccharide and protein nanofibers are discussed.
